The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AIM: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. METHODS: This was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin. RESULTS: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P < 0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.90-1.55, P = 0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.27, P = 0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSION: One in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease

THE INFRARED SPECTRUM OF ALLENE∗ALLENE^{*}

$^{*}$This work was supported by the Office of Ordnance Research, U. S. Army. $^{1}$ R. C. Lord and P. Venkateswarlu, J. Chem. Phys. 20:1237 (1952) $^{2}$ J. Overend and H. W. Thompson, J. O. S. A. 43:1065 (1953)Author Institution: Department of Physics, The University of TennesseeAn examination of previous work on the allene molecule indicated that a complete re-examination of the rotation-vibration spectrum with high dispersion would be of value in obtaining more satisfactory vibrational assignments, $\zeta$ factors, and force constants. Consequently, a systematic attempt has been made to resolve the parallel bands in the regions 7.1$\mu$, 5.1$\mu$, and 3.3$\mu$ and the perpendicular bands in the regions 3.2$\mu$ and 8-14$\mu$. In particular, the perpendicular band at about 4.1$\mu$ which was incompletely resolved by Lord and $Venkateswarlu^{1}$ has been examined with a 7500-lines-per-inch grating using longer absorbing paths and has been satisfactorily resolved. During the course of this work there was published a paper by Overend and $Thompson^{2}$ in which they resolved two parallel bands, the one at 3.3$\mu$ more clearly than the other. The present work is in agreement with these new published data. A discussion of all the presently available data with reference to the molecular structure of allene will be presented

WAVELENGTH CALIBRATION TECHNIQUES IN THE FAR INFRARED (20-600 μ)∗\mu)^{*}

$^{*}$Supported in part, by the office of Ordance Research, United States Army, through contracts with The Ohio State University Research Foundation. The work reported will summarize the different investigations carried out in collaboration with Vivian Sinnett, J. M. Hoffman and W. W. Brim.Author Institution: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Ohio State University“A discussion will be presented of the techniques for determining wavelengths in the far infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectra, observed in the “near” far infrared region will be shown.

Estimation of surface temperature from MONTBLEX data

It is observed that the daily mean temperature of the soil is linear with depth and the variation of the temperature is sinusoidal with a period of a day. Based on these observations the one-dimensional heat conduction equation for the soil can be solved which gives the amplitude and phase variation of the temperature wave with depth. Given the temperature data at three levels below the surface, the amplitude and phase variation and hence the surface temperature variation over the day are estimated. The daily mean temperature of the surface is estimated from linear extrapolation of the daily means at the three levels below the surface. Estimated values of soil thermal diffusivity show a subtantial change after sudden and heavy rains