A pilot study on combination of cryosurgery and ^(125)iodine seed implantation for treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer

AIM: To study the therapeutic value of combination o cryosurgery and 125iodine seed implantation for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (males 36, females 13), with a median age of 59 years, were enrolled in the study. Twelve patients had liver metastases. In all cases the tumors were considered unresectable after a comprehensive evaluation. Patients were treated with cryosurgery, which was performed intraoperatively or percutaneously unde guidance of ultrasound and/or computed tomography (CT), and 125iodine seed implantation, which was performed during cryosurgery or post-cryosurgery under guidance of ultrasound and/or CT. A few patients received regional celiac artery chemotherapy. RESULTS: Thirteen patients received intraoperative cryosurgery and 36 received percutaneous cryosurgery Some patients underwent repeat cryosurgery. 125Iodine seed implantation was performed during freezing procedure in 35 patients and 3-9 d after cryosurgery in 14 cases. Twenty patients, 10 of whom had hepaticmetastases received regional chemotherapy. At 3 mo after therapy, CT was repeated to estimate tumor response to therapy. Most patients showed varying degrees of tumor necrosis. Complete response (CR) of tumor was seen in 20.4% patients, partial response (PR), in 38.8%, stable disease (SD), in 30.6%, and progressive disease (PD), in 10.2%. Adverse effects associated with cryosurgery included upper abdomen pain and increased serum amylase. Acute pancreatitis was seen in 6 patients one of whom developed severe pancreatitis. All adverse effects were controlled by medical management with no poor outcome. There was no therapy-related mortality. During a median follow-up of 18 mo (range of 5-40), the median survival was 16.2 mo, with 26 patients (53.1%) surviving for 12 mo or more. Overall, the 6-, 12-, 24- and 36-mo survival rates were 94.9%, 63.1%, 22.8% and 9.5%, respectively. Eight patients had survival of 24 mo or more. The patient with the longest survival (40 mo) is still living without evidence of tumor recurrence. CONCLUSION: Cryosurgery, which is far less invasive than conventional pancreatic resection, and is associated with a low rate of adverse effects, should be the treatment of choice for patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. 125Iodine seed implantation can destroy the residual surviving cancer cells after cryosurgery. Hence, a combination of both modalities has a complementary effect.

Intraoperative radiofrequency ablation combined with ^(125)iodine seed implantation for unresectable pancreatic cancer

AIM: To evaluate the feasibility, efficacy and safety of intraoperative radiofrequency ablation (RFA) combined with 125 iodine seed implantation for unresectable pancreatic cancer. METHODS: Thirty-two patients (21 males and 11 females) at the age of 68 years (range 48-90 years) with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer admitted to our hospital from January 2006 to May 2008 were enrolled in this study. The tumor, 4-12 cm in diameter, located in pancreatic head of 23 patients and in pancreatic body and tail of 9 patients, was found to be unresectable during operation. Diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was made through intraoperative biopsy. Patients were treated with FRA combined with 125 iodine seed implantation. In brief, a RFA needle was placed, which was confirmed by intraoperative ultrasound to decrease the potential injury of surrounding vital structures, a 125 iodine seed was implanted near the blood vessels and around the tumor border followed by bypass palliative procedure (cholangio-jejunostomy and/or gastrojejunostomy) in 29 patients.RESULTS: The serum CA 19-9 level was decreased from 512 ± 86 U/mL before operation to 176 ± 64 U/mL, 108 ± 42 U/mL and 114 ± 48 U/mL, respectively, 1, 3 and 6 mo after operation (P < 0.05). The pain score on day 7 after operation, 1 and 3 mo after combined therapy was decreased from 5.86 ± 1.92 before operation to 2.65 ± 1.04, 1.65 ± 0.88 and 2.03 ± 1.16, respectively, after operation (P < 0.05). The rate of complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), progressive disease (PD) in 32 patients was 21.8% (7/32), 56.3% (18/32), 15.6% (5/32) and 6.3% (2/32), respectively, 6 mo after operation, with a median overall survival time of 17. 5 mo. The median survival time of patients at stage Ⅲ was longer than that of those at stage Ⅳ (19 mo vs 10 mo, P = 0.0026). The median survival time of patients who received and did not receive chemotherapy after operation was 20 mo and 16 mo, respectively (P = 0.0176). Of the 32 patients, 3 (10.6%) experienced postoperative complications including transient biliary leaks in 2 patients and acute pancreatitis in 1 patient. All the patients recovered well after conservative support treatment. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative RFA combined with 125 iodine seed implantation is a feasible and safe procedure for unresectable pancreatic cancer with acceptable minor complications, and can prolong the survival time of patients, especially those at stage Ⅲ.

Relationship between miR-7-5p expression and ^(125)I seed implantation efficacy in pancreatic cancer and functional analysis of target genes

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between miR-7-5p expression and intertissue-^(125)I irradiation sensitivity in pancreatic cancer tissues and to analyze the function of target genes.Methods Thirty-seven patients with unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma(PDAC)treated with radioactive ^(125)I seed implantation were enrolled.RT-PCR was used to detect the expression level of miR-7-5p in cancer tissues and analyze the relationship between miR-7-5p expression and ^(125)I radiation sensitivity.Bioinformatic software and online tools were used to predict the miR-7-5p target genes and analyze their functional annotation and pathway enrichment.Results Radioactive ^(125)I seed implantation was followed up for 2 months.The objective response rate of the miR-7-5p high expression group was 65.0%(13/20),whereas the objective response rate of the miR-7-5p low expression group was 5.88%(1/17),and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant(χ^(2)=13.654,P<0.001).A total of 187 target genes were predicted using three databases.GO functional annotation showed that target genes were mainly involved in cellular response to insulin stimulus,regulation of gene expression by genetic imprinting,cytosol,peptidyl-serine phosphorylation,bHLH transcription factor binding,cargo loading into vesicles,cellular response to epinephrine stimulus,and nucleoplasm.KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that target genes were mainly involved in the ErbB signaling pathway,HIF-1 signaling pathway,axon guidance,longevity regulatory pathway,endocrine resistance,glioma,choline metabolism in cancer,and EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor drug resistance.Molecular complex detection analysis by Cytoscape revealed that PIGH,RAF1,EGFR,NXT2,PIK3CD,PIK3R3,ERBB4,TRMT13,and C5orf22 were the key modules of miR-7-5p target gene clustering.Conclusion The expression of miR-7-5p in pancreatic cancer tissues positively correlated with the radiosensitivity of ^(125)I seeds.Via targeted gene regulation,miR-7-5p acts on the network of multiple signaling pathways in PDAC and participates in its occurrence and development.Thus,miR-7-5p may become a predictive index of ^(125)I seed implantation therapy sensitivity in PDAC patients.

CT guided ^125iodine seed implantation for portal vein tumor thrombus in primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Background This study evaluated the clinical application of CT guided ^125iodine implantation in patients with portal vein tumor thrombus in primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods The ten patients （9 males and 1 female, aged from 36 to 72 years） with portal vein tumor thrombus accompanying hepatocellular carcinoma had been treated with comprehensive therapy including surgery, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, radiotherapy ablation, microwave ablation or percutaneous ethanol injection. The average diameter of each tumor thrombus was 21.5 mm × 30.5 mm. Seeds of 30 MBq ^125I were implanted 5 mm apart within the portal vein tumor thrombus. The follow-up after 4 months included enhanced spiral CT. Results CT screening of the tumours indicated that 4 out of 10 patients showed complete response to the therapy, 5 partial response and 1 stable disease. Adverse effects included aggravated abdominal dropsy and temporarily increased transaminase, which were controlled by medical management. Severe complications such as haemorrhage, biliary fistula hepatic abscess, pancreatic fistula and hepatic function failure were not observed. Implanted seeds migrated to lung and left hepatic lobe in 1 case. Conclusion CT guided implantation of ^125iodine seeds, can effectively treat portal vein tumor thrombus accompanying hepatocellular carcinoma with minimal damage and few complications.

Implantation of Radioactive ^(125)I Seeds Improves the Prognosis of Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Patients:A Retrospective Study

Locally advanced pancreatic cancer is associated with a very poor prognosis. This study was performed to evaluate whether patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer benefit from 125 ^I seed implantation. This retrospective study included 224 patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, with 137 patients（61.2%） in the implantation（IP） group and 87（38.9%） in the non-implantation（NIP） group. The survival status, complications and objective curative effects were compared between the groups. The average operative time in the IP group was significantly longer than that in the NIP group（243±51 vs. 214±77 min）. The tumor response rates were 9.5% and 0 at the 2nd month after surgery in the IP and NIP groups, respectively（P〈0.05）. The IP group exhibited a trend toward pain relief at the 6th month after surgery. The global health status scores of the IP group were higher than those of the NIP group at the 3rd and 6th month after surgery. The median survival time in the IP group was significantly longer than that in the NIP group. In conclusion, patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer can benefit from 125 I seed implantation in terms of local tumor control, survival time, pain relief and quality of life.

CT guidance ^(125)I seed implantation for pelvic recurrent rectal cancer assisted by 3D printing individual non-coplanar template

Objective To analyze the difference of dosimetric parameters between pre-plan and post-plan of 125I radioactive seed implantation assisted by 3D printing individual non-coplanar template（3D printing template）for locally recurrent rectal cancer（LRRC）.Methods From February 2016 to April 2016,a total of 10 patients with locally recurrent rectal cancer received 125I seeds implan-

Particle implantation combined with chemotherapy for rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck:A 8-year long-term follow-up case report

Rhabdomyosarcomas(RMSs)are highly malignant soft-tissue sarcomas.Head and neck RMSs often pose unique challenges to treatment because of their closeness to important structures.We here report a rare case of a 1-year-old boy with a 1-month history of right eye swelling and an eye mass.Biopsy of deep tumors in the maxillofacial region supports embryonal RMS.Postoperative positron emission computed tomography showed a 5.0 cm×4.8 cm×4.2 cm malignant tumor in the right maxillary region.In accordance with the international RMS study group guideline,the child was diagnosed with IIIa and TNM stage T2bN1M1 embryonal RMS.The child was treated with a combination of chemotherapy and ^(125)I seed implantation radiotherapy and eventually achieved partial remission.This case report shows that ^(125)I seed implantation is a safe and effective means of delivering radiotherapy to young children with head and neck RMSs.It may be an option for children with RMSs for whom surgery or external radiotherapy is unsuitable.