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Background: Several studies have shown that the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in peripheral blood is a prognostic factor of various cancers. However, there is limited information on the clinical and prognostic significance of NLR in patients with metastatic advanced gastric cancer (AGC). Therefore, we examined whether the NLR can be used as a prognostic marker for predicting chemotherapeutic response and survival outcomes in metastatic AGC patients who are receiving palliative chemotherapy., Method: A total of 268 patients diagnosed with metastatic AGC were enrolled. NLR was calculated from complete blood cell count taken before the first chemotherapy treatment. Patients were divided into two groups according to the median value of NLR: a high NLR group and a low NLR group., Result: The median follow-up period was 340 days (range 72-1796 days) and median NLR was 3.06 (range 0.18-18.16). The high NLR group (NLR >3.0) contained 138 patients and the low NLR group (NLR ≤3.0) contained 130 patients. Low NLR group patients had a significantly higher chemotherapeutic disease control rate (90.0 % vs. 80.4; P = 0.028), and longer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) than the high NLR group patients (186 vs. 146 days; P = 0.001; 414 vs. 280 days; P < 0.001, respectively). In multivariate analysis, NLR showed a significant association with PFS (HR 1.478; 95 % CI 1.154-1.892; P = 0.002) and OS (HR 1.569; 95 % CI 1.227-2.006; P < 0.001)., Conclusion: Pretreatment NLR is a useful prognostic marker in patients with metastatic AGC who are undergoing palliative chemotherapy.

Aim: To determine whether there is a correlation between the location of the lesion and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) outcome., Methods: From January 2008 to December 2010, ESD of 1443 gastric tumors was performed. En bloc resection rate, complete resection rate, procedure time and complication rate were analyzed according to the tumor location., Results: The rates of en bloc resection and complete resection were 91% (1318/1443) and 89% (1287/1443), respectively. The post-ESD bleeding rate was 4.3%, and perforation rate was 2.7%. Tumors located in the upper third of the stomach were associated with a longer procedure time and significantly higher rates of incomplete resection, piecemeal resection, and perforation than tumors below the upper third of the stomach. Posterior wall lesions had significantly longer procedure times and higher rates of incomplete resection and piecemeal resection than lesions in other locations. In multivariate analysis, posterior wall lesions and upper third lesions were significantly associated with incomplete resection and perforation, respectively. In post-ESD bleeding analysis, location was not a significant related factor., Conclusion: More advanced endoscopic techniques are required during ESD for lesions located in the upper third or posterior wall of the stomach to decrease complications and improve therapeutic outcomes.

Purpose: Endoscopic papillectomy (EP) is currently employed for the treatment of ampullary adenoma. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical, endoscopic, and histologic characteristics related to complications and long-term outcomes of EP., Materials and Methods: Thirty-nine patients underwent EP for ampullary adenoma. Patients were grouped according to the occurrence of procedure-related complications: no complication group (n=28) and complication group (n=11)., Results: The overall complication rate was 28.2%. The most common complication was EP-related pancreatitis (n=7). Amylase (p=0.006) and lipase levels (p=0.007), 24 hours after EP, were significantly higher in the complication group, however, these levels did not differ at earlier times. As the tumor progressed from adenoma to cancer, the complete resection was significantly lessened (p=0.032). The duration of antiprotease injection during the hospital stay was significantly longer (p=0.017) and the transfusion requirements were significantly higher (p=0.018) in the complication group. During a median follow-up of 15 months, three lesions (10.3%) recurred among patients with complete resection (n=29) and five lesions (12.8%) recurred among enrolled patients. One patient with progressive recurrence from low-grade dysplasia to adenocarcinoma was noted during a follow-up of 22 months., Conclusion: If symptoms are present, amylase and lipase levels, 24 hours after EP, could help predict possible EP-related pancreatitis. Histologic diagnosis through resected specimens may result in complete resection. Patients with complications need a longer duration of antiprotease injection during their hospital stay and more transfusions. The recurrence rate was not significantly high in completely resected cases, however, there was a possibility of progressive recurrence.

Although endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is now accepted for treatment of early gastric cancers (EGC) with negligible risk of lymph node (LN) metastasis, ESD for intramucosal undifferentiated type EGC without ulceration and with diameter ≤ 2 cm is regarded as an investigational treatment according to the Japanese gastric cancer treatment guidelines. This consideration was largely based on the analysis of surgically resected EGCs that contained undifferentiated type EGCs; however, results from several institutes showed some discrepancies in sample size and incidence of LN metastasis. Recently, some reports about the safety and efficacy of ESD for undifferentiated type EGC meeting the expanded criteria have been published. Nonetheless, only limited data are available regarding long-term outcomes of ESD for EGC with undifferentiated histology so far. At the same time, endoscopists cannot ignore the patients' desire to guarantee quality of life after the relatively non-invasive endoscopic treatment when compared to conventional surgery. To satisfy the needs of patients and provide solid evidence to support ESD for undifferentiated EGC, we need more delicate tools to predict undetected LN metastasis and more data that can reveal predictive factors for LN metastasis.