Effect of radiotherapy on local control and overall survival in spinal metastasis of non-small-cell lung cancer after surgery and systemic therapy

Aims

Radiotherapy is a well-known local treatment for spinal metastases. However, in the presence of postoperative systemic therapy, the efficacy of radiotherapy on local control (LC) and overall survival (OS) in patients with spinal metastases remains unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of post-surgical radiotherapy for spinal metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and to identify factors correlated with LC and OS.

Methods

A retrospective, single-centre review was conducted of patients with spinal metastases from NSCLC who underwent surgery followed by systemic therapy at our institution from January 2018 to September 2022. Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank tests were used to compare the LC and OS between groups. Associated factors for LC and OS were assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.

Results

Overall, 123 patients with 127 spinal metastases from NSCLC who underwent decompression surgery followed by postoperative systemic therapy were included. A total of 43 lesions were treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) after surgery and 84 lesions were not. Survival rate at one, two, and three years was 83.4%, 58.9%, and 48.2%, respectively, and LC rate was 87.8%, 78.8%, and 78.8%, respectively. Histological type was the only significant associated factor for both LC (p = 0.007) and OS (p < 0.001). Treatment with targeted therapy was significantly associated with longer survival (p = 0.039). The risk factors associated with worse survival were abnormal laboratory data (p = 0.021), lesions located in the thoracic spine (p = 0.047), and lumbar spine (p = 0.044). This study also revealed that postoperative radiotherapy had little effect in improving OS or LC.

Conclusion

Tumour histological type was significantly associated with the prognosis in spinal NSCLC metastasis patients. In the presence of post-surgical systemic therapy, radiotherapy appeared to be less effective in improving LC, OS, or quality of life in spinal NSCLC metastasis patients.

The lactate to albumin ratio linked to all-cause mortality in critically ill patients with septic myocardial injury

Background

The lactate to albumin ratio (LAR) has emerged as a promising prognostic marker in critically ill patients. Despite its potential utility, the prognostic value of LAR in septic myocardial injury (SMI) remains uncertain.

Methods

This study aims to investigate the prognostic significance of LAR in SMI through a retrospective cohort analysis of data from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) (v1.4) database. The study included intensive care unit (ICU)-admitted patients (age ≥18 years) diagnosed with SMI. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality.

Results

A total of 704 patients were included in the study, of which 59.10% were male. Hospital mortality and ICU mortality rates were recorded at 29.97% and 22.87%, respectively. After adjusting for confounding factors, multivariate Cox proportional risk analysis demonstrated that LAR was independently associated with an increased risk of both hospital mortality (HR, 1.39 [95% CI: 1.24-1.56] P < 0.001) and ICU mortality (HR, 1.46 [95% CI: 1.29-1.65] P < 0.001). Furthermore, the generalized additive model (GAM) and restricted cubic spline (RCS) model indicated a linear relationship between LAR and mortality rates in the ICU and hospital.

Conclusions

The LAR may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker in critically ill patients with SMI. High LAR levels are associated with a higher risk of in-hospital mortality and can help identify individuals with high mortality rates. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of using LAR as a tool for risk stratification and management of critically ill patients with SMI.

Red blood cell distribution width and all-cause mortality in congestive heart failure patients: a retrospective cohort study based on the Mimic-III database

Background

The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a metric that measures the variation in the size of red blood cells and is presented as the red blood cell volume coefficient of variation. Increased RDW levels are closely linked to an elevated risk of death from congestive heart failure (CHF) and might be a new risk marker for cardiovascular disease. This research sought to evaluate the possible link between RDW levels and all-cause mortality in CHF patients after controlling for other covariates.

Methods

The publicly accessible Mimic-III database served as the source of data for our research. We employed ICU admission scoring systems to gather information on each patient's demographical data, laboratory test results, comorbid conditions, vital signs, and scores. Among CHF patients, the link between baseline RDW levels and short-, medium-, and long-term all-cause mortality was evaluated by Cox proportional hazard analysis, smooth curve fitting, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves.

Results

In total, 4,955 participants were selected for the study with an average age of 72.3 ± 13.5 years (old) and with males accounting for 53.1%. The findings recorded from the fully adjusted Cox proportional hazard model showed that higher RDW was associated with a greater risk of 30-day, 90-day, 365-day, and 4-year all-cause death; the HRs and 95% confidence intervals were 1.11 (1.05, 1.16), 1.09 (1.04, 1.13), 1.10 (1.06, 1.14), and 1.10 (1.06, 1.13), respectively. The results were stable and reliable using subgroup analysis. Smooth curve fitting and the K-M survival curve method further validated our results.

Conclusion

The RDW levels had a u-shaped connection with 30-day mortality. The RDW level was linked to an elevated risk of short-, medium-, and long-term all-cause death among CHF patients.

The association between serum anion gap and all-cause mortality of unselected adult patients: A retrospective cohort study of >20,000 patients

BACKGROUND

Even though the serum anion gap (AG) is frequently measured in clinical practice, there is not much research that has examined long-term mortality in unselected adult patients. Our study's objective was to investigate how serum anion gap levels could be used to predict death in unselected participants.

METHODS

The relationship between baseline serum AG levels and short-, intermediate-, and long-term all-cause mortality in unselected adult patients is examined using the Cox proportional risk analysis, smoothed curve fitting, subgroup analysis, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves.

RESULTS

After screening the database using the appropriate method, a total of 26,270 patients were enrolled in our study for the final data analysis. Our study used smoothed curve fit plots and COX proportional risk regression models incorporating cubic spline functions to evaluate the association between AG levels and all-cause mortality in a non-selected population, and the results indicated a non-linear relationship. In the fully adjusted model, we found that AG levels were positively associated with 30-day, 90-day, 365-day, and 4-year all-cause mortality in unselected adult patients with HRs of 1.08 95% CIs (1.06, 1.09); 1.08 95% CIs (1.06, 1.09); 1.08 95% CIs (1.07, 1.08); 1.07 95% CIs (1.06, 1.07).

CONCLUSION

Serum anion gap levels were positively correlated with all-cause mortality in unselected adult patients, with increasing levels of serum anion gap increasing patient mortality.

Developing DNA methylation-based prognostic biomarkers of acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous clonal neoplasm characterized by complex genomic alterations. The incidence of AML increases with age, and most cases experience serious illness and poor prognosis. To explore the relationship between abnormal DNA methylation and the occurrence and development of AML based on the Gene Expression Database (GEO), this study extracted data related to methylation in AML and identified a methylated CpG site that was significantly different in terms of expression and distribution between the primary cells of AML patients, and hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells from normal bone marrow. To further investigate the differences caused by the dysfunction of methylation sites, bioinformatics analysis was used to screen methylation-related biomarkers, and the potential prognostic genes were selected by univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regressions. Finally, five independent prognostic indicators were identified. In addition, these results provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of methylation.