Long-term Therapeutic Outcome and Prognostic Factors of Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Receiving Intensity-modulated Radiotherapy: An Analysis of 608 Patients from Low-endemic Regions of China

Objective To evaluate the long-term outcome and prognostic factors of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)from low-endemic regions of China who received definitive intensity-modulated radiation therapy(IMRT).Methods The clinical data from 608 patients with newly-diagnosed non-metastatic NPC who have received initial treatment at our cancer center from January,2008 to December,2013 were retrospectively reviewed.All patients received definitive IMRT,and 87.7%received platinum-based chemotherapy.Results The median follow-up duration was 51 months(follow-up rate,98.5%;range,10–106 months)for the entire cohort.The 5-year overall survival rate was 79.7%.The 5-year local relapse-free survival rate,regional relapse-free survival rate,distant metastasis-free survival rate and progression-free survival rate were 92.4%,93.3%,79.2%and 74.3%,respectively.A total of 153 patients had experienced treatment failure,with distant metastasis as the primary cause in 77.1%(118/153).Patients with T4 or N3 diseases had a significantly poorer prognosis than other subcategories.Stage T4 and N3 were closely associated with distant metastasis,with the metastatic rate of 29.3%and 45.5%,respectively.Conclusion IMRT provides patients with non-metastatic NPC with satisfactory long-term survival.Both T stage and N stage are important prognostic factors for NPC patients.Patients with T4 or N3 diseases have significantly increased distant metastatic rates and poor survival time.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: promising therapeutic outcome–not far away?

Dear editors,Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis（ALS）is a neurodegenerative disease.It affects motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord resulting in bulbar palsy and respiratory failure.It also causes weakness of limbs.The disease usually progresses to fatal outcome within 2-4 years.Neural stem cell research for diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders is highly promising.

Development and validation of a predictive model for the assessment of potassium-lowering treatment among hyperkalemia patients

BACKGROUND:Hyperkalemia is common among patients in emergency department and is associated with mortality.While,there is a lack of good evaluation and prediction methods for the effi cacy of potassium-lowering treatment,making the drug dosage adjustment quite diffi cult.We aimed to develop a predictive model to provide early forecasting of treating eff ects for hyperkalemia patients.METHODS:Around 80%of hyperkalemia patients(n=818)were randomly selected as the training dataset and the remaining 20%(n=196)as the validating dataset.According to the serum potassium(K+)levels after the fi rst round of potassium-lowering treatment,patients were classifi ed into the eff ective and ineff ective groups.Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to develop a prediction model.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and calibration curve analysis were used for model validation.RESULTS:In the training dataset,429 patients had favorable eff ects after treatment(eff ective group),and 389 had poor therapeutic outcomes(ineff ective group).Patients in the ineff ective group had a higher percentage of renal disease(P=0.007),peripheral edema(P<0.001),oliguria(P=0.001),or higher initial serum K+level(P<0.001).The percentage of insulin usage was higher in the effective group than in the ineff ective group(P=0.005).After multivariate logistic regression analysis,we found age,peripheral edema,oliguria,history of kidney transplantation,end-stage renal disease,insulin,and initial serum K+were all independently associated with favorable treatment eff ects.CONCLUSION:The predictive model could provide early forecasting of therapeutic outcomes for hyperkalemia patients after drug treatment,which could help clinicians to identify hyperkalemia patients with high risk and adjust the dosage of medication for potassium-lowering.

Partial virological response to three different nucleotide analogues in naive patients with chronic hepatitis B

BACKGROUND： The definition of partial virological response （PVR） was proposed because of its clinical relevance. PVR relates to subsequent therapeutic failure which results in the modification of the regimen. Whether this rationale can be applied to all nucleotide analogues （NA） is not clear. This study was undertaken to analyze PVR influence on therapeutic outcomes during lamivudine, entecavir or tenofovir mono- therapy in NA-naive patients with chronic hepatitis B in routine clinical practice. METHODS： We retrospectively analyzed 150 NA-naive patients with chronic hepatitis B. These subjects received lamivudine, entecavir or tenofovir monotherapy between February 2001 and July2013. RESULTS： Sixty-nine patients were treated with lamivudine, 35 with entecavir, and 46 with tenofovir. The median therapeutic duration was 19.5 （6-147） months. PVR rates at 24 weeks were similar among three NAs （lamivudine 33.3%, entecavir 35.0%, tenofovir 32.4%, P--0.981）. For all three NAs, patients with a higher baseline viral load or HBeAg-positive status had a higher serum viral positive rate tested by polymerase chain reaction at week 24 and 48. Cumulative probability of virological breakthrough （VBR） for patients treated with lamivudine was 67% at 5 years, and PVR at 24 weeks was the independent risk factor for VBR （HR： 3.09; 95% CI： 1.09-8.74; P=0.034）; also lamivudine treated patients older than 50 years seemed to have a tendency for VBR （HR： 2.80; 95% CI： 0.99-8.18; P=0.052）. A majority of entecavir and tenofovir partial responders achieved and maintained virological response with prolonged monotherapy, except one entecavir treated patient who experienced VBR due to resistance mutations.CONCLUSIONS： Management strategy for lamivudine treatment should include adaptation of regimen according to PVR as an on-treatment response parameter due to its relation with unacceptably high VBR probability. Similar conclusion should not be directly related to entecavir or tenofovir treatment.