Women under 40 years old are at increased risk for developing human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive or triple negative subtype and more advanced breast cancer, yet young age itself has also historically been an independent prognostic factor. Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, we examined data for 271,173 women with stage I-III breast cancer between 2010 and 2015. Using Fine and Gray regression models to account for competing risks, we examined the risk of breast cancer-specific death by age and clinical subtypes, considering grade, hormone receptor (HR) and HER2 status, adjusting for demographic, clinical and treatment variables. Of 271,173 women eligible for analysis, 14,109 were <40 years of age. Women under 40 years old were more likely to be non-white, uninsured, and to have higher stage, higher grade, HER2-positive and triple-negative subtype disease (all, p < 0.001). Compared to women ages 40–60, women ages 75 had increased breast cancer mortality in all subtypes. With modern clinical subtyping, age under 40 remains independently associated with worse outcomes in 30 months follow-up only in HR-positive, lower grade disease.

Background: The clinical manifestations of severe asthma are heterogeneous. Some individuals with severe asthma develop irreversible fixed airway obstruction, which is associated with poor outcomes. We therefore investigated the factors associated with fixed airway obstruction in Korean patients with severe asthma. Methods: Severe asthma patients from a Korean adult asthma cohort were divided into two groups according to the results of serial pulmonary function tests. One group had fixed airway obstruction (FAO) [forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio < 0.7, n = 119] and the other had reversible airway obstruction (RAO) [FEV1/FVC ratio ≥ 0.7, n = 116]. Clinical and demographic parameters were compared between the two groups. Results: Multivariate analysis showed that longer duration of disease, greater amount of cigarette smoking and absence of rhinosinusitis were significantly related to the development of FAO in severe asthmatics. Other parameters, including atopic status, pattern of airway inflammatory cells in induced sputum, and frequency of asthma exacerbations did not differ between the FAO and RAO groups. Conclusion: Severe asthma patients with longer disease duration and the absence of rhinosinusitis are more likely to develop FAO. This study also demonstrates the importance of quitting smoking in order to prevent irreversible airway obstruction. Further investigation is required to determine the mechanism by which these factors can modify the disease course in Korean patients with severe asthma.

Background—: There is conflict regarding the prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with liver cirrhosis. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of silent CAD in comparison with the general population, and to identify the relevant risk factors in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods and Results—: This retrospective study included 1045 prospectively registered consecutive patients with liver cirrhosis without any history of chest pain or CAD, who underwent computerized coronary angiography as a pretransplant workup. These were matched with 6283 controls with healthy livers, based on propensity scores according to established cardiovascular risk factors. Obstructive CAD was defined as ≥50% luminal narrowing in any artery. A matched analysis of 853 pairs showed that the proportion of subjects with obstructive CAD did not differ significantly between the cirrhotic and control groups (7.2% versus 7.9%, P =0.646), in agreement with the outcome of multivariate analysis for its predictors, with an adjusted odds ratio for liver cirrhosis of 1.06 ( P =0.690). Nonobstructive CAD was more prevalent in the matched cirrhotic cases (30.6% versus 23.4%, P =0.001). In the pooled cirrhotic cohort, older age, male sex, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and alcoholic cirrhosis were independently associated with obstructive CAD (adjusted odds ratios, 1.07, 2.74, 1.69, 2.37, and 2.17, respectively; P <0.05 for all), whereas liver function and coagulation parameters were not. Conclusions—: Asymptomatic cirrhotic patients and nonhepatic subjects are similar in terms of the prevalence of occult obstructive CAD. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors are related to critical coronary stenosis in cirrhotic patients, and thus may be helpful indicators for more careful preoperative evaluation of coronary risk.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with transpapillary metal stenting is the standard palliation method for malignant distal biliary obstruction (MDBO); however, post-ERCP pancreatitis are not uncommon. Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) with transmural metal stenting has emerged as an option for primary palliation of MDBO. We compared the efficacy and safety of these procedures as first-line MDBO treatment. We searched for relevant English-language articles in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases. The outcomes of interest were technical success, clinical success, adverse events, stent patency, reintervention rates, and procedure time. Subgroup analysis was performed for patients without duodenal invasion (eg, endoscopically accessible papilla; EUS-choledochoduodenostomy [CDS] vs. ERCP). Ten studies (3 randomized trials and 7 retrospective studies) with 756 patients were included. The cumulative technical and clinical success rates were high for both procedures (EUS-BD: 94.8% [294/310] and 93.8% [286/305], ERCP: 96.5% [386/400] and 95.7% [377/394]). The cumulative adverse event rates were 16.3% (54/331) for EUS-BD and 18.3% (78/425) for ERCP. In subgroup analysis for patients without duodenal invasion, EUS-CDS showed similar cumulative technical and clinical success rate with ERCP (technical success rate, EUS-CDS vs. ERCP: 94.2% [146/155] vs. 97.8% [237/242]; clinical success rate, EUS-CDS vs. ERCP: 94.2% [145/154] vs. 93.0% [225/242]). The cumulative rate of adverse events for EUS-CDS and ERCP was also comparable (15.5% [24/155] for EUS-CDS and 18.6% [45/242] for ERCP). As first-line palliation of MDBO, EUS-BD was similar to ERCP in technical and clinical success and safety; however, larger randomized trials comparing EUS-CDS and ERCP in this setting with endoscopically accessible papilla may be required.

The volume doubling times of lung adenocarcinomas showed incremental prognostic value for disease-free survival. Background The volume doubling time (VDT) is a key parameter in the differentiation of aggressive tumors from slow-growing tumors. How different histologic subtypes of primary lung adenocarcinomas ...