Immunohistochemical expression of ErbB/HER family proteins in patients with vulvar cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of the ErbB/HER family in primary vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC). METHODS: We analyzed a series of 125 patients who were surgically treated for VSCC from January 1980 to June 2016. All cases had lymph node (LN) staging and 80 had LN metastasis. A tissue microarray was built for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), HER2, HER3, and HER4 IHC staining. RESULTS: In the primary tumor we found positive expressions for EGFR, HER2, HER3, and HER4 in 5%, 0.9%, 0.9%, and 22.8%, respectively. For the LN metastasis, expressions of EGFR and HER4 were positive in 22.2% and 39.1%, respectively. No cases had positive staining for HER2 and HER3 in the LN metastasis. For HER4, positive expression correlated with smaller tumor sizes (P = 0.02). However, positive HER4 was related to adverse prognostic factors such as: histological grade (P = 0.012), presence of lymphovascular space invasion (40.9% vs 16.2%; P = 0.035), and perineural invasion (57.1% vs 16.7%; P = 0.006). Notably, all cases with LN metastasis had positive HER4 in the primary tumor (P < 0.001). ErbB/HER family expression was not related to worse survival. CONCLUSION: EGFR, HER2, and HER3 were infrequently expressed in VSCC by IHC. HER4 IHC expression was found in 22.8% of cases and was related to adverse prognostic factors.

Can a sentinel node mapping algorithm detect all positive lymph nodes in cervical cancer?

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to determine the sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection in cervical cancer using a combination technique, and to test the SLN algorithm that was proposed by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). METHODS: The study included 57 FIGO stage IA2-IIA patients who were treated at the Erasto Gaertner Hospital, Curitiba, from 2008 to 2010. The patients underwent SLN mapping by technetium lymphoscintigraphy and patent blue dye injection. Following SLN detection, standard radical hysterectomy, including parametrectomy and systematic bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy, was performed. The SLNs were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) when the hematoxylin and eosin results were negative. RESULTS: The median age of patients was 42 years (range 24-71), the median SLN count was 2 (range 1-4), and the median total lymph node (LN) count was 19 (range 11-28). At least one SLN was detected in 48 (84.2 %) patients, while bilateral pelvic detection of SLNs was noted in 28 (58.3 %) cases-one case had bilateral pelvic SLNs and a para-aortic SLN, 19 (39.6 %) had unilateral pelvic LNs, and one (2.1 %) had an SLN in the para-aortic area. Metastatic LNs were found in 9 of 57 (15.8 %) patients. Eight of nine patients with LN metastasis had a positive SLN, yielding an overall sensitivity of 88.9 % and NPV of 97.5 %. Of the 75 sides that were mapped, the SLN detection method predicted LN involvement in 74 (98.6 %) hemi-pelvises. A total of ten hemi-pelvises had LN metastasis, nine of which involved the SLN, resulting in a sensitivity of 90 %, NPV of 98.5 %, and a false negative (FN) of 10 %. In two cases (4.2 %), the SLN was positive only after IHC. CONCLUSIONS: Our SLN procedure is a safe and accurate technique that increases metastatic nodal detection rates by 4.2 % after IHC. The SLN method performed better when analyzing each side; however, one FN occurred, even after applying the MSKCC algorithm.

RECONSTRUCTION FOLLOWING EXTENSIVE TUMOR RESECTION OF THE PELVIC AND SCAPULAR GIRDLE: A REPORT OF TWO CASES.

Radical surgeries for treatment of scapular and pelvic girdle tumors (hemipelvectomy and interscapulothoracic amputation) are generally extended procedures, with large areas of local tissue loss after tumor resection. The use of a flap that includes all the anterior and posterior thigh musculature after femur dissection, pedicled in the superficial femoral vessels, has been described was only once in the medical literature, and there have been no reports on a similar flap using the whole anterior and posterior musculature of the arm after humerus dissection, pedicled in the subclavian vessels, for reconstruction after interscapulothoracic amputation. Here, we describe two cases - one hemipelvectomy and one interscapulothoracicl amputation - using these two the flaps to close the defect.

[Oral cancer surgery and oral cutaneous fistulas: risk factors]. / Fístulas orocutâneas após cirurgia de câncer da cavidade oral: fatores de risco.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the oral cutaneous fistulae after surgery and to identify possible risk factors. METHODS: A retrospective study, interesting patients that were submitted to surgery, with a two years minimum post-operative follow up. The considered variables were: sex, concomitant diseases, tabacco and alcohol use, the anesthesic and pulmonary risks, clinical stage, cervical linphadenectomy, pre or postoperative radiotherapy, accidents during the surgery, wound infection and or hematoma, pulmonary infection, surgery and reconstruction extension. RESULTS: In 159 patients, oral cutaneous fistulae occurred in 48 patients (30,3%): Patients stage T1 in 26,6 %,T2 in 1,8 %,T3 in 16%, and T4 in 40,3% (p=0,0138). The cases N+ developed fistulae in 22.9%, (N2c with 42,8%, (p=0,0136), those with preoperative radiotherapy in 63,6% (p=0,0346) Those with wound infection in 47,3% (p=0,0146), and those with wound deiscense in 53,7 % (p=0,0030). The fistulae rate was of 60% in the regional mucocutaneous flaps reconstruction cases, 39,2% in the myocutaneous ones and 12,5% of microsurgery ones (p=0,0286). CONCLUSION: The general rate of oral cutaneous fistulae was 30,3%. The significant factors were: T stage, cervical linphadenectomy, pre or postoperative radiotherapy, wound infection and deiscense, and the use of flaps.