Nodal Skip Metastasis: A Promising Predictor of Prognosis in ESCC

Abstract

survival for patients who undergo wedge resection. However, the optimal margin distance for wedge resection remains unclear. Mohiuddin and associates [3] found that the optimal cutoff margin distance is 1.5 cm for small (<2 cm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), whereas Wolf and colleagues [4] found that a margin distance greater than 1.1 cm was associated with overall survival, and Sawabata and colleagues [5] reported that a margin-to-tumor size ratio 1 is a sufficient tumor margin.Patients who undergo lobectomy or segmentectomy tend to have larger margins than do patients who undergo wedge resection. Furthermore, the extent of lymph node dissection is crucial for patients who undergo lobectomy, segmentectomy, or wedge resection for early-stage NSCLC [6]. Patients who undergo lobectomy or segmentectomy usually have systematic lymph node dissection or sampling, whereas patients undergoing wedge resection do not have a sufficient number of lymph nodes available for sampling, particularly intrapulmonary lymph nodes. We thus found that for tumors that are 1.1 to 2.0 cm, lobectomy and segmentectomy could lead to equivalent survival rates but showed better survival rates than did wedge resection on the basis of the large, population-based SEER database.In addition, the retrospective evaluation of margin distance may introduce the possibility of some inevitable bias [3][4][5]. Therefore, the optimal margin distance and surgical procedure choice for early-stage NSCLC needs to be determined by randomized prospective controlled trials.

Prolactin (PRL), placenta growth factor (PIGF) and nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) as biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC)

“…The 5-year OS is about 15–20% ( 6 ), so early diagnosis is particularly important to improve. Presently, the early diagnosis of EC is mainly based on clinical symptoms, radiological investigations, laboratory tests and endoscopic biopsy ( 7 - 9 ). The disadvantages of them are time consuming, high cost, poor patient tolerance, and low detection rate ( 10 ).…”