Review for 10.1186/s12876-023-02658-x (2023)

Title: Inflammation and nutritional status indicators as prognostic indicators for patients with
locally advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors treated with neoadjuvant imatinib
Version: 0 Date: 26 Dec 2022
Reviewer:  Hira Fatima Waseem
Reviewer's report:
Reviewer Name: Dr. Hira Fatima Waseem
Designation: Lecturer of Biostatistics
Institute: School of Public Health
Affiliation: Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan
Review for Submission ID a8dde500-1150-44e2-a915-ee64dc7e119d
"Systemic inflammatory immunity index combined with prognostic nutritional index as
prognostic markers of imatinib neoadjuvant therapy in patients with locally advanced
gastrointestinal stromal tumors"
Comments:
# In the abstract background, Authors need to rework the Background with a view to providing
the linkage of how Systemic inflammatory immunity index combined with prognostic nutritional
index use as  prognostic markers of imatinib neoadjuvant therapy in the study population.
# In the abstract methods, line no. 4 to 6; please clarify the cut points of scores of 1 and 0 (high
and low SII and PNI).
# In the abstract keywords, please make sure that key words are selected according to MeSH
terms. Please use words or phrases that accurately describe what your article offers. Select words
that are specific to the contents of the article.
# In materials and methods, please comprise the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the current
study.
# In the statistical analysis, please mention a line/sentence which describe ‘’a waterfall plot of
ranked best tumor shrinkage has been plotted’’.
# In the results,
a) Line no. 22, please also mention the age range of the study population.
b) Line no. 29, replace the word ‘’close negative’’ by ‘’moderate negative’’.
c) In the whole synopsis, replace the capital ‘P’’ by small ‘’p’’ for p-value.
d) On page no. 9, line no. 8 to 10, the statement ‘’The mean SII before neoadjuvant treatment was
469.2±319.6 and PNI was 55.8±6.1 in the 49 patients who did not relapse, while after treatment
it was 469.2±319.6 and 55.8±6.1, respectively’’’. Please check the author mention the same
mean value of SII and PNI before and after neoadjuvant treatment.
e) On page no. 9, line no. 10 to 13, the statement ‘’In addition, for the eight patients who
developed recurrence before neoadjuvant treatment the mean SII and PNI were 876.9±145.8 and
50.1±4.4, respectively, while after treatment the mean SII was 469.2±319.6 and PNI 50.1±4.4’’.
Please check the author mention the same mean value of PNI before and after neoadjuvant
treatment.
f) On page no. 10, line no. 7 and 8, please elaborate the optimal cut-off values for SII and PNI
of scores 1 and 0.
g) Please add more detail about the Figure no. 4 ‘’water plot’’.
# In the discussion,
a) On page no.15, line no. 5 to 11, please do not explain the neoadjuvant treatment advantage
in the form of bullets/numbers.
b) Please use the author name ‘’et al’’ in the italic form.
c) On page no 17, line no. 8 to 23, suggestion is to avoid the bullets/numbers for possible
mechanism of SII-PNI predicting prognosis.
d) On page no. 17, line no. 24, please correct the spelling of ‘’secondly’’.