Due to the rarity of synchronous metastatic NPC patients, most published studies included both patients with synchronous and those with metachronous metastasis, or focused only on the patients with metachronous metastatic NPC in their analysis.
Concerning GD patients, most published studies are descriptions of small cohorts (median number of patients, 29; range, 18 to 48) [ 9, 10, 17, 19, 24, 25] and only one study modeled hemoglobin and platelet levels and splenic volume under ERT [ 26].
Ultrasound measurement of dynamic changes in inferior vena cava (IVC) diameter can be used to assess intravascular volume status in critically ill patients, but published studies vary in accuracy as well as recommended diagnostic cutoffs.
A meta-analysis published in 2008 demonstrated an association between RBC transfusion and mortality in critically ill patients: 12 published studies were included, and the pooled odds ratio (OR) was 1.7 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.4 to 1.9) [ 20].
Patient data from the prospectively collected UCLA sarcoma database (1974 2011, n = 113 MPNST patients) and 39 published studies on MPNST patients (n = 916) were analyzed for age of onset differences between sexes and between NF-1 and spontaneous MPNST patients.
However, apart from few studies enrolling a large number of patients, several other published studies have included a similar number of patients.
It includes half (49%, 1,814/3,678) of all the patients treated with DP in published clinical trials with parasite genotyping corrected results and reports 43% (1,814/4,212) of all patients included in published studies to date.
§ Number of patients analysed in published studies.
Obtaining robust estimates of PFS for CT-treated patients was difficult: published studies were small and heterogeneous for histology, AR-expression and chemotherapy.
However, the DTC detection rate is not necessarily dependent on the clinical stage or tumour profile and is still reported to be around 30%to40%0% of included patients in recently published studies [ 8, 9, 12].
