1391. Influence of concurrent capecitabine based chemoradiotherapy with bevacizumab on the survival rate, late toxicity and health-related quality of life in locally advanced rectal cancer : a prospective phase II CRAB trialVaneja Velenik, Vesna Zadnik, Mirko Omejc, Jan Grosek, Mojca Tuta, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: Few studies reported early results on efficacy, toxicity of combined modality treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) by adding bevacizumab to preoperative chemoradiotherapy, but long-term data on survival, and late complications are lacking. Further, none of the studies reported on the assessment of quality of life (QOL). Patients and methods. After more than 5 years of follow-up, we updated the results of our previous phase II trial in 61 patients with LARC treated with neoadjuvant capecitabine, radiotherapy and bevacizumab (CRAB study) before surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. Secondary endpoints of updated analysis were local control (LC), disease free (DFS) and overall survival (OS), late toxicity and longitudinal health related QOL (before starting the treatment and one year after the treatment) with questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-CR38. Results. Median follow-up was 67 months. During the follow-up period, 16 patients (26.7%) died. The 5-year OS, DFS and LC rate were 72.2%, 70% and 92.4%. Patients with pathological positive nodes or pathological T3%4 tumors had significantly worse survival than patients with pathological negative nodes or T0%2 tumors. Nine patients (14.8%) developed grade % 3 late complications of combined modality treatment, first event 12 months and last 87 months after operation (median time 48 months). Based on EORTC QLQ-C30 scores one year after treatment there were no significant changes in global QOL and three symptoms (pain, insomnia and diarrhea), but physical and social functioning significantly decreased. Based on QLQ-CR38 scores body image scores significantly increase, problems with weight loss significantly decrease, but sexual dysfunction in men and chemotherapy side effects significantly increase. Conclusions. Patients with LARC and high risk factors, such as positive pathological lymph nodes and high pathological T stage, deserve more aggressive treatment in the light of improving long-term survival results. Patients after multimodality treatment should be given greater attention to the regulation of individual aspects of quality of life and the occurrence of late side effects.
Keywords: rectal cancer, bevacizumab, preoperative chemoradiotherapy
Published in DiRROS: 15.07.2024; Views: 284; Downloads: 116
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1392. Adaptive visual quality inspection based on defect prediction from production parametersZvezdan Lončarević, Simon Reberšek, Samo Šela, Jure Skvarč, Aleš Ude, Andrej Gams, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: At the end of a production process, the manufactured products must usually be visually inspected to ensure their quality. Often, it is necessary to inspect the final product from several viewpoints. However, the inspection of all possible aspects might take too long and thus create a bottleneck in the production process. In this paper we propose and evaluate a methodology for adaptive, robot-aided visual quality inspection. With the proposed method, the most probable defects are first predicted based on the production process parameters. A suitable classifier for defect prediction is learnt in an unsupervised manner from a database that includes the produced parts and the associated parameters.Arobot then steers the camera only towards viewpoints associated with predicted defects, which implies that the trajectories of robot motion for the inspection might be different for every product. To enable dynamic planning of camera trajectories, we describe a methodology for evaluation and selection of the most appropriate autonomous motion planner. The proposed defect prediction approach was compared to other methods and evaluated on the products from a real-world production line for injection moulding, which was implemented for a producer of parts in the automotive industry.
Keywords: robot learning, robotic quality inspection, visual quality inspection, injection moulding, production parameters, robot motion planning
Published in DiRROS: 15.07.2024; Views: 310; Downloads: 214
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1393. Embedded complex curves in the affine planeAntonio Alarcón, Franc Forstnerič, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: This paper brings several contributions to the classical Forster-Bell-Narasimhan conjecture and the Yang problem concerning the existence of proper and almost proper (hence complete) injective holomorphic immersions of open Riemann surfaces in the affine plane ${\mathbb C}^2$ satisfying interpolation and hitting conditions. We also show that in every compact Riemann surface there is a Cantor set whose complement admits a proper holomorphic embedding in ${\mathbb C}^2$. The focal point is a lemma saying the following. Given a compact bordered Riemann surface, $M$, a closed discrete subset $E$ of its interior ${\mathring M}=M\setminus bM$, a compact subset $K\subset {\mathring M}\setminus E$ without holes in $\mathring M$, and a ${\cal C}^1$ embedding $f: M\hookrightarrow \mathbb C^2$ which is holomorphic in $\mathring M$, we can approximate $f$ uniformly on $K$ by a holomorphic embedding $F: bM\hookrightarrow {\mathbb C}^2$ which maps $E\cup bM$ out of a given ball and satisfies some interpolation conditions.
Keywords: Riemann surfaces, complex curves, complete holomorphic embedding
Published in DiRROS: 15.07.2024; Views: 263; Downloads: 146
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1394. Transarterial embolization of the external carotid artery in the treatment of life-threatening haemorrhage following blunt maxillofacial traumaČrt Langel, Dimitrij Lovrič, Urša Boneš, Tomislav Mirković, Primož Gradišek, Anita Mrvar Brečko, Katarina Šurlan Popović, 2020, review article Abstract: Background. Severe bleeding after blunt maxillofacial trauma is a rare but life-threatening event. Non-responders to conventional treatment options with surgically inaccessible bleeding points can be treated by transarterial embolization (TAE) of the external carotid artery (ECA) or its branches. Case series on such embolizations are small; considering the relatively high incidence of maxillofacial trauma, the ECA TAE procedure has been hypothesized either underused or underreported. In addition, the literature on the ECA TAE using novel non-adhesive liquid embolization agents is remarkably scarce.Patients and methods. PubMed review was performed to identify the ECA TAE literature in the context of blunt maxillofacial trauma. If available, the location of the ECA injury, the location of embolization, the chosen embolization agent, and efficacy and safety of the TAE were noted for each case. Survival prognostic factors were also reviewed. Additionally, we present an illustrative TAE case using a precipitating hydrophobic injectable liquid (PHIL) to safely and effectively control a massive bleeding originating bilaterally in the ECA territories.Results and conclusions. Based on a review of 205 cases, the efficacy of TAE was 79.4-100%, while the rate of major complications was about 2-4%. Successful TAE haemostasis, Glasgow Coma Scale score >- 8 at presentation, injury severity score <- 32, shock index <- 1.1 before TAE and <- 0.8 after TAE were significantly correlated with higher survival rate. PHIL allowed for fast yet punctilious application, thus saving invaluable time in life-threatening situations while simultaneously diminishing the possibility of inadvertent injection into the ECA-internal carotid artery (ICA) anastomoses.
Keywords: maxillofacial trauma, external carotid artery injury, intractable bleeding
Published in DiRROS: 12.07.2024; Views: 284; Downloads: 150
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1395. Impact of COVID-19 on cancer diagnosis and management in Slovenia : preliminary resultsVesna Zadnik, Ana Mihor, Sonja Tomšič, Tina Žagar, Nika Bric, Katarina Lokar, Irena Oblak, 2020, original scientific article Keywords: covid-19, oncology, oncology diagnosis, pandemic
Published in DiRROS: 12.07.2024; Views: 316; Downloads: 152
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1396. Care of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer stage III : the Central European real-world experienceMilada Zemanova, Robert Pirker, Luboš Petruželka, Zuzana Zbozínkova, Mirjana Rajer, Krisztina Bogos, Gunta Purkalne, Vesna Ceriman, Subhash Chaudhary, Igor Richter, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: Background. Management of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is affected by regional specificities. The present study aimed at determining diagnostic and therapeutic procedures including outcome of patients with NSCLC stage III in the realworld setting in Central European countries to define areas for improvements. Patients and methods. This multicentre, prospective and non-interventional study collected data of patients with NSCLC stage III in a web-based registry and analysed them centrally. Results. Between March 2014 and March 2017, patients (n=583) with the following characteristics were entered: 32% females, 7% never-smokers; ECOG performance status (PS) 0, 1, 2 and 3 in 25%, 58%, 12% and 5%, respectively; 21% prior weight loss; 53% squamous carcinoma, 38% adenocarcinoma; 10% EGFR mutations. Staging procedures included chest X-ray (97% of patients), chest CT (96%), PET-CT (27%), brain imaging (20%), bronchoscopy (89%), endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) (13%) and CT-guided biopsy (9%). Stages IIIA/IIIB were diagnosed in 55%/45% of patients, respectively. N2/N3 nodes were diagnosed in 60%/23% and pathologically confirmed in 29% of patients. Most patients (56%) were treated by combined modalities. Surgery plus chemotherapy was administered to 20%, definitive chemoradiotherapy to 34%, chemotherapy only to 26%, radiotherapy only to 12% and best supportive care (BSC) to 5% of patients. Median survival and progression-free survival times were 16.8 (15.3;18.5) and 11.2 (10.2;12.2) months, respectively. Stage IIIA, female gender, no weight loss, pathological mediastinal lymph node verification, surgery and combined modality therapy were associated with longer survival. Conclusions. The real-world study demonstrated a broad heterogeneity in the management o f stage III NSCLC in Central European countries and suggested to increase the rates of PET-CT imaging, brain imaging and invasive mediastinal staging.
Keywords: diagnostic procedures, multimodality treatment, non-small-cell cancer, lung cancer
Published in DiRROS: 12.07.2024; Views: 288; Downloads: 180
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1398. Percutaneous image guided electrochemotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma : technological advancementMihajlo Djokić, Rok Dežman, Maja Čemažar, Miha Štabuc, Miha Petrič, Lojze Šmid, Rado Janša, Boštjan Plešnik, Maša Omerzel, Urša Lampreht Tratar, Blaž Trotovšek, Bor Kos, Damijan Miklavčič, Gregor Serša, Peter Popović, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: Background. Electrochemotherapy is an effective treatment of colorectal liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) during open surgery. The minimally invasive percutaneous approach of electrochemotherapy has already been performed but not on HCC. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of electrochemotherapy with percutaneous approach on HCC. Patient and methods. The patient had undergone the transarterial chemoembolization and microwave ablation of multifocal HCC in segments III, V and VI. In follow-up a new lesion was identified in segment III, and recognized by multidisciplinary team to be suitable for minimally invasive percutaneous electrochemotherapy. The treatment was performed with long needle electrodes inserted by the aid of image guidance. Results. The insertion of electrodes was feasible, and the treatment proved safe and effective, as demonstrated by control magnetic resonance imaging. Conclusions. Minimally invasive, image guided percutaneous electrochemotherapy is feasible, safe and effective in treatment of HCC.
Keywords: electrochemotherapy, hepatocellular carcinoma, percutaneous, minimally invasive
Published in DiRROS: 12.07.2024; Views: 319; Downloads: 164
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1399. Sorafenib for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma : a single-centre real-world studyJurij Hanžel, Tajda Božič, Borut Štabuc, Rado Janša, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: Background Sorafenib is an oral multi-kinase inhibitor used for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Its efficacy in randomised controlled trials was demonstrated in patients with well-preserved liver function and good functional status. In the real-world setting, treatment is often offered to patients outside these criteria. We therefore performed a single-centre real-world cohort study on the efficacy of sorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients and methods We identified all patients with hepatocellular carcinoma initiating treatment with sorafenib between January 2015 and January 2018. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS) since starting sorafenib. Clinical and demographic variables associated with survival were studied. Results The median OS was 13.4 months (95% CI 8.2%18.6). Multivariable Cox%s regression identified worse ECOG performance status (HR 2.21; 95% CI 1.56%3.16; P < 0.0001), Child-Pugh class C (HR 52.4; 95% CI 3.20%859; P = 0.005) and absence of prior locoregional treatment (HR 2.30; 95% CI 1.37%3.86; P = 0.002) to be associated with increased mortality. Conclusions Careful selection of patients for treatment with sorafenib is of paramount importance to optimize outcomes.
Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, survival, sorafenib
Published in DiRROS: 12.07.2024; Views: 305; Downloads: 148
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1400. Diagnostic accuracy of (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan to predict Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in non-HIV-infected patientsPetra Rogina, Miha Skvarč, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: Background Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is a common and potentially fatal opportunistic infection in immunocompromised non-HIV individuals. There are problems with clinical and diagnostic protocols for PCP that lack sensitivity and specificity. We designed a retrospective study to compared several methods that were used in diagnostics of PCP. Patients and methods One hundred and eight immunocompromised individuals with typical clinical picture for PCP and suspicious radiological findings were included in the study. Serum samples were taken to measure the values of (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan (Fungitell, Associates of Cape Cod, USA). Lower respiratory tract samples were obtained to perform direct immunofluorescence (DIF, MERIFLUOR Pneumocystis, Meridian, USA) stain and real-time PCR (qPCR). Results Fifty-four (50%) of the 108 patients in our study had (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan > 500 pg/ml. Patients that had (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan concentrations < 400 pg/ml in serum, had mean threshold cycles (Ct) 35.43 +- 3.32 versus those that had (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan concentrations >400 pg/mL and mean Ct of 28.97 +- 5.27 (P < 0.001). If we detected P. jirovecii with DIF and qPCR than PCP was proven. If the concentration of (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan was higher than 400 pg/ml and Ct of qPCR was below 28.97 +- 5.27 than we have been able be certain that P. jirovecii caused pneumonia (odds ratio [OR] 2.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.62-3.27, P < 0.001). Conclusions Measurement of (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan or qPCR alone could not be used to diagnose PCP. Diagnostic cut-off value for (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan > 400pg/ml and qPCR below 30 Ct, allow us to conclude that patient has PCP. If the values of (1-3)-[beta]-D-glucan are < 400 pg/ml and qPCR is above 35 Ct than colonization with P. jirovecii is more possible than PCP.
Keywords: Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, real-time PCR, non-HIV-infected patients
Published in DiRROS: 12.07.2024; Views: 252; Downloads: 174
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