Development and validation of a prognostic nomogram for predicting early recurrence after curative resection of stage II/III gastric cancer

Five-year survival outcome of laparoscopic D2 lymphadenectomy plus complete mesogastrium excision for patients with stage II/III gastric cancer without invasion of the squamocolumnar junction

BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer patients without invasion of the squamocolumnar junction have a low probability of extragastric mesenteric metastasis, and the survival benefit of conducting D2 lymphadenectomy plus complete mesogastrium excision is unclear in this group of patients.

METHODS

This was a retrospective analysis of patients with stage II/III gastric cancer without invasion of the squamocolumnar junction who underwent laparoscopic radical surgery for gastric cancer at the First Hospital of Putian City, Fujian Province, from January 2014 to May 2019. Five-year disease-free survival was the primary outcome, and 5-year overall survival and the recurrence pattern were the secondary outcomes. Morbidity, mortality, and surgery-related outcomes within 30 days of surgery were also analyzed.

RESULTS

This study included 366 patients, 133 in the D2 lymphadenectomy group and 233 in the D2 lymphadenectomy plus complete mesogastrium excision group. There was no statistically significant difference in 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival in the D2 lymphadenectomy plus complete mesogastrium excision group compared with the D2 lymphadenectomy group (P > .05). Regarding recurrence pattern, the D2 lymphadenectomy group had a higher rate of local recurrence (12.3% and 38.3%, P = .001). In subgroup analysis, patients with stage III and T3-4aN1-3 gastric cancer in the D2 lymphadenectomy plus complete mesogastrium excision group had significantly better 5-year disease-free survival compared with the D2 lymphadenectomy group (P < .05).

CONCLUSION

Laparoscopic D2 lymphadenectomy plus complete mesogastrium excision not only decreased the local recurrence rate of stage II/III gastric cancer without invasion of the squamocolumnar junction, but it also improved the 5-year disease-free survival of patients with stage III and T3-4aN1-3 gastric cancer without invasion of the squamocolumnar junction.

Predicting early recurrence in locally advanced gastric cancer after gastrectomy using CT-based deep learning model: a multicenter study

BACKGROUND

Early recurrence in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC) portends aggressive biological characteristics and a dismal prognosis. Predicting early recurrence may help determine treatment strategies for LAGC. The goal is to develop a deep learning model for early recurrence prediction (DLER) based on preoperative multiphase computed tomography (CT) images and to further explore the underlying biological basis of the proposed model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this retrospective study, 620 LAGC patients from January 2015 to March 2023 were included in three medical centers and The Cancer Image Archive (TCIA). The DLER model was developed using DenseNet169 and multiphase 2.5D CT images, and then crucial clinical factors of early recurrence were integrated into the multilayer perceptron (MLP) classifier model (DLER MLP ). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were applied to measure the performance of different models. The log-rank test was used to analyze survival outcomes. The genetic analysis was performed using RNA-sequencing data from TCIA.

RESULTS

Using the MLP classifier combined with clinical factors, DLER MLP showed higher performance than DLER and clinical models in predicting early recurrence in the internal validation set (AUC: 0.891 vs. 0.797, 0.752) and two external test sets: test set 1 (0.814 vs. 0.666, 0.808) and test set 2 (0.834 vs. 0.756, 0.766). Early recurrence-free survival, disease-free survival, and overall survival can be stratified using the DLER MLP (all P < 0.001). High DLER MLP score is associated with upregulated tumor proliferation pathways (WNT, MYC, and KRAS signaling) and immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment.

CONCLUSION

The DLER MLP based on CT images was able to predict early recurrence of patients with LAGC and served as a useful tool for optimizing treatment strategies and monitoring.

Development of a Prognostic Nomogram for Overall Survival in Gastric Cancer Patients Who Underwent Adjuvant Chemoradiotherapy

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to identify prognostic factors influencing overall survival (OS) in patients with gastric cancer treated with adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and to develop a predictive model.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated 245 non-metastatic gastric cancer patients who received adjuvant CRT or radiotherapy from 2010 to 2020. Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Prognostic factors were identified through univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. A nomogram was constructed based on significant predictive factors for OS, including lymph node ratio, T classification, tumor location, and local recurrence.

RESULTS

The median follow-up duration was 41.5 months (range, 6-144.8 months). The 2- and 5-year OS and progression-free survival were 77% and 53% and 64% and 49%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, tumor location (distal vs. proximal), pT classification (pT1-2 vs. pT3-4), lymph node ratio (< 0.18 vs. ≥ 0.18), and presence of local recurrence were independent prognostic factors for OS. The optimal cut-off value for the total nomogram score predicting OS was 116 points. Patients with < 116 points had 2- and 5-year OS rates of 87% and 73%, respectively, compared to 67% and 30% for those with ≥ 116 points.

CONCLUSION

A nomogram was constructed incorporating lymph node ratio, T classification, tumor site, and local recurrence for gastric cancer patients receiving adjuvant CRT. Patients with a total score below 116 demonstrated higher survival rates. This nomogram may aid in defining optimal follow-up intervals.

Development and validation of nomograms for predicting the prognosis of early and late recurrence of advanced gastric cancer after radical surgery based on post-recurrence survival

In this study, we aimed to explore the risk factors influencing post-recurrence survival (PRS) of early recurrence (ER) and late recurrence (LR) in stage advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients after radical surgery, respectively, and to develop predictive models in turn. Medical records of 192 AGC patients who recurred after radical gastrectomy were retrospectively reviewed. They were randomly divided into the training and validation set at a ratio of 2:1. Nomograms were built based on risk factors influencing PRS of ER and LR explored by Cox regression analyses, respectively. Concordance index (C-index) values and calibration curves were used to evaluate predictive power of nomograms. Body mass index < 18.5 kg/m2, prealbumin level < 70.1 mg/L, positive lymph nodes ratio ≥ 0.486 and palliative treatment after recurrence were independent risk factors for the prognosis of ER. In contrast, prealbumin level < 170.1 mg/L, CEA ≥ 18.32 μg/L, tumor diameter ≥ 5.5 cm and palliative treatment after recurrence were independent risk factors for the prognosis of LR. The C-index values were 0.801 and 0.772 for ER and LR in the training set, respectively. The calibration curves of validation set showed a C-index value of 0.744 and 0.676 for ER and LR, respectively. Nomograms which were constructed to predict the prognosis of ER and LR of AGC after surgery showed great predictive power and could provide reference for clinicians' treatment strategies to some extent.

Defining nomograms for predicting prognosis of early and late recurrence in gastric cancer patients after radical gastrectomy

There are few studies on the predictive factors of early recurrence (ER) and late recurrence (LR) of advanced gastric cancer (GC) after curative surgery. Our study aims to explore the independent predictors influencing the prognosis between ER and LR in patients with advanced GC after curative intent surgery respectively. And we will further develop nomograms for prediction of post recurrence survival (PRS). Data of patients with GC who received radical gastrectomy was retrospectively collected. Recurrence was classified into ER and LR according to the 2 years after surgery as the cutoff value. Multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to explore significant predictors in our analysis. Then these significant predictors were integrated to construct nomograms. The 1-, 2- and 3-year probabilities of PRS in patients with ER were 30.00%, 16.36% and 11.82%, respectively. In contrast, the late group were 44.68%, 23.40%, and 23.30%, respectively. Low body mass index (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.86, P = .001), elevated monocytes count (HR = 4.54, P = .003) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (HR = 1.03, P = .037) at the time of recurrence were risk factors of PRS after ER. Decreased hemoglobin (HR = 0.97, P = .008) and elevated neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (HR = 1.06, P = .045) at the time of recurrence were risk factors of PRS after LR. The calibration curves for probability of 1-, 2-, and 3-year PRS showed excellent predictive effect. Internal validation concordance indexes of PRS were 0.722 and 0.671 for ER and LR respectively. In view of the different predictive factors of ER and LR of GC, the practical predictive model may help clinicians make reasonable decisions.

Short-term prognostic role of peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with gastric cancer

BACKGROUND

Immune function is associated with clinical outcomes in patients with gastric cancer. This study aimed to explore the prognostic role of peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with gastric cancer after curative surgery.

METHODS

This retrospective study was conducted at a single tertiary referral hospital. We included patients diagnosed with gastric cancer who had undergone surgery and met the inclusion criteria. Clinicopathological characteristics and preoperative peripheral lymphocyte subset data were collected for the analysis. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox hazard regression model. We used the Whitney test and Spearman test to analyze the correlation between lymphocyte subsets and clinicopathological characteristics.

RESULTS

This study included 171 patients with gastric cancer who underwent curative surgery. Multivariate analysis revealed that carcinoembryonic antigen (p < 0.01), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (p < 0.001), lymph node metastases (p < 0.001), total T-cell count (p = 0.02), B-cell count (p < 0.01), and regulatory T-cell percentage (p < 0.01) were independent predictive factors associated with RFS.

CONCLUSIONS

Impaired immune function may lead to early recurrence following curative surgery. Our study showed that the characteristics of peripheral lymphocyte subsets (T, B, and Treg cells) were independent predictive factors for recurrence in patients with gastric cancer after surgery.

A novel prognostic model to predict OS and DFS of stage II/III gastric adenocarcinoma patients in China

Background

The prognosis of advanced gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) after radical gastrectomy varies greatly. We aimed to build and validate a novel individualized nomogram based on inflammation index and tumor markers for patients with stage II/III GAC.

Methods

A total of 755 individuals with stage II/III GAC who had undergone radical gastrectomy at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between 2012 and 2017 were included in this retrospective study. The patients were randomly divided into a training cohort (n ​= ​503) and a validation cohort (n ​= ​252). Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine independent prognostic factors of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). A nomogram was developed based on these independent factors. The concordance index (C-index) and calibration curves were used to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the nomogram.

Results

Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that older age, poor differentiation, advanced stage, elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lower hemoglobin, and high carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) levels were significantly associated with lower OS and DFS and were independent prognostic factors in stage II/III GAC. The nomogram developed based on these factors in the training cohort showed excellent calibration and discrimination (OS: C-index ​= ​0.739, 95% CI ​= ​0.706-0.772; DFS: C-index ​= ​0.735, 95% CI ​= ​0.702-0.769). In the internal validation cohort, the nomogram was also well-calibrated for the prediction of OS and DFS; it was superior to the 8th edition UICC/AJCC TNM staging system (for OS: C-index ​= ​0.746 vs. 0.679, respectively; for DFS: C-index ​= ​0.736 vs. 0.675, respectively; P ​< ​0.001).

Conclusion

The nomogram model could reliably predict OS and DFS in stage II/III gastric cancer patients with radical gastrectomy. It may help physicians make better treatment decisions.

Predictive factors and nomogram to evaluate the risk of below-ankle re-amputation in patients with diabetic foot

BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus, as the most common metabolic disease, is common worldwide and represents a crucial global health concern. The purpose of this research was to investigate the related risk factors and to develop a re-amputation risk nomogram in diabetic patients who have undergone an amputation.

METHODS

A observational analysis was performed on 459 patients who have underwent amputation for diabetic foot from January 2014 through December 2019 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and stepwise regression methods were implemented to determine risk selection for the re-amputation risk model, and the predictive nomogram was established with these features. Calibration curve, receiver operating characteristic curve, and decision curve analysis of this re-amputation nomogram were assessed.

RESULTS

Predictors contained in this predictive model included smoking, glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), ankle-brachial index (ABI) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Good discrimination with a C-index of 0.725 (95% CI, 0.6624-0.7876) and good calibration were displayed with this predictive model. The decision curve analysis showed that this re-amputation nomogram predicting risk adds more benefit than none strategy if the threshold probability of a patient was >6% and <59%.

CONCLUSIONS

This novel re-amputation nomogram incorporating smoking, glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), ankle-brachial index (ABI), C-reactive protein (CRP), and smoking could be easily used to predict individual re-amputation risk prediction in diabetic foot patients who have undergone an amputation. In the future, further analysis and external testing will be needed as much as possible to reconfirm that this new Nomogram can accurately predict the risk of toe re-amputation.

Preoperative Low Prealbumin Is Associated With Recurrence in Patients With Stage II/III Gastric Cancer After Laparoscopic D2 Gastrectomy

Background

Postoperative recurrence is associated with poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. This study aimed to explore predictive factors contributing to recurrence in patients with stage II/III gastric cancer after laparoscopic D2 gastrectomy.

Methods

This retrospective study was conducted at a single tertiary referral hospital. Patients diagnosed with gastric cancer who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The clinicopathological characteristics of the patients were collected. The patients were divided into recurrence and non-recurrence groups. The predictive factors were investigated using univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results

In total, 462 patients were included. The incidence of recurrence was 26.4% (122/462) in all patients. The most common recurrence pattern was haematogenous recurrence. In the multivariate analysis, the independent predictive factors for recurrence were serum prealbumin level (p &lt; 0.001), prognostic nutritional index (p = 0.001), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) (p &lt; 0.001), number of lymph node metastases (p &lt; 0.001), signet-ring cell carcinoma (p = 0.001), tumor deposit (p = 0.001), and no/incomplete adjuvant chemotherapy (p &lt; 0.001).

Conclusions

Our findings revealed that nutritional status was an independent predictive factor for recurrence in patients with gastric cancer after D2 gastrectomy. We suggest that patients with risk factors for recurrence receive both nutritional support and intense surveillance.

Postoperative recurrence of gastric cancer depends on whether the chemotherapy cycle was more than 9 cycles: Based on a retrospective and observational study of follow-up within 3 years of 843 patients

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with pathologically confirmed gastric cancer/adenocarcinoma who underwent curative surgical resection follow-up within 3 years at Shanxi cancer hospital between 2002 and 2020. The clinicopathologic parameters explored included gender, age at surgery, vascular invasion, neural invasion, Tumor infiltration depth (T stage), N stage, TNM stage, chemotherapy, Lauren classification, maximum diameter of tumor, type of gastrectomy, tumor location and survival data.With a median follow-up of 29 months (range 0-36 months), the ratio of patients with recurrence was 26.80% (n = 226) and the death rate of patients was 45.31% (n = 382) in this period. According to the results of univariate analysis, gender (P = .014), age at surgery (P = .010), vascular invasion (P = .000), neural invasion (P = .000), T stage (P = .000), N stage (P = .000), TNM stage (P = .000), chemotherapy cycle (P = .000), lauren classification (P = .000), maximum diameter of tumor (P = .000), type of gastrectomy (P = .000) were independent risk factors of recurrence of follow-up within 3 years. From the multivariate analysis by logistic regression showed that TNM Stage (P = .002), chemotherapy cycle (P = .000) were risk factors of recurrence of follow-up within 3 years. Univariate analysis of survival by Kaplan-Meier showed that gender (P = .038), vascular invasion (P = .000), neural invasion (P = .000), maximum diameter of tumor (P = .000), Lauren classification (P = .000), T stage (P = .000), N stage (P = .000), TNM Stage (P = .000) and type of gastrectomy (P = .000) were key factors linked to overall survival of follow-up within 3 years. The results of the multivariate analysis by Cox regression were clearly presented that T Stage (P = .000), TNM stage (P = .001), maximum diameter of tumor (P = .001) were key factors of overall survival of follow-up within 3 years.TNM Stage, chemotherapy cycle were closely related to recurrence and of follow-up within 3 years. More than 9 cycles of chemotherapy was able to reduce the probability of recurrence. T Stage, TNM stage, maximum diameter of tumor were independent factors associated with overall survival of gastric cancer of follow-up within 3 years. For maximum diameter of tumor, the probability of death of more than 6 cm was 1.317 times less than 6 cm within 3 years of follow-up.

Validation of a Nomogram to Predict Long Term Outcomes After Curative Surgery for Gastric Cancer in an Italian Cohort of Patients

AIM OF THE STUDY

Nomograms have been proposed to assess prognosis following curative surgery for gastric cancer. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the performance of the Gastric Cancer Collaborative Group nomograms developed in 2014 by Kim et al., using a cohort of patients from a 10-year single institution experience in gastric cancer management.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent curative-intent surgery for histologically confirmed gastric cancer at First Surgical Clinic of Padua University Hospital (Italy) from January 2010 to May 2020. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were employed to assess the effect of the variables of interest on mortality and recurrence. Multivariable analysis was performed by considering the variables included in the Gastric Cancer Collaborative Group nomograms in order to validate them. The performance of the nomograms was evaluated using Harrell's C-index and calibration plots.

RESULTS

Overall, 168 patients were included, with a median follow-up of 20.1 months. On multivariable analysis, tumor location, lymph node ratio, and pathological T stage were associated with recurrence; age, tumor location, lymph node ratio, and pT stage were associated with OS (overall survival). The nomograms had good discriminatory capability to classify both OS (C-index: 0.75) and DFS (disease-free survival) (C-index 0.72). The corrected C-Index for DFS based on the AJCC staging system revealed better prediction (C-Index 0.75), while the corrected C-Index for OS had worse discrimination ability compared with the current nomogram (C-Index 0.72).

CONCLUSIONS

The Gastric Cancer Collaborative Group nomograms demonstrated good performances in terms of prediction of both OS and DFS on external validation. The two nomograms are easy to apply, and variables included are widely available to most facilities.

Development and Validation of a Radiomics Model Based on 18F-FDG PET of Primary Gastric Cancer for Predicting Peritoneal Metastasis

Objectives

The aim of this study was to develop a preoperative positron emission tomography (PET)-based radiomics model for predicting peritoneal metastasis (PM) of gastric cancer (GC).

Methods

In this study, a total of 355 patients (109PM+, 246PM-) who underwent preoperative fluorine-18-fludeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) PET images were retrospectively analyzed. According to a 7:3 ratio, patients were randomly divided into a training set and a validation set. Radiomics features and metabolic parameters data were extracted from PET images. The radiomics features were selected by logistic regression after using maximum relevance and minimum redundancy (mRMR) and the least shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method. The radiomics models were based on the rest of these features. The performance of the models was determined by their discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness in the training and validation sets.

Results

After dimensionality reduction, 12 radiomics feature parameters were obtained to construct radiomics signatures. According to the results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis, only carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), and the radiomics signature showed statistically significant differences between patients (P<0.05). A radiomics model was developed based on the logistic analyses with an AUC of 0.86 in the training cohort and 0.87 in the validation cohort. The clinical prediction model based on CA125 and SUVmax was 0.76 in the training set and 0.69 in the validation set. The comprehensive model, which contained a rad-score and the clinical factor (CA125) as well as the metabolic parameter (SUVmax), showed promising performance with an AUC of 0.90 in the training cohort and 0.88 in the validation cohort, respectively. The calibration curve showed the actual rate of the nomogram-predicted probability of peritoneal metastasis. Decision curve analysis (DCA) also demonstrated the good clinical utility of the radiomics nomogram.

Conclusions

The comprehensive model based on the rad-score and other factors (SUVmax, CA125) can provide a novel tool for predicting peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer patients preoperatively.

A Novel Nutrition-Based Nomogram to Predict Prognosis After Curative Resection of Gastric Cancer

Objective: We sought to investigate the prognostic significance of body composition and weight change during the first 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy after R0 resection and develop novel nomograms to accurately predict relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS).

Methods: This retrospective study included 190 patients who underwent curative radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer and received adjuvant chemotherapy. The changes in weight and body composition including skeletal muscle index (SMI), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) were analyzed for 6 months. LASSO Cox regression and multivariate Cox regression were conducted to evaluate other clinical characteristics, which were used to construct a nomogram for the prediction of 3- and 5-year RFS and OS. The constructed nomogram was subjected to 1,000 resamples bootstrap for internal validation. The Concordance index (C-index) and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (t-ROC) curves were used to evaluate and compare the discriminative abilities of the new nomograms, non-nutritional nomograms, and pTNM stage.

Results: The median follow-up duration was 42.0 (25.2–55.1) months. Factors included in the newly-built nomogram for RFS were pT stage, pN stage, tumor site, tumor size, nerve invasion or not, surgery type, and change of L3SMI, while factors included in the nomogram for OS were pT stage, pN stage, tumor size, nerve invasion or not, surgery type, and change of L3SMI. The C-index and t-ROC indicated that our newly-built nomograms had greater potential to accurately predict prognosis than the non-nutritional nomograms and pTNM stage system. Besides, oral nutritional supplements can reduce the degree of weight and L3SMI loss.

Conclusion: Change in skeletal muscle mass during adjuvant chemotherapy can be incorporated into predictive prognostic nomograms for RFS and OS in GC patients after radical resection. Dynamic changes in body composition and weight during adjuvant chemotherapy contribute to the early detection of poor outcomes.

A nomogram to predict overall survival and disease-free survival after curative-intent gastrectomy for gastric cancer

An individual prediction of DFS and OS may be useful after surgery for gastric cancer to inform patients and to guide the clinical management. Patients who underwent curative-intent resection for gastric cancer between January 2010 and May 2020 at a single Italian institution were identified. Variables associated with OS and DFS were recorded and analysed according to univariable and multivariable Cox models. Nomograms predicting OS and DFS were built according to variables resulting from multivariable Cox models. Discrimination ability was calculated using the Harrell's Concordance Index. Overall, 168 patients underwent curative-intent resection. Nomograms to predict OS were developed including age, tumor size, tumor location, T stage, N stage, M stage and post-operative complications, while nomogram to predict DFS includes Lauren classification, and lymph node ratio (LNR). On internal validation, both nomograms demonstrated a good discrimination with a Harrell's C-index of 0.77 for OS and 0.71 for DFS. The proposed nomogram to predict DFS and OS after curative-intent surgery for gastric cancer showed a good discrimination on internal validation, and may be useful to guide clinician decision-making, as well help identify patients with high-risk of recurrence or with a poor estimated survival.