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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Original article / research
Full Version
Association of Thrombocytosis and its Prognostic Significance in Cervical Cancer
Correspondence Address :
Sahithya Sivaprasad,
Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College Girls Hostel, Tamaka, Kolar, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: sahilaksh96@gmail.com
Introduction: Thrombocytosis is associated with progression of many diseases. There is increasing evidence that tumour cells, platelets, endothelial cells interact with each other leading to spread of tumour cells into the microvasculature which results in poor prognosis due to metastasis. Thrombocytosis is an indirect marker of occult advanced disease.
Aim: To determine thrombocytosis in diagnosed carcinoma cervix patients and its association with stage of cancer cervix and prognosis.
Materials and Methods: This was the retrospective study conducted at Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, Karnataka, India, from April 2021 to May 2022, on medical records of 52 patients who were diagnosed with cancer cervix. The data abstracted from each subject’s medical record include the following: age, parity, clinical staging as per International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), size of the lesion, complete blood count and length of the survival. Patients underwent surgery followed by appropriate chemo-radiotherapy or brachytherapy. They were followed-up after treatment every three months for the first two years and every six months for the next three years and annually thereafter. The five-year survival rate of these patients who were on complete follow-up was analysed. The normal platelet count was considered as 4.5×109/L. Data was entered into Microsoft excel data sheet and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0.
Results: The mean age of the study population was 50.28 years. Among the 52 patients, 47 (90.03%) were with advanced stages of cancer cervix (stages IIB-IVB) and 5 (9.6%) belonged to early stages of cancer cervix (stages 1B-IIA). Forty patients (76.92%) had a platelet count less than 4.5×109/L, out of which 2 patients were in early stage of cervical cancer and 16 patients were with tumour size less than 4 cm. A total of 12 patients had the platelet count more than 4.5 lac. All these 12 patients belonged to advanced stages of cancer cervix (stage IIB-IVB), p-value of 0.001. Among the 12, 11 patients had a tumour size of more than 4 cm, p-value 0.040. The mean five-year survival rate among patients with advanced stages of cancer cervix associated with thrombocytosis was 18%.
Conclusion: The platelet count was found to have strong association with the tumour size, stage of the cervical cancer and five year survival rate thus making thrombocytosis to be a strong prognostic factor in cancer cervix.
Cervical carcinoma, Increased platelet count, Survival rate
Cervical carcinoma is the most common gynaecological malignancy in developing countries and the third most widespread malignancy worldwide (1). It has been estimated that 800,000 new cases of cancer occur every year, according to the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare association (2). Carcinoma cervix affects about 16 per 10,000 women in a year and kills 9 per 100,000 per year (3). In India, 1,34,000 were diagnosed to have cervical cancer, of which 72,825 women died due to the same (4).
It is essential to recognise prognostic factors to anticipate treatment outcomes because such predictors aid in clinical management by guiding treatment mode selection, developing appropriate follow-up protocols, and determining prognosis (5). Proinflammatory cytokine upregulation, such as Interleukin-6, has been linked to cervical cancer development and progression via a variety of mechanisms, including synthesis, activation, and aggregation of platelets (6). There is mounting evidence that inflammatory cytokines in the tumour microenvironment play an important role in the development of a variety of tumours (7). Pretreatment thrombocytosis has been linked to a poor prognosis of cervical cancer in several studies as a projection of systemic inflammatory response (8).
The knowledge about relation between the inflammation and the progression of cancer cervix is not well established. Platelets have an important function in haemostasis and vascular integrity. Cytokines that are responsible for thrombopoiesis are elevated in many cancers resulting in thrombocytosis. A retrospective study proved that systemic inflammatory response markers in the blood have relationship with clinico-pathological characteristics of the patient and disease outcome in cancer cervix patients. Patients with more depth of stromal invasion, advanced stage, and tumour size greater than 2 cm have a significantly higher white blood cell count plus monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (NM/L) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (P/L), which is associated with a poor prognosis (9).
A meta-analysis concluded that clinico-pathological factors such as age, cell type, depth of tumour invasion, the FIGO stage, haemoglobin level, histological grade, leukocytosis, lymph node involvement, lympho-vascular space invasion, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, parametrial invasion, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, resection margin, squamous cell carcinoma antigen level, thrombocytosis, tumour grade, tumour size, and tumour volume has prognostic influence on overall survival and disease free survival in cancer cervix patients (10). Hence, the aim of this study was to determine thrombocytosis in diagnosed carcinoma cervix patients and its association with stage of cancer cervix and prognosis in cancer cervix patients.
A retrospective study was conducted at the Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, Karnataka from April 2021 to May 2022. The Institutional Ethics Committee approval was obtained (DMC/KLR/IEC/117/2022-23).
Inclusion criteria: Histopathologically proven carcinoma cervix patients as primary disease with complete medical records.
Exclusion criteria: Recurrent carcinoma cervix and other gynaecological malignancies, patients whose required medical records were inadequate, those patients who discontinued the treatment or lost follow-up post-treatment were excluded from the study.
Sample size calculation: was done by using the proportion of late stage cancer cervix in cancer cervical patients was 84% from the study conducted by Rathod A et al., using the formula (1):
Z2(1-α/2)P(1-P)/ d2
Z(1-α/2) is standard normal variate, at 5% type 1 error (p-value <0.05)=1.96.
As in majority of studies, p-values are considered significant below 0.05 hence 1.96 is used in formula.
P=Expected proportion (1), d=Absolute error or precision, P=84% or 0.84, q=16% or 0.16, d=10% or 0.10.
Using the above values at 95% Confidence level a sample size of 52 subjects with cancer cervix needed to be included in the study.
Study Procedure
The medical records of 102 patients were retrospectively reviewed and included. The data abstracted from each subject’s medical record included the following: age, parity, clinical staging as per FIGO, size of the lesion, complete blood count and length of the survival. Based upon the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 52 patients were selected for the study.
Patients with early stage of cancer cervix (stage IA-IIA) underwent surgery followed by chemoradiation or brachytherapy. Patients with advanced stage of cancer cervix (stage IIB-IVB) underwent chemoradiation or brachytherapy. The surgery done was radical hysterectomy with bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection for early stage cancer cervix patients. In advanced stage disease, the drugs used for chemotherapy were Cisplatin and Paclitaxel. The radiotherapy given was external beam radiation of 50 Gy per day for five days in a week for five weeks. Postchemoradiation, depending on the regression or progression of the disease, intracavitary brachytherapy was given to the patients of advanced stage cancer cervix. For early stage disease, the need for chemoradiation or brachytherapy, postsurgery, was decided upon individual approach. In the institute, the study was conducted, after completion of the treatment, patients were followed-up every three months for first two years, six months for the next three years and annually thereafter. The five-year survival rate of these patients who were on complete follow-up was analysed.
Thrombocytosis was considered as platelet count of more than 4.5×109/L. The study evaluated the association between platelet count with stage of cancer cervix, tumour size and five-year survival rate and to see if platelet count has an influence in all these factors.
Statistical Analysis
Data was entered into Microsoft excel data sheet and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Somers NY, USA). Categorical data was represented in the form of frequencies and proportions. Chi-square test or Fischer’s-exact test was used as test of significance for qualitative data. Microsoft (MS) Excel and MS word was used to obtain various types of graphs. The p-value (Probability that the result is true) of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant after assuming all the rules of statistical tests.
Total of 52 diagnosed cancer cervix patients have been included in this study. The majority were between 51-60 years of age. The mean age of the study population was 50.28 years. A total of 47 patients (90.03%) were with advanced stages of cancer cervix (stages IIB-IVB) and 5 patients (9.6%) belonged to early stages of cancer cervix (stages 1B-IIA).
Forty patients had platelet count less than 4.5×109/L and 12 had platelet count more than 4.5×109/L. A majority (35) had tumour size ≥4 cm (Table/Fig 1). All the 12 patients (100%) with increased platelet count belonged to advanced stages of cancer cervix (stage IIB-IVB). There was a statistically significant difference found between increased platelet counts and staging (Table/Fig 2).
In patients with platelet count of more than 4.5×109/L, only one had tumour size less than 4 cm and rest of the 11 patients had tumour size of more than 4 cm. There was a statistically significant difference found between platelet and tumour size (Table/Fig 3). There was no statistically significant difference found between parity and staging (Table/Fig 4). Among the 12 patients with thrombocytosis, only two patients survived for more than 5 years, rest of the 10 patients survived less than 5 years (Table/Fig 5).
The association between platelet count and malignancy was initially reported by Levin J and Conley L in 1964 (9). Yu M et al., proved that pretreatment thrombocytosis was a prognostic indicator in gynaecological malignancies (8). Cheng J et al., discovered that cervical cancer patients with a pretreatment elevated platelet count are more likely to present with advanced clinical staging, lymph node metastasis, and a bigger tumour size, all of which are signifiers of a poor prognosis and aggressive behaviour of disease (11).
In this study, according to FIGO staging, cancer cervix patients were from stage I-IV. Among the 52 patients, 47 (90.03%) were with advanced stages of cancer cervix (stages IIB-IVB) and 5 patients (9.6%) belonged to early stages of cancer cervix (stages 1B-IIA). Among the 52 cancer cervix patients in this study 17 (32.7%) patients had tumour size of less than 4 cm and 35 patients (67.3%) had tumour size of more than or equal to 4 cm.
Stone RL et al., observed in his study that in ovarian cancer, thrombocytosis can be a part of paraneoplastic syndrome because tumour derived Interleukin-6 can itself cause increased thrombopoiesis resulting in thrombocytosis and tumour progression (12). Non white race, larger lesion size (greater than 4 cm), platelet count greater than 300,000/microL, and the presence of nodal metastases were factors related to poor prognosis (13).
As per World Health Organisation, thrombocytosis is defined as platelet count equal to or more than 450×109/L. In this study the same value was taken and compared with the stage of cancer cervix at diagnosis and with tumour size. In this study, 13 patients with advanced stages of cancer cervix had thrombocytosis. Eleven patients (31.43%) had larger tumour size along with thrombocytosis. Platelet count before chemotherapy above the median value of 272,000/L was associated with a trend for shorter recurrence-free survival and a significantly shorter overall survival when compared to a lower platelet count, according to Gadducci A et al., (14).
As per American Cancer Society, the five year survival rate for cancer cervix patients with localised disease is 92%, regional disease is 58% and with metastatic disease is 18% (15). In the current study, among the 12 patients with thrombocytosis, only two survived for more than five years. Overall, stage, lymph node positivity, lymph-vascular space invasion, parametrial and/or surgical margin status, and platelet count before treatment are predictive factors of health outcome in cervical cancer. The strengths in this study to our knowledge are that it is a comprehensive study on the association of platelet count and survival in cancer cervix patients. Platelet count is a common and simple measure that can be easily collected in a routine complete blood count with which the prognosis of a cancer cervix patient can be analysed.
Limitation(s)
Long-term follow-up is required for advanced stages of cancer cervix cases. The sample size was limited in this study.
From the study, the authors conclude that those patients who had increased platelet count (thrombocytosis) were presented in advanced stages of cancer cervix and most of them had a tumour size of more than 4 cm. Out of those 12 patients, only two of them survived for more than five years. The retrospective analysis from this study shows that the platelet count has a strong association with the tumour size, stage of the cervical cancer and five year survival rate. Hence, elevated platelet count can be considered as one of the bad prognostic factor in patients with cancer cervix.
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2023/60820.17488
Date of Submission: Oct 18, 2022
Date of Peer Review: Nov 26, 2022
Date of Acceptance: Jan 18, 2023
Date of Publishing: Feb 01, 2023
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? NA
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. NA
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