Trimodality Approach for Esophageal Malignancies

Prevention and Treatment of Intraoperative Complications During Gynecological Laparoscopic Surgery: Practical Tips and Tricks-A Narrative Review

Several complications can occur during laparoscopic gynecological surgery. The insertion of trocars and the induction of pneumoperitoneum are essential steps, but they can still pose potential risks during laparoscopic surgery. Bowel injuries are the most common during gynecological procedures as a result of thermal damage and trocar placement, while vessel injuries may carry a high mortality rate. Gynecologic surgeons should be aware of the risks associated with laparoscopic procedures and be able to prevent and treat potential complications. We conducted a literature search using three electronic databases (Pubmed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Embase) from inception to May 2024 to identify the most common intraoperative gynecological laparoscopic complications, including those related to trocar insertion, bowel, urinary, and vessel injury. The aim of this narrative review is to describe the most common complications during gynecological laparoscopic surgery and to outline the safety rules and techniques necessary for their prevention and treatment.

Perforated Esophageal Cancer

Esophageal perforation in the setting of malignancy is a surgical emergency for which there is little direct evidence in the literature to guide treatment. Instead, treatment is based on a combination of our understanding of managing benign esophageal perforations and a contemporary understanding of the treatment and prognosis of esophageal cancer. Due to the numerous challenges of managing perforated esophageal cancer, incorporating clinicians with expertise in esophageal cancer, advanced endoscopy, and esophageal surgery into shared decision-making discussions with patients and their families is essential.

Survival benefit of surgery for second primary esophageal cancer following gastrointestinal cancer: a population-based study

BACKGROUND

The incidence of second primary malignancy is increasing. However, although there is some information on second primary esophageal cancer (SPEC) itself, there is no study or guideline on the use of surgery for SPEC after gastrointestinal cancer (SPEC-GC). Thus, this study aimed to gather evidence for the benefits of surgery by analyzing a national cohort and determining the prognostic factors and clinical treatment decisions for SPEC-GC.

METHODS

Data for patients with SPEC-GC were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2000 and 2019. The prognostic factors of SPEC-GC were investigated by stepwise Cox proportional hazards regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses for overall survival and cancer-specific survival.

RESULTS

A total of 8308 patients with SPEC were selected, including 582 patients with SPEC-GC. Multivariate analysis revealed that surgery, year of diagnosis, scope of regional lymph node surgery, tumor differentiation grade, SEER historic stage, and triple therapy were significant predictors of survival outcomes (P < .05). Surgery seemed to improve the prognosis of patients with SPEC-GC significantly compared with no surgery and chemoradiotherapy (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Surgery should be considered as the main treatment for SPEC-GC. Surgery, year of diagnosis, scope of regional lymph node surgery, tumor differentiation grade, SEER historic stage, and triple therapy were found to be independent prognostic factors for these patients. These factors should be considered in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of SPEC-GC.

Activated Mast Cells Combined with NRF2 Predict Prognosis for Esophageal Cancer

Background

Esophageal cancer (EC) had the sixth-highest mortality rate of all cancers due to its poor prognosis. Immune cells and mutation genes influenced the prognosis of EC, but their combined effect on predicting EC prognosis was unknown. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the immune cell infiltration (ICI) and mutation genes and their combined effects for predicting prognosis in EC.

Methods

The CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE algorithms were used to analyse the ICI scape based on the TCGA and GEO databases. EC tissues and pathologic sections from Huai'an, China, were used to verify the key immune cells and mutation genes and their interactions.

Results

Stromal/immune score patterns and ICI/gene had no statistical significance in overall survival (OS) (p > 0.05). The combination of ICI and tumor mutation burden (TMB) showed that the high TMB and high ICI score group had the shortest OS (p = 0.004). We recognized that the key mutation gene NRF2 was significantly different in the high/low ICI score subgroups (p = 0.002) and positivity with mast cells (MCs) (p < 0.05). Through experimental validation, we found that the MCs and activated mast cells (AC-MCs) were more infiltration in stage II/III (p = 0.032; p = 0.013) of EC patients and that NRF2 expression was upregulated in EC (p = 0.045). AC-MCs combined with NRF2 had a poor prognosis, according to survival analysis (p = 0.056) and interactive analysis (p = 0.032).

Conclusions

We presume that NRF2 combined with AC-MCs could be a marker to predict prognosis and could influence immunotherapy through regulating PD-L1 in the EC.