Historia natural del carcinoma hepatocelular en una cohorte de pacientes de un hospital comarcal Natural history of hepatocellular carcinoma in a cohort of patients from a county hospital

Introducción: el carcinoma hepatocelular (CHC) es una neoplasia con una elevada incidencia y una alta mortalidad. Objetivo: nuestro objetivo es la descripción de la historia natural de una cohorte de pacientes con CHC e identificar variables asociadas a supervivencia. Material y métodos: estudio retrospectivo y descriptivo de pacientes diagnosticados de CHC entre 1995-2002. Las variables cualitativas se expresaron mediante frecuencias y porcentajes y las cuantitativas con mediana y desviación típica. La supervivencia se estimó mediante el método de Kaplan Meyer y la prueba de Log Rank. Resultados: se analizaron un total de 154 pacientes con CHC. La ratio hombre-mujer fue de 2,9/1. La edad media de 68 &plusmn; 9 años. El 82% de los pacientes fueron exitus en un tiempo medio de seguimiento de 28 meses. La mediana de supervivencia fue de 21,5 meses (IC 95%: 16,98-26,04). Se realizó tratamiento con intención curativa en un 40,3% y el resto tratamiento paliativo. Las variables asociadas a la supervivencia fueron: presencia o no de ascitis, el número de lesiones en el momento del diagnóstico y si el tratamiento realizado fue con intención curativa o no. No hubieron diferencias estadísticamente significativas respecto a: sexo, edad, etiología de la cirrosis y estadio de Child en el momento del diagnóstico. Conclusiones: los factores asociados a una menor supervivencia en los pacientes con carcinoma hepatocelular fueron la presencia de ascitis y el número de lesiones en el momento del diagnóstico. La realización de tratamiento con intención curativa se asocia a una mayor supervivencia.<br>Background: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a cancer with high incidence and mortality. Objective: our aim was to describe the natural history of a patient cohort with HCC, and to identify the factors associated with survival. Patients and methods: a retrospective and descriptive study of patients diagnosed with HCC between 1995 and 2002. Qualitative variables were expressed as frequencies and percentages. Quantitative variables were expressed as medians and standard deviations. Survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log rank. Results: a total of 154 patients were analyzed. The men-to-women ratio was 2.9/1. Mean age was 68 &plusmn; 9 years. 82% of patients died during a median follow-up of 28 months. Median survival was 21.5 months (95% CI: 16.98-26.04). Curative treatment was done in 40.3% of diagnosed patients, and 59.7% of patients received palliative treatment. Factors associated with survival were: ascites, number of lesions at diagnosis, and curative treatment. No statistical differences were found for the next factors: age, sex, etiology of cirrhosis, and Child-Pugh stage at diagnosis. Conclusions: factors associated with low survival in patients with HCC were ascites and number of lesions. Curative treatment is associated with a higher survival when compared to palliative treatment

Carotid artery stenting compared with endarterectomy in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis (International Carotid Stenting Study): an interim analysis of a randomised controlled trial

Background Stents are an alternative treatment to carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic carotid stenosis, but previous trials have not established equivalent safety and efficacy. We compared the safety of carotid artery stenting with that of carotid endarterectomy. Methods The International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS) is a multicentre, international, randomised controlled trial with blinded adjudication of outcomes. Patients with recently symptomatic carotid artery stenosis were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy. Randomisation was by telephone call or fax to a central computerised service and was stratified by centre with minimisation for sex, age, contralateral occlusion, and side of the randomised artery. Patients and investigators were not masked to treatment assignment. Patients were followed up by independent clinicians not directly involved in delivering the randomised treatment. The primary outcome measure of the trial is the 3-year rate of fatal or disabling stroke in any territory, which has not been analysed yet. The main outcome measure for the interim safety analysis was the 120-day rate of stroke, death, or procedural myocardial infarction. Analysis was by intention to treat (ITT). This study is registered, number ISRCTN25337470. Findings The trial enrolled 1713 patients (stenting group, n=855; endarterectomy group, n=858). Two patients in the stenting group and one in the endarterectomy group withdrew immediately after randomisation, and were not included in the ITT analysis. Between randomisation and 120 days, there were 34 (Kaplan-Meier estimate 4.0%) events of disabling stroke or death in the stenting group compared with 27 (3.2%) events in the endarterectomy group (hazard ratio [HR] 1.28, 95% CI 0.77-2.11). The incidence of stroke, death, or procedural myocardial infarction was 8.5% in the stenting group compared with 5.2% in the endarterectomy group (72 vs 44 events; HR 1.69, 1.16-2.45, p=0.006), Risks of any stroke (65 vs 35 events; HR 1.92, 1.27-2.89) and all-cause death (19 vs seven events; HR 2.76, 1.16-6.56) were higher in the stenting group than in the endarterectomy group. Three procedural myocardial infarctions were recorded in the stenting group, all of which were fatal, compared with four, all non-fatal, in the endarterectomy group. There was one event of cranial nerve palsy in the stenting group compared with 45 in the endarterectomy group. There were also fewer haematomas of any severity in the stenting group than in the endarterectomy group (31 vs 50 events; p=0.0197). Interpretation Completion of long-term follow-up is needed to establish the efficacy of carotid artery stenting compared with endarterectomy. In the meantime, carotid endarterectomy should remain the treatment of choice for patients suitable for surgery