ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and the impact of interval debulking surgery (IDS) on clinical outcomes of patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis on 92 patients with advanced ovarian cancer admitted to Vali-Asr Gynecologic oncology departments during 1996-2002. Comparison was made with results of neoadjuvant chemotherapy of 24 patients with unresectable advanced epithelial ovarian cancer treated with platinum- based NACT followed by IDS and clinical outcomes of 68 consecutive stage III and IV ovarian cancer patients treated with primary cytoreduction followed by platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: Primary cytoreductive surgery caused longer survival compared to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients who underwent optimal interval debulking surgery (IDS) had a better progression free survival (PFS) (p=0.002) and overall survival (p=0.03) than those who did not. There were not significant differences between the two groups in complications of surgery. CONCLUSION: NACT followed by successful IDS can lead to high survival percentage in patients with chemoresponsive advanced ovarian cancer; although the result is more effective in those with optimal primary cytoreduction, we still got the same results with those with suboptimal primary cytoreduction.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Uterine sarcomas are rare and heterogeneous tumors with histopathological diversity characterized by rapid clinical progression and a poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical and histopathological characteristics together with treatment and outcome of Iranian patients with uterine sarcomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Records of 57 patients with histologically verified uterine sarcoma treated at the Vali-e-Asr Hospital were reviewed (1999-2004). RESULTS: The lesions were 19 leomyosarcoma (LMSs), 17 malignant mixed Mullerian tumors (MMMT), 16 endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESSs), 3 unspecified sarcomas, 2 rabdomyosarcomas. Median age at diagnosis was 50 (17-81) years. Clinical stages (based on FIGO) were 30 with stage I disease, 9 with stage II, 12 with stage III and 6 with stage IV. Only one patient did not undergo surgery and most cases with LMS and ESS were treated with simple total hysterectomy (STH). Forty patients (out of 57) received adjuvant radiotherapy. The median follow-up period was 19 (2-96) months and median disease free period was 16 (1-86) months. The overall survival rates after 1, 2, and 5 years were 71%, 58% and 52%, respectively. Survival was related to histological type of ESS (p=0.0018), grade I (p=0.0032) and early stage (p=0.045) significantly, but was not linked to postoperative irradiation. However, local recurrence rate was significantly improved after adjuvant radiotherapy. Twenty-one patients had relapse, 16 in the pelvic and 5 in extrapelvic sites. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings in this series, prognosis is dependent on histopathological subtype, grade and tumor stage. Adjuvant radiotherapy decreases local recurrence rate, but without significant impact on survival.
ABSTRACT
Cancer of the cervix is the second most common life-threatening cancer among women worldwide and both incidence and mortality rates are likely to be underestimated in developing countries. HPV high risk strains play at least the major if not an absolutely necessary role in the etiology. The concept of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) was introduced in 1968 as an equivalent to the term dysplasia, which means abnormal maturation. Cervical cancer progresses slowly from preinvasive CIN to invasive cancer and therefore screening for dysplasia is an important public health effort worldwide, given the accessibility of the primary organ site, the acceptability of current screening methods, and the long preinvasive period in which to detect disease and successfully intervene. It is widely accepted that detection and treatment of HPV-related dysplastic epithelial change in the form of CIN-2 and CIN-3 can prevent the development of invasive cervical cancer in individual patients. The mainstay of screening programs has been the Pap smear, introduced originally by George Papanicolaou in 1941. However, considerable numbers of false-negative Pap smears may occur with the traditional Pap technique, mostly due to sampling error. More recently, the use of liquid-based technologies such as ThinPrep and AutoCyte Prep have gained popularity, in part because of evidence suggesting reduction in the incidence of inadequate smears. It is also hoped that the ability to identify patients with oncogenic HPV types will lead to improved detection in women more likely to have squamous intraepithelial lesions. Hybrid Capture 2 is the latest refinement of HPV tests and has been described as having enhanced sensitivity. HPV DNA testing can be used as an adjunct to cytology in routine cervical disease screening programs. Establishment of the link between HPV and cervical cancer has further provided the impetus for research into prophylactic vaccination against the most common HPV types associated with the disease, HPV 16 and 18. Initial studies have provided evidence that L1 virus-like particle vaccines against HPV types (as monovalent, bivalent, or quadrivalent vaccines) prevent at least 90% of incident and persistent infections and their associated precursors of cervical cancer. This vaccine has sustained long-term vaccine efficacy against incident and persistent infections and in the long term should provide an answer to the cervical cancer problem. For the vast majority of women who have already been infected, however, continued screening and resection need to be emphasized.