Taiwan Cancer Database Research Articles

Protective loop ileostomy or colostomy? a risk evaluation of all common complications.

Protective ileostomy and colostomy are performed in patients undergoing low anterior resection with a high leakage risk. We aimed to compare surgical, medical, and daily care complications between these 2 ostomies in order to make individual choice. Patients who underwent low anterior resection for rectal tumors with protective stomas between January 2011 and September 2018 were enrolled. Stoma-related complications were prospectively recorded by wound, ostomy, and continence nurses. The cancer stage and treatment data were obtained from the Taiwan Cancer Database of our Big Data Center. Other demographic data were collected retrospectively from medical notes. The complications after stoma creation and after the stoma reversal were compared. There were 176 patients with protective colostomy and 234 with protective ileostomy. Protective ileostomy had higher proportions of high output from the stoma for 2 consecutive days than protective colostomy (11.1% vs. 0%, P<0.001). Protective colostomy resulted in more stoma retraction than protective ileostomy (21.6% vs. 9.4%, P=0.001). Female sex, open operation, ileostomy, and carrying stoma more than 4 months were also significantly associated with a higher risk of stoma-related complications during diversion. The incidence of complication after stoma reversal did not differ between colostomy group and ileostomy group (24.3% vs. 20.9%, P=0.542). We suggest avoiding colostomy in patients who are female and potential prolong diversion when stoma retraction is a concern. Otherwise, ileostomy should be avoided for patients with impaired renal function. Wise selection and flexibility are more important than using one type of stoma routinely.

Survival Analysis in Patients with Lung Cancer and Subsequent Primary Cancer: A Nationwide Cancer Registry Study.

With improved survival in patients with cancer, the risk of developing multiple primary malignancies (MPMs) has increased. We aimed to characterize MPMs involving lung cancer and compare these characteristics between patients with single lung cancer and those with lung cancer and subsequent primary cancer (known as lung cancer first [LCF]). Methods: This retrospective study was conducted based on Taiwan Cancer Database from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Registry Database. Patients with lung cancer (n = 72,219) from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2015, were included in this study, and their medical records were traced back to 1 January 2002, and followed until 31 December 2019. Results: MPMs occurred in 10,577 (14.65%) patients with lung cancer, and LCF and other cancer first (OCF) accounted for 35.55% and 64.45% of these patients, with a mean age at lung cancer diagnosis of 65.18 and 68.92 years, respectively. The median interval between primary malignancies in the OCF group was significantly longer than that in the LCF group (3.26 vs. 0.11 years, p < 0.001). Patients in the single lung cancer group were significantly older than those in the LCF group (67.12 vs. 65.18 years, p < 0.001). The mean survival time of patients with LCF was longer than that of patients with single lung cancer. Following initial lung cancer, the three most common second primary malignancies were lung, colon, and breast cancers. For patients with advanced lung cancer, survival in patients with mutant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was longer than that in patients with undetected EGFR. In stage 3 and 4 patients with EGFR mutations, the LCF group showed better survival than the single lung cancer group. Conversely, in stage 1 patients with mutant EGFR, the LCF group exhibited worse survival than the single lung cancer group. Conclusions: Survival in patients with MPMs depends on baseline characteristics and treatments. Our findings may contribute to the development of precision medicine for improving personalized treatment and survival as well as the reduction of medical costs.

Abstract PS6-51: Identification of a low-risk luminal breast cancer cohort that may not benefit from multi-gene testing

Abstract Purpose: Dutch clinical risk criteria (low-risk definition: age &amp;gt; 35 years and (grade 1 with tumor ≤3cm, grade 2 with tumor ≤2cm, or grade 3 with tumor ≤1cm) have been used to stratify the benefit of MammaPrint and Oncotype DX for the decision-making regarding adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage luminal breast cancer. We propose that the criteria could help to identify low-risk patients who could barely benefit from multi-gene testing. Materials and methods: Breast cancer patients from Taiwan Cancer Database initially treated with primary surgeries between 2008 and 2012 who met the following criteria: (1) pathologic node-negative, (2) hormone receptor-positive, (3) HER2-negative, (4) undergone hormonal therapy, and (5) a minimum follow-up time of 5-year if free from any event, were enrolled in this study. Out of the total 2679 eligible patients, 1074 (40.1%) patients received adjuvant chemotherapy in addition to endocrine therapy. The study endpoints included breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) and overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier statistics estimated the difference between clinical outcomes in low- and high-risk groups. Results: The median follow-up time of BSCC and OS was 5.9 years (range, 0-7 years) and 5.8 years (range, 0-7 years), respectively. There were statistical significances of 5-year BCSS (n=2679) and 5-year OS (n=2636) between low-risk and high-risk groups (in both endpoints, P &amp;lt; 0.0001). According to the Dutch criteria, low-risk patients with and without adjuvant chemotherapy had a 5-year BCSS of 99.0% vs. 99.2% and a 5-year OS of 98.4% vs. 97.4%, respectively. High-risk patients with and without adjuvant chemotherapy had a 5-year BCSS of 97.7% vs. 98.1% and a 5-year OS of 96.4% vs. 95.3%, respectively. Conclusion: The benefit of chemotherapy in low-risk patients classified by Dutch criteria might be very small since the breast cancer mortality was less than 1% with a minimum of 5-year follow-up. Dutch criteria cannot identify high-risk patients who would benefit from chemotherapy. We assumed that multi-gene testing in low-risk patients would not be cost-effective. Citation Format: Lei Lei, Han-Ching Chan, Tzu-Pin Lu, Xian-Yuan Miao, Zi-Yan Yang, Jia-Huan Huang, Xiao-Jia Wang, Hung-Chun Skye Cheng. Identification of a low-risk luminal breast cancer cohort that may not benefit from multi-gene testing [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS6-51.

Effects of 1-Year Hospital Volume on Surgical Margin and Biochemical-Failure-Free Survival in Patients Undergoing Robotic versus Nonrobotic Radical Prostatectomy: A Nationwide Cohort Study from the National Taiwan Cancer Database.

Simple SummaryLimited evidence exists regarding the effects of hospital volume (i.e., number of patients with PC receiving robotic RP per year) on the oncologic outcomes of biochemical-failure-free survival (BFS) and positive surgical margin (PSM) between patients with prostate cancer (PC) undergoing robotic or nonrobotic radical prostatectomy (RP). This is the first study to include large sample size, long follow-up time, and consistent covariates of patients with PC receiving different surgical techniques for RP and investigate whether hospital volume affects BFS and PSM. Hospital volume significantly improved BFS and PSM rates in robotic RP, but not in nonrobotic RP. When patients with PC wish to receive robotic RP, we suggest that the surgery be performed in a high-volume hospital (>50 patients/year).Purpose: To examine the effect of hospital volume on positive surgical margin (PSM) and biochemical-failure-free survival (BFS) rates in patients with prostate cancer (PC) undergoing robotic-assisted or nonrobotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RP). Patients and Methods: The patients were men collected in the National Taiwan Cancer Registry diagnosed as having PC without distant metastasis who received RP from 44 multi-institutes in Taiwan. The logistic regression method was used to analyze the risk from RP to PSM in included patients with hospital volume (i.e., number of patients with PC receiving robotic RP per year), and the Cox proportional hazards method was used to analyze the time from the index date to biochemical recurrence. Results: After propensity score adjustment, compared with hospitals with >100 patients/year, the adjusted odds ratios (aORs; 95% confidence intervals) of PSM in the robotic RP group in hospitals with 1–25, 26–50, and 51–100 patients/year were 2.25 (2.10–3.11), 1.42 (1.25–2.23), and 1.33 (1.13–2.04), respectively (type III p < 0.0001). Sensitivity analysis indicated that the aORs of PSM were 1.29 (1.07–1.81), 1.07 (0.70–1.19), and 0.61 (0.56–0.83), respectively, for patients receiving robotic RP compared with nonrobotic RP within hospitals with 1–25, 26–50, and 51–100 patients/year, respectively. Compared with hospitals with >100 patients/year, the adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of biochemical failure in the robotic RP group were 1.40 (1.04–1.67), 1.34 (1.06–1.96), and 1.31 (1.05–2.15) in hospitals with 1–25, 26–50, and 51–100 patients/year, respectively. Conclusions: Hospital volume significantly affected PSM and BFS in robotic RP, but not in nonrobotic RP. When patients with PC want to receive robotic RP, it should be performed in a relatively high-volume hospital (>100 patients/year).

Survival Predictability Between the American Joint Committee on Cancer 8th Edition Staging System and the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Classification in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

This study compared the prognostic significance of staging between the American Joint Committee on Cancer 8th edition Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) staging system and the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) classification in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study population comprised patients with liver cancer registered in the Taiwan Cancer Database from 2007 to 2013 and was followed up until December 31, 2016. The study included patients with HCC, with known staging in both TNM and BCLC systems, and with follow-up >1 month. Primary endpoint was overall survival. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model were constructed to investigate the significance of staging by two systems. Goodness-of-fit of model was evaluated via Akaike's information criterion (AIC), the lower the better. Among 73,136 patients with newly diagnosed liver cancer, a total of 37,062 patients with HCC (25.6% underwent surgery) were eligible. The mean age and overall survival of this cohort were 63.9 years and 27.2%, respectively. Overall survivals for stages I, II, III, and IV (the TNM system) were 54.5%, 34.9%, 10.3%, and 6.4%, respectively. Overall survivals for stages A, B, C, and D (the BCLC classification) were 54.5%, 29.2%, 9.8%, and 4.0%, respectively. The median follow-up time was 59.4 months. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model revealed that both systems predicted overall survival, cancer-specific survival, disease-free survival, and local recurrence-free rate well. Values of ΔAIC of the BCLC classification and the TNM system were lower for the surgery group and nonsurgery group, respectively. The TNM system (8th edition) predicted long-term outcome better than the BCLC classification in patients with HCC. But in patients treated initially with surgery, the BCLC classification outperformed the 8th edition of the TNM system. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This work demonstrates that the Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) system (8th edition) and the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) classification both predict long-term outcome significantly in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma but that the TNM system (8th edition) predicts long-term outcome better than the BCLC classification. For patients treated initially with surgery, BCLC classification outperforms in 8th edition TNM system in predicting long-term outcome.

Recurrence risk stratification by Dutch clinical risk criteria for early-stage luminal breast cancer patients in Taiwan: A population-based analysis.

e12509 Background: Dutch clinical risk criteria (low-risk definition: age &gt; 35 years and (grade 1 with tumor ≤3cm, grade 2 with tumor ≤2cm, or grade 3 with tumor ≤1cm) have been used to stratify the benefit of MammaPrint and Oncotype DX for the decision-making regarding adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage luminal breast cancer. We propose that the criteria could help to identify low-risk patients who could barely benefit from multi-gene testing. Methods: Breast cancer patients from Taiwan Cancer Database initially treated with primary surgeries between 2008 and 2012 who met the following criteria: (1) pathologic node-negative, (2) hormone receptor-positive, (3) HER2-negative, (4) undergone hormonal therapy, and (5) a minimum follow-up time of 5-year if free from any event, were enrolled in this study. Out of the total 2679 eligible patients, 1074 (40.1%) patients received adjuvant chemotherapy in addition to endocrine therapy. The study endpoints included breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) and overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier statistics estimated the difference between clinical outcomes in low- and high-risk groups. Results: The median follow-up time of BSCC and OS was 5.9 years (range, 0-7 years) and 5.8 years (range, 0-7 years), respectively. There were statistical significances of 5-year BCSS (n = 2679) and 5-year OS (n = 2636) between low-risk and high-risk groups (in both endpoints, P &lt; 0.0001). According to the Dutch criteria, low-risk patients with and without adjuvant chemotherapy had a 5-year BCSS of 99.0% vs. 99.2% and a 5-year OS of 98.4% vs. 97.4%, respectively. High-risk patients with and without adjuvant chemotherapy had a 5-year BCSS of 97.7% vs. 98.1% and a 5-year OS of 96.4% vs. 95.3%, respectively. Conclusions: The benefit of chemotherapy in low-risk patients classified by Dutch criteria might be very small since the breast cancer mortality was less than 1% with a minimum of 5-year follow-up. Dutch criteria cannot identify high-risk patients who would benefit from chemotherapy. We assumed that multi-gene testing in low-risk patients would not be cost-effective.

Comparison of risk factors between colon cancer and rectum cancer in a single medical center hospital, Taiwan

IntroductionColorectal cancer (CRC) is rapidly increasing in developed countries. In Taiwan, the incidence rate of CRC has increased during the past decade, but the 5-year survival has remained at approximately 63%. In this study, we sought to determine the 5-year survival rate of patients diagnosed with colon and rectum cancer and to determine factors affecting survival.Material and methodsAll patients from the Taiwan Cancer Database of the medical center hospital in North Taiwan between 2007 and 2013 were identified. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier curves, and differences between the curves were analyzed using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyze survival by each variable.ResultsA total of 869 patients were included: 554 (63.8%) patients had colon cancer and 315 (36.2%) had rectum cancer. The mean survival time was 71.27 ±1.27 months (colon group: 71.90 ±1.58 months; rectum group: 67.88 ±1.95 months). There was no significant difference (p = 0.493) between patients who had colon or rectum cancer. The forward stepwise Cox regression analysis results indicated that perineural invasion, distant metastasis, age, pathological differentiation grade, and obstruction were statistically significant for patients who had CRC, colon cancer or rectum cancer.ConclusionsThe long-term survival from CRC, colon cancer and rectum cancer remains promising, as 68.66%, 69.11% and 67.90% of patients are alive 5 years after being diagnosed, respectively. Perineural invasion was found to be an important factor related to the survival of patients who have CRC. Thus, early detection of CRC may help improve survival.

Effect of glucocorticoid use on survival in patients with stage I-III breast cancer.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are commonly used in breast cancer patients to ameliorate emesis induced by chemotherapy. Some preclinical studies have suggested that systemic GCs might promote survival of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer cells. This study aims to clarify their clinical effect on patient survival. A total of 18,596 women with newly diagnosed stage I-III breast cancer in 2002-2006 were identified from the Taiwan Cancer Database and drug treatment was examined from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Claims Database. Of these, 3989 who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy (non-chemotherapy cohort) and 3237 patients who received six cycles of adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy (anthracycline cohort) were included. The impact of GC use on survival was analyzed separately in these two cohorts using Cox proportional hazards models. In the non-chemotherapy cohort, GC use was associated with aggressive clinicopathological features of breast cancer. High-dose GC was associated with shorter overall survival in univariate analysis but not in multivariate analysis. In the anthracycline cohort, multivariate analysis showed that GC use at each dose level was significantly associated with longer breast cancer-specific survival (HR 0.65, 0.70, and 0.70 for low-dose, median-dose, and high-dose GC, respectively) and overall survival (HR 0.72, 0.76, and 0.73, respectively) when compared with those receiving no GC. The associations were significant in both ER-positive and ER-negative subgroups for breast cancer-specific survival, and in ER-negative subgroup for overall survival. Concomitant use of GC improved survival in patients receiving adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy for stage I-III breast cancer.

Association of a Bundled-Payment Program With Cost and Outcomes in Full-Cycle Breast Cancer Care

Value-driven payment system reform is a potential tool for aligning economic incentives with the improvement of quality and efficiency of health care and containment of cost. Such a payment system has not been researched satisfactorily in full-cycle cancer care. To examine the association of outcomes and medical expenditures with a bundled-payment pay-for-performance program for breast cancer in Taiwan compared with a fee-for-service (FFS) program. Data were obtained from the Taiwan Cancer Database, National Health Insurance Claims Data, the National Death Registry, and the bundled-payment enrollment file. Women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and a documented first cancer treatment from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2008, were selected from the Taiwan Cancer Database and followed up for 5 years, with the last follow-up data available on December 31, 2013. Patients in the bundled-payment program were matched at a ratio of 1:3 with control individuals in an FFS program using a propensity score method. The final sample of 17 940 patients included 4485 (25%) in the bundled-payment group and 13 455 (75%) in the FFS group. Rates of adherence to quality indicators, survival rates, and medical payments (excluding bonuses paid in the bundled-payment group). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate 5-year overall and event-free survival rates by cancer stage, and the Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to examine the effect of the bundled-payment program on overall and event-free survival. Sensitivity analysis for bonus payments in the bundled-payment group was also performed. The study population included 17 940 women (mean [SD] age, 52.2 [10.3] years). In the bundled-payment group, 1473 of 4215 patients (34.9%) with applicable quality indicators had full (100%) adherence to quality indicators compared with 3438 of 12 506 patients (27.5%) with applicable quality indicators in the FFS group (P < .001). The 5-year event-free survival rates for patients with stages 0 to III breast cancer were 84.48% for the bundled-payment group and 80.88% for the FFS group (P < .01). Although the 5-year medical payments of the bundled-payment group remained stable, the cumulative medical payments for the FFS group steadily increased from $16 000 to $19 230 and exceeded pay-for-performance bundled payments starting in 2008. In Taiwan, compared with the regular FFS program, bundled payment may lead to better adherence to quality indicators, better outcomes, and more effective cost-control over time.

Recursive partitioning analysis of lymph node ratio in breast cancer patients.

Lymph node ratio (LNR) is a powerful prognostic factor for breast cancer. We conducted a recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) of the LNR to identify the prognostic risk groups in breast cancer patients. Records of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients between 2002 and 2006 were searched in the Taiwan Cancer Database. The end of follow-up was December 31, 2009. We excluded patients with distant metastases, inflammatory breast cancer, survival <1 month, no mastectomy, or missing lymph node status. Primary outcome was 5-year overall survival (OS). For univariate significant predictors, RPA were used to determine the risk groups. Among the 11,349 eligible patients, we identified 4 prognostic factors (including LNR) for survival, resulting in 8 terminal nodes. The LNR cutoffs were 0.038, 0.259, and 0.738, which divided LNR into 4 categories: very low (LNR ≤ 0.038), low (0.038 < LNR ≤ 0.259), moderate (0.259 < LNR ≤ 0.738), and high (0.738 < LNR). Then, 4 risk groups were determined as follows: Class 1 (very low risk, 8,265 patients), Class 2 (low risk, 1,901 patients), Class 3 (moderate risk, 274 patients), and Class 4 (high risk, 900 patients). The 5-year OS for Class 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 93.2%, 83.1%, 72.3%, and 56.9%, respectively (P< 0.001). The hazard ratio of death was 2.70, 4.52, and 8.59 (95% confidence interval 2.32–3.13, 3.49–5.86, and 7.48–9.88, respectively) times for Class 2, 3, and 4 compared with Class 1 (P < 0.001). In conclusion, we identified the optimal cutoff LNR values based on RPA and determined the related risk groups, which successfully predict 5-year OS in breast cancer patients.

Distinct clinicopathological features and prognosis of emerging young-female breast cancer in an East Asian country: a nationwide cancer registry-based study.

A rapid surge of young-female breast cancer (YFBC) has been observed in Taiwan and other East Asian countries. We recently reported that these cases of YFBC, in contrast to their Western counterparts, are predominantly luminal A subtype. YFBC in Asia may have distinct clinicopathological features and outcomes. Data collected prospectively by participating hospitals were retrieved from the Taiwan Cancer Database. A total of 15,881 women with newly diagnosed stage I-III breast cancer in 2002-2006 were included. The age at diagnosis was categorized into nine 5-year groups (from <30 years to ≥65 years). Clinicopathological variables and patient disease-free survival (DFS) were compared by age group. The rates of stage I, estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), and progesterone receptor-positive breast cancer were higher in the younger patients (<50 years) than in the older patients (≥50 years). Univariate analysis showed that the 40-44 and 45-49 age groups were significantly associated with longer DFS than the other age groups. In the ER+ subgroup, multivariate analysis consistently showed that the 40-44 age group was significantly associated with longer DFS than the other age groups except for the 45-49 age group. In contrast, multivariate analysis of the ER-negative subgroup revealed no significant difference of DFS between the 40-44 age group and other age groups. Emerging YFBC in Taiwan is uniquely associated with favorable pathological features and better outcomes and should not be regarded as the mirror image of its Western counterpart.

Can composite performance measures predict survival of patients with colorectal cancer?

To assess the relationship between long-term colorectal patient survival and methods of calculating composite performance scores. The Taiwan Cancer Database was used to identify patients who underwent bowel resection for colorectal adenocarcinoma between 2003 and 2004. Patients were assigned to one of three cohorts based on tumor staging: cohort 1, colon cancer stage < III; cohort 2, colon cancer stage III; cohort 3, rectal cancer. A composite performance score (CPS) was calculated for each patient using five different aggregating methods, including all-or-none, 70% standard, equal weight, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and principal component analysis (PCA) algorithms. The relationships between CPS and five-year overall, disease-free, and disease-specific survivals were evaluated by a Cox proportional hazards model. A goodness-of-fit analysis for all five methods was performed using Akaike's information criterion. A total of 3272 colorectal cancer patients (cohort 1, 1164; cohort 2, 790; cohort 3, 1318 patients) with a mean age of 65 years were enrolled in the study. Bivariate correlation analysis showed that CPS values from the equal weight method were highly correlated with those from the AHP method in all cohorts (all P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox hazards analysis showed that CPS values derived from equal weight and AHP methods were significantly associated with five-year survivals of patients in cohorts 1 and 2 (all P < 0.05). In these cohorts, higher CPS values suggested a higher probability of five-year survival. However, CPS values derived from the all-or-none method did not show any significant process-outcome relationship in any cohort. Goodness-of-fit analyses showed that CPS values derived from the PCA method were the best fit to the Cox proportional hazards model, whereas the values from the all-or-none model showed the poorest fit. CPS values may highlight process-outcome relationships for patients with colorectal cancer in addition to evaluating quality of care performance.

Oxygen consumption predicts insulin usage in patients undergoing total pancreatectomy and islet autotransplantation (TP-IAT)

This study aimed to investigate the predictive role of lymph nodes (LNs) and assess the prognostic significance of the ratio of positive LNs (LNR) and log odds of positive LNs (LODDS) in breast cancer patients who have undergone a mastectomy.All of the breast cancer patients in the Taiwan Cancer Database during 2002–2006 were considered. We excluded patients who had inflammatory breast cancer, stage 0 and IV disease, breast conservative surgery or survival <1 month. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). A Cox hazards model was constructed and compared via Nagelkerke R2 (R2N) and receiver operating characteristics (ROC).A total of 11,349 (6042 node-negative, 5307 node-positive) patients were enrolled, and 10.5% patients had a limited number of LNs harvested. In a multivariate Cox model, LNR and LODDS demonstrated prognostic significance (<0.001). For node-positive patients, a model with LNR showed the best fit (P < 0.001; R2N = 18.2%) when sufficient LNs were examined. However, a model with LODDS showed the best fit in patients with a limited number of LNs harvested (P < 0.001; R2N = 21.1%), even in node-negative patients (P = 0.004; R2N = 13.5%). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was highest for LODDS (AUC: 0.761), followed by LNR (AUC: 0.757). A limited LN harvest induced an AUC value for an approximate 3.6% loss (LNR) or 3.1% loss (LODDS).The prognostic superiority of LNR is confounded by a limited LN harvest, thus making LODDS the most powerful and unified prognostic classifier in breast cancer patients who have had a mastectomy.

Re‐Examining the Significance of Surgical Volume to Breast Cancer Survival and Recurrence versus Process Quality of Care in Taiwan

This study explored the association of surgical volume versus process quality with breast cancer survival and recurrence. Population-based cancer registration data and National Health Insurance claim data. This population-based study linked Taiwan's Cancer Database with Taiwan's National Health Insurance Database to collect data on all patients diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003-2004 who received surgical treatment. This study included 6,396 female breast cancer patients, reported by 26 hospitals. After controlling for patient and provider characteristics, Cox's regression models did not reveal any association between a physician's surgical volume and breast cancer recurrence or survival, although hospital volume was marginally associated with positive 5-year recurrence (HR: 1.001, 95%CI: 1.000, 1.001). After controlling for hospital or physician volume of surgery, we found a significant association between quality of care and both 5-year survival and recurrence. Random effects were also identified between patients and providers based on 5-year survival and 5-year recurrence. Process quality of care was significantly more related to survival or recurrence than to surgical volume. The random effects found within hospital-patient clustered data indicated that the effect of the clustered feature of this data should be considered when performing volume-outcome related studies.

Evaluation of Lymph Nodes in Patients with Colon Cancer Undergoing Colon Resection: A Population‐based Study

Though lymph node status may predict long-term outcome of patients with non-metastatic colon cancer, discordant findings exist among various expressions of lymph node status. The present study was designed to assess the prognostic value among these lymph node evaluations. The analysis was based on surgical patients with newly diagnosed colon adenocarcinoma registered in the Taiwan Cancer Database from 2003 to 2005. Exclusion criteria included those patients who had stage IV disease, those whose survival period was <1 month, or those whose lymph node information was unavailable. Studied variables included total number of lymph nodes (LNT), number of positive lymph nodes (LNP), number of negative lymph nodes (LNN), ratio of positive lymph nodes (LNR), and log odds of positive lymph nodes (LODDS). Of 16,790 newly diagnosed colon cancer patients, there were 9,644 (65.4 ± 13.5 years; male 54.9 %) patients with non-metastatic disease who met the criteria. Correlation analyses for patients with stage III disease showed that LNR and LODDS were highly correlated, as were LNT and LNN. By the Cox proportional hazard model, LNT was prognostic of long-term survival in patients with stage II disease, while LNR and LNP were the most powerful prognosticators for patients with stage III disease (p < 0.001). Both the receiver operating characteristics curve analysis and area under the curve indicated that LNR had the best discriminating capability to predict 5-year survival (0.704, 0.700, and 0.709 for overall, disease-free, and disease-specific survival, respectively), followed by LODDS. For patients undergoing resection for colon cancer, LNR, LODDS, and LNP are better prognostic factors for those with stage III disease than LNT is for patients with stage III disease.

Survival of Patients with Small Cell Lung Carcinoma in Taiwan

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the most aggressive form of lung cancer. The prognosis for SCLC patients remains unsatisfactory despite advances in chemotherapy. In this study, we sought to clarify the prognosis and treatment patterns of patients with SCLC. Methods: A cohort comprising all patients diagnosed with SCLC between January 2004 and December 2006 was assembled from the Taiwan Cancer Database. Patients were followed up until December 31, 2009, to determine overall survival. Patient survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox’s proportional hazard model was used to determine the relationship between prognostic factors and median survival time. Results: Among the 1,684 patients diagnosed with SCLC, 1,215 (72%) were diagnosed with extensive-stage disease and 469 (28%) with limited-stage disease. Most of the patients were male (90%). The median survival duration of patients with limited-stage and extensive-stage SCLC was 10.3 months and 5.6 months, respectively. For limited-stage patients, surgery, chemotherapy, and combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy resulted in better survival than best supportive care (HR 0.20, p < 0.001; HR 0.61, p < 0.001, and HR 0.37, p < 0.001, respectively). For extensive-stage patients, male gender was significantly associated with a poor prognosis (HR 1.45, p < 0.001) and chemotherapy was shown to improve overall survival more effectively than best supportive care (HR 0.37, p < 0.001). Conclusion: For limited-stage SCLC patients, surgery, chemotherapy, and combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy improved survival compared to best supportive care. Extensive-stage SCLC patients benefited more from chemotherapy treatment than from best supportive care.

Risk groups defined by Recursive Partitioning Analysis of patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma treated with colorectal resection.

BackgroundTo define different prognostic groups of surgical colorectal adenocarcinoma patients derived from recursive partitioning analysis (RPA).MethodsTen thousand four hundred ninety four patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma underwent colorectal resection from Taiwan Cancer Database during 2003 to 2005 were included in this study. Exclusion criteria included those patients with stage IV disease or without number information of lymph nodes. For the definition of risk groups, the method of classification and regression tree was performed. Main primary outcome was 5-year cancer-specific survival.ResultsWe identified six prognostic factors for cancer-specific survival, resulting in seven terminal nodes. Four risk groups were defined as following: Group 1 (mild risk, 1,698 patients), Group 2 (moderate risk, 3,129 patients), Group 3 (high risk, 4,605 patients) and Group 4 (very high risk, 1,062 patients). The 5-year cancer-specific survival for Group 1, 2, 3, and 4 was 86.6%, 62.7%, 55.9%, and 36.6%, respectively (p < 0.001). Hazard ratio of death was 2.13, 5.52 and 10.56 (95% confidence interval 1.74-2.60, 4.58-6.66 and 8.66-12.9, respectively) times for Group 2, 3, and 4 as compared to Group 1. The predictive capability of these grouping was also similar in terms of overall and progression-free survival.ConclusionThe use of RPA offered an alternative grouping method that could predict the survival of patients who underwent surgery for colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Is quality of colorectal cancer care good enough? Core measures development and its application for comparing hospitals in Taiwan

BackgroundAlthough performance measurement for assessing care quality is an emerging area, a system for measuring the quality of cancer care at the hospital level has not been well developed. The purpose of this study was to develop organization-based core measures for colorectal cancer patient care and apply these measures to compare hospital performance.MethodsThe development of core measures for colorectal cancer has undergone three stages including a modified Delphi method. The study sample originated from 2004 data in the Taiwan Cancer Database, a national cancer data registry. Eighteen hospitals and 5585 newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients were enrolled in this study. We used indicator-based and case-based approaches to examine adherences simultaneously.ResultsThe final core measure set included seventeen indicators (1 pre-treatment, 11 treatment-related and 5 monitoring-related). There were data available for ten indicators. Indicator-based adherence possesses more meaningful application than case-based adherence for hospital comparisons. Mean adherence was 85.8% (79.8% to 91%) for indicator-based and 82.8% (77.6% to 88.9%) for case-based approaches. Hospitals performed well (>90%) for five out of eleven indicators. Still, the performance across hospitals varied for many indicators. The best and poorest system performance was reflected in indicators T5-negative surgical margin (99.3%, 97.2% - 100.0%) and T7-lymph nodes harvest more than twelve(62.7%, 27.6% - 92.2%), both of which related to surgical specimens.ConclusionsIn this nationwide study, quality of colorectal cancer care still shows room for improvement. These preliminary results indicate that core measures for cancer can be developed systematically and applied for internal quality improvement.

Quality of Care for Lung Cancer in Taiwan: A Pattern of Care Based on Core Measures in the Taiwan Cancer Database Registry

Background/Purpose To investigate the quality of care (QOC) for lung cancer in Taiwan, as measured by pattern of care (POC) variation. Methods Based on core measures in the Taiwan Cancer Database (TCDB) registry, QOC for lung cancer was measured as variation in POC for 16 selected core measures for different hospital characteristics. Statistical significance in variation was evaluated by the χ 2 test. Results Among the 26 participating hospitals (one excluded as an outlier), 6624 cases of lung cancer were reported in 2004. Among the 16 core measures (6 in the diagnostic and 10 in the therapeutic domain), no significant variation in POC was noted in 12 in northern and non-northern hospitals. However, significant variation in POC was noted for most (5/6) of the core measures in the diagnostic domain for other hospital characteristics (large vs. small, medical center vs. regional hospital, public vs. private). Increasing utilization of tissue diagnosis, diagnostic computed tomography (CT), and CT or magnetic resonance imaging for staging advanced non-small cell lung cancer was noted in the four participating hospitals from 2002 to 2004. Conclusion It is very likely that significant variation in QOC for lung cancer in Taiwan exists among different types but not locations of hospitals, at least in the diagnostic domain. The introduction of internal benchmarking (TCDB and core measures) was associated with some changes, at least in some diagnostic domains, which may lead to improvement in QOC for lung cancer in Taiwan.