Rare case of high-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma metastasising to inferior vena cava and right atrium.

Endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESSs) are a rare form of uterine malignancy representing <10% of all uterine sarcomas and <1% of all primary malignant tumours of the uterus. Invasion of the vascular system by low-grade ESS has been reported in the literature. Here we report the first case of a high-grade ESS invading the pelvic and gonadal vein and extending through the inferior vena cava to the right atrium, the diagnostic challenges and multidisciplinary management of the case.

Lesion-specific 3D-printed moulds for image-guided tissue multi-sampling of ovarian tumours: A prospective pilot study.

Background: High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma (HGSOC) is the most prevalent and lethal subtype of ovarian cancer, but has a paucity of clinically-actionable biomarkers due to high degrees of multi-level heterogeneity. Radiogenomics markers have the potential to improve prediction of patient outcome and treatment response, but require accurate multimodal spatial registration between radiological imaging and histopathological tissue samples. Previously published co-registration work has not taken into account the anatomical, biological and clinical diversity of ovarian tumours. Methods: In this work, we developed a research pathway and an automated computational pipeline to produce lesion-specific three-dimensional (3D) printed moulds based on preoperative cross-sectional CT or MRI of pelvic lesions. Moulds were designed to allow tumour slicing in the anatomical axial plane to facilitate detailed spatial correlation of imaging and tissue-derived data. Code and design adaptations were made following each pilot case through an iterative refinement process. Results: Five patients with confirmed or suspected HGSOC who underwent debulking surgery between April and December 2021 were included in this prospective study. Tumour moulds were designed and 3D-printed for seven pelvic lesions, covering a range of tumour volumes (7 to 133 cm3) and compositions (cystic and solid proportions). The pilot cases informed innovations to improve specimen and subsequent slice orientation, through the use of 3D-printed tumour replicas and incorporation of a slice orientation slit in the mould design, respectively. The overall research pathway was compatible with implementation within the clinically determined timeframe and treatment pathway for each case, involving multidisciplinary clinical professionals from Radiology, Surgery, Oncology and Histopathology Departments. Conclusions: We developed and refined a computational pipeline that can model lesion-specific 3D-printed moulds from preoperative imaging for a variety of pelvic tumours. This framework can be used to guide comprehensive multi-sampling of tumour resection specimens.

Organ-sparing central pelvic compartment resection for the treatment of vulvo-vaginal melanomas.

Vulvo-vaginal melanomas are one of the rarest gynecological oncology diseases with a poor survival compared with other malignancies. The 5-year survival varies from 13% to 32.3%. Vulvo-vaginal melanomas involving the upper 2/3rds of the vagina are usually treated with total pelvic exenteration (TPE). TPE surgery carries a 50% risk of major complications and also morbidity associated with double stomas. Central pelvic compartment resection is a novel organ-sparing surgical approach entailing radical total laparoscopic hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophrectomy, laparoscopic vaginectomy and vulvectomy to reduce morbidity compared with TPE. Permanent suprapubic catheters are used if there is urethral involvement but require quality of life studies to assess their long-term outcomes.

Experimental Evaluation of the Impact of Rapid Environmental Changes on Stress Distribution in Tablet Coatings.

Drying-induced cracks in tablet coatings are undesirable as they not only affect tablet's appearance, but they may also interfere with its function. While it is well known that tensile stresses in the coating are responsible for coating failures, few have measured the stress in tablet coatings, especially when exposed to rapid environmental changes. In this study, two commercial tablet coatings based on Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC) and Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) are exposed to rapid variations in temperature and humidity to observe the variation in residual stress. Reducing temperature at a fixed humidity or reducing humidity at fixed temperature, both lead to high residual stresses. When both the humidity and temperature were reduced together, the residual stresses were very high causing delamination in the PVA-based film and cracking in the HPMC-based film. The changes in residual stress are almost instantaneous for the HPMC-based film while it is slower for the PVA-based film. The results highlight the importance of environmental conditions on the residual stress in the film and the resulting coating failure.

Clonal somatic copy number altered driver events inform drug sensitivity in high-grade serous ovarian cancer.

Chromosomal instability is a major challenge to patient stratification and targeted drug development for high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC). Here we show that somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) in frequently amplified HGSOC cancer genes significantly correlate with gene expression and methylation status. We identify five prevalent clonal driver SCNAs (chromosomal amplifications encompassing MYC, PIK3CA, CCNE1, KRAS and TERT) from multi-regional HGSOC data and reason that their strong selection should prioritise them as key biomarkers for targeted therapies. We use primary HGSOC spheroid models to test interactions between in vitro targeted therapy and SCNAs. MYC chromosomal copy number is associated with in-vitro and clinical response to paclitaxel and in-vitro response to mTORC1/2 inhibition. Activation of the mTOR survival pathway in the context of MYC-amplified HGSOC is statistically associated with increased prevalence of SCNAs in genes from the PI3K pathway. Co-occurrence of amplifications in MYC and genes from the PI3K pathway is independently observed in squamous lung cancer and triple negative breast cancer. In this work, we show that identifying co-occurrence of clonal driver SCNA genes could be used to tailor therapeutics for precision medicine.

The incidence of cervical cancer in women with postcoital bleeding and abnormal appearance of the cervix referred through the 2-week wait pathway in the United Kingdom: A retrospective cohort study.

AIM: To determine the incidence of cervical cancer in women referred through the 2-week-wait pathway for postcoital bleeding and abnormal appearance of the cervix. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of women with postcoital bleeding, or abnormal appearance of the cervix referred to colposcopy clinics through the 2-week-wait pathway for suspected cervical cancer at Cambridge University Hospitals in the United Kingdom over 5 years. Women were identified from a departmental database. Clinical and demographic data were collected. Categorical data was analyzed with chi-squared or Fisher's exact tests and predictive values were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 604 women referred, 1.16% were diagnosed with cervical cancer. None of the women who were up-to-date with cervical screening were diagnosed with cervical cancer, while 6.25% of women out-of-date with cervical screening or outside the screening age group were diagnosed with cervical cancer (p < 0.001). The positive predictive value for diagnosing cervical cancer was 1.70% for postcoital bleeding (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64-3.7) and 0.31% for abnormal appearance of the cervix (95% CI 0.0008-1.7). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of cervical cancer in women referred through the 2-week-wait pathway for postcoital bleeding and abnormal appearance of the cervix is low. These referrals have considerable implications for both patients and clinicians, and have a low predictive value for diagnosing cervical cancer. In light of emerging evidence and changing practices, referral guidelines should be reviewed based on up-to-date data and current practices.

Non-contrast MRI can accurately characterize adnexal masses: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy of interpretation of a non-contrast MRI protocol in characterizing adnexal masses. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Two hundred ninety-one patients (350 adnexal masses) who underwent gynecological MRI at our institution between the 1st of January 2008 and the 31st of December 2018 were reviewed. A random subset (102 patients with 121 masses) was chosen to evaluate the reproducibility and repeatability of readers' assessments. Readers evaluated non-contrast MRI scans retrospectively, assigned a 5-point score for the risk of malignancy and gave a specific diagnosis. The reference standard for the diagnosis was histopathology or at least one-year imaging follow-up. Diagnostic accuracy of the non-contrast MRI score was calculated. Inter- and intra-reader agreement was analyzed with Cohen's kappa statistics. RESULTS: There were 53/350 (15.1%) malignant lesions in the whole cohort and 20/121 (16.5%) malignant lesions in the random subset. Good agreement between readers was found for the non-contrast MRI score (к = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58-0.86) whilst the intra-reader agreement was excellent (к = 0.81, 95% CI 0.70-0.88). The non-contrast MRI score value of ≥ 4 was associated with malignancy with a sensitivity of 84.9%, a specificity of 95.9%, an accuracy of 94.2% and a positive likelihood ratio of 21 (area under the receiver operating curve 0.93, 95% CI 0.90-0.96). CONCLUSION: Adnexal mass characterization on MRI without the administration of contrast medium has a high accuracy and excellent inter- and intra-reader agreement. Our results suggest that non-contrast studies may offer a reasonable diagnostic alternative when the administration of intravenous contrast medium is not possible. KEY POINTS: • A non-contrast pelvic MRI protocol may allow the characterization of adnexal masses with high accuracy. • The non-contrast MRI score may be used in clinical practice for differentiating benign from malignant adnexal lesions when the lack of intravenous contrast medium precludes analysis with the O-RADS MRI score.

Effect of liquid pool concentration on chemically reactive drop impact gelation process.

Coupled effects of hydrodynamics and chemical reaction during gelation process have been studied in the current work. Here, a viscous sodium alginate liquid drop impacts on calcium chloride liquid pool, chemically reacts with the pool, forms a crater, and instantaneously changes its phase from liquid to soft solid called as gel. The drop impingement height and liquid pool concentration are varied to study the effect on this process. This phenomenon is captured in a time resolved high-speed camera and the dynamics of the crater is traced using image processing technique. We also use a mathematical model for crater growth which we assume to be influenced by the rate of gelation. By validating the theoretical trend with the experimental counterpart, the gelation energy has been obtained. Scaling analysis has been executed to determine significant contributory energy in the crater growth. It is also observed that the gel swelling occurs beyond a critical concentration of calcium chloride. Also, the effect of gelation on the homogeneity and strength of alginate gel are interpreted from the surface morphology examination in scanning electron microscope. Thus a new insight of gelation process has been elucidated from the context of fluid dynamics.

Results from Survey to Assess Current Trends in Surgical Practice in the Management of Women with Early Stage Cervical Cancer within the BGCS Community with an Emphasis on Routine Frozen Section Examination.

In the UK, more than 3,200 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year. Early stage cervical cancer (IA2-IB1) treatment comprises central surgery mainly in the form of radical hysterectomy or fertility sparing surgery including trachelectomy as well as systematic pelvic lymphadenectomy to detect metastases and adjust treatment accordingly. Given the variation in determining the lymph node (LN) status, a major prognosticator, we reviewed the current UK practice of LN assessment in women undergoing surgery for early cervical cancer. A 7-question, web-based survey, screened by the BGCS committee, was circulated amongst BGCS members. The overall response rate was 51%. Only 12.5% of the respondents routinely performed frozen section examination (FSE); the main reasons for not doing FSE were the pressure on theatre time (54.5%) and the lack of available facilities (48.5%). When positive pelvic nodal disease was detected, in 21 out of 50 (42%) the planned radical hysterectomy (RH) was aborted. More than 70% of the respondents routinely performed RH without any prior resort to pelvic lymphadenectomy. Pretreatment surgical para-aortic LN assessment was performed by 20% of the respondents. The survey confirms the diversity of the UK practice patterns in the surgical treatment of early cervical cancer.

Routine Intraoperative Frozen Section Examination to Minimize Bimodal Treatment in Early-Stage Cervical Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: In early-stage cervical cancer, single modality therapy is the main objective, to minimize patient morbidity while offering equivalent cure rates. Intraoperative frozen section examination (FSE) of lymph nodes (LNs) can facilitate this aim, ensuring that radical surgery is avoided in patients requiring adjuvant therapy for metastatic LN involvement. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of routine intraoperative FSE of pelvic LNs during the surgical staging of early-stage cervical cancers and identify a group at low risk for nodal metastases. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of 94 women aged 23 to 80 years who underwent primary surgery and planned intraoperative FSE of the pelvic LNs at the gynecological cancer center in Oxford was performed. The diagnostic value of FSE and the prediction of metastatic nodal disease were assessed by use of preoperative and intraoperative variables. RESULTS: A total of 1825 LNs were submitted for FSE. Of 94 women (13.8%), 13 had positive LNs at FSE. Two false-negative cases were reported with micrometastases but no false-positive cases. Frozen section examination as a diagnostic test reached a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 100%. A regression model including grade I to II and tumor size of less than 20 mm identified a low-risk group for LN involvement. CONCLUSIONS: In light of diverse practice patterns, FSE should be routinely offered to women with early-stage cervical cancer in a 1-step protocol. We equally devised a model to predict those patients at least risk of nodal disease, who may be spared of FSE.

Primary Endometrial Yolk Sac Tumor With Endodermal-Intestinal Differentiation Masquerading as Metastatic Colorectal Adenocarcinoma.

Yolk sac tumors (YSTs) with a somatic glandular pattern can be difficult to recognize histologically because they reproduce developing intestinal, hepatic, or lung tissue and can express markers such as CDX2 and TTF1. We report an unusual case of a primary endometrial YST showing florid endodermal-intestinal differentiation in a 63-yr-old woman with a history of colorectal adenocarcinoma. Histologically, the tumor exhibited a glandular and papillary architecture and showed widespread immunoreactivity for CDX2 and focal staining for CK20 and CEA, mimicking metastatic colorectal carcinoma on biopsy. The presence of subnuclear cytoplasmic clearing and positive staining for germ cell markers, however, pointed toward a diagnosis of primary endometrial YST, and this was supported by the radiologic and the subsequent pathologic finding of a primary endometrial-based lesion. YSTs in this age group usually arise in association with somatic tumors and in this case a small focus of coexistent endometrioid adenocarcinoma was identified within the uterus. Despite surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, the patient showed disease progression with liver and lung metastases 6 mo postoperatively.

A prospective pilot study of detection of sentinel lymph nodes in gynaecological cancers using a novel near infrared fluorescence imaging system.

BACKGROUND: Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) sampling may significantly reduce surgical morbidity by avoiding needless radical lymphadenectomy. In gynaecological cancers, the current practice in the UK is testing the accuracy of SLN detection using radioactive isotopes within the context of clinical trials. However, radioactive tracers pose significant logistic problems. We, therefore, conducted a pilot, observational study to assess the feasibility of a novel optical imaging device for SLN detection in gynaecological cancers using near infrared (NIR) fluorescence. METHODS: A novel, custom-made, optical imaging system was developed to enable detection of multiple fluorescence dyes and allow simultaneous bright-field imaging during open surgery and laparoscopic procedures. We then evaluated the performance of the system in a prospective study of 49 women with early stage vulval, cervical and endometrial cancer who were scheduled to undergo complete lymphadenectomy. Clinically approved fluorescent contrast agents indocyanine green (ICG) and methylene blue (MB) were used. The main outcomes of the study included SLN mapping detection rates, false negative rates using the NIR fluorescence technique and safety of the procedures. We also examined the association between injection sites and differential lymphatic drainage in women with endometrial cancer by fluorescence imaging of ICG and MB. RESULTS: A total of 64 SLNs were detected during both open surgery and laparoscopy. Following dose optimisation and the learning phase, SLN detection rate approached 100 % for all cancer types with no false negatives detected. Fluorescence from ICG and MB detected para-aortic SLNs in women with endometrial cancer following uterine injection. Percutaneous SLN detection was also achieved in most women with vulval cancer. No adverse reactions associated with the use of either dyes were observed. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the successful clinical application of a novel NIR fluorescence imaging system for SLN detection across different gynaecological cancers. We showcased the first in human imaging, during the same procedure, of two fluorescence dyes in women with endometrial cancer.

Outcomes of ovarian transposition in gynaecological cancers; a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Pelvic irradiation is essential for improving survival in women with pelvic malignancies despite inducing permanent ovarian damage. Ovarian transposition can be performed in premenopausal women in an attempt to preserve ovarian function. As uncertainty occurs over the proportion of women who are likely to benefit from the procedure, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the proportion of women with ovarian function preservation, symptomatic or asymptomatic ovarian cysts and metastatic ovarian malignancy following ovarian transposition. METHODS: Medline, Embase and The Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched for articles published from January 1980 to December 2013. We computed the summary proportions for ovarian function preservation, ovarian cyst formation and metastatic ovarian disease following ovarian transposition by random effects meta-analysis with meta-regression to explore for heterogeneity by type of radiotherapy. RESULTS: Twenty four articles reporting on 892 women undergoing ovarian transposition were included. In the surgery alone group, the proportion of women with preserved ovarian function was 90% (95% CI 92-99), 87% (95% CI 79-97) of women did not develop ovarian cysts and 100% (95% CI 90-111) did not suffer metastases to the transposed ovaries. In the brachytherapy (BR)± surgery group, the proportion of women with preserved ovarian function was 94% (95% CI 79-111), 84% (95% CI 70-101) of women did not develop ovarian cysts and 100% (95% CI 85-118) did not suffer metastases to the transposed ovaries. In the external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) +surgery ± BR group, the proportion of women with preserved ovarian function was 65% (95% CI 56-74), 95% (95% CI 85-106) of women did not develop ovarian cysts and 100% (95% CI 90-112) did not suffer metastases to the transposed ovaries. Subgroup meta-analysis revealed transposition to the subcutaneous tissue being associated with higher ovarian cyst formation rate compared to the "traditional" transposition. CONCLUSION: Ovarian transposition is associated with significant preservation of ovarian function and negligible risk for metastases to the transposed ovaries despite common incidence of ovarian cysts.

Differentiating pelvic actinomycosis from advanced ovarian cancer: a report of two cases, management reflections and literature review.

Pelvic actinomycosis comprises a rare, subacute to chronic bacterial infection characterised by suppurative and granulomatous inflammation. Diagnosis is difficult as it may simulate pelvic malignancies. Laboratory and radiological findings are non-specific. We reported on 2 cases of pelvic actinomycosis mimicking ovarian malignancy with different management approaches that lead to opposite outcomes. We reviewed the literature on pelvic actinomycosis imitating ovarian cancer with a focus on its surgical management. Despite agreement on the duration of antibiotic therapy following surgical management, consensus regarding surgical approach was rather equivocal. We concluded that pelvic actinomycosis should be strongly suspected in women with presumed ovarian cancer of atypical presentation and a history of intrauterine devices (IUD).

Chemotherapy versus surgery for initial treatment in advanced ovarian epithelial cancer.

BACKGROUND: Epithelial ovarian cancer presents at an advanced stage in the majority of women. These women require surgery and chemotherapy for optimal treatment. Conventional treatment is to perform surgery first and then give chemotherapy. However, it is not yet clear whether there are any advantages to using chemotherapy before surgery. OBJECTIVES: To assess whether there is an advantage to treating women with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer with chemotherapy before cytoreductive surgery (neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT)) compared with conventional treatment where chemotherapy follows maximal cytoreductive surgery. SEARCH METHODS: For the original review we searched, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, Issue 3, 2006), MEDLINE (Silver Platter, from 1966 to 1 Sept 2006), EMBASE via Ovid (from 1980 to 1 Sept 2006), CANCERLIT (from 1966 to 1 Sept 2006), PDQ (search for open and closed trials) and MetaRegister (most current search Sept 2006). For this update randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were identified by searching the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, Issue 3, 2011) and the Cochrane Gynaecological Cancer Specialised Register (2011), MEDLINE (August week 1, 2011), EMBASE (to week 31, 2011), PDQ (search for open and closed trials) and MetaRegister (August 2011). SELECTION CRITERIA: RCTs of women with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (Federation of International Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (FIGO) stage III/IV) who were randomly allocated to treatment groups that compared platinum-based chemotherapy before cytoreductive surgery with platinum-based chemotherapy following cytoreductive surgery. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted by two review authors independently, and the quality of included trials was assessed by two review authors independently. MAIN RESULTS: One high-quality RCT met the inclusion criteria. This multicentre trial randomised 718 women with stage IIIc/IV ovarian cancer to NACT followed by interval debulking surgery (IDS) or primary debulking surgery (PDS) followed by chemotherapy. There were no significant differences between the study groups with regard to overall survival (OS) (670 women; HR 0.98; 95% CI 0.82 to 1.18) or progression-free survival (PFS) (670 women; HR 1.01; 95% CI 0.86 to 1.17).Significant differences occurred between the NACT and PDS groups with regard to some surgically related serious adverse effects (SAE grade 3/4) including haemorrhage (12 in NACT group vs 23 in PDS group; RR 0.50; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.99), venous thromboembolism (none in NACT group vs eight in PDS group; RR 0.06; 95% CI 0 to 0.98) and infection (five in NACT group vs 25 in PDS group; RR 0.19; 95% CI 0.07 to 0.50). Quality of life (QoL) was reported to be similar for the NACT and PDS groups.Three ongoing RCTs were also identified. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: We consider the use of NACT in women with stage IIIc/IV ovarian cancer to be a reasonable alternative to PDS, particularly in bulky disease. With regard to selecting who will benefit from NACT, treatment should be tailored to the patient and should take into account resectability, age, histology, stage and performance status. These results cannot be generalised to women with stage IIIa and IIIb ovarian cancer; in these women, PDS is the standard. We await the results of three ongoing trials, which may change these conclusions.

Epidermal growth factor receptor blockers for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cause of cancer death in women world-wide. Treatment consists of a combination of surgical debulking and platinum-based chemotherapy, alone or in combination with paclitaxel. Between 55% and 75% of women who respond to first-line therapy relapse within two years of completing treatment. Second-line chemotherapy is palliative and aims to reduce symptoms and prolong survival. Increased understanding about the molecular basis of ovarian cancer has led to the development of novel agents, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and their effectiveness and toxicities in women with advanced ovarian cancer needs to be assessed. OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness and toxicities of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy in the treatment of ovarian cancer. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Gynaecological Cancer Group Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) Issue 4, 2010, MEDLINE and EMBASE up to October 2010. We also searched registers of clinical trials, abstracts of scientific meetings, and reference lists of included studies, and contacted experts in the field. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing anti-EGFR agents with or without conventional chemotherapy versus conventional chemotherapy alone or no treatment in women with histologically proven ovarian cancer. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently abstracted data and assessed risk of bias. We reported adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for overall and progression-free survival and risk ratios (RRs) comparing adverse events in women who received gemcitabine plus pertuzumab and gemcitabine plus placebo. MAIN RESULTS: We found only one completed and three ongoing RCTs that met our inclusion criteria. The completed trial randomised 131 women with relapsed ovarian cancer to receive gemcitabine and pertuzumab or placebo and gemcitabine (control). There was no statistically significant difference in overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and response between women who received gemcitabine and pertuzumab and those who received control, although PFS approached borderline significance (adjusted HR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.43 to 1.03; P = 0.06). The trial reported a higher rate of adverse events in the gemcitabine and pertuzumab arm for most outcomes, but most were not statistically significant (although many approached borderline significance) because the trial lacked statistical power due to its relatively small size and the low number of observed events. The trial was at moderate risk of bias. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: EGFR inhibitors, including pertuzumab, may add activity to conventional chemotherapy for treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Certain subsets of women with particularly aggressive tumours resistant to conventional chemotherapy may benefit from EGFR inhibitor treatment. Further RCTs are necessary before EGFR inhibitors are introduced as first- or second-line treatment of ovarian cancer.

Laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy for ovarian ablation in women with hormone-sensitive breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate institutional experiences regarding laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy in breast cancer patients and to compare the technique with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs among premenopausal women with hormone-sensitive breast cancer. METHODS: Between 2004 and 2009, 103 women with breast cancer underwent laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK. All relevant medical records-including reasons for salpingo-oophorectomy, peri-operative events, and subsequent follow-up-were reviewed. RESULTS: In the study period, 3 (2.9%) women experienced a recurrence of breast cancer but none had primary peritoneal/ovarian cancer within a median follow-up interval of 34 months (range, 0-70 months). No operative complications were noted among these women and all of them went home on the day of their operation. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy seems to be a safe, permanent, and cost-effective method of ovarian ablation compared with the use of GnRH analogs. Salpingo-oophorectomy also considerably reduces the risk of subsequent ovarian/fallopian tube malignancy in this high-risk population.

DNA-repair pathway inhibitors for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer and seventh most common cause of cancer death in women world-wide.Three-quarters of women present when the disease has spread through-put the abdomen (stage III or IV) and treatment consists of a combination of debulking surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy, with or without taxanes. Although initial responses to chemotherapy are often good, most women will relapse and require further chemotherapy and will eventually develop resistance to chemotherapy agents. Increased understanding about the molecular basis of ovarian cancer has lead to the development of novel agents, which work in different ways to conventional chemotherapy. These include DNA-repair pathway inhibitors, the commonest of which are the PARP (poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase) inhibitors. It is therefore important to compare their effectiveness and side effects of these novel agents to assess their role in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer, especially as treatment of advanced disease is aiming to improve length of survival and quality of life (QoL). OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness and harmful effects of interventions, which inhibit DNA-repair pathways, in the treatment of ovarian cancer. SEARCH STRATEGY: RCTs were identified by searching The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, Issue 2, 2009), The Cochrane Gynaecological Cancer Collaborative Review Group's Trial Register, MEDLINE (1990 to June 2009), EMBASE (1990 to June 2009), ongoing trials on www.controlled-trials.com/rct, www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials and the National Research Register (NRR), the FDA database and pharmaceutical industry biomedical literature. SELECTION CRITERIA: Adult women with histologically proven ovarian cancer who were randomised to treatment groups which either compared DNA-repair pathway inhibitors with no treatment or DNA-repair pathway inhibitors together with conventional chemotherapy compared with conventional chemotherapy alone. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently assessed whether potentially relevant studies met the inclusion criteria. Searches for additional data and information were also performed by two independent review authors. No trials were found and therefore no data were analysed, so only information on excluded references was collected. MAIN RESULTS: The search strategy identified 473 unique references of which 461 were excluded on the basis of title and abstract. The remaining 12 articles were retrieved in full, but none satisfied the inclusion criteria. However, two ongoing randomised phase II clinical trials were identified from the clinical trials databases that met our inclusion criteria, but no preliminary data were available. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There are to date no published RCT data on the effectiveness and side effects of DNA-repair pathways inhibitors used alone or in association with conventional chemotherapy in the treatment of ovarian cancer. On-going trials have been identified and results are awaited and will be included in future updates of this review.