Background: The TNM staging system is far from perfect in predicting the survival of individual cancer patients because only the gross anatomy is considered. The survival rates of the patients who have the same TNM stage disease vary across a wide spectrum. This study aimed to develop a nomogram that incorporates other clinicopathologic factors for predicting the overall survival(OS) of non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) patients after curative treatments.Methods: We retrospectively collected the clinical data of 1520 NPC patients who were diagnosed histologically between November 2000 and September 2003. The clinical data of a separate cohort of 464 patients who received intensity-modulated radiation therapy(IMRT) between 2001 and 2010 were also retrieved to examine the extensibility of the model. Cox regression analysis was used to identify the prognostic factors for building the nomogram. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability were measured using the concordance index(c-index).Results: We identiied and incorporated 12 independent clinical factors into the nomogram. The calibration curves showed that the prediction of OS was in good agreement with the actual observation in the internal validation set and IMRT cohort. The c-index of the nomogram was statistically higher than that of the 7th edition TNM staging system for predicting the survival in both the primary cohort(0.69 vs. 0.62) and the IMRT cohort(0.67 vs. 0.63).Conclusion: We developed and validated a novel nomogram that outperformed the TNM staging system in predicting the OS of non-metastatic NPC patients who underwent curative therapy.
Objective： This retrospective study was conducted to investigate the impact of more extended mediastinal lymphadenectomy on the outcome of lung cancer patients treated with R0 resection. Methods： During the investigation period, 325 lung cancer cases were enlisted and 278 cases entered the analysis. The patients were divided into Control group （n=116） and Research group （n=162） according to the different extents of mediastinal lymph node clearance at different time periods. Three major parameters were retrospectively assessed to compare the quality of surgical care： extent of lymph node clearance, resection volume, and postoperative recovery process and common complications. Comparison of the outcome between two groups was carried out. Results： Research group showed a significant quality improvement of lymphadenectomy, such as more mediastinal node stations investigated （more than 3 N2 stations investigated： Research group, 90.7% vs. Control group, 55.2%; P=0.001） and more nodes collection （total nodes 26.1±10.0 vs. 19.1±8.3, P=0.000; N2 nodes 15.5±7.2 vs. 9.8±5.6, P=0.000）. However, overall survival （OS） and disease-free survival （DFS） were not significantly different either between two groups （5-year OS： Control group, 56.4±4.6% vs. Research group, 62.6±4.3%; P=0.271） or between subgroups from stage I to IIIa. TNM stage and histology were significant factors associated with OS and DFS in multivariate analysis; extent of mediastinal lymphadenectomy was not associated with OS or DFS. Conclusions： More radical mediastinal lymphadenectomy may not lead to an improved oncological outcome for lung cancer treated with R0 resection.
Nan WuShi YanChao LvShaolei LiYuan FengYuzhao WangJia WangQingfeng ZhengYue Yang
