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Biomedical subjects

J Watine

Publications and source records attributed to J Watine.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Carcinoembryonic antigen as an independent prognostic factor of recurrence and survival in patients resected for colorectal liver metastases: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: We attempted to answer the question of whether serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen provide prognostic information, in terms of survival, in patients resected for colorectal liver metastases, independently of that provided by other commonly used radioclinical and pathologic factors. METHOD: We performed a systematic review, without meta-analysis, of the biomedical literature using the methodology recommended by the Committee on Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. RESULTS: Despite the absence of sufficient details about the methods used to measure serum carcinoembryonic antigen in the 14 studies reviewed, strong arguments exist to include preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen measurements in future trials on the subject. In particular, preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen was found to be significant in the two studies with the greatest number of patients having a preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen assay, in the four studies with the most recent series of patients, in the study in which preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen was used as a continuous variable, and in the study in which preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen was used in terms of doubling time. Postoperative carcinoembryonic antigen was found to have a prognostic significance in the only two studies that evaluated this variable. CONCLUSION: Taking into account the possible reasons for disagreements regarding carcinoembryonic antigen prognostic value between the 14 studies reviewed, we propose some recommendations to improve the reproducibility and the quality of future studies in this field. In particular, we stress the need for a higher degree of multidisciplinary collaboration in clinical trials.

Carcinoembryonic Antigen↗
PubMed2000

Prognostic evaluation of primary non-small cell lung carcinoma patients using biological fluid variables. A systematic review.

We have systematically reviewed the biomedical literature to try to establish whether laboratory variables might give any additional prognostic information in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients independently of the usual radioclinical parameters. In each study, we acknowledged the independent prognostic value of a biological fluid variable if it had been demonstrated through a multivariate statistical analysis in which at least the following had been included: patient's weight loss, age, gender, performance status, histology, stage and extent of the disease. The clearest conclusion that can be derived from the 42 studies we reviewed is that it remains to be clearly demonstrated whether or not the "new" tests (tumour markers, p53 antibodies, etc.) are superior to the "old" tests (serum LDH, calcium, albumin or other proteins, blood cell counts, etc.), even though a number of studies did suggest that serum cyfra 21-1 has a pre-therapeutic prognostic significance in NSCLC. From the four studies in which the same powerful statistical methodologies were used (i.e. Cox models in association with RECPAM analysis), it could be derived that serum calcium and perhaps the blood neutrophil and lymphocyte counts might have independent pre-therapeutic prognostic significance in advanced NSCLC. Further studies are needed to demonstrate whether repeated measurements during therapeutic follow-up can bring any independent prognostic information. Provided that both laboratory and statistical expertise is clearly guaranteed in future primary studies published in this particular biomedical field, it might perhaps become possible to propose laboratory variables as additional prognostic parameters in NSCLC.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
PubMed1999

[Primary small-cell bronchial cancer: value of serum tumor markers in the prognostic evaluation].

TUMOR MARKERS: We reviewed the biomedical literature searching for the most well-documented serum markers with prognostic value independent of the usual radioclinical and histological parameters of small cell lung cancer. RELATIVE PROGNOSTIC VALUES: Neuron specific enolase (NSE) would have a pretherapeutic prognostic value better than LDH (lacto-dehydrogenase) and perhaps better than serum sodium, biocarbonates, and uric acid. The superiority of NSE over serum albumin remains to be proven. Although there are only a few reports, TK (thymine kinase), TPA (tissue polypeptide antigen), Cyfra 21-1 and/or IL-2 (interleukin-2) secretion might have better pretherapeutic prognostic value than NSE. We also found that iterative blood assays to follow therapeutic effects in patients with small-cell lung cancer have not been proven to provide independent prognostic information. CONCLUSION: As medical laboratory resources must be concentrated on priority exploitable assays, the currently available data would suggest that it is not necessary to routinely measure serum tumor markers, and in particular NSE, for the prognostic evaluation of small-cell lung cancer patients.

Bicarbonates↗