Effects of zoledronic acid and ibandronate in the treatment of cancer pain in rats with lung cancer combined with bone metastases

Combined chemotherapy of zoledronic acid and pamidronate in the treatment of bone metastases from nonsmall cell lung cancer and the effects on pain stress and bone metabolic indices

OBJECTIVE

We conducted this paper to decipher the efficacy of the combined chemotherapy of zoledronic acid and pamidronate in treating bone metastases from nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the effects on pain stress and bone metabolic indices.

METHODS

Patients with bone metastases from NSCLC were allocated into Group A and Group B. Patients in the Group A were administrated with pamidronate combined chemotherapy and patients in the Group B were administrated with zoledronic acid combined chemotherapy. The efficacy, pain symptom scores, quality of life scores, serum inflammatory factor, serum bone metabolic indices, serum pain stress indicators, and the occurrence of adverse effects were compared in patients of the two groups.

RESULTS

The total effective rate of treatment was higher in the Group B than in the Group A. After treatment, reduced Numerical Rating Scale scores and elevated Karnofsky Performance Score score, reduced serum levels of N-terminal mid-fragment of osteocalcin, N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, and type I collagen hydroxyl terminal peptide β special sequence, reduced serum levels of C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-6, as well as decreased levels of bradykinin, substance P, neuropeptide Y, and β-endorphin were found in the Group B versus the Group A. No notable difference was witnessed in the rate of adverse reactions between the Group A and the Group B.

CONCLUSION

Zoledronic acid combined with chemotherapy can effectively treat bone metastases of NSCLC and improve pain stress and bone metabolic status, which has value that can be promoted and applied in clinical treatment.

Survival benefit of resection surgery for lung adenocarcinoma with bone metastases and a post-operative prognosis nomogram establishment and validation

Background

Surgical resection is not usually recommended for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients with bone metastases. However, the criteria for surgery are constantly being adjusted and there is a need to focus on the prognostic role of cancer-directed surgery (CDS) for bone metastatic LUAD patients investigate the factors influencing survival of CDS. We determined the survival benefit of CDS for LUAD patients with bone metastases and to develop a prognostic nomogram to predict overall survival (OS) for patients after surgery.

Methods

LUAD patients with bone metastases from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2010-2015 were included and divided into CDS and non-CDS groups. The propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance baseline characteristics. We used Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests to compare cancer-specific survival (CSS) and OS between the two groups. Patients underwent CDS were randomly divided into training and validation cohorts to develop and validate a nomogram model to predict postoperative prognosis outcome-OS.

Results

Patients who underwent CDS had a better OS and CSS than those who did not underwent CDS (e.g., 1-year OS rate: 56.9% vs. 30.1%). Independent prognostic factors were selected by Cox regression analysis for CDS patients including age, sex, race, histological grade, N stage, and chemotherapy, and a nomogram was constructed to predict 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS after surgery according to the prognostic factors. The calibration curve and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the nomogram showed the model had a high predictive accuracy. [Area under the curve (AUC) at 1, 2, and 3 years in the training cohort were 0.735, 0.756 and 0.782, and in the validation cohort were 0.703, 0.758 and 0.836, respectively]. In addition, patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk groups based on prognostic scores, and Kaplan-Meier curves showed significant differences in prognosis between the two groups.

Conclusions

These results indicated that patients with bone metastasis of LUAD received survival benefit from CDS. The prognostic nomograms could assist clinicians in specifying individualized assessments, but further research is needed.

A predictive web-based nomogram for the early death of patients with lung adenocarcinoma and bone metastasis: a population-based study

Objective

To identify risk factors and develop predictive web-based nomograms for the early death of patients with bone metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

Methods

Patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database diagnosed with bone metastasis of LUAD between 2010 and 2016 were included and randomly divided into training and validation sets. Early death-related risk factors (survival time ≤7 months) were evaluated by logistic regression. Two predictive nomograms were established and validated by calibration curves, receiver operating characteristic curves, and decision curve analysis.

Results

A total of 9189 patients (56.59%) died from all causes within 7 months of being diagnosed, including 8585 patients (56.67%) who died from cancer-specific causes. Age >65 years, sex (men), T stage (T3 and T4), N stage (N2 and N3), brain metastasis, and liver metastasis were risk factors for all-cause and cancer-specific early death. The area under the curves of the nomograms for all-cause and cancer-specific early death prediction were 0.754 and 0.753 (training set) and 0.747 and 0.754 (validation set), respectively. Further analysis showed that the two nomograms performed well.

Conclusions

Our two web-based nomograms for all-cause and cancer-specific early death provide valuable tools for predicting early death in these patients.

Neurophysiological Mechanisms Related to Pain Management in Bone Tumors

BACKGROUND

Primary and metastatic bone tumor incidence has increased in the previous years. Pain is a common symptom and is one of the most important related factors to the decrease of quality of life in patients with bone tumor. Different pain management strategies are not completely effective and many patients afflicted by cancer pain cannot be controlled properly. In this sense, we need to elucidate the neurophysiology of cancer-induced pain, contemplating other components such as inflammation, neuropathies and cognitive components regarding bone tumors, and thus pave the way for novel therapeutic approaches in this field.

AIM

This study aims to identify the neurophysiology of the mechanisms related to pain management in bone tumors.

METHODS

Advanced searches were performed in scientific databases: PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCO, and the Science Citation index to get information about the neurophysiology mechanisms related to pain management in bone tumors.

RESULTS

The central and peripheral mechanisms that promote bone cancer pain are poorly understood. Studies have shown that bone cancer could be related to neurochemicals produced by tumor and inflammatory cells, coupled with peripheral sensitization due to nerve compression and injury caused by tumor growth. The activity of mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons, substance P, cysteine/ glutamate antiporter, and other neurochemical dynamics brings us putative strategies to suggest better and efficient treatments against pain in cancer patients.

CONCLUSION

Cancer-induced bone pain could include neuropathic and inflammatory pain, but with different modifications to the periphery tissue, nerves and neurochemical changes in different neurological levels. In this sense, we explore opportunity areas in pharmacological and nonpharmacological pain management, according to pain-involved mechanisms in this study.