Groin Pain Syndrome Italian Consensus Conference on terminology, clinical evaluation and imaging assessment in groin pain in athlete.

The nomenclature and the lack of consensus of clinical evaluation and imaging assessment in groin pain generate significant confusion in this field. The Groin Pain Syndrome Italian Consensus Conference has been organised in order to prepare a consensus document regarding taxonomy, clinical evaluation and imaging assessment for groin pain. A 1-day Consensus Conference was organised on 5 February 2016, in Milan (Italy). 41 Italian experts with different backgrounds participated in the discussion. A consensus document previously drafted was discussed, eventually modified, and finally approved by all members of the Consensus Conference. Unanimous consensus was reached concerning: (1) taxonomy (2) clinical evaluation and (3) imaging assessment. The synthesis of these 3 points is included in this paper. The Groin Pain Syndrome Italian Consensus Conference reached a consensus on three main points concerning the groin pain syndrome assessment, in an attempt to clarify this challenging medical problem.

Robot-assisted surgery for gastric carcinoma: Five years follow-up and beyond: A single western center experience and long-term oncological outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Robot-assisted surgery for the treatment of gastric cancer is considered to be safe and feasible with early post-operative outcomes comparable to open and laparoscopic series. However, data regarding long-term oncological outcomes are lacking. Aim of this study is to evaluate long-term oncological outcomes of a cohort of gastric cancer patients treated surgically with the robot-assisted approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospectively collected database of robot-assisted gastrectomies performed for gastric cancer at the 'Misericordia Hospital' between September 2001 and October 2011 was retrospectively analysed. Data regarding surgical procedures, early postoperative course, and long-term follow-up were analysed. RESULTS: The study included 98 consecutive robot-assisted gastrectomies. Fifty-nine distal gastrectomies, 38 total gastrectomies, and 1 proximal gastrectomy. Open conversion occurred in seven patients (7.1%) due to locally advanced disease. Postoperative morbidity and mortality were 12.2% and 4.1% respectively. Post-operative staging showed 46 patients (46.9%) with stage I disease, 25 patients (25.5%) with stage II, 26 (26.5%) with stage III and 1 (1.02%) with stage IV. The mean follow-up was 46.9 months. Cumulative 5-year overall survival (OS) was 73.3% (95% CI: 62.2-84.4). Five-year survival by stage subgroups was 100% for patients with stage IA, 84.6% for stage IB, 76.9% for stage II, and 21.5% for stage III. The only patient in stage IV of this series died eight months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Robot-assisted gastrectomy for the treatment of gastric cancer is safe and feasible. It provides long-term outcomes comparable to most open and laparoscopic series. Further studies are necessary to better define its indication.

Activating c-KIT mutations in a subset of thymic carcinoma and response to different c-KIT inhibitors.

BACKGROUND: To analyze a multi-institutional series of type C thymic carcinomas (TCs) (including neuroendocrine tumors), focusing on the expression and mutations of c-KIT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Immunohistochemical expression of c-KIT/CD117, p63, CD5 and neuroendocrine markers, as well as mutational analysis of c-KIT exons 9, 11, 13, 14, 17 by direct sequencing of 48 cases of TCs. Immunohistochemical and molecular data were statistically crossed with clinicopathological features. RESULTS: Overall, 29 tumors (60%) expressed CD117, 69% were positive for CD5 and 85% (41 cases) for p63. Neuroendocrine markers stained all six atypical carcinoids and five poorly-differentiated thymic squamous cell carcinomas. Overall, six CD117-positive cases (12.5%) showed c-KIT mutation. No mutation was detected in CD117-negative tumors and carcinoids. All the mutations were found in poorly-differentiated thymic squamous cell carcinomas expressing CD117, CD5, p63 and lacking neuroendocrine markers (6 of 12 cases with these features). Mutations involved exon 11 (four cases: V559A, L576P, Y553N, W557R), exon 9 (E490K) and exon 17 (D820E). CONCLUSIONS: All TCs need an immunohistochemical screening with CD117, while c-KIT mutation analysis is mandatory only in CD117-positive cases, particularly when coexpressing CD5 and p63, lacking neuroendocrine differentiation. The finding of c-KIT mutation can predict efficacy with different c-KIT inhibitors.

AKT1(E17K) in human solid tumours.

The serine-threonine kinase AKT1 is a central player in the oncogenic pathway controlled by PI3K. Recently, a somatic mutation in AKT1 (E17K) has been detected in breast, colorectal, lung and ovarian cancers. The E17K change results in constitutive AKT1 activation and induces leukaemia in mice. We determined the occurrence of the E17K variant in a panel of 764 tumour samples. These included breast, lung, ovarian, colorectal and pancreatic carcinomas as well as melanomas and glioblastomas. Despite the fact that these tumours are known to bear alterations in genes involved in the PI3K signalling pathway, AKT1(E17K) was detected only in breast (16/273), colorectal (1/88) and lung (1/155) cancers. Within the neoplasms of breast origin, the AKT1(E17K) variant was mutually exclusive with respect to the PIK3CA(E454K or H1047R) alleles and was present only in ductal and lobular histotypes. Our results, showing that AKT1 mutations seem to occur in a tissue-specific fashion have basic and clinical implications. First, the activity of mutated AKT1 in oncogenic PI3K signalling could be strictly dependent on the cell and tissue milieu. Second, therapeutic efforts aimed at selective targeting the AKT1(E17K) variant could be effective mainly in specific cancer types.

mRNA markers of breast cancer nodal metastases: comparison between mammaglobin and carcinoembryonic antigen in 248 patients.

Histological detection of axillary lymph node metastases is still the most valuable prognostic parameter for breast cancer, but about 30% of node-negative patients relapse within five years, suggesting that current methods are inadequate for identifying metastatic disease. More sensitive, PCR-based methods for the detection of metastatic cells are now available, enabling the amplification of cancer cell-specific mRNA messages by the RT-PCR assay. An ideal tumour marker, consistently expressed in tumour samples and not at all in normal lymph nodes, remains to be identified. The present study first investigated the expression of seven mRNA markers, CEA, CK19, c-Met, mammaglobin, MUC-1, beta1-->GalNAc-T and p97, selected on the basis of their previously reported specificity for breast cancer cells. Eighteen lymph nodes were examined from patients without tumours. Only mammaglobin mRNA and CEA mRNA were not expressed in normal nodes. All of the other markers showed a band of expression in 17%-55% of cases, indicating that they are not breast cancer-specific. CEA mRNA and mammaglobin mRNA expression could be detected in 15/20 (75%) and 19/20 (95%) primary breast carcinomas, respectively. The expression of mammaglobin mRNA and CEA mRNA was then compared in axillary lymph nodes from 248 consecutive breast cancer patients, 89 with histologically documented lymph node metastasis and 159 without histological evidence of metastatic disease. Ninety-seven per cent of the patients with histologically involved nodes showed expression of mammaglobin mRNA, whereas CEA mRNA was expressed in 79% of these cases. In the group of patients with histologically negative lymph nodes, 46 (29%) and 32 (20%) were found to be positive for mammaglobin and CEA expression, respectively, indicating the presence of metastases not detected by routine histological examination of one lymph node section. These results show that both mammaglobin RT-PCR and CEA RT-PCR are useful tools for the detection of breast cancer metastases in axillary lymph nodes. The detection sensitivity of the mammaglobin RT-PCR is far superior to that of the CEA RT-PCR, allowing the diagnosis of occult metastases in nearly one-third of cases.

[Tubercular enteral fistulas]. / Le fistole enteriche tubercolari.

Personal experience in the treatment of two cases of postoperative tubercular enterocutaneous fistula is reported. This complication of abdominal tuberculosis is rather rare and may be a consequence of tubercular enteritis or of an extraintestinal localisation.