title: Prognostic value of tumour budding in oesophageal cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: Recently, tumour budding (TB) has been suggested as a strong prognostic marker in oesophageal cancer. The aim of this systematic review is to test the prognostic value of TB in oesophageal cancer by a meta-analysis of previously published studies. We systematically reviewed the literature related to TB by using the bibliographic databases of Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. The search was limited to publications in the English language up to and including December 2014. There are 11 retrospective studies in which TB has been evaluated in oesophageal cancer. Two authors independently extracted the results from eligible studies. The meta-analysis of eligible studies revealed that TB is a significant prognosticator for overall survival in oesophageal cancer, with a risk ratio (RR) of 2.97 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.81-4.85; P = 0.0023] in univariate analysis, and with an RR of 2.07 (95% CI 1.22-3.52; P = 0.017) in multivariate analysis. We conclude that a high TB score is a promising prognostic marker of poor survival in oesophageal cancer. Because of its simplicity, reproducibility and high predictive power, TB is strongly recommended to be included in the routine pathology report of oesophageal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute of Dentistry, University of Misurata, Misurata, Libya.
authors.forename: Alhadi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Almangush
authors.affiliation: Research Programmes Unit, Genome-Scale Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karhunen
authors.affiliation: Research Programmes Unit, Genome-Scale Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Sampsa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hautaniemi
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Cancer Research and Translational Medicine, Medical Faculty, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.|Medical Research Centre, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.|Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Tuula
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Ilmo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Leivo
mesh_terms: D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: oesophageal cancer; prognostic factor; tumour budding