These findings suggested that EVBT combined with stent placement and TACE might be a safe and effective palliative treatment option for HCC with main portal vein tumor thrombus.

Purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) in patients with renal hemorrhage after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and evaluate the risk factors that may result in severe bleeding requiring TAE. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed 121 patients with post-PCNL renal hemorrhage. Thirty-two patients receiving endovascular embolization were compared with 89 patients only receiving conservative treatment. The demographic and clinical data were recorded and compared between the two groups. The values of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and serum creatinine (SCr) were recorded preoperatively, postoperatively, and at last follow-up and analyzed to evaluate the safety and efficiency of TAE. Results. The successful hemostasis rate of conservative therapy was 73.6% (89/121) and that of TAE was 100% (32/32). SCr and eGFR were not significantly different before PCNL and after the last follow-up of TAE (SCr: 0.95 vs. 0.95 mg/dl, P=0.857; eGFR: 86.77 vs. 86.18 ml/min/1.73m2, P=0.715). The univariate analysis demonstrated that advanced age, urinary tract infection, and diabetes mellitus were significantly associated with severe bleeding during PCNL. Multivariate analysis further identified that diabetes mellitus was an independent risk factor for severe bleeding needing TAE [odds ratio (OR): 3.778, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.276-11.190, and P=0.016]. Conclusion. TAE is a safe and effective procedure to treat renal hemorrhage that cannot be resisted by conservative treatment after PCNL. Diabetes mellitus was associated with high risks of severe bleeding needing TAE after PCNL.

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal cancer of all gynecological malignancies, while endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common one. Current strategies for OC/EC diagnosis consist of the extraction of a solid tissue from the affected area. This sample enables the study of specific biomarkers and the genetic nature of the tumor. However, the tissue extraction is risky and painful for the patient and in some cases is unavailable in inaccessible tumors. Moreover, a tissue biopsy is expensive and requires a highly skilled gynecological surgery to pinpoint accurately which cannot be applied repeatedly. New alternatives that overcome these drawbacks are rising up nowadays, such as liquid biopsy. A liquid biopsy is the analysis of biomarkers in a non-solid biological tissue, mainly blood, which has remarkable advantages over the traditional method. The most studied cancer non-invasive biomarkers are circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and circulating free DNA (cfDNA). These circulating biomarkers play a key role in the understanding of metastasis and tumorigenesis, which could provide a better insight into the evolution of the tumor dynamics during treatment and disease progression. Liquid biopsy is an emerging non-invasive, safe and effective method with considerable potential for clinical diagnosis and treatment management in patients with OC and EC. Analysis of cfDNA and ctDNA will provide a better characterization of biomarkers and give rise to a wide range of clinical applications, such as early detection of OC/EC, the prediction of treatment responses due to the discovery of personalized tumor-related biomarkers, and therapeutic response monitoring.

AIMTo evaluate the safety and efficacy of combined endovascular brachytherapy (EVBT), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), and sorafenib to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with main portal vein tumor thrombus (MPVTT).METHODSThis single-center retrospective study involved 68 patients with unresectable HCC or those who were unfit for liver transplantation and percutaneous frequency ablation according to the BCLC classification. All patients had Child-Pugh classification grade A or B, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2, and MPVTT. The patients received either EVBT with stent placement, TACE, and sorafenib (group A, n = 37), or TACE with sorafenib (group B, n = 31). The time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated by propensity score analysis.RESULTSIn the entire cohort, the 6-, 12-, and 24-mo survival rates were 88.9%, 54.3%, and 14.1% in group A, and 45.8%, 0%, and 0% in group B, respectively (P < 0.001). The median TTP and OS were significantly longer in group A than group B (TTP: 9.0 mo vs 3.4 mo, P < 0.001; OS: 12.3 mo vs 5.2 mo, P < 0.001). In the propensity score-matched cohort, the median OS was longer in group A than in group B (10.3 mo vs 6.0 mo, P < 0.001). Similarly, the median TTP was longer in group A than in group B (9.0 mo vs 3.4 mo, P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that the EVBT combined with stent placement, TACE, and sorafenib strategy was an independent predictor of favorable OS (HR = 0.18, P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONEVBT combined with stent placement, TACE, and sorafenib might be a safe and effective palliative treatment option for MPVTT.