Lymph Node Metastasis and Patterns of Recurrence in Vulvar Carcinoma: 10 Years' Single Center Experience.

Vulvar carcinoma is a relatively rare malignancy and there is a paucity of data, especially from India and other developing countries regarding the prognostic factors impacting recurrence and survival. A retrospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology at a tertiary care, regional cancer institute, including all patients with carcinoma vulva who underwent surgery between 2009 and 2018. Demographic profile, surgical-pathological information, details of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy, and peri-operative complications were analyzed. Long-term follow-up data was gathered, with an evaluation of various prognostic factors impacting recurrence and overall survival outcome. Forty-five cases with mean age of 56.2 years (range 29-82) were treated during the study period. Surgery was the initial treatment modality in 41 (91.1%) cases. Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgery was given to four cases. After complete surgico-pathological staging, most patients had stage I disease (26 cases, 57.8%) and 22.2% had stage II disease. Owing to microscopic lymph node involvement, seven cases (15.6%) belonged to FIGO stage III disease. Two cases had stage IVA disease with fixed groin nodes. Adjuvant chemotherapy in the form of 5-fluoro uracil and cisplatin was administered to four out of the nine patients with nodal involvement. The remaining five were advised adjuvant groin radiation. At a median follow-up of 34 months (range 2-114 months), 12 cases (26.7%) experienced a recurrence and one case with stage IVA disease progressed during adjuvant chemotherapy. The 5-year overall survival was 76.6% and the 5-year disease-free survival was 69.6%. There were a total number of 10 deaths, of which seven were due to disease recurrence or progression and the remaining 30% of deaths were due to medical co-morbid conditions. Overall survival was negatively impacted by increasing age (age > 60 years), number of positive nodes, presence of perinodal spread, and stage of the disease. Recurrence-free survival was significantly reduced in those with the presence of peri-nodal spread and lympho-vascular space invasion. The incidence of lymph node metastasis was found to be higher in patients with age > 60 years, increasing tumor size, presence of lympho-vascular space invasion and the number of lymph nodes removed. In carcinoma vulva, treatment should be individualized with multidisciplinary cooperation. In our series, we found that the stage of disease, nodal positivity, and nodal positivity with extra-capsular spread were significant prognostic factors impacting survival on analysis. Lymph nodal positivity was associated with increasing tumour size, presence of lympho-vascular invasion, and patient age.

Clinico-Pathological Characteristics, Management, and Prognostic Factors of Patients with Uterine Carcinosarcoma: a Retrospective Analysis.

Uterine carcinosarcoma is a rare, highly aggressive, rapidly progressing neoplasm associated with a poor prognosis. It comprises 1-5% of all uterine malignancies but accounts for 16.4% of all deaths caused by uterine malignancies. There is a definite paucity of data available from the Indian subcontinent. Hence, we retrospectively conducted this study to analyze the clinical and pathological characteristics and outcomes of women with uterine carcinosarcoma in the past 10 years managed at the tertiary care center. This is a retrospective study of women with histologically proven uterine carcinosarcoma treated at a tertiary cancer center in South India between August 2009 and April 2019. Inpatient and outpatient records were reviewed; clinicopathological data were collected; and follow-up and survival data were ascertained. Over a period of 10 years, 20 patients were diagnosed with uterine carcinosarcoma. The majority of patients were postmenopausal (80%). Post-menopausal bleeding was the main presenting complaint in about 80% of patients. More than two-thirds of patients presented in the early stage (stage I, 55%; stage II, 20%). All patients underwent staging laparotomy. Patients with good performance status (85%) received adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy and chemotherapy. At a median follow-up of 40 months, 7 (35%) patients were alive, out of which 6 are disease-free and 1 had a recurrence. The event-free survival at a median follow-up of 40 months was 40% and the overall survival was 48.5%. The outcome did not significantly differ based on the age, tumor histology (heterologous versus homologous), stage, and depth of myometrial invasion. Uterine carcinosarcoma, though rare, needs to be recognized as a distinct entity, and treated aggressively. Surgery is the cornerstone of therapy. Adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation and chemotherapy improve local control and may delay recurrence, but have shown little survival advantage. The optimal adjuvant treatment for this uncommon disease is yet to be established, highlighting the need for larger multicentric studies on this tumor.

Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma: a Retrospective Study from a Tertiary Cancer Institute.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinico-pathological behaviour and treatment patterns of low-grade serous carcinomas (LGSC) of ovary treated at a regional cancer centre. A retrospective analysis was done for the histopathology-proven cases of low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, treated at a tertiary cancer institute between January, 2010, and September, 2019. There were 28 patients identified from the medical records with low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. Median age of the patients was 43 years [22-79 years]. Average BMI was 22.3 ± 4.0 kg/m2 [range 15.2-31.2]. Twenty-one (75%) were parous and 7 (25%) were non-parous women. Median CA125 level was 188 IU/ml [range 6-14,187 IU/ml]. Ten (35.7%) patients had primary surgery elsewhere and 8 (80%) out of these patients had to undergo repeat staging. Fertility sparing surgery (FSS) was offered to 4 (14.3%) patients. Five (17.8%) patients had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced disease and poor performance status. Almost 82.2% (23) of the patients had no macroscopic residual disease at the primary surgery. According to International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists (FIGO) stage for ovarian carcinoma, there were 7 (25%), 6 (21.4%), 13 (46.4%), and 2 (7.1%) patients in the stages I, II, III, and IV respectively. Post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy was offered to 7 (25%), hormonal therapy (anastrozole/tamoxifen) to 7 (25%), and rest of 14 (50%) patients were under surveillance. Median follow-up time for the study group was 36 months. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) at 2 years was 96.4% and 89.1%, respectively. Low-grade serous carcinomas of ovary differ biologically from high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. Surgery is the cornerstone of the treatment. Further research is needed to understand the behaviour of these tumours for effective treatment strategies in future.

E74 like ETS transcription factor 3 (ELF3) is a negative regulator of epithelial- mesenchymal transition in bladder carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Transcription factors are commonly deregulated in various cancers. Here, we evaluated role of ELF3 in pathogenesis of bladder carcinoma (BCa). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We confirmed ELF3 expression pattern in BCa cell lines using western blot; and in different grades of tumors using Immunohistochemistry. Cell invasion assay was employed to demonstrate potential role of ELF3 in EMT. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: ELF3 showed selective expression in low-grade cell lines and tumor tissues. Overexpression of ELF3 in mesenchymal cell line UMUC3 resulted in reduced invasion and decreased expression of mesenchymal markers. We observed association of low ELF3 expression with increased risk and overall poor survival using publicly available data. ELF3-modulated reversal of EMT might be a useful strategy in the treatment of bladder cancer.

Immature teratoma of ovary--outcome following primary and secondary surgery: study of a single institution cohort.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the clinical presentation, treatment - primary and secondary debulking and outcomes with focus on recurrences in ovarian immature teratoma. STUDY DESIGN: This is a single institution, retrospective analysis of 24 women who presented to a gynecologic oncology unit from 1999 to 2011 with ovarian immature teratoma. Patient's clinical presentation, operative and chemotherapy details were included in a database. Follow up details regarding recurrence and management and future outcomes were also noted. Overall survival was calculated from the date of registration to last follow up or date of death. Survival curve was constructed by Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Immature teratoma accounted for 11% of 218 malignant germ cell tumors. Of the 24 patients, pain was the predominant symptom and abdominal mass was the commonest clinical presentation. Sixteen out of 24 patients presented in Stage I and grade 3 tumors were found in 43% of patients. Six patients had only unilateral salpingo oophorectomy and no staging procedure. Twelve patients underwent staging, with omentectomy being the commonest procedure. All but one, had cisplatin based combination chemotherapy. Six patients underwent secondary debulking of recurrence. Most recurrences were recorded in Stage III, higher grade tumors. With secondary cytoreduction and platinum based chemotherapy, it was possible to salvage most recurrences as well. Overall survival after a mean follow-up of 39 months was 91.6%. CONCLUSION: Majority of the patients did well with conservative surgery in terms of survival, menstrual and reproductive function. Platinum based chemotherapy was indicated in higher grade and higher stage tumors as recurrences commonly occurred in this subgroup of patients. Recurrences could be salvaged with selected secondary cytoreduction and platinum based chemotherapy.

Primary carcinoma of the fallopian tube: a review of a single institution experience of 8 cases.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinicopathologic features, response to cytoreductive surgery and adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy with or without paclitaxel. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective observational study of 8 women with a histopathologic diagnosis of primary fallopian tube carcinoma (PFTC) from January 2000 to February 2013. RESULTS: 4/8 (50%) of the women were in the early stage and an intraoperative frozen section was 100% effective in identifying fallopian tube carcinoma and then a staging laparotomy was performed. All 4/8 cases in the early stage had received and responded to single agent carboplatin and all are alive without clinical, radiological, or biochemical evidence of recurrence at the end of 2 years and the longest survivor has completed 13 years. Primary optimal cytoreductive surgery was achievable in 3/4 (75%) in advanced disease. All showed response to adjuvant paclitaxel and carboplatin (T+C), but all had succumbed to the disease following recurrence with mean progression-free survival of 19 months (range 15-21 months) and mean overall survival of 27 months (range 22-36 months). CONCLUSION: The pivotal role played by a frozen section in diagnosing PFTC which is rare needs to be reemphasized, therefore justifying a primary staging laparotomy in an early stage. Prolonged survival observed in this group following an optimum tailored adjuvant single agent carboplatin is worth noting.