Although thrombocytosis has been reported in a variety of cancer types, the standard of thrombocytosis in gastric cancer (GC) and the association between thrombocytosis and the clinicopathological features of patients with GC remain unclear. In the present study, 1,763 GC patients were retrospectively filtered by preoperative thrombocytosis and compared with control group A (n=107) that had benign gastric lesions and control group B (n=100) that were GC patients with a normal platelet (PLT) count. Associations between clinical variables and preoperative PLT counts were assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox regression were used to evaluate the effect of thrombocytosis on prognosis. Sensitivities and specificities of the PLT counts in predicting recurrence were analyzed via area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). The results indicated that the incidence of thrombocytosis in GC patients was higher than in benign gastric lesion patients, with 4.03% of GC patients having a PLT count >400×109/l (P=0.014) and 12.08% had a PLT count >300×109/l (P<0.001). For the patients with a PLT count >400×109/l, the frequency of abnormal PLT counts in GC correlated with tumor size (P<0.001), tumor, node and metastasis (TNM) classification (P=0.002), invasive degree (P=0.003) and D-dimer (P=0.013) and fibrinogen concentrations (P=0.042). Tumor size (P=0.002), TNM classification (P<0.001) and depth of penetration (P=0.001) were independent factors for thrombocytosis. However, thrombocytosis functioned as an independent prognostic factor for GC patients with a PLT count >400×109/l (relative risk, 1.538; 95% confidence interval, 1.041–2.271). In the majority of patients (17/24) with a high preoperative PLT count that decreased to a normal level following resection, PLT levels increased again at recurrence. Sensitivities and specificities of thrombocytosis for recurrence in those patients were 70.8 and 83.3%, respectively (AUROC, 0.847; P=0.01). Therefore, a PLT count of 400×109/l is a suitable threshold for defining thrombocytosis in GC. Thrombocytosis was shown to affect the blood hypercoagulable state and also have a negative prognostic value for GC patients. PLT monitoring following surgery was useful to predict the recurrence for specific GC patients that suffered preoperative thrombocytosis but had restored PLT levels following resection.

To achieve a deeper understanding of patients who developed esophageal cancer (EC) as a second primary malignancy, which may help guide in clinical practice for these patients in the future. In the primary cohort, EC patients with a prior malignancy were identified from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end result 18 database. The 5 most common types of prior cancers were picked out based on the frequency of occurrence. In addition, Kaplan–Meier and log-rank tests were performed to investigate the survival impacts of prior cancers on EC patients. Besides, a competing-risk model was constructed to explore the relationship between EC-treatment and EC-specific mortality. In the secondary cohort, patients with stage I–III (N0M0) EC from 2004 to 2014 were enrolled. After propensity score matching, univariate and multivariate Cox analyses were developed to determine the prognostic factors for EC patients. A total of 1199 EC patients with a prior cancer were identified in the primary cohort. The 5 most common sites of prior cancers were prostate, female breast, bladder, lung and bronchus, and larynx. Kaplan–Meier analyses revealed that EC patients with prior prostate cancer and bladder cancer had the best overall survival (OS), while those with prior cancers of larynx and lung and bronchus had the worst OS. Fine and Gray competing risks analysis indicated that the administration of surgery was closely associated with better EC-specific survival (P < .001). In the secondary cohort, multivariate Cox analyses found that age at diagnosis, race, tumor grade, tumor extent, nodal status and metastasis stage, histology, and the administration of surgery were prognostic factors for OS and cancer-specific survival in EC patients. Besides, the existence of a prior cancer was an independent prognostic factor for cancer-specific survival. EC remains to be the most important cause of death in EC patients with a prior cancer. EC related treatment should be actively adopted in patients with a prior cancer, as they were more likely to die from EC than the prior cancer. EC patients with a prior cancer had comparable OS than those without.

XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism may not related to lung cancer susceptibility of populations in East Asia. Allele 241Met did not increase the risk of lung cancer.