Twenty percent of colon cancers present as an emergency. However, the association between emergency presentation and disease-free survival (DFS) remains uncertain. Consecutive patients who underwent elective (CC) and emergent (eCC) resection for colon cancer were included in the analysis. Survival outcomes were compared between the 2 groups in univariate/multivariate analyses. A total of 439 patients underwent colonic resection for colon cancer during the interval 2000-2010; 97 (22.1%) presented as an emergency. eCC tumors were more often located at the splenic flexure (P = 0.017) and descending colon (P = 0.004). The eCC group displayed features of more advanced disease with a higher proportion of T4 (P = 0.009), N2 tumors (P < 0.01) and lymphovascular invasion (P< 0.01). eCC was associated with adverse locoregional recurrence (P = 0.02) and adverse DFS (P < 0.01 ) on univariate analysis. eCC remained an independent predictor of adverse locoregional recurrence (HR 1.86, 95% CI 1.50-3.30, P = 0.03) and DFS (HR 1.30, 95% CI 0.88-1.92, P = 0.05) on multivariate analysis. eCC was not associated with adverse overall survival and systemic recurrence. eCC is an independent predictor of adverse locoregional recurrence and DFS.
Background: It remains difficult to distinguish between complicated appendicitis (CAP) and uncomplicated appendicitis (UAP). There is a paucity of studies utilizing inflammatory markers to stratify the severity of acute appendicitis. This study aimed to evaluate and demonstrate the potential clinical utility of inflammatory markers as adjuncts in distinguishing CAP and UAP. Methods: A comparative observational study was performed. Patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis were categorized as (a) complicated (necrosis, perforation, abscess) and (b) uncomplicated (inflamed, edematous). Hematological indices were combined to generate the following ratios: white cell lymphocyte ratio (WLR), white cell neutrophil ratio (WNR) and neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Parameter accuracy was assessed using summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curves, classification and regression tree analysis and confusion matrix generation. Results: On sROC analysis, neutrophils (area under the curve (AUC) 0.79, p < 0.001), WLR (AUC 0.79, p < 0.001) and NLR (AUC 0.79, p < 0.001) were the most accurate parameters in distinguishing CAP and UAP. White cell count (WCC; AUC 0.76, p < 0.001) and C-reactive protein (AUC 0.75, p < 0.001) were less accurate. WCC >12.25 (sensitivity 70%, specificity 68%) and NLR >5.47 (sensitivity 78%, specificity 70%) were the most accurate in identifying CAP. Conclusion: Inflammatory marker cutoff points can be generated and utilized to differentiate between UAP and CAP. This may be useful when deciding between conservative and operative management.
In this retrospective analysis, lymphovascular invasion positivity was associated with different patterns of disease recurrence in colon and rectal cancer. Lymphovascular invasion positivity was associated with adverse overall survival in rectal cancer only.
Background: The usefulness of inflammatory indices in assessment of the severity of acute diverticulitis remains unestablished. The aim of this study was to determine whether inflammatory indices and hematological ratios could be utilised to differentiate between uncomplicated and complicated diverticulitis. Methods: Hematological and inflammatory indices were recorded for each admission with CT confirmed acute diverticulitis (101 complicated, 127 uncomplicated). Cases were divided into training (n = 57) and test sets (n = 171). A classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was employed in the training set to identify optimal inflammatory marker cut-off points associated with complicated diverticulitis. Samples (test set) were then categorized as (A) greater than and (B) less than CART identified cut-off points. The predictive properties of inflammatory marker cut-off points in distinguishing severity of diverticulitis were assessed using a univariate logistic regression analysis, summary receiver operating characteristic curves and confusion matrix generation. Results: C-reactive protein >109 mg/ml (OR 3.07, 95% CI 1.43-6.61, p = 0.004, area under the curve; AUC = 0.64) and white cell lymphocyte ratio (WLR) >17.72 (OR 4.23, 95% CI 1.95-9.17, p < 0.001, AUC = 0.64) were the most accurate parameters in distinguishing complicated and uncomplicated disease. WCC >21 × 109/l (p = 0.02, AUC = 0.60) and lymphocyte count >0.55 × 109/l (p = 0.009, AUC = 0.60) were less accurate. Conclusion: Widely used inflammatory indices are useful in the depiction of complicated diverticulitis. The indices cut-off points highlighted in this study should be considered at the time of diagnosis in combination with radiological features of complicated diverticulitis.
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