The impact of early adjuvant chemotherapy in rectal cancer

Epidemiology, incidence and treatment of rectal cancer in young women case serie about 11 cases (case series)

Introduction

Rectal cancer constitutes, by its frequency and its gravity, a real concern of the public health in the world, it represents the eighth most frequent cancer. Its incidence is increasing in young people and in particular in women, in whom it remains a rare disease known for its poor prognosis.The objective of our work is to highlight the epidemiological characteristics of rectal cancer in patients under 40 years of age, determine its incidence and outline the different therapeutic means.

Materials and methods

Our work is a retrospective study with a descriptive aim on a series of 11 female patients aged less than 40 years, operated for rectal cancer in the department of digestive cancer surgery and liver transplantation Casablanca Morocco, over a period of 7 years from January 2013 to December 2019.

Results

The average age of our patients was 34.8 years. The average diagnostic delay was 10 months. The most frequent clinical sign was rectorrhagia (90.9% of cases). On rectal examination, the tumor was inaccessible in 18.8% of cases and externalized in 9.09% of cases. It was located in the lower rectum in 36.36% of cases, the same for the middle rectum. Rectoscopy showed that the majority of tumors were circumferential (36.36%). The budding ulcerative aspect was the most frequently found with 7 cases or 63.63%. The histological study showed the predominance of lieberkühnian adenocarcinoma (63.63%). Thoracic-abdominal-pelvic CT scan showed liver metastases in only one patient (9.09%). Pelvic MRI showed invasion of the mesorectum in 5 cases (45.45%) and of the internal sphincter in 3 cases (27.27%). All our patients underwent laparotomy. Curative surgery was performed in 8 patients and 3 patients had palliative surgery. Preoperative radiotherapy was performed in 81.81% of cases. The evolution was marked by 27.27% of locoregional recurrences. The operative mortality was nil in our series.

Conclusion

Detection of patients with precancerous conditions, screening for cancer in subjects at risk (familial recto-colic cancer, familial recto-colonic polyposis and ulcerative colitis), suspicion of cancer in the presence of any proctological sign, early diagnosis and curative surgical resection preceded by radiotherapy are the means that can improve the prognosis of rectal cancer in young women.

The impact of preoperative oral nutrition supplementation on outcomes in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery for cancer in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Malnutrition is an independent predictor for postoperative complications in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We systematically reviewed evidence on the impact of preoperative oral nutrition supplementation (ONS) on patients undergoing gastrointestinal cancer surgery in LMICs. We searched EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, WHO Global Index Medicus, SciELO, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS) databases from inception to March 21, 2022 for randomised controlled trials evaluating preoperative ONS in gastrointestinal cancer within LMICs. We evaluated the impact of ONS on all postoperative outcomes using random-effects meta-analysis. Seven studies reported on 891 patients (446 ONS group, 445 control group) undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal cancer. Preoperative ONS reduced all cause postoperative surgical complications (risk ratio (RR) 0.53, 95% CI 0.46-0.60, P < 0.001, I2 = 0%, n = 891), infection (0.52, 0.40-0.67, P = 0.008, I2 = 0%, n = 570) and all-cause mortality (0.35, 0.26-0.47, P = 0.014, I2 = 0%, n = 588). Despite heterogeneous populations and baseline rates, absolute risk ratio (ARR) was reduced for all cause (pooled effect -0.14, -0.22 to -0.06, P = 0.006; number needed to treat (NNT) 7) and infectious complications (-0.13, -0.22 to -0.06, P < 0.001; NNT 8). Preoperative nutrition in patients undergoing gastrointestinal cancer surgery in LMICs demonstrated consistently strong and robust treatment effects across measured outcomes. However additional higher quality research, with particular focus within African populations, are urgently required.