Etiologic Distribution of Pancreatic Cystic Lesions Identified on Computed Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the distribution of etiology of pancreatic cysts using established criteria/markers from cyst fluid analysis and cytology that have been reported to have high specificity in published literature. METHODS: A retrospective study of pancreatic cysts using an endoscopic database from March 2002 and May 2013 was conducted. Pancreatic cysts <10 mm and cysts with a history of pancreatic cancer were excluded. RESULTS: In our cohort of 758 patients with pancreatic cyst(s), the cyst etiology was as follows: mucinous cyst/side-branch intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (SB-IPMNs)/mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCN; 48.2%), pseudocyst (27.6%), serous cystadenoma (11%), simple cysts (6.4%), mucinous cystadenocarcinoma (5.1%), and other (1%). Approximately 41% (n = 310) of the cysts were ≥3 cm in size and included the following: pseudocyst (39.7%), mucinous cysts/SB-IPMN/MCN (28.1%), serous cystadenoma (16.7%), mucinous cyst adenocarcinoma (9.7%), and simple cyst (4.8%). In 118 patients with a known history of acute pancreatitis, the cyst diagnoses included pseudocyst (68.7%), mucinous cyst/SB-IPMN/MCN (18.6%), benign/simple cyst (7.6%), and mucinous cystadenocarcinoma (2.5%). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with cystic pancreatic lesion noted on cross-sectional imaging, approximately half of the patients have lesions without malignancy or malignant potential and therefore not requiring surveillance. Endoscopic ultrasound/endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration evaluation of the pancreatic cysts can help optimize their further management.

Autoimmune pancreatitis type-1 associated with intraduct papillary mucinous neoplasm: report of two cases.

Chronic pancreatitis lesions usually embrace both intraduct papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Patients at genetically-determined high risk of PDAC often harbor IPMN and/or chronic pancreatitis, suggesting IPMN, chronic pancreatitis and PDAC may share pathogenetic mechanisms. Chronic autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) may also herald PDAC. Concurrent IPMN and AIP have been reported in few patients. Here we describe two patients with IPMN who developed type-1 AIP fulfilling the Honolulu and Boston diagnostic criteria. AIP diffusively affected the whole pancreas, as well as peripancreatic lymph nodes and the gallbladder. Previous pancreatic resection of focal IPMN did not show features of AIP. One of the patients carried a CFTR class-I mutation. Of notice, serum IgG4 levels gradually decreased to normal values after IPMN excision. Common risk factors to IPMN and AIP may facilitate its coincidental generation.

New insights into the pathogenesis of ovarian carcinoma: time to rethink ovarian cancer screening.

Recent discoveries about the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer have suggested that it can no longer be thought of as a single entity, but that the histologically defined ovarian cancer subtypes are different diseases, with different precursor lesions and distinct biomarker expression profiles. Most serous carcinomas probably arise from the fallopian tube. Clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas are associated with endometriosis and likely originate from ectopic endometrium. The focus of large ovarian cancer screening trials has been detection of macroscopic ovarian abnormalities by ultrasonography and detection of serum biomarkers associated with the most common (serous) subtype of ovarian cancer. The only completed and phase three randomized controlled trial failed to achieve the objective of reducing ovarian cancer mortality and was not able to demonstrate a stage migration effect of the screening. Future screening strategies have to incorporate our growing understanding of each subtype of pelvic (ovarian or fallopian tube) cancer, its organ of origin, and disease-specific biomarkers. We review how our current understanding of pathogenesis should prompt a reexamination of data from ovarian cancer screening studies and discuss potential designs for future screening strategies.

Peritoneal mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of probable urachal origin: a challenging diagnosis.

This report describes the case of a mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of probable urachal origin that presented with mass effect, precipitating deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. The patient presented with acute symptoms of leg swelling, pain and dyspnoea, and a vague awareness of lower abdominal distension. Computer tomography showed a cystic mass closely related to the anterior abdominal wall and the superior aspect of the bladder. A 1500 cm(3) cyst adherent to the dome of the urinary bladder was resected on laparotomy. Partial cystectomy was not carried out in the belief that the cyst represented a benign lesion. Subsequent imaging has shown cystic changes in the anterior bladder wall, and the patient has been referred for partial cystectomy.

Does smoking increase risk of ovarian cancer? A systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: Although early reports suggested that smoking was not associated with ovarian cancer risk, recent studies have reported positive associations for cancers of the mucinous subtype. We sought to clarify the relationship between smoking and ovarian cancer by histological subtype. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of studies investigating the association between smoking and risk of the different histological subtypes of epithelial ovarian cancer. Eight population-based case-control studies, one pooled analysis of case-control studies, and one cohort study met the inclusion criteria. Summary relative risks (RR), 95% confidence intervals (CI), and tests for heterogeneity were generated from random effects models. RESULTS: Combined, these studies included a total of 910 women with mucinous and 5564 with non-mucinous ovarian cancers. There was a significant doubling of risk of mucinous ovarian cancer in current smokers compared to never smokers (summary RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.7-2.7), but no increased risk of serous (1.0, 95% CI 0.8-1.2) or endometrioid (0.8, 95% CI 0.6-1.1) cancers and a significant risk reduction for clear cell cancers (0.6, 95% CI 0.3-0.9). The risk of mucinous cancer increased with increasing amount smoked but returned to that of never smokers within 20-30 years of stopping smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Meta-analysis suggests that current smoking doubles a woman's risk of developing mucinous ovarian cancer. Stopping smoking returns the risk to normal in the long term. Smoking may thus be one of the few modifiable factors offering potential for primary prevention of mucinous ovarian cancer.

Histologic types of epithelial ovarian cancer: have they different risk factors?

OBJECTIVES: The histologic types of epithelial ovarian cancer differ in clinical behavior, descriptive epidemiology, and genetic origins. The goals of the current study were to characterize further the relation of histologic-specific ovarian cancer risks to reproductive and lifestyle attributes. METHODS: The authors conducted a pooled analysis of 10 case-control studies of ovarian cancer in US White women, involving 1834 patients with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (1067 serous, 254 mucinous, 373 endometrioid, and 140 clear cell) and 7484 control women. RESULTS: Risks of all four histological types were inversely associated with parity and oral contraceptive use, but the histologic types showed different associations with nonreproductive factors. Unique associations include an inverse relation of serous cancer risk to body mass index, a positive relation of mucinous cancer risk to cigarette smoking, and a weakly positive relation of endometrioid cancer risk to body mass index. Risk of all histologic types was unassociated with age at menarche, age at menopause, a history of infertility, noncontraceptive estrogen use, and alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The most important modifiers of ovarian cancer risk (parity and oral contraceptive use) showed similar associations across the histologies. Nevertheless, the unique associations seen for other modifiers support the conjecture that the histologic types of epithelial ovarian cancer have different etiologies, which should be addressed in future investigations of the molecular basis of ovarian cancers and their responses to therapies.

Outcome at second-look laparotomy: anaesthesia related risk factors.

PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION: To identify anaesthesia related risk factors associated with positive second-look laparotomy (SLL) findings in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma who had previous optimal cytoreduction surgery under general anaesthesia. METHODS: A retrospective review of the anaesthesia and medical records of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who underwent SLL at our institution and analysis of patient related (age, haemoglobin, albumin), anaesthesia related (duration of anaesthesia, anaesthetics and dosages, transfusion of blood products), tumour related (stage, grade, presence of ascites, adhesion, histological type, capsule penetration and CA-125) data and outcome of SLL was undertaken. RESULTS: The patients had SLL 305 +/- 215 days after the first operation. Of the 83 patients 28 (33.7%) were SLL (+). SLL (+) patients were significantly more likely to have a mucinous histological subtype, required intraoperative packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion and longer anaesthesia duration (p < 0.05). Type of induction agent, whether narcotics were used or not, type of volatile agent used, dosages of induction agents and dosages of narcotic and muscle relaxants did not vary significantly between the patients with and without cancer recurrence (p > 0.05). Duration of anaesthesia (OR, 1.03; CI, 1-1.05, p = 0.031) and histological subtype (OR, 16.1; CI, 1.8-141.7, p = 0.012), were the independent variables predicting cancer recurrence in the multivariate logistic regression. CONCLUSION: We emphasize that duration of anaesthesia and histological subtype are risk factors for cancer recurrence in early stage ovarian carcinoma. From our data it seems that interventions to shorten the duration of general anaesthesia or reversing immunosuppression induced by anaesthesia and surgery must be carefully considered.

Heterotopic pancreas in the spleen: malignant degeneration to mucinous cystadenocarcinoma.

We report the clinicopathological findings of a patient who presented with a primary splenic cystic tumour arising from heterotopic pancreatic tissue. The pancreas was normal on radiological and intraoperative examination. Histological analysis of the specimen demonstrated a mucinous cystadenocarcinoma with remnants of normal pancreatic tissue within the substance of the spleen. Immunohistochemistry characterized the tumour as being pancreatic in origin with overexpression of p53 protein. Five cases of primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the spleen originating from heterotopic pancreatic tissue have been described; to our knowledge, this is the first case to provide conclusive immunohistochemical evidence to support this proposition.

Malignant tumors of the ovary or the breast in association with infertility: a report of thirteen cases.

BACKGROUND: Many questions have been raised recently about the relationship between infertility, fertility drugs and cancer. This prompted us to evaluate our patients having ovarian or breast cancer with a known history of infertility. METHODS: We report thirteen women who had been examined and/or treated for infertility before the occurrence of malignant tumors of the ovary or the breast at an age under 50 years in 1990-1995 in our unit. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 35 years (s.d. 5.9 years, range 28-47 years). Of the 11 ovarian tumors, one was a malignant teratoma, two were granulosa cell tumors and eight epithelial ovarian cancers. Ten women had received either clomiphene citrate alone or together with gonadotrophins, one had used only gonadotrophins, and in two patients ovarian cancer was detected during an infertility work-up but before any treatment. Four women had used clomiphene for more than twelve cycles. Two patients had ductal breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our patients emphasize the need for follow-up and long-term prospective studies in infertile women who have been evaluated or treated for infertility.

[Risk of systematic celioscopic treatment of ovarian diseases. 2 cases]. / Danger du traitement coelioscopique systématique de la pathologie ovarienne. 2 observations.

We report 2 cases of malignant ovarian tumours. These tumours had been missed at a first laparoscopic examination, and a second examination detected the presence of cancer cells disseminated in the peritoneum and the abdominal wall. The risk of propagation of an overlooked cancer makes it necessary to carry out a preoperative thorough evaluation based on clinical and ultrasonographic data before any attempt at laparoscopic surgery. If a laparoscopic treatment is decided, it must be performed under strict conditions and include meticulous exploration of the abdominal cavity, systematic peritoneal cytology, needle cytology of the cyst, emptying of the cyst in a water-tight manner, extemporaneous biopsy in case of doubt, peritoneal cleansing, and extraction of the cyst or the ovary in a bag. If malignancy is suspected, laparotomy must be performed immediately.