Surgical treatment of advanced melanoma.

Primary surgical treatment should be considered for patients with metastatic melanoma. Because of the poor response of melanoma to chemotherapy or radiation therapy, surgery can be the best approach to quickly eliminate detectable disease and return the patient to normal activities. In properly selected patients, surgery can lead to significant palliation and prolongation of survival. This article reviews the principles of patient selection and the potential benefits of surgical management of melanoma metastatic to various sites. Novel adjuvant therapies are being developed to augment the benefits of surgical treatment of advanced melanoma in the future.

Effects of external beam radiation in the rat tibial nerve after crush, transection and repair, or nerve isograft paradigms.

INTRODUCTION: In head and neck surgery, radiation therapy is often administered to an injured nerve. Previous studies have examined the effects of either preoperative or postoperative radiation on nerve regeneration in rodents. In these studies, histomorphometric analysis was performed up to 8 month postoperatively. Given the exceptional neuroregenerative capacity of rodents, significant differences in nerve regeneration may go undetected if nerves are evaluated at such distant postoperative time points. This study is designed with a more appropriate model and investigates the effects of radiation after three common nerve injury paradigms. METHODS: Sixty-four Lewis rates were randomized to 8 groups corresponding to uninjured, tibial nerve crush, transection and repair, or reconstruction with isografts. Half of the animals in each of these paradigms (n = 8 per group) were treated with 10 Gy of external beam radiation to the site of nerve injury at 7 days postoperatively. On postoperative day 28, functional recovery and histomorphometric assessment was performed. RESULTS: For a given paradigm of nerve injury, no significant differences in nerve fiber number, neural density, neural debris, or fiber width were noted between the control and radiated groups, and radiation did not affect functional recovery. CONCLUSION: Radiation had no discernible effect on nerve regeneration or functional recovery in the rodent nerve injury models studied. All assessments were made at time points suitable for detecting differences in nerve regeneration between groups. These findings suggest that administration of radiation to fields containing injured peripheral nerve is unlikely to adversely affect functional outcomes.

Microsurgical scalp reconstruction in the patient with cancer.

The literature regarding reconstruction of large scalp wounds with free tissue transfer consists mostly of case reports and small series, and none of the published reports focus on the particular problems of the oncology patient. Here the authors describe their experience with 37 flaps in 32 patients, all of whom required scalp reconstruction with free tissue transfer after tumor extirpation. Twenty-seven free flaps were performed at the time of the initial surgery and 10 were performed after a prior reconstruction failed. The authors describe the characteristics of the patients and procedures, including tumor type, wound size and complexity, flaps and recipient vessels used, preoperative and postoperative radiation therapy, and complications. Most (72 percent) of the tumors were recurrent or persistent. The free tissue transfer was successful in all patients. There was a 59 percent overall complication rate with 32 percent of patients requiring a secondary surgical procedure. Most of the complications were wound-healing complications. Although there were two cases of vein thrombosis, these were salvaged by revision, and no flaps were lost. Nine patients underwent postoperative radiation therapy that was well tolerated. Only four patients underwent cranioplasty at the time of the initial operation, and no secondary cranial reconstructions were performed. The authors conclude that preoperative and postoperative radiation therapies as well as the need for expedient tumor resection and immediate flap coverage are issues that make free tissue transfer attractive for the oncology patient who needs scalp reconstruction. Although the complication rate is relatively high and a significant percentage of patients require a secondary procedure, free flap coverage was efficacious for all patients in this group. Cranioplasty is not usually required but, if needed, alloplastic or autologous cranial reconstruction does not appreciably increase morbidity in the selected patient.

Analysis of pharyngocutaneous fistula following free jejunal transfer for total laryngopharyngectomy.

The development of a pharyngocutaneous fistula is the most common and troublesome complication in the early postoperative period following free jejunal transfer for total laryngopharyngectomy. However, many aspects of this complication remain unclear. In this study, the authors analyzed their experience with the pharyngocutaneous fistula formation following free jejunal transfers to evaluate its clinical behavior, determine the significance of the anastomotic technique used, and evaluate the role of preoperative radiation therapy on its formation and management. Of 168 patients who underwent free jejunal transfers following total laryngopharyngectomy at the authors' institution between July of 1988 and March of 2000, 23 patients (13.7 percent) with postoperative fistulas were identified. The mean onset of fistula formation was 16 days. Of the 23 fistulas, 13 (56.5 percent) occurred at the proximal and 10 (43.5 percent) at the distal anastomoses. Whereas the majority of the proximal fistulas (69.2 percent) developed near the mesenteric side of the jejunal flap, most of the distal fistulas (90 percent) were located anteriorly. The incidence of proximal fistula formation was higher in patients with a single-layer repair than in patients with a two-layer repair of a proximal anastomosis (80 percent versus 38.5 percent, p = 0.09). The incidence of fistula formation was greater in patients who received preoperative radiation therapy than in those who did not (16.3 percent versus 11.4 percent, p = 0.36). In addition, whereas a majority of fistulas (80 percent) occurred at the proximal anastomosis in patients who did not receive preoperative radiation therapy, most fistulas (61.5 percent) occurred at the distal anastomosis in patients who did receive radiation therapy (p = 0.09). The fistulas closed spontaneously in 15 patients (65 percent). On average, spontaneous closure occurred in 7.4 weeks. Proximal fistulas had a significantly higher rate of spontaneous closure compared with distal fistulas (85 percent versus 40 percent, p = 0.04). The rate of spontaneous fistula closure was higher in patients who had not received preoperative radiation therapy than in those who had (90 percent versus 46 percent, p = 0.07). Surgical closure of the fistula was required in five patients. The fistulas were not repaired in three patients because of recurrent tumor. Twenty patients (87 percent) resumed oral feeding after the closure of the fistula, with 17 (85 percent) of 20 patients tolerating a regular diet and three (15 percent) of 20 a liquid diet only.In conclusion, most fistulas occur at the proximal anastomosis and near the mesenteric side of the jejunal flap, and the use of a two-layer anastomotic technique seems to be associated with a lower incidence of fistula formation at the proximal suture line. Most fistulas close spontaneously, especially ones that occur proximally. Preoperative radiotherapy does seem to increase the risk of fistula formation, especially at the distal anastomotic site and make subsequent resolution of the fistulas more difficult. Most patients are able to resume oral feeding once the fistula is closed.