BackgroundThe association of sarcopenia and visceral obesity to treatment outcome is not clear for locally advanced rectal cancer. This study evaluates the influence of skeletal muscle and visceral fat on short‐term and long‐term outcomes in locally advanced rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy followed by curative resection.MethodsA total of 188 patients with locally advanced cancer were included between January 2009 and December 2013. Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy was followed by curative resection. Sarcopenia and visceral obesity were identified in initial staging CT by measuring the muscle and visceral fat area at the third lumbar vertebra level.ResultsAmong the 188 included patients, 74 (39.4%) patients were sarcopenic and 97 (51.6%) patients were viscerally obese. Sarcopenia and high levels of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen were significant prognostic factors for overall survival (P = 0.013, 0.014, respectively) in the Cox regression multivariate analysis. Visceral obesity was not associated with overall survival; however, it did tend to shorten disease‐free survival (P = 0.079).ConclusionsSarcopenia is negatively associated with overall survival in locally advanced rectal cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy and curative resection. Visceral obesity tended to shorten disease‐free survival. Future studies should be directed to optimize patient conditions according to body composition status.

Technologies for the longitudinal monitoring of a person's health are poorly integrated with clinical workflows, and have rarely produced actionable biometric data for healthcare providers. Here, we describe easily deployable hardware and software for the long-term analysis of a user's excreta through data collection and models of human health. The 'smart' toilet, which is selfcontained and operates autonomously by leveraging pressure and motion sensors, analyses the user's urine using a standard-of-care colorimetric assay that traces red-green-blue values from images of urinalysis strips, calculates the flow rate and volume of urine using computer vision as a uroflowmeter, and classifies stool according to the Bristol stool form scale using deep learning, with performance that is comparable to the performance of trained medical personnel. Each user of the toilet is identified through their fingerprint and the distinctive features of their anoderm, and the data are securely stored and analysed in an encrypted cloud server. The toilet may find uses in the screening, diagnosis and longitudinal monitoring of specific patient populations.

We developed a risk stratification system that should facilitate the identification of patients with a high or low risk of lymph node metastasis. This may aid the precise selection of patients who can undergo endoscopic resection.

AIMTo evaluate a novel grading system to predict lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients with submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma (SICRC).METHODSWe analyzed the associations between LNM and various clinicopathological features in 252 patients with SICRC who had undergone radical surgery at the Seoul Saint Mary’s hospital between 2000 and 2015.RESULTSLNM was observed in 31 patients (12.3%). The depth and width of the submucosal invasion, lymphatic invasion, tumor budding, and the presence of poorly differentiated clusters (PDCs) were significantly associated with the incidence of LNM. Using multivariate analysis, the receiver operating characteristic curvewas calculated and the area under curve (AUC) was used to compare the ability of the different parameters to identify the risk of LNM. The most powerful clinicopathological parameter for predicting LNM was lymphatic invasion (difference AUC = 0.204), followed by the presence or absence of tumor budding (difference AUC = 0.190), presence of PDCs (difference AUC = 0.172) and tumor budding graded by the Ueno method (difference AUC = 0.128).CONCLUSIONOur results indicate that the tumor budding and the depth multiplied by the width measurements of submucosal invasion can provide important information for patients with SICRC.

BackgroundGenome-wide association studies have identified numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in populations of European descent. However, their utility for predicting risk to CRC in Asians remains unknown. A case-cohort study (random sub-cohort N = 1,685) from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study-II (KCPS-II) (N = 145,842) was used. Twenty-three SNPs identified in previous 47 studies were genotyped on the KCPS-II sub-cohort members. A genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated by summing the number of risk alleles over all SNPs. Prediction models with or without GRS were evaluated in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) and the continuous net reclassification index (NRI).ResultsSeven of 23 SNPs showed significant association with CRC and rectal cancer in Koreans, but not with colon cancer alone. AUROCs (95% CI) for traditional risk score (TRS) alone and TRS plus GRS were 0.73 (0.69–0.78) and 0.74 (0.70–0.78) for CRC, and 0.71 (0.65–0.77) and 0.74 (0.68–0.79) for rectal cancer, respectively. The NRI (95% CI) for a prediction model with GRS compared to the model with TRS alone was 0.17 (-0.05-0.37) for CRC and 0.41 (0.10–0.68) for rectal cancer alone.ConclusionOur results indicate genetic variants may be useful for predicting risk to CRC in the Koreans, especially risk for rectal cancer alone. Moreover, this study suggests effective prediction models for colon and rectal cancer should be developed separately.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12863-015-0207-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

PurposeTo investigate the efficacy and safety of the transanal tube (TAT) in preventing anastomotic leak (AL) in rectal cancer surgery.MethodsClinical data of the patients who underwent curative surgery for mid rectal cancer from February 2010 to February 2014 were reviewed retrospectively. Rectal cancers arising 5 to 10 cm above the anal verge were selected. Patients were divided into the ileostomy, TAT, or no-protection groups. Postoperative complications including AL and postoperative course were compared.ResultsWe included 137 patients: 67, 35, and 35 patients were included in the ileostomy, TAT, and no-protection groups, respectively. Operation time was longer in the ileostomy group (P = 0.029), and more estimated blood loss was observed (P = 0.018). AL occurred in 5 patients (7.5%) in the ileostomy group, 1 patients (2.9%) in the TAT group, and 6 patients (17.1%) in the no-protection group (P = 0.125). Patients in the ileostomy group resumed diet more than 1 day earlier than those in the other groups (P = 0.000). Patients in the no-protection group had about 1 or 2 days longer postoperative hospital stay (P = 0.048). The ileostomy group showed higher late complication rates than the other groups as complications associated with the stoma itself or repair operation developed (P = 0.019).ConclusionFor mid rectal cancer surgery, the TAT supports anastomotic site protection and diverts ileostomy-related complications. Further large scale randomized controlled studies are needed to gain more evidence and expand the range of TAT usage.

Spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage is one of the most serious and often lethal complications of anticoagulation therapy. The clinical symptoms vary from femoral neuropathy to abdominal compartment syndrome or fatal hypovolemic shock. Of these symptoms, abdominal compartment syndrome is the most serious of all, because it leads to anuria, worsening of renal failure, a decrease in cardiac output, respiratory failure, and intestinal ischemia. We report a case of a spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage in a 48-year-old female who had been receiving warfarin and aspirin for her artificial aortic valve. She presented with a sudden onset of lower abdominal pain, dizziness and a palpable abdominal mass after prolonged straining to defecate. Computed tomography demonstrated a huge retroperitoneal hematoma and active bleeding from the right internal iliac artery. After achieving successful bleeding control with transcatheter arterial embolization, surgical decompression of the hematoma was performed for management of the femoral neuropathy and the abdominal compartment syndrome. She recovered without any complications. We suggest that initial hemostasis by transcatheter arterial embolization followed by surgical decompression of hematoma is a safe, effective treatment method for a spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage complicated with intractable pain, femoral neuropathy, or abdominal compartment syndrome.

Background BRAF and KRAS mutations are well-established biomarkers in anti-EGFR therapy. However, the prognostic significance of these mutations is still being examined. We determined the prognostic value of BRAF and KRAS mutations in Korean colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.MethodsFrom July 2010 to September 2013, 1096 patients who underwent surgery for CRC at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital were included in the analysis. Resected specimens were examined for BRAF, KRAS, and microsatellite instability (MSI) status. All data were reviewed retrospectively.ResultsAmong 1096 patients, 401 (36.7%) had KRAS mutations and 44 (4.0%) had BRAF mutations. Of 83 patients, 77 (92.8%) had microsatellite stable (MSS) or MSI low (MSI-L) status while 6 (7.2%) patients had MSI high (MSI-H) status. Patients with BRAF mutation demonstrated a worse disease-free survival (DFS, HR 1.990, CI 1.080–3.660, P = 0.02) and overall survival (OS, HR 3.470, CI 1.900–6.330, P < 0.0001). Regarding KRAS status, no significant difference was noted in DFS (P = 0.0548) or OS (P = 0.107). Comparing the MSS/MSI-L and MSI-H groups there were no significant differences in either DFS (P = 0.294) or OS (P = 0.557).Conclusions BRAF mutation, rather than KRAS, was a significant prognostic factor in Korean CRC patients at both early and advanced stages. The subgroup analysis for MSI did not show significant differences in clinical outcome. BRAF should be included in future larger prospective biomarker studies on CRC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-017-3381-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.