The Expression and Effect of Cyr61 in Urinary Tract Transitional Cell Carcinoma
CarcinomaTransitional CellCysteine-rich 61 (Cyr61), a member of "CCN" family, regulates cell migration, proliferation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis, cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, survival, differentiation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and extracellular matrix production. Evidences show strong correlations of aberrant Cyr61 expression in cancers of numerous organs and tissues. However, the expression and effect of Cyr61 in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), the most common urinary tract cancer in Taiwan, remains undiscovered. Based on previous studies of Cyr61 in other cancer, the investigators hypothesize that Cyr61 may mediate TCC cell proliferation and migration; and associated with disease progression and recurrent. Thus the investigators conduct this project to study the role of Cyr61 in the pathogenesis of TCC. The investigators will retrospectively review medical history of patients with TCC treated at our institutes. Cyr61 immunohistochemical stain of their surgical samples will be performed. The correlation of Cyr61 expression of TCC and patients' clinical courses will be investigated.
Mohs Versus Traditional Surgery - Basal-Cell Carcinomas (BCC)
CarcinomaBasal CellMohs' micrographic surgery (MMS) is a treatment of choice for high recurrence risk basal-cell carcinomas (BCC). Realized under local anaesthesia, it induces very low recurrence rates and spares unnecessary excision of intact surrounding tissues, thus decreasing the needs for flaps, skin grafts, and allows immediate reconstruction…. Its disadvantages are mainly: need for a significant training of the operator, the pathologist and the non-medical personnel; longer duration of the procedure, with higher a priori costs, and constraints for the patient related to the duration of the intervention. Traditional surgical excision with immediate or differed reconstruction is the technique of reference. Provided that re-excisions are performed as long as previous ones do not guarantee free margins, it gives good results. Its real costs are poorly known and can be enhanced by several considerations: multiplicity of the operational acts if the initial excision is insufficient, more complex reconstruction procedures, duration of post-operative dressings, …. The investigators' objective is to know the costs of the surgical treatment of the high risk CBC, comparing the CMM with the surgical excision with immediate or differed reconstruction, along with its effectiveness defined by the absence of recurrence. by its impact on the quality of life of the patient. It is a prospective, multicentric, comparative, not randomized, open, cohort study, of the type "here and elsewhere". Patients with high-risk CBC, as defined by the French ANAES Guidelines (2004), will be included: clinically morpheaform aspect or ill-limited margins, aggressive histological forms; already recurred BCC (except for superficial BCCs)); nodular BCC located in the high-risk zone (nose, peri-orificial areas of the head) and with diameter larger than 1 cm. The effectiveness will be measured by the rate of recurrence at 5 years (as measured by the prolongation of the follow-up after the surgical procedure). The utility from the patient point of view will be evaluated by a specific dermatologic quality of life questionnaire (Skindex) and by a generic questionnaire (Euroqol 5D), supplemented by a questionnaire of satisfaction of the care (Attkisson). The economic perspectives studied will be those of the hospital, of the payer and of the society. Direct medical costs will be evaluated by micro-costing. The main production factors implied in the realization of one CMM or one traditional surgery in dermatology/surgery and anatomopathology wards will be identified, counted, and developed. The measuring units will be the estimate of the time devoted to each individual procedure, reported to the total activity of each ward and the wages of the various categories of personnel implied, and the unit costs in consumable and redeemable material, reported to their utilisation factor. The hospital indirect costs will be estimated by the financial services of the hospitals. Accrual of 150 CMM and 300 traditional excisions will be performed within a two year period of time.
Study of PIVKA-II and AFP Measurement in Surveillance Program for Early Detection of Hepatocellular...
Hepatocellular CarcinomaThere is no prospective study on the test intervals of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) or on the role of prothrombin induced vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) in surveillance program for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). The goal of this study is to compare if the testing of AFP + PIVKA-II in intervals of 3 months is more effective in diagnosing early stages of HCC than the 6 month interval of AFP that is commonly used
Diagnostic Utility of [18F]-FDG-PET/CT and [124I]-PET/CT for Detection of Recurrence in Differentiated...
Thyroid CancerRecurrenceSeveral studies have indicated that [124I]-PET/CT or [18F]-FDG-PET/CT may be useful to locate recurrent differentiated thyroid carcinoma lesions in patients with elevated thyroglobulin levels but who do not show pathological lesions when conventional imaging modalities are used. Thus, the investigators evaluated the effectiveness of PET/CT using both [124I] and [18F]-FDG in such patients.
Quality of Life and Care Needs of Patients With Persistent or Recurrent Ovarian Cancer, Fallopian...
AnxietyFatigue21 moreThis clinical trial studies the quality of life and care needs of patients with persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or peritoneal cancer. Studying quality of life in patients with cancer may help determine the effects of gynecologic cancer and may help improve the quality of life for future cancer survivors.
Molecular Mechanism of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
Nasopharyngeal CarcinomaEBV, infection process, immortalization, B lymphocytes, Epithelial cells, co-culture Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) belongs to human γ-herpes viruses. Unlike other human herpes viruses, EBV can only predominately infect two types of human cells: lymphoid cells and epithelial cells and its infection is associated with several human malignancies of these two cell types. The lymphoid cancers associated with EBV infection include Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, B lymphoma in immunodeficient patients and T/NK cell lymphoma. The carcinomas associated with EBV are nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastric carcinoma. One unique biological feature of EBV is that it can infect and immortalize primary B lymphocytes in vitro into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL). So far, limited information is known about the whole EBV infection process and its regulation mechanism for immortalization. In this project, three EBV infection models are setting up to reveal the cellular events and signal transduction pathway possibly involved in EBV infection process and immortalization course of action.
Diagnostic Values of Urothelial Carcinomas: Single-bolus Versus Split-bolus Computed Tomography...
Urothelial CarcinomaSingle-bolus computed tomography urography (CTU)is a recently developed one-stop imaging examination for diagnosis of urinary tract diseases, including urinary malignancies. However, single-bolus CTU uses two post- contrast phases (i.e.: nephrographic and excretory phases) for diagnosis of urinary tract diseases. A further-developed split-bolus CTU uses solitary post-contrast phase containing mixed information of nephrographic and excretory phases for diagnosis of urinary tract disease; however, whether split-bolus CTU has similar high diagnostic values for urinary malignancies remains unaddressed. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the diagnostic performance between single-bolus and split-bolus CTU for diagnosing urinary malignancies. This study will enroll 352 patients from two hospitals if they fit the including criteria including aged > 40 years old, presenting with gross hematuria or having urinary malignancies histories, normal renal function (i.e.: estimated glomerular filtration rate > 60 mL/min/1.73 m2, no allergic history to iodinated contrast medium and no pregnancy). All enrolled patients will be randomized to undergo split-bolus and single-bolus CTU in 1: 1 manner. Two radiologists will read CTU images independently using a standardized recording sheet with Likert scales 1-5 representing higher probabilities of presence of urinary malignancies for larger number). The diagnostic values of split-bolus and single-bolus CTU will analyzed using reference standards by final diagnoses of urinary malignancies (i.e.: presence of urinary malignancies based on histological examinations of cytology examinations, biopsies or surgical specimens). The diagnostic performance of split-bolus CTU and single- bolus CTU for urinary malignancies will be compared using areas under receiver operating curve (ROC) to determine whether there is presence of significant difference .
Anti-angiogenic Agents Plus Anti-PD-1 Antibodies for uHCC
Hepatocellular CarcinomaCombination treatment with antiangiogenic agents and anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibodies have shown high anti-tumor efficacy for patients with unresectable or advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC). In this single-center cohort study, we are aiming to (1) evaluate the clinical effectiveness in real-world patients, especially for Chinese patients, most of whom were with hepatitis B virus infection; (2) predict clinical effectiveness with clinicopathological features; (3) predict clinical effectiveness with histologic features and blood samples.
Platinum Plus Low-dose Long-term Continuous Intravenous Infused 5-Fluorouracil in Metastatic Nasopharyngeal...
Nasopharyngeal CarcinomaMetastasis2 moreThe treatment of distant metastasis is a key challenge for nasopharyngeal carcinoma because of poor outcomes, among which, chemotherapy is the cornerstone. However, many studies reported the use of different chemotherapy regimens to prolong the survival of metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, while few of them focused on how to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy or improve the life quality of patients. Thus, we sought to find an efficient chemotherapy regimen with high tolerance according to the characteristics of chemotherapy drugs, that is, to explore the efficacy and safety of platinum plus 5-fluorouracil with continuous intravenous infusion at a low dose for a long term.
Meta-analysis of the Prognostic Value of Lymphocyte to Monocyte Ratio (LMR) in Non-metastatic Renal...
Renal Cell CarcinomaProgression3 morePubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews will be used to search for articles published from January 1965 to July 2019 using the key words "renal cancer", "lymphocyte to monocyte ratio" and "prognosis". No restrictions to date, language, or article type will be applied. Cohort or observational studies in patients with non-metastatic renal cell carcinoma histopathologically confirmed, with hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) that assessed association between LMR and overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and disease-free survival (DFS) will be analyzed.