Objective To summary the advance of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer. Methods Through reviewing the related studies, a series of clinical studies on advance of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer were reviewed. Results For early breast cancer patients, the detection of circulating tumor cells could find patients at high risk of recurrence and metastasis. For metastatic breast cancer patients, it could assess the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy and predict the prognosis. To explore the molecular characteristics of circulating tumor cells could help to understand tumor transfer mechanism and seek new therapeutic targets. Conclusion Circulating tumor cells play an important role in the treatment of breast cancer, but many multi-center prospective studies are needed to ensure whether circulating tumor cells can be used in clinical practice.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the prognostic value of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in non-metastatic breast cancer patients. MethodsWe electronically searched PubMed, EMbase, WanFang Data, CNKI and CBM for collecting cohort studies about the prognostic relevance of CTCs in the peripheral blood of stage I to Ⅲ breast cancer patients from inception to March 20th, 2014. Two reviewers independently screened studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed methodological quality. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of 7 studies involving 1 780 patients were eligible for final analyses. The results of meta-analysis showed that, the presence of CTCs was associated with both poor DFS (RR=2.24, 95%CI 1.92 to 2.61, P < 0.000 01) and OS (RR=2.55, 95%CI 1.99 to 3.28, P < 0.000 01). The results of subgroup analysis by detection time of CTCs showed that CTCs detected before and after adjuvant chemotherapy was a statistically significant prognostic factor (P≤0.000 4). ConclusionCTCs is an adverse prognostic factor in non-metastatic breast cancer patients, which is not significantly influenced by adjuvant chemotherapy.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the effectiveness and safety of dynamic neutralization system (Dynesys) versus posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) for lumbar degenerative disease. MethodsDatabases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 5, 2016), CNKI, CBM, VIP and WanFang Data were searched to collect studies about Dynesys versus PLIF for lumbar degenerative disease from inception to May 31st 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and evaluated the methodological quality of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 22 studies involving 1 482 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with PLIF, Dynesys could reduce operative time (MD=-29.62, 95%CI -36.67 to -22.57), operative blood loss (MD=-112.10, 95%CI -130.60 to -93.61), length of hospital stay (MD=-2.62, 95%CI -4.96 to -0.28), postoperative adjacent segment ROM (MD=-1.29, 95%CI -1.72 to -0.86) and maintain postoperative operated segment ROM (MD=3.53, 95%CI 1.99 to 5.08). There were no significant differences between two groups in postoperative ODI (MD=-1.51, 95%CI -3.58 to 0.55), postoperative back VAS (MD=-0.15, 95%CI -0.38 to 0.08), postoperative leg VAS (MD=-0.09, 95%CI -0.22 to 0.04) and postoperative complications (OR=0.69, 95%CI 0.45 to 1.06). ConclusionThe current evidence shows that compared with PLIF, Dynesys for lumbar degenerative disease has shorter operative time, less operative blood loss, shorter hospitalization days, and Dynesys can also maintain operated segment ROM and delay the degeneration of adjacent segment. Due to the limited quality of the included studies, more studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.
ObjectiveTo investigate the individualized management of severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) secondary to scleroderma, particularly the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic Toupet fundoplication for this entity. MethodsFrom June, 2011 to June, 2014 six inpatient cases had severe GERD secondary to scleroderma were documented. Endoscopy, esophageal high-resolution manometry and 24 hours reflux monitoring were applied for GERD evaluation. Maintenance of conservative treatment was carried out for the 2 cases who responsed well to medication therapy, laparoscopic Toupet fundoplication was done for the 4 cases who had extraesophageal symptom and not well controlled by medication. The patients were followed-up for an average of 2.2 years (1 to 4 years) after discharge, and endoscopic was rechecked during the followed-up. ResultsThe esophageal symptom of regurgitation, heartburn and dysphagia, as well as the extraesophageal symptom of cough and asthma significantly relieved during followed-up, meanwhile the anti-reflux medication was reduced or stopped in all the patients. For the 4 surgical patient, one had partial recurrence and no complication occurred. ConclusionsThe management of severe GERD secondary to scleroderma could follow the strategy of controlling the primary disease, living adjustment, anti-reflux medication and surgery step by step. The laparoscopic Toupet fundoplication may be safe, effective and feasible for the medication unmet patients, it deserves further studies.