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Background: Skeletal-related events (SREs), including the pathological fracture, surgical treatment or radiation of bone lesions, malignant spinal cord compression, hypercalcemia, are important considerations when managing metastatic bone tumors; however, owing to their rarity, the incidence of SREs in patients with Ewing sarcoma remains unknown., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data from 146 patients with Ewing sarcoma treated at a single institution from 2005 to 2019. The median age at diagnosis was 22.7 years. Fifty patients (34.2%) had metastatic disease at diagnosis. The primary outcome was the SRE-free rate among patients with Ewing sarcoma. Moreover, we identified the risk factors for SREs using univariate or multivariate analyses., Results: During the observational period (median, 2.6 years), SREs occurred in 23 patients. Radiation to the bone, malignant spinal cord compression, and hypercalcemia were documented as the initial SREs in 12 patients (52.2%), 10 patients (43.5%), and one patient (4.3%), respectively. The SRE-free rate was 94.2 ± 2.0, 87.3 ± 3.0, and 79.6 ± 3.8% at 1, 2, and 3 years after the initial visit, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed bone metastasis at diagnosis (hazard ratio [HR] = 4.41, p = 0.007), bone marrow invasion (HR = 34.08, p < 0.001), and local progression or recurrence after definitive treatment (HR = 3.98, p = 0.012) as independent risk factors for SREs., Conclusions: SREs are non-rare events that can occur during the treatment course for Ewing sarcoma, with an especially high incidence of malignant spinal cord compression. Patients with metastatic disease at diagnosis, especially in the bone or bone marrow, or with local progression or recurrence after definitive treatment, should be carefully monitored for the occurrence of SREs. The most effective methods to monitor the occurrence of SREs and new preventative therapies for SREs should be investigated in the future., (© 2024 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Cancer patients have been able to live longer according to the development of early diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, prolonged treatment period, increased cost burdens, and various late complications can occur as a result. In this article, I introduce research on cancer survivorship in Japan, about the statistics for cancer survivors, physical, mental, and social late complications. I also summarize the issues of survivorship research that should be conducted in Japan in the future. First, the 5-year survival has been used as a prognostic indicator for cancer survivors, however, the conditional survival, which is more useful information to predict the patients' future, was introduced. In addition, studies on late complications of cancer patients were summarized, including studies on the development of secondary cancer as a physical complication, suicide as a psychological complication, and continued employment and economic toxicity as social complications. Finally, we summarized the research and data bases that are needed to realize"cancer control that leaves no one behind".

Second primary cancer (SPC) is one of the most life-threatening late effects of childhood cancers. We investigated the incidence and survival outcomes of SPC in childhood cancer patients in Japan. Data were obtained from the population-based Osaka Cancer Registry. Individuals diagnosed with cancer at age 0-14 years during 1975-2014 and survived 2 months or longer were followed through December 2015. The risk of developing SPC was assessed with standardized incidence ratio (SIR), excess absolute risk (EAR, per 100,000 person-years), and cumulative incidence. Multivariable Poisson regression analysis was carried out to assess relative risks of SPC by treatment method. Survival analysis was undertaken using the Kaplan-Meier method. Of 7229 childhood cancer survivors, 101 (1.4%) developed SPC after a median of 11.6 years. Overall SIR was 5.0, which corresponded with 84.3 EAR. The cumulative incidence was 0.9%, 2.1%, and 3.4% at 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively. Among all SPCs, the type that contributed most to the overall burden was cancers in the central nervous system (EAR = 28.0) followed by digestive system (EAR = 15.1), thyroid (EAR = 8.3), and bones and joints (EAR = 7.8); median latency ranged from 2.0 years (lymphomas) to 26.6 years (skin cancers). Patients treated with radiotherapy alone were at a 2.58-fold increased risk of developing SPC compared to those who received neither chemotherapy nor radiotherapy. Among patients who developed SPCs, 5-year and 10-year survival probabilities after SPC diagnosis were 61.7% and 52.0%, respectively. Risk-based long-term follow-up planning is essential to inform survivorship care and help reduce the burden of SPCs in childhood cancer survivors., (© 2022 The Authors. Cancer Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association.)

In November 2013, the first edition of evidence-based guidelines for treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (GEP-NEN) was published in Japan. However, whether medical practitioners have adopted the first-line regimens recommended for metastatic GEP-NEN in clinical practice is not yet known. The purpose of this study was to identify which first-line systemic therapy regimens have been selected and the proportion of cases that are adherent to the guidelines (i.e., number of patients receiving recommended therapy/total number of patients). We combined hospital-based cancer registry data and insurance claims-equivalent data for patients with GEP-NEN treated between January 2013 and December 2014 and extracted those with metastatic GEP-NEN who received systemic therapy. The proportions that were adherent with the guideline were calculated according to tumor classification (neuroendocrine tumor [NET] or neuroendocrine carcinoma [NEC]), primary site (gastrointestinal or pancreatic), and hospital volume (high, medium, or low). The study included 109 patients with GEP-NET and 424 with GEP-NEC. Overall, guideline-adherent treatment was provided in only 54.8% of cases (58.1% for gastrointestinal NET, 63.6% for pancreatic NET, 56.6% for gastrointestinal NEC, and 44.9% for pancreatic NEC). The recommended therapy for GEP-NET was used in 16.5% of patients with GEP-NEC, and 21.5% received fluoropyrimidine-containing chemotherapy. This report is the first to describe real-world selection of first-line regimens for metastatic GEP-NEN. About half of all these patients received systemic therapy that was not recommended in the guidelines., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The high incidence of gastric cancer in Japan initially resulted in establishment of a country-wide gastric cancer screening program to detect early and treatable cancers. In 2013 countrywide Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication was approved coupled with endoscopy to assess for the presence of chronic gastritis. Current data support the notion that cure of the infection in those with non-atrophic gastritis will prevent development of gastric cancer. However, while progression to more severe damage is halted in those who have already developed, atrophic gastritis/gastric atrophy remain at risk for subsequent development of gastric cancer. That risk is directly related to the extent and severity of atrophic gastritis. Methods to stratify cancer risk include those based on endoscopic assessment of the atrophic border, histologic grading, and non-invasive methods based on serologic testing of pepsinogen levels. Continued surveillance is required because those with atrophic gastritis/gastric atrophy retain considerable gastric cancer risk even after H. pylori eradication. Those who have already experienced a resectable early gastric cancer are among those at highest risk as metachronous lesions are frequent even after H. pylori eradication. We review the role of H. pylori and effect of H. pylori eradication indicating the incidence and the predictive factors on development of metachronous cancer after endoscopic therapy of early gastric cancer. Studies to refine risk markers to stratify for risk, surveillance methods, intervals, and duration after successful H. pylori eradication, and whether adjuvant therapy would change risk are needed.

Background/aims: Pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG) was introduced as a function preserving and minimally-invasive surgery for early gastric cancer (ECG). We investigated the long-term clinical and oncological outcomes of the procedure., Methodology: A total of 433 patients who underwent PPG between 1993 and 2009 were assessed retrospectively., Results: The accuracy of the preoperative diagnosis of EGC was 93.1%. The incidence of lymph node metastasis was 3.7%. The median follow-up period was 77 (9-201) months. The overall 5-year survival rate was 96.6%. Three patients with advanced cancer developed recurrence and died. Thirteen patients developed a second primary gastric cancer in the remnant stomach. Four patients were treated by endoscopic resection, and nine underwent gastrectomy all with curative intent. The incidence of regurgitation and gastric-fullness at 5 years after PPG were 6.1% and 1.5%. Endoscopic findings of residual food, gastritis, bile reflex and reflux esophagitis were 19.1%, 11.0%, 3.0%, 10.0%, respectively. The mean relative body weight recovered up to 94.0% of that prior to surgery after 1 year and maintained., Conclusions: PPG is a safe operative procedure for patients with EGC. It is important to improve the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis, and patients should be carefully followed-up to detect remnant stomach cancer.

The safety and perioperative problems of primary lung cancer surgery after curative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for thoracic esophageal cancer (EC) are controversial. We retrospectively evaluated six patients who had received curative CRT for EC from 2003 to 2009, in whom the lung nodule was identified as a primary lung cancer and who subsequently underwent pulmonary resection. The treatment for EC consisted of chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil with concurrent curative thoracic radiotherapy (60 Gy). The median age at the surgery was 75 years (range 69-80 years). The median time from radiation to pulmonary resection was 26 months (range 7-70 months). All patients had a predicted postoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1))% of >40% before lung surgery. The surgical difficulty involves mediastinal lymph node dissection following tissue fibrotic changes after thoracic radiation. Postoperative complications occurred in two patients, and included arrhythmia and empyema. The patient who developed empyema had a massive pericardial effusion after CRT and underwent pericardial fenestration at the time of pulmonary resection. There was no operative mortality. Lung cancer surgery after curative CRT for EC is feasible in carefully evaluated and selected patients.

Background and Aims: Although Helicobacter pylori eradication decreases the incidence of metachronous gastric cancer after endoscopic treatment for early gastric cancer (EGC), metachronous cancer still develops after successful eradication, particularly in patients with severe corpus gastritis. We investigated whether the extent of atrophic fundic gastritis diagnosed by autofluorescence imaging (AFI) videoendoscopy is predictive of development of metachronous gastric cancer after H. pylori eradication in patients treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for EGC., Patients and Methods: A total of 82 patients who underwent ESD for EGC from 2003 to 2006, who received eradication therapy participated in this study. The extent of chronic atrophic fundic gastritis was evaluated by AFI and categorized into closed and open type. The main outcome was the incidence of metachronous gastric cancer detected by annual surveillance endoscopy., Results: During a median observation period of 55 months, metachronous gastric cancer developed in 12 of 82 patients (14.6%). Multivariate Cox's proportional hazard analysis revealed that open-type, atrophic fundic gastritis diagnosed by AFI was significantly associated with development of metachronous gastric cancer (hazard ratio: 4.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.32-18.2, P = 0.018) after adjustment for age, sex, histological intestinal metaplasia, serum pepsinogen level, and H. pylori status., Conclusions: Metachronous EGC developed after successful H. pylori eradication, and extensive atrophic fundic gastritis diagnosed by AFI was a significant predictor, thus it could identify patients undergoing ESD for EGC who still required intensive surveillance after eradication., (© 2010 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)