Prognostic Impact of Mesenteric Lymph Node Status on Digestive Resection Specimens During Cytoreductive Surgery for Ovarian Peritoneal Metastases.

BACKGROUND: The most common mode of ovarian cancer (OC) spread is intraperitoneal dissemination, with the peritoneum as the primary site of metastasis. Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with chemotherapy is the primary treatment. When necessary, a digestive resection can be performed, but the role of mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) in advanced OC remains unclear, and its significance in treatment and follow-up evaluation remains to be determined. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of MLN involvement in patients who underwent digestive resection for OC peritoneal metastases (PM) and to investigate its potential prognostic value. METHODS: This retrospective, descriptive study included patients who underwent CRS with curative intent for OC with PM between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2020. The study assessed MLN status and other clinicopathologic features to determine their prognostic value in relation to overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: The study enrolled 159 women with advanced OC, 77 (48.4%) of whom had a digestive resection. For 61.1% of the patients who underwent digestive resection, MLNs were examined and found to be positive in 56.8%. No statistically significant associations were found between MLN status and OS (p = 0.497) or PFS ((p = 0.659). CONCLUSIONS: In anatomopathologic studies, MLNs are not systematically investigated but are frequently involved. In the current study, no statistically significant associations were found between MLN status and OS or PFS. Further prospective studies with a systematic and standardized approach should be performed to confirm these findings.

Absence of residual fluorescence in the surgical bed at near-infrared fluorescence imaging predicts negative margins at final pathology in patients treated with breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Positive margins after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for breast cancer (BC) remain a major concern. In this study we investigate the feasibility and accuracy of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence imaging (FI) for the in vivo assessment of surgical margins during BCS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with BC admitted for BCS from October 2015 to April 2016 were proposed to be included in the present study (NCT02027818). ICG (0.25 mg/kg) was intravenously injected at induction anesthesia and ICG-FI of the surgical beds was correlated with final pathology results. RESULTS: Fifty patients consented to participate and thirty-five patients were retained for final analysis, 15 patients having been excluded for, respectively, incomplete video records data for signal to background ratio (SBR) calculation (11) and in situ tumors (4). The final pathological assessment of 35 breast specimens identified 5 (14.7%) positive margins. Intraoperative ICG-FI revealed hyperfluorescent signals in 15 (42.9%) patients and an absence of fluorescent signals in 20 (57.1%). Median SBR in patients with involved margins was 1.8 (SD 0.7) and was 1.25 (SD 0.6) in patients with clear margins (p = 0.05). The accuracy, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of ICG-FI for breast surgical margin assessment were 71%, 60%, 29% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSION: ICG-FI of BC surgical beds has a high negative predictive value for surgical margin assessment during BCS. The absence of residual fluorescence in the surgical bed of patients with fluorescent tumors predicts negative margins at final pathology and allows the surgeon to avoid further intraoperative analysis.

ICG-fluorescence imaging for detection of peritoneal metastases and residual tumoral scars in locally advanced ovarian cancer: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: No intraoperative imaging techniques exist for detecting tumor nodules or tumor scar tissues in patients treated with upfront or interval cytoreductive surgery (CS) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). The aims of this study were to evaluate the role of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence imaging (FI) for the detection of peritoneal metastases (PM) and evaluate whether it can be used to detect remnant tumor cells in scar tissue. METHODS: Patients with PM from ovarian cancer admitted for CS were included. ICG, at 0.25 mg per kg of patient weight, was injected intraoperatively after explorative laparotomy before CS. RESULTS: A total of 108 peritoneal lesions, including 25 scars, were imaged in 20 patients. Seventy-three were malignant (67.6%) and 35 benign (32.4%). The mean Tumor to Background Ratio (ex vivo) was 1.8 (SD 1.3) in malignant and 1.0 (SD 0.79) in benign nodules (P = 0.007). Of 25 post-NAC scars, the mean Tumor to Background Ratio (TBR) (in vivo) was 2.06 (SD 1.15) in malignant and 1.21 (SD 0.50) in benign nodules (P = 0.26). The positive predictive value of ICG-FI to detect tumor cells in scars was 57.1%. CONCLUSIONS: ICG-FI is accurate to demonstrate PM in ovarian cancer but unable to discriminate between benign and malignant post-NAC.