Tumor size as a prognostic factor in patients with advanced gastric cancer in the lower third of the stomach

AIM: To explore the impact of tumor size on outcomes in patients with advanced gastric cancer in the lower third of the stomach. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical records of 430 patients with advanced gastric cancer in the lower third of the stomach who underwent distal subtotal gastrectomy and D2 lymphadenectomy in our hospital from January 1998 to June 2004. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the appropriate cutoff value for tumor size, which was measured as maximum tumor diameter. Based on this cutoff value, patients were divided into two groups: those with large-sized tumors (LSTs) and those with small-sized tumors (SSTs). The correlations between other clinicopathologic factors and tumor size were investigated, and the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was compared between the two groups. Potential prognostic factors were evaluated by univariate KaplanMeier survival analysis and multivariate Cox's propor-tional hazard model analysis. The 5-year OS rates in the two groups were compared according to pT stage and pN stage. RESULTS: The 5-year OS rate in the 430 patients with advanced gastric cancer in the lower third of the stomach was 53.7%. The mean ± SD tumor size was 4.9 ± 1.9 cm, and the median tumor size was 5.0 cm. ROC analysis indicated that the sensitivity and specificity results for the appropriate tumor size cutoff value of 4.8 cm were 80.0% and 68.2%, respectively (AUC=0.795, 95%CI: 0.751-0.839, P=0.000). Using this cutoff value, 222 patients (51.6%) had LSTs (tumor size ≥ 4.8 cm) and 208 (48.4%) had SSTs (tumor size<4.8 cm). Tumor size was significantly correlated with histological type (P=0.039), Borrmann type (P=0.000), depth of tumor invasion (P=0.000), lymph node metastasis (P=0.000), tumor-nodes metastasis stage (P=0.000), mean number of metastatic lymph nodes (P=0.000) and metastatic lymph node ratio (P=0.000). Patients with LSTs had a significantly lower 5-year OS rate than those with SSTs (37.1% vs 63.3%, P=0.000). Univariate analysis showed that depth of tumor invasion (c 2=69.581, P=0.000), lymph node metastasis (c 2=138.815, P=0.000), tumor size (c 2=78.184, P=0.000) and metastatic lymph node ratio (c 2=139.034, P=0.000) were significantly associated with 5-year OS rate. Multivariate analysis revealed that depth of tumor invasion (P=0.000), lymph node metastasis (P=0.019) and tumor size (P=0.000) were independent prognostic factors. Gastric cancers were divided into 12 subgroups: pT2N0; pT2N1; pT2N2; pT2N3; pT3N0; pT3N1; pT3N2; pT3N3; pT4aN0; pT4aN1; pT4aN2; and pT4aN3. In patients with pT2-3N3 stage tumors and patients with pT4a stage tumors, 5-year OS rates were significantly lower for LSTs than for SSTs (P<0.05 each), but there were no significant differences in the 5-year OS rates in LST and SST patients with pT23N0-2 stage tumors (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Using a tumor size cutoff value of 4.8cm, tumor size is a prognostic factor in patients with pN3 stage or pT4a stage advanced gastric cancer located in the lower third of the stomach.

Design and application of automatic constant temperature moxibustion box

Objective:To explore the clinical application effect of self-designed automatic constant temperature moxibustion box.Methods:From June 2016 to January 2017,150 patients with neck,shoulder,back and leg pain admitted to our hospital were treated with moxibustion under the informed consent of the patients.The patients were randomly divided into control group and observation group,75 cases each.The group used traditional moxibustion box for moxibustion treatment,and the observation group used automatic constant temperature moxibustion box for moxibustion treatment for 15 days.After the treatment,the patient's safety,comfort,satisfaction and adverse reactions were compared,and the results were analyzed using SPSS 20 statistical software.Results:The comfort and satisfaction in study group were all superior to that of control group,with statistically significant difference(P<0.01).For patient's safety,the ratio of patients suffered from scald in study and control groups was 5.3/100 and 0,respectively.Conclusions:It is of great significance for improving clinical efficacy and preventing medical risks.It is worthy of clinical application.