Predictive markers for head and neck cancer treatment response: T1rho imaging in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objectives: To investigate the potential of T1rho, a new quantitative imaging sequence for cancer, for pre and early intra-treatment prediction of treatment response in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and compare the results with those of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).

Materials And Methods: T1rho and DWI imaging of primary NPCs were performed pre- and early intra-treatment in 41 prospectively recruited patients. The mean preT1rho, preADC, intraT1rho, intraADC, and % changes in T1rho (ΔT1rho%) and ADC (ΔADC%) were compared between residual and non-residual groups based on biopsy in all patients after chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with (n = 29) or without (n = 12) induction chemotherapy (IC), and between responders and non-responders to IC in the subgroup who received IC, using Mann-Whitney U-test.

Risk Factors Associated with Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting Among Women with Breast Cancer Receiving Highly Emetogenic Chemotherapy: Individual Patient-Based Analysis of Three Prospective Antiemetic Trials.

Purpose: Although risk factors related to chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) have been identified in previous studies, only a few studies have evaluated the risk factors associated with contemporary antiemetic prophylaxis, including olanzapine/aprepitant- or NEPA-containing regimens. This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with CINV development in Chinese breast cancer patients receiving doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy.

Methods: Data from 304 patients enrolled in 3 previously reported prospective antiemetic studies were included.

Radiologic extranodal extension for nodal staging in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: Extranodal extension (ENE) has the potential to add value to the current nodal staging system (N) for predicting outcome in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study aimed to incorporate ENE, as well as cervical nodal necrosis (CNN) to the current stage N3 and evaluated their impact on outcome prediction. The findings were validated on an external cohort.

Discriminating between benign and malignant salivary gland tumors using diffusion-weighted imaging and intravoxel incoherent motion at 3 Tesla.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the diagnostic performances of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) for discriminating between benign and malignant salivary gland tumors (SGTs).

Materials And Methods: Sixty-seven patients with 71 SGTs who underwent MRI examination at 3 Tesla were included. There were 34 men and 37 women with a mean age of 57 ± 17 (SD) years (age range: 20-90 years).

Prognostic value of cervical nodal necrosis on staging imaging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purposes: To systematically review and perform meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic value of cervical nodal necrosis (CNN) on the staging computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Methods: Literature search through PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library was conducted. The hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of CNN for distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were extracted from the eligible studies and meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the pooled HRs with 95%CI.

Higher Level of Sports Activities Participation during Five-Year Survival Is Associated with Better Quality of Life among Chinese Breast Cancer Survivors.

Evidence about the association between the level of sports activities participation post-diagnosis and quality of life (QoL) among Chinese women with early-stage breast cancer is limited. A validated modified Chinese Baecke questionnaire was used to prospectively measure sports activities among a breast cancer cohort at four time-points: baseline and 18, 36, and 60 months after diagnosis (sports activities during the previous 12 months before each interview); QoL was measured at the same time. In total, 1289, 1125, and 1116 patients were included in the analyses at 18-, 36- and 60-month follow-up, respectively.

Association of high adherence to vegetables and fruits dietary pattern with quality of life among Chinese women with early-stage breast cancer.

Purpose: Dietary intake and patients' quality of life (QoL) are important supportive care issues in breast cancer survivorship. This study aimed to identify dietary pattern before and after breast cancer diagnosis. In addition, the association between dietary patterns and QoL were cross-sectionally and longitudinally investigated.

Quality of Life Associated with Nausea and Vomiting from Anthracycline-Based Chemotherapy: A Pooled Data Analysis from Three Prospective Trials.

Background: There is limited work on the impact of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) on quality of life (QoL) in adriamycin-cyclophosphamide (AC)-treated patients with breast cancer. The objectives of the study were the following: (a) to confirm if symptoms of CINV led to lower QoL during AC; (b) to evaluate the pattern of changes in patients' QoL during multiple cycles of AC; and (c) to assess if the QoL in an earlier cycle affected the QoL in subsequent cycles of AC.

Materials And Methods: This is a secondary pooled data analysis that included 303 Chinese patients with breast cancer who received 1,177 cycles of adjuvant AC in three prospective antiemetic studies.

Menopausal symptoms inversely associated with quality of life: findings from a 5-year longitudinal cohort in Chinese breast cancer survivors.

Objective: This study assessed menopausal symptoms (MPS) after breast cancer in relation to quality of life (QoL) during the first 5 years of survival.

Methods: An ongoing prospective study enrolled 1,462 Chinese women with early-stage breast cancer. They were longitudinally followed up at four time-points, namely baseline, 18-, 36-, and 60-month after diagnosis.

Convolutional neural network in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: how good is automatic delineation for primary tumor on a non-contrast-enhanced fat-suppressed T2-weighted MRI?

Purpose: Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) show potential for delineating cancers on contrast-enhanced MRI (ce-MRI) but there are clinical scenarios in which administration of contrast is not desirable. We investigated performance of the CNN for delineating primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) on non-contrast-enhanced images and compared the performance to that on ce-MRI.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed primary NPC in 195 patients using a well-established CNN, U-Net, for tumor delineation on the non-contrast-enhanced fat-suppressed (fs)-T2W, ce-T1W and ce-fs-T1W images.

Bone Health in Premenopausal Chinese Patients after Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Early Breast Cancer.

Background: In this cohort study, the objectives were to determine bone mineral density (BMD) and potential associated factors for bone health among young premenopausal patients after adjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods: Eligibility criteria included premenopausal Chinese aged <45 years who had received adjuvant chemotherapy. At study entry, background demographics and menstrual history were collected; BMD was measured.

Test-retest repeatability of T1rho (T1ρ) MR imaging in the head and neck.

Purpose: T1rho imaging is a new quantitative MRI sequence for head and neck cancer and the repeatability for this region is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the repeatability of quantitative T1rho imaging in the head and neck.

Materials And Methods: T1rho imaging of the head and neck was prospectively performed in 15 healthy participants on three occasions.

Convolutional neural network for discriminating nasopharyngeal carcinoma and benign hyperplasia on MRI.

Objectives: A convolutional neural network (CNN) was adapted to automatically detect early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and discriminate it from benign hyperplasia on a non-contrast-enhanced MRI sequence for potential use in NPC screening programs.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 412 patients who underwent T2-weighted MRI, 203 of whom had biopsy-proven primary NPC confined to the nasopharynx (stage T1) and 209 had benign hyperplasia without NPC. Thirteen patients were sampled randomly to monitor the training process.

Intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging for discrimination of benign and malignant retropharyngeal nodes.

Purpose: Anatomical imaging criteria for the diagnosis of malignant head and neck nodes may not always be reliable. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of conventional diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) DWI in discriminating benign and malignant metastatic retropharyngeal nodes (RPNs).

Methods: IVIM DWI using 14 b-values was performed on RPNs of 30 patients with newly diagnosed metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and 30 patients with elevated plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-DNA without NPC who were part of an EBV-based NPC screening program.

Pre-treatment amide proton transfer imaging predicts treatment outcome in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objective: To investigate the value of pre-treatment amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) imaging for predicting survival of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Materials And Methods: Pre-treatment APTw imaging was performed in 77 NPC patients and the mean, 90th percentile, skewness, and kurtosis of APT asymmetry (APT, APT, APT, and APT, respectively) were obtained from the primary tumor. Associations of APTw parameters with locoregional relapse-free survival (LRRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and disease-free survival (DFS) after 2 years were assessed by univariable Cox regression analysis and significant APTw parameters, together with age, sex, treatment, and stage as confounding variables, were added to the multivariable model.

Pre-treatment intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging predicts treatment outcome in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: To evaluate whether pre-treatment intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) can predict treatment outcome after 2 years in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Method: One hundred and sixty-one patients with newly diagnosed NPC underwent pre-treatment IVIM-DWI. Univariate Cox regression analysis was performed to evaluate the correlation of the mean values of the pure diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo-diffusion coefficient (D*), perfusion fraction and apparent diffusion coefficient with local relapse-free survival (LRFS), regional relapse-free survival (RRFS), distant metastases-free survival (DMFS) and disease-free survival (DFS).

Dataset on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) and quality of life (QOL) during multiple chemotherapy cycles among a Chinese breast cancer patient population who were randomized to antiemetic regimens with or without olanzapine.

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) are highly distressing symptoms for cancer patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy. This dataset was obtained from a homogenous group of Chinese breast cancer patients who were uniformly planned to receive a highly emetogenic (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy regimen, consisting of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (commonly known as AC). Patients were being randomized to one of the two antiemetic regimens: aprepitant, ondansetron and dexamethasone with (the Olanzapine arm) or without olanzapine (the Standard arm).

ATOM: A phase II study to assess efficacy of preemptive local ablative therapy to residual oligometastases of NSCLC after EGFR TKI.

Objectives: NSCLC patients harboring EGFR mutation invariably developed resistance to EGFR TKI. We postulated that oligoresidual disease (ORD) after initial TKI might harbor resistant clones. This study aimed to test if preemptive local ablative therapy (LAT) can improve progression free survival (PFS) or not compared to historic data.

Menopausal symptoms in relationship to breast cancer-specific quality of life after adjuvant cytotoxic treatment in young breast cancer survivors.

Introductions: For young premenopausal breast cancer patients, adjuvant chemotherapy may cause menstrual disruptions and premature menopause, which may in turn impair their quality of life (QoL). In this study among young breast cancer survivors who have undergone adjuvant chemotherapy, the objectives were to assess post-treatment menopausal symptoms and their associated factors, and to correlate these symptoms with breast cancer-specific QoL.

Methods: The study population included premenopausal young Chinese women with early-stage breast cancer who had undergone adjuvant chemotherapy between 3 and 10 years prior to enrolling into this study.

Extranodal extension is a criterion for poor outcome in patients with metastatic nodes from cancer of the nasopharynx.

Purpose: Extranodal extension (ENE) is a criterion for advanced nodal staging of oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Our aim was to determine if ENE should be a staging criterion for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Materials & Methods: MRI of 546 NPC patients were reviewed retrospectively and in 404/546 (74.

Amide proton transfer MRI detects early changes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: providing a potential imaging marker for treatment response.

Purpose: To determine if treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) induces early changes in amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to perform a preliminary evaluation of APTw imaging in response assessment.

Methods: Sixteen patients with NPC planned for treatment with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy underwent APTw imaging of the primary tumour pre-treatment and 2-week intra-treatment. Difference in pre- and intra-treatment APT mean (APT) was compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: relationship between invasion of the prevertebral space and distant metastases.

Purpose: To identify primary sites of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) invasion on the staging head and neck magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that correlate with distant metastases (DM).

Materials And Methods: Staging head and neck MRI examinations of 579 NPC patients were assessed for primary tumour invasion into 16 individual sites, primary stage (T) and nodal stage (N). Results were correlated with distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) using the Cox regression, and the diagnostic performance of significant independent markers for DM was calculated.

Profiles of lipids, blood pressure and weight changes among premenopausal Chinese breast cancer patients after adjuvant chemotherapy.

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy improves outcome of patients with early breast cancer. However, chemotherapy may be associated with long term toxicities. In this retrospective cohort study, the objectives were to determine body weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and fasting lipids levels of young premenopausal Chinese breast cancer patients after adjuvant chemotherapy.

Prediction of distant metastases from nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Improved diagnostic performance of MRI using nodal volume in N1 and N2 stage disease.

Purpose: To determine if the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the head and neck can predict distant metastases (DM) from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods And Materials: MRI examinations of 763 NPC patients were assessed for primary tumour stage (T), nodal stage (N), primary tumour volume (PTV) and total nodal volume (NV). The association between MRI and clinical parameters were examined in DM+ and DM- patients using logistic regression and for distant metastases free survival (DMFS) using cox regression.

Applicability of albumin-bilirubin-based Japan integrated staging score in hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background And Aim: The Japan Integrated Staging (JIS) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been extensively studied in hepatitis virus C-endemic Japanese population but seldom evaluated outside Japan, while albumin-bilirubin (ALBI)-based JIS (ALBI-T) has never been externally validated. We evaluate the prognostic significance of the ALBI-T score among Chinese patients with hepatitis virus B (HBV)-related HCC, and to explore its potential therapeutic application in selecting patients for appropriate treatments in addition to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) recommendation.

Methods: A cohort of 1222 HBV-associated HCC patients was evaluated to compare the prognostic performance of JIS and ALBI-T scores by homogeneity likelihood chi-square and corrected Akaike information criterion.