Search

To observe the clinical efficacy of deep electroacupuncture (EA) at Baliao points in treating stress urinary incontinence (SUI). A total of 60 female patients with SUI were divided into two groups according to the order of consultation, with 30 cases in each group. The control group was treated with pelvic floor muscle training. The treatment group was treated with deep EA at Baliao points [Shangliao (BL 31), Ciliao (BL 32), Zhongliao (BL 33) and Xialiao (BL 34)]. The total effective rate was 93.3% in the treatment group, versus 33.3% in the control group, and the total effective rate of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P

BACKGROUND We investigated treatment results, the effects of different treatment modality, and pretreatment Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral load for stage III nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. METHODS The initial definitive treatment for 356 stage III NPC patients consisted of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) or induction chemotherapy plus radiotherapy (IndCT-RT). The pretreatment EBV DNA level separated patients into a high (n = 106) or low (n = 250) viral load (≥ or

We investigated the survival impact and toxicity of maintenance metronomic chemotherapy in patients with metastatic/recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (met/rec NPC).Ninety-eight patients with met/rec NPC were first salvaged by IV cisplatin-based chemotherapy and showed nonprogression disease; then maintenance metronomic chemotherapy for at least 12 months was recommended. We analyzed the treatment outcome between patients who received (n = 51) and did not receive (n = 47) maintenance chemotherapy.Baseline patient characteristics showed no significant differences between both arms. Median overall survival for patients with and without maintenance chemotherapy was 36.0 and 12.3 months, respectively (p 0.0001). Similarly, median progression-free survival was 24.7 and 7.3 months, respectively (p 0.0001). Furthermore, toxicities during maintenance oral chemotherapy period were usually mild. Transient grade 3 leucopenia (9.8%), anemia (3.9%), thrombocytopenia (7.8%), and no grade 4 toxicity were observed.After IV salvage chemotherapy, maintenance oral metronomic chemotherapy significantly improved overall and progression-free survivals while demonstrating low toxicity in patients with met/rec NPC.

Background The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term survivals between altered fractionated and conventional fractionated radiotherapy with the same concurrent chemoradiotherapy (concurrent CRT) for patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods We retrospectively reviewed 203 patients with NPC who received radiotherapy (RT) by either a conventional fractionated (70-74 Gy/35-37 fractions/7-8 weeks) or altered fractionated (72-75 Gy/45 fractions/6 weeks) schedule plus the same concurrent CRT. Results The patient characteristics between conventional fractionated and altered fractionated groups showed similar distribution. The 5-year rates of nasopharyngeal failure-free, neck failure-free, and distant metastasis failure-free survival between conventional fractionated and altered fractionated groups were 88% versus 86% (P = .7781), 95% versus 93% (P = .4176), and 76% versus 73% (P = .4029), respectively. The overall survival (OS; 5-year rates were 64% versus 62%; P = .4812) and progression-free survival (PFS; 5-year rates were 67% versus 63%; P = .3829) rates also showed no significant differences. The acute and late toxicities were similar between both groups. Conclusion Altered fractionated and conventional fractionated RT achieved similar survival outcome when concurrent CRT strategy was used for advanced NPC.

// Wen-Yi Wang 1, 2, * , Tian-Yun Lin 3, * , Chih-Wen Twu 4, 5 , Hsiao-Hui Tsou 6, 7 , Po-Ju Lin 8 , Yi-Chun Liu 8 , Jing-Wen Huang 8 , He-Yuan Hsieh 8 , Jin-Ching Lin 5, 8, 9, 10 1 Department of Nursing, Hung Kuang University, Taichung, Taiwan 2 Department of Nursing, National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan 3 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 4 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan 5 Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan 6 Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan 7 Graduate Institute of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 8 Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan 9 Institute of Clinical Medicine,School of Medicine, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan 10 Department of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Jin-Ching Lin, email: jclin@vghtc.gov.tw Keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma, radiotherapy, plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA, quantitative polymerase chain reaction Received: October 25, 2015 Accepted: April 18, 2016 Published: May 12, 2016 ABSTRACT Purpose: To investigate the long-term clinical outcome of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients with persistently detectable plasma EBV (pEBV) DNA after curative radiotherapy (RT). Results: The post-RT pEBV DNA levels were very lower copy number (median 21, interquartile range 8–206 copies/ml). After long-term follow-up, the relapse rate was 64.8%, the median time to progression 20 months, and 5-year overall survival (OS) 49.6%. Thirty-two of 39 (82.1%) patients with high viral load (≥ 100 copies/ ml) developed tumor relapse, whereas 57.0% (49/86) patients with low viral load (< 100 copies/ml) had tumor relapse ( P = 0.0065). The 5-year OS rates were 20.5% and 62.9% for patients with viral load ≥ and < 100 copies/ml (median survival, 20 vs. 100 months; P < 0.0001). Patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy (AdjCT) experienced significant reduction in distant failures (66.2% vs. 31.6%; P = 0.0001) but similar locoregional recurrences ( P = 0.2337). The 5-year OS rates were 69.4% for patients who received AdjCT compared with 33.2% for those of without AdjCT (median survival, 111 vs. 32 months; P < 0.0001). Methods: We screened 931 newly diagnosed NPC patients who finished curative RT and found 125 patients (13.4%) with detectable pEBV DNA one week after RT. The clinical characteristics, treatment modality, subsequent failure patterns and survivals were analyzed. Conclusions: NPC patients with persistently detectable pEBV DNA after curative RT have a higher rate of treatment failure and poor survivals. Levels of the post-RT pEBV DNA and administration of AdjCT affect the final outcome significantly.

We investigated the survival impacts of various nodal characteristics and T-classification on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients with the 8th AJCC/UICC staging criteria N3.Pretreatment MRIs from 110 staged N3 NPC patients were reviewed. There were 23 T1, 25 T2, 32 T3, and 30 T4, respectively. All except one patient belonged to WHO type II pathology. All patients received curative radiotherapy 68.0-76.8 Gy plus different chemotherapy, including induction, concurrent, adjuvant or any combination. Various endpoints, including OS (overall survival), DFS (disease-free survival), LRFFS (locoregional failure-free survival), DMFFS (distant metastasis failure-free survival) were compared between different nodal characteristics and T-classification.There were no statistically significant differences in all analyzed survival curves between various nodal characteristics, including unilateral N3 vs. bilateral N3, "large" nodes (6 cm) alone vs. "low" nodes (below the caudal border of cricoid cartilage) alone vs. combined "large" and "low" nodes, risk score 1 vs. 2 vs. 3 vs. 4 (by counting the sum of "large" and "low" nodes in the same case), and radiologic extra-nodal extension. Patients with T4, compared with those of T1-3 have worse OS (5-year rates, 42.2% vs. 82.8%, P 0.0001), DFS (5-year rates, 43.9% vs. 68.9%, P = 0.0037), LRFFS (5-year rates, 69.3% vs. 82.7%, P = 0.0432), and DMFFS (5-year rates, 57.2% vs. 77.7%, P = 0.0163).Our results support merging previous N3a and N3b as a N3 category in the 8th edition new staging system. Patients with T4N3 diseases have extremely poor outcome and deserve to strengthen the treatment intensity in future trials.

To probe into the effective acupuncture technique for deviation of the mouth in intractable facial palsy.One hundred and one cases of intractable facial palsy were randomly divided into an observation group (48 cases) and a control group (53 cases). Cuanzhu (BL 2), Sibai (ST 2), Jiache (ST 6) and Qianzheng (Extra) on the affected side were punctured in two groups. Additionally, three acupoints of the mouth were supplemented, named Dicang (ST 4), Kouheliao (LI 19) and Jiachengjiang (Extra) were added, and the sticking needle and traction method was adopted on them in observation group. the routine needling technique was applied in control group. The treatment was given once a day and 10-day treatment made one session. The changes in facial nerve function index (FNFI) were observed in 2 sessions of treatment.After treatment, FNFI in two groups increased significantly (both P0.01), but the improvement in observation group was better than that in control group (P0.01). In observation group, the basic recovery rate of FNFI was 87.5% (42/48), which was higher than that (67.9%, 36/53) in control group (P0.05).The sticking needle and traction method o three points is the quite effective approach in the treatment of deviation of the mouth in intractable facial palsy.