ObjectiveTo evaluate the short-term effectiveness of arthroscopic surgery combined with direct anterior approach for hip diseases.MethodsA retrospective study was performed on 23 cases with hip diseases (23 hips), who were treated with the arthroscopic surgery combined with direct anterior approach, between January 2015 and December 2016. There were 9 males and 14 females, aged from 27 to 49 years (mean, 38.6 years). There were 11 cases of posterior dislocation of the hip associated with femoral head fracture (Pipkin typeⅠ) and 7 cases of femoral neck fracture (Garden type Ⅳ). And the interval between injury and operation was 2-8 days (mean, 4.3 days). Five cases were osteonecrosis of femoral head at precollapse stage which were rated as stageⅡA according to Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) classification system. The disease duration was 3-8 months (mean, 5.9 months). The preoperative Harris hip score, Oxford Hip Score (OHS), Postel score, and visual analogue scale (VAS) were 57.3±8.2, 11.2±3.6, 3.2±1.5, and 7.2±1.3, respectively.ResultsAll the wounds healed primarily. Lateral femoral nerve injury occurred in 3 cases. All patients were followed up 8-19 months (mean, 15.6 months). Bone union achieved in all patients after 14-19 weeks (mean, 15.8 weeks) and no secondary osteoarthritis or heterotopic ossification occurred. At last follow-up, the Harris hip score (92.5±5.3), OHS (36.5±5.9), and Postel score (14.2±2.6) were significantly higher than preoperative scores (t=45.274, P=0.000; t=36.586, P=0.000; t=32.486, P=0.000), and VAS score (1.8±0.9) was significantly lower than preoperative score (t=21.314, P=0.000).ConclusionArthroscopic surgery combined with direct anterior approach for hip diseases can effectively relieve pain, improve hip function, and obtain the satisfactory short-term effectiveness.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of thymalfasin (Tα1) as an adjuvant therapy for hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after surgery.MethodsPatients with HBV-related HCC who underwent hepatectomy from February 2007 to December 2015 in West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu Military General Hospital, or the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were retrospectively collected and divided into the Tα1 group and the observation group. Log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier curve were used to assess the overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and safety of patients. A Markov model was used to calculate the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of the Tα1 group compared with the observation group. Cost data was from the hospital information system of the three hospitals. Utility scores mainly came from published data. Sensitivity analyses were applied to explore the impact of essential variables.ResultsA total of 208 patients with HCC after liver resection were enrolled, among them 48 received Tα1 treatment (the Tα1 group) and 160 were only followed up (the observation group). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the baseline characteristics. The median overall survival of the Tα1 group and the observation group was 102.0 months [95% confidence interval (CI) (74.8, 129.2) months] and 81.6 months [95%CI (65.7, 97.6) months], respectively, and the difference was statisitically significant (P=0.047); the median recurrence-free survival was 66.7 months [95%CI (17.3, 116.1) months] and 37.4 months [95%CI (28.7, 46.2) months], respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.044). There were no grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ adverse events and no treatment-related death occurred. The ICER of Tα1 group was ￥108 050.02/QALY, which was less than the willingness to pay (￥177 785.25/QALY).ConclusionsTα1, as an adjuvant therapy for HBV-related HCC patients, can improve the prognosis of the patients, and the cost is within the acceptable level in our country, so this strategy is likely to be a cost-effective option compared with the observation group.
ObjectiveTo explore the clinical, imaging, and pathological features of patients with synchronous double primary hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (sdpHCC-ICC), to enhance our understanding of the disease and reduce the rate of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.MethodsThe clinical, imaging, and pathological data of patients who were histologically confirmed as sdpHCC-ICC in West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January 1st 2014 and December 31st 2018 were studied retrospectively.ResultsA total of 11 patients with sdpHCC-ICC were screened for the study, of which 10 were male and 1 was female. The median age of patients was 55.6 years (ranged from 47 to 73 years). Eight patients were chronically infected with hepatitis B virus. Both increased alpha-fetoprotein and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 were observed in 8 patients. Contrast enhanced CT was performed in 8 cases, color doppler ultrasound in 4 cases, enhanced MRI in 3 cases, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound in 1 case. Among them, one solitary lesion was found in 2 patients, and two or more lesions were observed in 9 patients. Most of the patients had typical imaging performance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): 8 patients showed strong enhancement of HCC during the hepatic arterial phase and progressive hyper-attenuation on venous and delayed phases, 1 patient showed peripheral rim enhancement in the arterial phase of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) in another lesion could be observed at the same time. None of the 11 patients with sdpHCC-ICC was diagnosed accurately before operation. All patients underwent surgical treatment. HCC lesions were distributed in all parts of the liver, while ICC lesions were located in the right lobe of the liver in 10 cases. The median diameter of HCC and ICC was 3.5 cm and 2.1 cm, respectively. All of them were confirmed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemistry.ConclusionsThe clinical characteristics of sdpHCC-ICC are usually atypical. It is difficult to make an accurate preoperative diagnosis. Tumor markers may be valuable to the diagnosis of sdpHCC-ICC. The definite diagnosis of sdpHCC-ICC depends on pathological examination.