64 research outputs found
Personalized Hepatobiliary Cancer Treatment
Personalized treatments for biliary tract carcinoma patients could improve the overall outcomes, mainly by withholding treatments from patients who are unlikely to benefit from surgery or chemotherapy. In order to determine the best treatment, at the optimal time in the disease course, in the center with the best outcomes, for each individual patient, large databases have to be utilized to construct appropriate validated models. The works included in this thesis aim to contribute to the development of personalized medicine using accurate prognostication and prediction rules
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: Current perspectives
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is the second most common malignancy arising from the liver. ICC makes up about 10% of all cholangiocarcinomas. It arises from the peripheral bile ducts within the liver parenchyma, proximal to the secondary biliary radicals. Histologically, the majority of ICCs are adenocarcinomas. Only a minority of patients (15%) present with resectable disease, with a median survival of less than 3 years. Multidisciplinary management of ICC is complicated by large differences in disease course for individual patients both across and within tumor stages. Risk models and nomograms have been developed to more accurately predict survival of individual patients based on clinical parameters. Predictive risk factors are necessary to improve patient selection for systemic treatments. Molecular differences between tumors, such as in the epidermal growth factor receptor status, are promising, but their clinical applicability should be validated. For patients with locally advanced disease, several treatment strategies are being evaluated. Both hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy with floxuridine and yttrium-90 embolization aim to downstage locally advanced ICC. Selected patients have resectable disease after downstaging, and other patients might benefit because of postponing widespread dissemination and biliary obstruction
Photon correlation spectroscopy with heterodyne mixing based on soft-x-ray magnetic circular dichroism
Many magnetic equilibrium states and phase transitions are characterized by
fluctuations. Such magnetic fluctuation can in principle be detected with
scattering-based x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS). However, in the
established approach of XPCS, the magnetic scattering signal is quadratic in
the magnetic scattering cross section, which results not only in often
prohibitively small signals but also in a fundamental inability to detect
negative correlations (anticorrelations). Here, we propose to exploit the
possibility of heterodyne mixing of the magnetic signal with static charge
scattering to reconstruct the first-order (linear) magnetic correlation
function. We show that the first-order magnetic scattering signal reconstructed
from heterodyne scattering now directly represents the underlying magnetization
texture. Moreover, we suggest a practical implementation based on an absorption
mask rigidly connected to the sample, which not only produces a static charge
scattering signal but also eliminates the problem of drift-induced artificial
decay of the correlation functions. Our method thereby significantly broadens
the range of scientific questions accessible by magnetic x-ray photon
correlation spectroscopy
Field-free deterministic ultra fast creation of skyrmions by spin orbit torques
Magnetic skyrmions are currently the most promising option to realize
current-driven magnetic shift registers. A variety of concepts to create
skyrmions were proposed and demonstrated. However, none of the reported
experiments show controlled creation of single skyrmions using integrated
designs. Here, we demonstrate that skyrmions can be generated deterministically
on subnanosecond timescales in magnetic racetracks at artificial or natural
defects using spin orbit torque (SOT) pulses. The mechanism is largely similar
to SOT-induced switching of uniformly magnetized elements, but due to the
effect of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), external fields are not
required. Our observations provide a simple and reliable means for skyrmion
writing that can be readily integrated into racetrack devices
Comparison of different modalities for the diagnosis of parastomal hernia: a systematic review
Purpose: Parastomal hernia (PSH) is a common complication following stoma formation. The incidence of PSH varies widely due to several factors including differences in diagnostic modality, observer, definition, and classification used for diagnosing PSH. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the modalities used to identify PSH. Methods: Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched. Studies reporting PSH incidence rates detected by two or more different diagnostic modalities or inter-observer variation on one diagnostic modality were included. Article selection and assessment of study quality were conducted independently by two researchers using Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias. PROSPERO registration: CRD42018112732. Results: Twenty-nine studies (n = 2514 patients) were included. Nineteen studies compared CT to clinical examination with relative difference in incidence rates ranging from 0.64 to 3.0 (n = 1369). Overall, 79% of studies found an increase in incidence rate when using CT. Disagreement between CT and clinical examination ranged between 0 and 37.3% with pooled inter-modality agreement Kappa value of 0.64 (95% CI 0.52–0.77). Four studies investigated the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography (n = 103). Compared with peroperative diagnosis, CT and ultrasonography both seemed accurate imaging modalities with a sensitivity of 83%. Conclusion: CT is an accurate diagnostic modality for PSH diagnosis and increases PSH detection rates, as compared with clinical examination. Studies that specially focus on the diagnostic accuracy are needed and should aim to take patient-reported outcomes into account. A detailed description of the diagnostic approach, modality, definition, and involved observers is prerequisite for future PSH research
Evaluation of the New American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging Manual 8th Edition for Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma
Background The aim was to compare the prognostic accuracy of cross-sectional imaging of the 7th and 8th editions of the
American Joint Committee on Cancer(AJCC) staging system for perihilar cholangiocarcinoma(PHC).
Methods All patients with PHC between 2002 and 2014 were included. Imaging at the time of presentation was reassessed and
clinical tumor–node–metastasis (cTNM) stage was determined according to the 7th and 8th editions of the AJCC staging system.
Comparison of the prognostic accuracy was performed using the concordance index (c-index).
Results A total of 248 PHC patients were included;45 patients(18.1%) underwent a curative-intent resection, whereas 203
patients(81.9%) did not because they were unfit for surgery or were diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic disease during
workup. Prognostic accuracy was comparable between the 7th and 8th editions (c-index 0.57 vs 0.58). For patients who
underwent a curative-intent resection, the prognostic accuracy of the 8t
Prognostic significance of the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score in patients undergoing gastrectomy for gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: In recent years, the clinical evidence of the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score has increased
in patients with gastrointestinal cancers. The purp
Reply to: “May sarcopenia and/or hepatic encephalopathy improve the predictivity of model for end-stage liver disease?” and “Has the time come for using MELD-Sarcopenia score?”
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