Survival Benefit of Three Different Therapies in Postoperative Patients With Advanced Gastric Cancer: A Network Meta-Analysis

The synergistic effect of physical activity and nutrition to improve the quality of life in breast cancer patients: a systemic review

PURPOSE

Medical recommendations for balanced control of exercise, physical activity, and nutritional intake after breast cancer diagnosis remain unclear. Therefore, this review aims to summarize effective exercise methods and dietary opinions by reviewing clinical trial results.

METHODS

We systematically reviewed studies that evaluated 1) the relationship between exercise methods and quality of life improvement in patients with breast cancer and 2) the recommendations for physical activity, exercise, nutrition, and potential ways to improve life after breast cancer. To conduct this literature review, we searched the PubMed database for articles published until October 1, 2022, using the terms "physical activity OR exercise," "breast cancer," and "nutrition." After a primary review of the retrieved articles, we included clinical trials in this systematic review.

RESULTS

We hypothesized that physical activity improves the quality of life after the onset of breast cancer, suggesting that a balanced approach to aerobic exercise and resistance exercise increases the efficacy of anticancer treatment. From a nutritional point of view, it is recommended that both physical activity and diet management are necessary for patients with breast cancer.

CONCLUSION

Customized exercise and diet can help with weight loss, the reduction of cancer-induced fatigue, the regulation of hormonal changes, the reduction of inflammatory factors, and the improvement of mental health and vitality. Understanding the integrated mechanisms of physical activity and nutritional balance will improve the quality of life of patients with breast cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously advance exercise programs and develop an alimentary balance control program.

Survival analysis of elderly patients over 65 years old with stage II/III gastric cancer treated with adjuvant chemotherapy after laparoscopic D2 gastrectomy: a retrospective cohort study

Background

The benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy for elderly patients with gastric cancer (GC) remain unknown because elderly patients are underrepresented in most clinical trials. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and complications of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients > 65 years of age after laparoscopic D2 gastrectomy.

Methods

This was a single-center retrospective cohort study of elderly patients (> 65 years) with stage II/III GC who underwent curative laparoscopic D2 gastrectomy with R0 resection between 2004 and 2018. The adjuvant chemotherapy regimens included monotherapy (oral capecitabine) and doublet chemotherapy (oral capecitabine plus intravenous oxaliplatin [XELOX] or intravenous oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and 5-fluorouracil [FOLFOX]). The data were retrieved from a prospectively registered database maintained at the Department of General Surgery in Nanfang Hospital, China. The patients were divided as surgery alone and surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy (chemo group). The overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), chemotherapy duration, and toxicity were examined.

Results

There were 270 patients included: 169 and 101 in the surgery and chemo groups, respectively. There were 10 (10/101) and six (6/101) patients with grade 3+ non-hematological and hematological adverse events. The 1−/3−/5-year OS rates of the surgery group were 72.9%/51.8%/48.3%, compared with 90.1%/66.4%/48.6% for the chemo group (log-rank test: P = 0.018). For stage III patients, the 1−/3−/5-year OS rates of the surgery group were 83.7%/40.7%/28.7%, compared with 89.9%/61.2%/43.6% for the chemo group (log-rank test: P = 0.015). Adjuvant chemotherapy was significantly associated with higher OS (HR = 0.568, 95%CI: 0.357–0.903, P = 0.017) and DFS (HR = 0.511, 95%CI: 0.322–0.811, P = 0.004) in stage III patients.

Conclusions

This study suggested that adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improves OS and DFS compared with surgery alone in elderly patients with stage III GC after D2 laparoscopic gastrectomy, with a tolerable adverse event profile.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-07919-0.