Blog Archive

Αλέξανδρος Γ. Σφακιανάκης

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Adjuvant Radiation and Survival Following Surgical Resection of Sinonasal Adenocarcinoma

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader
Adjuvant Radiation and Survival Following Surgical Resection of Sinonasal Adenocarcinoma

Sinonasal adenocarcinoma is a rare primary malignancy treated with surgical resection with or without adjuvant radiotherapy. In this study, we saw that radiation therapy may not have an attributable survival benefit.


Objectives

This study aims to investigate the utility of adjuvant radiation in patients who undergo surgical resection for the management of node-negative sinonasal adenocarcinoma (SNAC).

Study Design

Retrospective database review.

Methods

The 2004–2016 National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) was used to extract patients with surgically resected node-negative SNAC. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and Cox-Proportional Hazards Modelling were used to analyze the impact of adjuvant radiation on overall survival (OS) following surgery.

Results

349 patients with SNAC underwent surgical resection. Of these patients, 154 (44.1%) received adjuvant radiotherapy (RT). Although there was no significant difference in race, age, or sex of those receiving RT, those receiving RT have more advanced diseases and are more likely to have positive margins. Kaplan Meier analysis showed no significant difference in 5-year OS in patient who received adjuvant RT in comparison to those who underwent surgical resection alone (65.7% vs. 72.6%, respectively; p = 0.378). In addition, when looking at only patients with positive margins, 5-year OS still did not have a significant difference (73.8% vs. 61.6%, respectively; p = 0.101). Only patients with clinical AJCC T4 showed a statistically significant survival benefit with adjuvant RT (56.9% vs. 29.9%, respectively; p = 0.009).

Conclusions

Adjuvant RT does not appear to provide a significant survival benefit in patients with resected SNAC, with the exception of those with clinically AJCC T4 disease.

Level of Evidence

4 Laryngoscope, 2023

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Prevalence of Apical Periodontitis in Patients with Autoimmune Diseases: A Case Control Study

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader

Abstract

Aim

The purpose of this case-control study was to compare the prevalence of Apical Periodontitis (AP) in patients affected by Autoimmune Disorders (AD) [Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and Psoriasis (Ps)] with the prevalence of AP in subjects without AD. The prevalences of AP in patients taking biologic medications, conventional medications and no medication were also compared.

Methodology

89 patients (2,145 teeth) with AD were investigated and the control group included 89 patients (2,329 teeth) with no systemic diseases. Full dental panoramic tomograms were used to determine the periapical status of the teeth. Additional variables investigated included patient's socio-demographic characteristics, medications taken by AD patients, the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index. The chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the correlation between AD and AP. P-values lower than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.

Results

The prevalence of AP was 89.9% in AD patients and 74.2% in control subjects (odds ratio [OR]=3.75, p=0.015). The DMFT score was found to be significantly higher in the AD group (p=0.004). Patients with RA had the highest risk of being affected by AP, whereas those with IBD had the lowest risk. Multiple binary logistic regression analysis indicated that the teeth of AD patients who were not taking any medication or were being treated with biologic Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (bDMARDs) had a higher risk of being affected by AP than did the teeth of the control subjects (OR=1.42 and OR=2.03 respectively; p=0.010). The teeth of patients taking conventional DMARDs (cDMARDs) were less affected by AP compared with those of patients taking bDMARDs.

Conclusions

Patients with AD, whether treated or not with biologic medications, showed a higher prevalence of AP than did those in the control group. The DMFT index score, which was higher in AD patients compared with controls was identified as a significant predictor of AP prevalence.

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Estimating the effect of physical activity on cognitive function within the UK Biobank cohort

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader
Abstract
Background
Physical activity (PA) has been associated with benefits for cognitive function (CF), but previous estimates of the strength of this relationship may have been biased due to limitations in statistical modelling practices that are common among observational studies. We aimed to address this by using a rigorously constructed conceptual causal model to guide an empirical analysis estimating the effect of PA on CF in the UK Biobank cohort of middle-aged and older adults.
Methods
This study analysed a subsample of 334 227 adults from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study. PA was measured subjectively by self-report and by device using accelerometry, and CF was measured using objective cognitive tests. Composite CF measures were derived to represent general and domain-specific performance. Effect coefficients were estimated using regression models, adjusting for a wide range of confounders specified by the assumed caus al model, including genetic risk factors, and relevant health, sociodemographic and behavioural variables from across the lifespan.
Results
Results indicated very small effect sizes (standardized mean difference estimates all <0.01) of inconsistent direction, for both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.
Conclusions
The expected protective effect of PA on CF was not observed. This may reflect selection bias within UK Biobank, or the relatively young age of the sample at follow-up.
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