The Role of Lymph Node Downstaging Following Neoadjuvant Treatment in a Group of Patients with Advanced Stage Cervical Cancer.

Background and Objectives: Cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent type of neoplasia in women. It is most commonly caused by the persistent infection with high-risk strands of human papillomavirus (hrHPV). Its incidence increases rapidly from age 25 when routine HPV screening starts and then decreases at the age of 45. This reflects both the diagnosis of prevalent cases at first-time screening and the likely peak of HPV exposure in early adulthood. For early stages, the treatment offers the possibility of fertility preservation.. However, in more advanced stages, the treatment is restricted to concomitant chemo-radiotherapy, combined, in very selected cases with surgical intervention. After the neoadjuvant treatment, an imagistic re-evaluation of the patients is carried out to analyze if the stage of the disease remained the same or suffered a downstaging. Lymph node downstaging following neoadjuvant treatment is regarded as an indubitable prognostic factor for predicting disease recurrence and survival in patients with advanced cervical cancer. This study aims to ascertain the important survival role of radiotherapy in the downstaging of the disease and of lymphadenectomy in the control of lymph node invasion for patients with advanced-stage cervical cancer. Material and Methods: We describe the outcome of patients with cervical cancer in stage IIIC1 FIGO treated at Bucharest Oncological Institute. All patients received radiotherapy and two-thirds received concomitant chemotherapy. A surgical intervention consisting of type C radical hysterectomy with radical pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed six to eight weeks after the end of the neoadjuvant treatment. Results: The McNemar test demonstrated the regression of lymphadenopathies after neoadjuvant treatment-p: <0.001. However, the persistence of adenopathies was not related to the dose of irradiation (p: 0.61), the number of sessions of radiotherapy (p: 0.80), or the chemotherapy (p: 0.44). Also, there were no significant differences between the adenopathies reported by imagistic methods and those identified during surgical intervention-p: 0.62. The overall survival evaluated using Kaplan-Meier curves is dependent on the post-radiotherapy FIGO stage-p: 0.002 and on the lymph node status evaluated during surgical intervention-p: 0.04. The risk factors associated with an increased risk of death were represented by a low preoperative hemoglobin level (p: 0.003) and by the advanced FIGO stage determined during surgical intervention (p-value: 0.006 for stage IIIA and 0.01 for stage IIIC1). In the multivariate Cox model, the independent predictor of survival was the preoperative hemoglobin level (p: 0.004, HR 0.535, CI: 0.347 to 0.823). Out of a total of 33 patients with neoadjuvant treatment, 22 survived until the end of the study, all 33 responded to the treatment in varying degrees, but in 3 of them, tumor cells were found in the lymph nodes during the intraoperative histopathological examination. Conclusions: For advanced cervical cancer patients, radical surgery after neoadjuvant treatment may be associated with a better survival rate. Further research is needed to identify all the causes that lead to the persistence of adenopathies in certain patients, to decrease the FIGO stage after surgical intervention, and, therefore, to lower the risk of death. Also, it is mandatory to correctly evaluate and treat the anemia, as it seems to be an independent predictor factor for mortality.

Abdominal Parietal Metastasis from Cervical Cancer: A Review of One of the Most Uncommon Sites of Recurrence Including a Report of a New Case.

INTRODUCTION: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, the highest mortality being found in low- and middle-income countries. Abdominal parietal metastases in cervical cancer are a very rare entity, with an incidence of 0.1-1.3%, and represent an unfavorable prognostic factor with the survival rate falling to 17%. Here, we present a review of cases of abdominal parietal metastasis in recent decades, including a new case of a 4.5 cm abdominal parietal metastasis at the site of the scar of the former drain tube 28 months after diagnosis of stage IIB cervical cancer (adenosquamous carcinoma), treated by external radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy and intracavitary brachytherapy and subsequent surgery (type B radical hysterectomy). The tumor was resected within oncological limits with the histopathological result of adenosquamous carcinoma. The case study highlights the importance of early detection and appropriate treatment of metastases in patients with cervical cancer. The discussion explores the potential pathways for parietal metastasis and the impact of incomplete surgical procedures on the development of metastases. The conclusion emphasizes the poor prognosis associated with this type of metastasis in cervical cancer patients and the potential benefits of surgical resection associated with systemic therapy in improving survival rates.

Ovarian Causes of Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP)-A Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a rare, progressive, slowly growing, inadequately understood neoplasm with a 5-year progression-free survival rate of as low as 48%. It is characterized by varying degrees of malignancy and the production of mucinous and gelatinous structures. Typically, the development of pseudomyxoma peritonei is associated with the rupture of appendiceal mucinous tumors and other gastrointestinal or ovarian mucinous tumors. The goal of our literature review was to identify various aspects that characterize the ovarian causes of pseudomyxoma peritonei. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors performed an extensive literature search between 1 February 2024 and 2 March 2024 on the following databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Oxford Journals, and Reaxys, and the findings were summarized into seven main clinical and paraclinical situations. RESULTS: According to our research, the main instances in which pseudomyxoma peritonei can be triggered by an ovarian cause are the following: (1) mucinous cystadenoma; (2) mucinous ovarian cancer; (3) colon cancer with ovarian metastasis; (4) malignant transformation of an ovarian primary mature cystic teratoma; (5) appendiceal mucocele with peritoneal dissemination mimicking an ovarian tumor with peritoneal carcinomatosis; (6) mucinous borderline tumor developing inside an ovarian teratoma; and (7) the association between a mucinous bilateral ovarian cancer and a colonic tumor. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the ovarian causes of pseudomyxoma peritonei, including its epidemiology, imagery characteristics, symptoms, current treatment, and promising future therapies, in the hopes of finding feasible solutions, as a lack of understanding of this mucus-secreting malignant disease increases the risk of delayed diagnosis or uncontrolled deterioration.

The Impact of Patient Characteristics, Risk Factors, and Surgical Intervention on Survival in a Cohort of Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Treatment for Cervical Cancer.

Introduction: Cervical cancer is among the most frequent types of neoplasia worldwide and remains the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women, a fact that raises the necessity for further development of therapeutic strategies. NCCN guidelines recommend radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy as the gold standard for locally advanced cervical cancer. Also, some studies claim that performing surgery after chemo-radiation therapy does not necessarily improve the therapeutic outcome. This study aims to determine the impact of the risk factors, various characteristics, and surgical treatment for patients in different stages of the disease on survival rate. Material and methods: Our study started as a retrospective, observational, unicentric one, carried out on a cohort of 96 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer from the surgical department of the Bucharest Oncological Institute, followed from 1 January 2019 for a period of 3 years. After the registration of the initial parameters, however, the study became prospective, as the patients were closely monitored through periodical check-ups. The end-point of the study is either the death of the participants or reaching the end of the follow-up period, and, therefore, we divided the cohort into two subgroups: the ones who survived after three years and the ones who did not. All 96 patients, with disease stages ranging from IA2 to IIIB, underwent radio-chemotherapy followed by adjuvant surgery. Results: Among the 96 patients, 45 (46%) presented residual tumor after radio-chemotherapy. Five patients (5%) presented positive resection margins at the post-operative histopathological examination. The presence of residual tumor, the FIGO stage post-radiotherapy, positive resection margins, and lympho-vascular and stromal invasions differed significantly between the subgroups, being more represented in the subgroup that reached the end-point. Variables correlated with the worst survival in Kaplan-Meier were the pelvic lymph node involvement-50% at three years (p-0.015)-and the positive resection margins-only 20% at three years (p < 0.001). The univariate Cox model identified as mortality-associated risk factors the same parameters as above, but also the intraoperative stage III FIGO (p < 0.001; HR 9.412; CI: 2.713 to 32.648) and the presence of post-radiotherapy adenopathy (p-0.031; HR: 3.915; CI: 1.136 to 13.487) identified through imagistic methods. The independent predictors of the overall survival rate identified were the positive resection margins (p-0.002; HR: 6.646; CI 2.0 to 22.084) and the post-radiotherapy stage III FIGO (p-0.003; HR: 13.886; CI: 2.456 to 78.506). Conclusions: The most important predictor factors of survival rate are the positive resection margins and the FIGO stage after radiotherapy. According to the NCCN guidelines in stages considered advanced (beyond stages IB3, IIA2), the standard treatment is neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. In our study, with radical surgery after neoadjuvant therapy, 46% of patients presented residual tumor at the intraoperative histopathological examination, a fact that makes the surgical intervention an important step in completing the treatment of these patients. In addition, based on the patient's features/comorbidities and the clinical response to chemotherapy/radiotherapy, surgeons could carefully tailor the extent of radical surgery, thus resulting in a personalized surgical approach for each patient. However, a potential limitation can be represented by the relatively small number of patients (96) and the unicentric nature of our study.

The Impact of Infections on the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background and Objective: Infectious diseases continue to be a global burden and their impact is even worse if the patients already have other comorbidities. Because chronic kidney disease is very frequent, affecting 10% of the population, our study aims to explore the impact that infectious events have on its progression. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective, observational study based on a cohort of 238 dialyzed patients from the Nephrology Clinic of "Dr. Carol Davila" Clinical Hospital of Nephrology, Bucharest, who were followed from their first visit for five years, between 1 January 2007 and 1 January 2022. For each of them, the presence of an infectious event and the moment of the initiation of dialysis were recorded. Results: Statistical analysis showed that the patients who had at least one infectious episode were older (p = 0.004), their hemoglobin and lymphocytes were significantly lower (p = 0.03 and p = 0.02, respectively) and the time until the initiation of dialysis was lower (p = 0.007). Also, the preservation of kidney function was influenced by the number and the severity of infectious episodes. In the univariate Cox model, the following variables were associated with increased risk of dialysis: advanced age (p: 0.009; HR: 1.021; CI: 1.005 to 1.036), low hemoglobin (p: 0.001; HR: 0.861; CI: 0.786 to 0.943), previous diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p: 0.002; HR: 2.467; CI: 1.376 to 4.424), presence of hematuria (p: 0.03; HR: 1.604; CI: 1.047 to 2.457) and increased values of proteinuria (p: 0.01; HR: 1.122; CI: 1.028 to 1.224) and of serum creatinine measured both at the time of the first visit and at the time of each infectious event (p: <0.001; HR: 1.262; CI: 1.141 to 1.396). Also, the presence of an infectious episode was associated with a 1.7-fold increase in the risk of dialysis initiation. The independent predictors of survival identified by the multivariate Cox model were age (p: 0.004; HR: 1.034; CI: 1.010-1.058), serum creatinine (p: <0.001; HR: 1.421; CI: 1.203 to 1.658) and proteinuria (p: <0.001; HR: 1.241; CI: 1.126 to 1.369) at the time of enrollment, but also the presence of an infectious episode during the patient's evolution (p: 0.04; HR: 1.705; CI: 1.013 to 2.868). Conclusions: In the evolution of patients with chronic kidney disease, an active search for individual factors favoring the occurrence of infectious episodes should be taken into consideration to prevent a faster progression toward end-stage kidney disease.

Indocyanine Green (ICG) and Colorectal Surgery: A Literature Review on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods of Usage.

Background: Due to its many benefits, indocyanine green (ICG) has gained progressive popularity in operating rooms (ORs) globally. This literature review examines its qualitative and quantitative usage in surgical treatment. Method: Relevant terms were searched in five international databases (1. Pubmed, 2. Sciencedirect, 3. Scopus, 4. Oxfordjournals, 5. Reaxys) for a comprehensive literature review. The main benefits of using ICG in colorectal surgery are: intraoperative fluorescence angiography; fluorescence-guided lymph node involvement detection and the sentinel technique; the fluorescent emphasis of a minute liver tumour, counting just 200 tumour cells; facilitation of fistula diagnosis; and tumour tattooing. This methodology can also be used with quantitative characteristics such as maximum intensity, relative maximum intensity, and in-flow parameters such as time-to-peak, slope, and t1/2max. This article concludes that fluorescence surgery with ICG and near-infrared (NIR) light is a relatively new technology that improves anatomical and functional information, allowing more comprehensive and safer tumour removal and the preservation of important structures.

Current Therapeutic Approaches in Cervical Cancer Based on the Stage of the Disease: Is There Room for Improvement?

Cervical cancer continues to be among the most common malignancies in women, and in recent decades, important measures have been taken to reduce its incidence. The first and most important steps to achieve this goal are oriented toward prevention through screening programs and vaccination, mainly against oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) strains 16 and 18. The therapeutic approach is based on the diagnosis and treatment guidelines for cervical cancer, which establish for each stage (FIGO, TNM) specific conduct. These guidelines summarize quite precisely the elements of therapeutic practice, but, in some places, they leave optional variants based on which nuanced approaches could be established. Adherence to these guidelines, which include the performing of minor or major surgery, with or without chemotherapy and radiation therapy, combined with advanced imaging investigations, has been able to lead to a substantial increase in survival. The purpose of this literature review is to discuss the diagnosis and treatment options in cervical cancer depending on the histological type, FIGO staging, and patient performance index, taking into account the hospital resources available in middle-income countries (percentage of gross domestic product allocated to health services around 5.5%, in the case of Romania).