ObjectiveThe role of lymphadenectomy in interval debulking surgery (IDS) performed after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in advanced ovarian cancer remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the clinical significance of lymphadenectomy in IDS.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed and analyzed the data of patients with advanced ovarian cancer who underwent NACT followed by IDS.ResultsIn 303 patients receiving NACT-IDS, lymphadenectomy was performed in 127 (41.9%) patients. One hundred and sixty-three (53.8%) patients achieved no gross residual disease (NGRD), and 69 (22.8%) had residual disease < 1 cm, whereas 71 (23.4%) had residual disease ≥ 1cm. No significant difference in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was observed between the lymphadenectomy group and the no lymphadenectomy group in patients with NGRD, residual disease < 1 cm, and residual disease ≥ 1 cm, respectively. The proportions of pelvic, para-aortic and distant lymph node recurrence were 7.9% (10/127), 4.7% (6/127) and 5.5% (7/127) in the lymphadenectomy group, compared with 5.7% (10/176, P = 0.448), 4.5% (8/176, P = 0.942) and 5.1% (9/176, P = 0.878), respectively, in no lymphadenectomy group. Multivariate analysis identified residual disease ≥ 1 cm [hazard ratios (HR), 4.094; P = 0.008] and elevated CA125 levels after 3 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy (HR, 2.883; P = 0.004) were negative predictors for OS.ConclusionLymphadenectomy may have no therapeutic value in patients with advanced ovarian cancer underwent NACT-IDS. Our findings may help to better the therapeutic strategy for advanced ovarian cancer. More clinical trials are warranted to further clarify the real role of lymphadenectomy in IDS.

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Background: Screening for elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) can help identifying individuals at the risks of chronic and metabolic diseases, but blood collection is invasive and cannot be widely used for investigations. Considered as simple and inexpensive screening indices, individual characteristics and anthropometric measurements can be measured in a large crowd and may be important surrogate markers for ALAT levels. This study aimed to examine the diagnostic performance of individual characteristics and anthropometric parameters as predictive factors for discerning an elevated ALAT activity among Shenzhen children and adolescents. Methods: A school-based screening study was performed from 9 high schools in Shenzhen during February 2017 and June 2018. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to examine the diagnostic performance of each variable for detecting elevated ALAT. Results: Altogether 7271 students aged 9-17 years were involved. The proportion of elevated ALAT greatly increased with increasing classification of BMI-z. By the sex-specific cutoffs for elevated ALAT (30 U/L boys; 19 U/L girls), BMI showed the highest area under the curve of 0.789 (95% CI 0.765-0.812) and followed by weight (0.779 [0.755-0.802]), BMI-z (0.747 [0.722-0.772]), height (0.622 [0.597-0.647]), and age (0.608 [0.584-0.632]), while height-z was not capable. With the cutoff of 67.8 kg for weight and 22.6 kg/m 2 for BMI, the accuracy to identify elevated ALAT was 87.1% for weight and 82.9% for BMI. Conclusions: The presence of elevated ALAT was more common in overweight or obese children and adolescents. BMI and weight had the superiority of detecting elevated ALAT, followed by BMI-z, height, and age.

Objective : The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the perceptions and attitudes to participate in radical and palliative clinical trials among Chinese lymphoma and head/neck cancer patients. Patients and Methods : A self-developed questionnaire was administered to hospitalized patients in the Department of Medical Oncology in Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center between 20 September 2014 and 20 September 2015. This study included lymphoma patients who were enrolled into a radical treatment clinical trial, and head/neck cancer patients participating in a palliative clinical trial. Results : There were 136 lymphoma patients and 87 head/neck cancer patients who completed and returned the questionnaire. The questionnaire return rate was 100%. More than 90% of the patients in both groups showed trust and acceptance for medical care personnel, and more than 50% of the patients in both groups were in hope of trying new medication, receiving free medication, and receiving new treatment at an earlier rate. As compared with those in the radical trials, patients in the palliative clinical trials were more likely to hope to try new medication ( P <0.001) and receive a new treatment at an earlier date ( P =0.025), but less likely to hope to receive free medication ( P =0.047). Conclusions : This study reveals several shared perceptions and needs of patients in both the radical (lymphoma) and palliative (head/neck cancer) settings and explores the differences in patients' attitudes between radical clinical trials and palliative clinical trials. These findings may provide a basis for improving recruitment of patients for different types of clinical trials and ensuring that patients have a better understanding of clinical trials.

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