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Objective: Liver cancer is a growing global public health problem. Ultrasonography is an imaging tool widely used for the early diagnosis of liver cancer. However, the effect of ultrasonography surveillance (US) on the survival of patients with liver cancer is unknown. Therefore, this study examined the association between survival and US frequency during the 2 years preceding patients' liver cancer diagnosis., Methods: This population-based longitudinal study was conducted in Taiwan, a region with high liver cancer incidence, by using the National Health Insurance Research Database. We compared survival between patients who received US three times or more (≥3 group) and less than three times (<3 group) during the 2 years preceding their liver cancer diagnosis, and identified the predictors for the ≥3 group., Results: This study enrolled 4621 patients with liver cancer who had died between 1997 and 2010. The median survival rate was higher in the ≥3 group (1.42 years) than in the <3 group (0.51 years). Five-year survival probability was also significantly higher in the ≥3 group (14.4%) than in the <3 group (7.7%). The multivariate logistic regression results showed that the three most common positive predictors for receiving three or more US sessions were indications of viral hepatitis, gallbladder diseases and kidney-urinary-bladder diseases; the most common negative predictors for receiving three or more US sessions were male sex and indications of abdominal pain., Conclusion: Patients with liver cancer who received US three times or more during the 2 years preceding their liver cancer diagnosis exhibited a higher 5-year survival probability., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Aim: To evaluate the changing trends and outcomes of colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery performed at a large single institution in Taiwan., Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 778 patients who received colorectal cancer surgery at E-Da Hospital in Taiwan from 2004 to 2009. These patients were from health examination, inpatient or emergency settings. The following attributes were analyzed in patients who had undergone CRC surgical procedures: gender, age, source, surgical type, tumor number, tumor size, number of lymph node metastasis, pathologic differentiation, chemotherapy, distant metastases, tumor site, tumor stage, average hospitalization cost and average lengths of stay (ALOS). The odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to assess the relative rate of change. Regression models were employed to predict average hospitalization cost and ALOS., Results: The study sample included 458 (58.87%) males and 320 (41.13%) females with a mean age of 64.53 years (standard deviation, 12.33 years; range, 28-86 years). The principal patient source came from inpatient and emergency room (96.02%). The principal tumor sites were noted at the sigmoid colon (35.73%) and rectum (30.46%). Most patients exhibited a tumor stage of 2 (37.28%) or 3 (34.19%). The number of new CRC surgeries performed per 100000 persons was 12.21 in 2004 and gradually increased to 17.89 in 2009, representing a change of 46.52%. During the same period, the average hospitalization cost and ALOS decreased from $5303 to $4062 and from 19.7 to 14.4 d, respectively. The following factors were associated with considerably decreased hospital resource utilization: age, source, surgical type, tumor size, tumor site, and tumor stage., Conclusion: These results can be generalized to patient populations elsewhere in Taiwan and to other countries with similar patient profiles.