Strengths and limitations
We novelty found that the mixed histological subtype is beneficial to prognosis in a multicenter, retrospective study. As a result, we hypothesize that the proportion of histological subtype has a particular role in the prognosis of the disease. Therefore, we need to pay more attention to the pathological results.
Our study still has several limitations. First, the sample size was limited, especially with respect to the treatment strategy. We did not have detailed statistics on the non-EP regimen. Hence, deviations might be present in the results of the study. Second, the follow-up period of our study was not sufficiently long. However, because of the necessity, we summarized the data and obtained some useful results. Third, we have not reported the disease-free survival rates, primarily because when conducting follow-ups, once the patient was diagnosed with a recurrence, they were not willing to tell us the exact time of the onset. As a result, we could not obtain accurate recurrence intervals from all patients.