Background: The endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) elastography is a diagnostic tool used for measuring the elasticity of intrathoracic lesions. It is still essential for discussions about how accurate elastography is at identifying benign and malignant mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes. The objective of this study was to investigate the diagnostic utility of EBUS elastography and to determine the variables affecting this procedure.

Methods: We conducted a single-center, retrospective study involving patients with suspected lung cancer who underwent EBUS elastography followed by endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital between October 2021 and March 2023. The pathological results of EBUS-TBNA, validated through a six-month follow-up, served as the gold standard. Each lymph node had its ultrasonic elastography indices recorded, including the elastography grading score, blue color ratio (BCR), blue color score, and short axis diameter. The diagnostic efficacy of elastography was assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, which differentiated between benign and malignant lymph nodes. To investigate the factors impacting the elastography indices, multivariate logistic regression was used with multiple serological markers, lymph node location, and pathology.

Results: Of the 168 patients, 322 lymph nodes were punctured, with 175 (54.3%) being malignant. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for the combined index of elastography grading score and short-axis diameter was 0.702 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.645–0.759]. While the pathology of the lymph nodes was found to influence the BCR, BCR was unable to distinguish between lymph nodes with benign conditions and those with small cell carcinoma.

Conclusions: The use of elastography data alone may be inadequate for diagnosing metastatic lymph nodes. However, elastography can provide supplementary diagnostic information during EBUS-TBNA. Invasive EBUS-TBNA remains recommended as it aids in the identification of malignant lymph nodes when used in conjunction with pathological, radiological, and clinical findings.

Keywords: Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS); elastography; endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA); lung cancer; mediastinal lymph node metastasis

An opioid prescribing clinical practice standard for chronic noncancer pain in British Columbia changed prescribing behaviours but reduced access to opioids for people with cancer or receiving palliative care, found new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Background: Positional indications for sublobar resection have been increasingly focused by clinical surgeons while the surgical strategies for cases involving inter-multisegmental veins (IMSVs) remain underreported. We want to further clarify the positional indications for sublobar resection in patients with clinical T1a–bN0 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: The clinical data of 686 patients from August 2021 to July 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. In the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction images, we analyzed the prevalence and drainage patterns of typical IMSVs, specifically focusing on the lateral vein (Vl) in the upper lobes and the branches of the superior segmental vein (V⁶b) in the lower lobes. The potential association between lesion locations and surgical strategy was also analyzed.

Results: The prevalence of Vl, V⁶b2, and V⁶b3 was 58.5% (231/395), 98.3% (286/291), and 25.1% (73/291), respectively. Vl mainly drained into V²a+b (70/110, 63.6%) on the right and into V¹⁺²b+c (72/121, 59.5%) on the left. V⁶b2 and V⁶b3 mainly converged with other branches of the superior segmental vein. Limited resection was more feasible when the 2 cm simulated cutting margin of nodules did not involve IMSVs, or when lesions were located in the outer region. Multivariable logistic regression analyses identified four independent predictors for surgical procedure selection: (I) whether the 2 cm simulated cutting margin involves IMSVs; (II) diameter; (III) consolidation-to-tumour ratio (CTR); and (IV) depth ratio.

Conclusions: IMSVs exhibited high prevalences, with Vl showing diverse drainage patterns, while V⁶b2 and V⁶b3 displayed little variation. Depth ratio and the lesion’s relative location to the IMSVs were identified as longitudinal and transverse positional indications, respectively, for sublobar resection in patients with clinical T1a–bN0 NSCLC.

Keywords: Pulmonary nodule; three-dimensional reconstruction (3D reconstruction); inter-multisegmental vein (IMSV); sublobar resection

*Please mention the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025, Malaga, Spain, 11-14) if using this research*

New research being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Malaga, Spain (11-14 May) and published in the journal eClinicalMedicine finds that first generation weight-loss medications like liraglutide and exenatide appear to show anti-cancer benefits beyond weight loss.

*Please mention the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025, Malaga, Spain, 11-14) if using this research*

Women who experience significant weight gain after the age of 20 and either have their first child after the age of 30 or don’t have children are almost three times more likely to develop breast cancer than those who give birth earlier and whose weight remains relatively stable, new research from the UK being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025) has found.

UH Seidman Cancer Center has been approved for funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to implement electronic monitoring of patient’s self-reported symptoms during cancer treatment.

Led by Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, UH Chief Quality and Clinical Transformation Officer, and Veale Distinguished Chair in Leadership and Clinical transformation and  Melinda Hsu, MD, a medical oncologist at UH Seidman Cancer Center, this project aims to improve the quality of life and clinical outcomes for patients being treated for their cancer at UH Seidman Cancer Center by integrating electronic patient-reported outcome tools into EPIC, the electronic health record.