Sorafenib is the standard treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. This study aims to determine whether combining radiotherapy with sorafenib administration increases its efficacy. The study cohort included 4763 patients with diagnosed advanced HCC who received sorafenib between January 2012 and December 2015, as reported in medical records in the Taiwan Cancer Registry database. The effect of sorafenib with or without radiotherapy on survival was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis. Patients receiving sorafenib plus radiotherapy had greater 1-year survival than did those receiving sorafenib alone (P < 0.001). Uni- and multivariate analyses also showed that radiotherapy increased survival after adjusting for confounders (adjusted HR 0.57; 95% CI 0.51–0.63). Further stratified analysis according to the timing of radiotherapy relative to sorafenib treatment revealed that patients who underwent radiotherapy after sorafenib had greater 1-year survival than did those undergoing radiotherapy within sorafenib use or sorafenib alone (adjusted HR 0.39; 95% CI 0.27–0.54). Combined treatment with sorafenib and radiotherapy results in greater HCC patient survival and should be considered an option for treating this challenging disease.

ABSTRACT:Ultradrawing of a series of films produced by gelation/crystallization from dilute decalin solutions of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and low-molecular-weight polyethylenes (LMWPEs) with about the same molecular weight but varying short-chain branched lengths was reported. The achievable maximum draw ratios of gel films prepared from these solutions were found to depend significantly upon the concentrations of the solutions. It is worth noting that addition of less than about 5 wt% of LMWPE in UHMWPE/LMWPE blend gel films significantly improve their critical draw ratios ().cl than that of gel films prepared from pure UHMWPE solution, and this improvement in A, is further enhanced with decreasing short-chain branched lengths of LMWPEs. These interesting phenomena were investigated in terms of the reduced viscosities of these solutions, tie molecule densities, morphology, melting, tensile and birefringence of these undrawn and/or drawn films.· KEY WORDS Ultrahigh-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene / Low-Molecular-Weight Polyethylenes / Critical Draw Ratio / Short-Chain Branches / There has been good progress in new processing methods for obtaining high performance fibers of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). 1 -11 Among these processing method, the gel spinning/casting method 2 • 3 has attracted many attentions since its invention in 1970s. This is probably due to its availability in production of high strength/modulus fibers commercially. The method by ultradrawing the gel specimens prepared by quenching solutions of UHMWPE is referred to as the gel deformation methods. The drawability of these gel specimens were found to depend principally on the concentration of the solution from which the gel was made. 12 • 13 The achievable draw ratios of the gel films reached a maximum, when they were prepared near their critical concentrations. However, the achievable drawability reduced significantly as the gel films were prepared from the solution of concentrations deviated from their critical values, at which the numbers of entanglements in the coherent network structure of the gel films are too many or too few to yield the maximum extension of UHMWPE during the gel deformation process.Recently, ultradrawing gel films of UHMWPE and low-molecular-weight polyethylene (LMWPE) blend has been used to prepare high modulus fibers. 14 • 15 It has been reported that the modulus of the fiber prepared from ultradrawn gel film of 50/50 UHMWPE/LMWPE blend can reach as high as 80 GPa. In our recent study, 16 the maximum achievable draw ratios obtained for gel films prepared near their critical concentrations decrease significantly as they are associated with a lower weight ratio ofUHMWPE to short-chain branched polyethylene (SBPE), wherein SBPE is a LMWPE. However, the maximum achievable draw ratios of the gel films with less than 2: 98 weight ratio of SBPE to UHMWPE are even higher than that of gel film prepared from pure 1 To whom all correspondence should be addressed. UHMWPE solution. Such fib...

We assessed the role of adjuvant radiotherapy on neck control and survival in patients with early oral cancer with solitary nodal involvement. We identified pT1-2N1 oral cancer patients with or without adjuvant radiotherapy from the 2007–2015 Taiwan Cancer Registry database. The effect of adjuvant radiotherapy on 5-year neck control, overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method, log-rank tests, and Cox regression analysis. Of 701 patients identified, 505 (72.0%) received adjuvant radiotherapy and 196 (28.0%) had surgery alone. Patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy were more likely to be aged <65 years, pT2 stage, poorly graded and without comorbid conditions (all, p < 0.05). The 5-year OS and DFS differed significantly by receipt of adjuvant radiotherapy. Multivariable analysis showed adjuvant radiotherapy significantly associated with better 5-year OS (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 0.72; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54–0.97; p = 0.0288) and DFS (aHR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.48–0.84; p = 0.0016). Stratified analysis indicated the greatest survival advantage for both 5-year OS and DFS in those with pT2 classification (p = 0.0097; 0.0009), and non-tongue disease (p = 0.0195; 0.0158). Moreover, adjuvant radiotherapy significantly protected against neck recurrence (aHR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.18–0.51; p < 0.0001). Thus, adjuvant radiotherapy is associated with improved neck control and survival in these early oral cancer patients.