METHODS: One hundred and twenty cervical cancer patients diagnosed between 1st July 1995 and 30th June 2007 were identified. Data were obtained from medical records. The survival probability was determined using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test was applied to compare the survival distribution between groups.
RESULTS: The overall five-year survival was 39.7% [95%CI (Confidence Interval): 30.7, 51.3] with a median survival time of 40.8 (95%CI: 34.0, 62.0) months. The log-rank test showed that there were survival differences between the groups for the following variables: stage at diagnosis (p=0.005); and primary treatment (p=0.0242). Patients who were diagnosed at the latest stage (III-IV) were found to have the lowest survival, 18.4% (95%CI: 6.75, 50.1), compared to stage I and II where the five-year survival was 54.7% (95%CI: 38.7, 77.2) and 40.8% (95%CI: 27.7, 60.3), respectively. The five-year survival was higher in patients who received surgery [52.6% (95%CI: 37.5, 73.6)] as a primary treatment compared to the non-surgical group [33.3% (95%CI: 22.9, 48.4)].
CONCLUSION: The five-year survival of cervical cancer patients in this study was low. The survival of those diagnosed at an advanced stage was low compared to early stages. In addition, those who underwent surgery had higher survival than those who had no surgery for primary treatment.
METHODS: Medical records of bladder tumour cases from 2005 till 2009 were retrospectively reviewed and tabulated.
RESULTS: A total of 83 cases were recorded. The incidence was highest among the Chinese (56.6%), followed by Malays (34.9%), Indians (6%) and other races (2.4%). The male-to-female ratio was 9.4:1. The median age was 65 years (range 30-91 years) and median duration of follow up was 17.2 months (range 2-60 months). The main histopathology was transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) (90.4%), followed by adenocarcinoma (6%), squamous cell carcinoma (1.2%), leiomyoma (1.2%) and myeloid sarcoma (1.2%). For the TCCs, 58.6% were superficial while 41.4% were muscle invasive, and 13.3% had nodal metastasis with distant metastasis in 8%. Of the total, 5.3% were papillary urothelial tumours of low malignant potential, 33.3% pTa, 20% pT1, 10.7% pT2, 12.0% pT3 and 18.7% pT4. Of the superficial tumours, 32.5% were high grade tumours. There were ten radical cystectomies performed for transitional cell carcinomas; two had neobladder reconstruction whereas the other eight had ileal conduits. All the adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas were treated by radiotherapy due to the advanced stage of the disease while the myeloid sarcoma received chemotherapy. Mean survival of patients with muscle invasive cancer was 33+/-5 months. By the end of the study, 18.1% of patients had died of their cancer.
CONCLUSION: The incidence of bladder tumours is highest among the Chinese. When compared to other studies, the incidence of muscle invasive and high-grade superficial tumours was greater.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: cDNAs from 41 OSCC samples with and without risk habits were included in this study. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to analyze KRT13, FAIM2 and CYP2W1 in OSCC. The housekeeping gene (GAPDH) was used as an endogenous control.
RESULTS: Of the 41 OSCC samples, KRT13 was down-regulated in 40 samples (97.6%), while FAIM2 and CYP2W1 were down-regulated in 61.0% and 48.8%, respectively. Overall, there were no associations between KRT13, FAIM2 and CYP2W1 expression with risk habits, selected socio-demographic and clinico-pathological parameters and patient survival.
CONCLUSIONS: Although this study was unable to show significance, there were some tendencies in the associations of KRT13, FAIM2 and CYP2W1 expression in OSCC with selected clinic-pathological parameters and survival.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included a total of 240 matched cases and controls where subjects were selected from the Malaysian Oral Cancer Database and Tissue Bank System (MOCDTBS). Retinol, α-tocopherol and β-carotene levels and intake were examined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) respectively.
RESULTS: It was found that results from the two methods applied did not correlate, so that further analysis was done using the HPLC method utilising blood serum. Serum levels of retinol and α-tocopherol among cases (0.177±0.081, 1.649±1.670μg/ml) were significantly lower than in controls (0.264±0.137, 3.225±2.054μg/ml) (p<0.005). Although serum level of β-carotene among cases (0.106±0.159 μg/ml) were lower compared to controls (0.134±0.131μg/ml), statistical significance was not observed. Logistic regression analysis showed that high serum level of retinol (OR=0.501, 95% CI=0.254-0.992, p<0.05) and α-tocopherol (OR=0.184, 95% CI=0.091-0.370, p<0.05) was significantly related to lower risk of oral cancer, whereas no relationship was observed between β-carotene and oral cancer risk.
CONCLUSIONS: High serum levels of retinol and α-tocopherol confer protection against oral cancer risk.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of using cyclin D1 as a prognostic marker in tongue and cheek SCC by the fluorescent-in-situ hybridization (FISH) method.
METHODS: Fifty paraffin-embedded samples (25 each of cheek and tongue SCCs) were obtained from the archives of the Oral Pathology Diagnostic Laboratory. Sociodemographic data, histopathologic diagnoses, lymph node status and survival data were obtained from the Malaysian Oral Cancer Database and Tissue Bank System (MOCDTBS)coordinated by the Oral Cancer Research and Coordinating Centre (OCRCC), University of Malaya. The FISH technique was used to detect the amplification of cyclin D1 using the Vysis protocol. Statistical correlations of cyclin D1 with site and lymph node status were analyzed using the Fisher exact test. Kaplan-Meier and Log Rank (Mantel-Cox) test were used to analyze cyclin D1 amplification and median survival time.
RESULTS: Positive amplification of cyclin D1 was detected in 72% (36) of OSCCs. Detection of positive amplification for cyclin D1 was observed in 88% (22) and 56% (14) of the tongue and cheek tumors, respectively, where the difference was statistically significant (P=0.012). Lymph node metastasis of cheek SCCs showed a trend towards a significant association (P= 0.098) with cyclin D1 amplification whereas the lymph node metastasis of tongue SCC was clearly not significant (P=0.593).There was a statistically significant correlation between cyclin D1 positivity and survival rate (P=0.009) for overall SCC cases and (P<0.001) for cheek SCC cases.
CONCLUSION: The present study found that cyclin D1 amplification may differ in different subsites of OSCC (tongue vs cheek) and its positive amplification implies an overall poor survival in OSCCs, particularly those arising in cheeks.