Surveillance of Sentinel Node-Positive Melanoma Patients with Reasons for Exclusion from MSLT-II:Multi-Institutional Propensity Score Matched Analysis

BACKGROUND: In sentinel lymph node (SLN)-positive melanoma, two randomized trials demonstrated equivalent melanoma-specific survival with nodal surveillance vs completion lymph node dissection (CLND). Patients with microsatellites, extranodal extension (ENE) in the SLN, or >3 positive SLNs constitute a high-risk group largely excluded from the randomized trials, for whom appropriate management remains unknown. STUDY DESIGN: SLN-positive patients with any of the three high-risk features were identified from an international cohort. CLND patients were matched 1:1 with surveillance patients using propensity scores. Risk of any-site recurrence, SLN-basin-only recurrence, and melanoma-specific mortality were compared. RESULTS: Among 1,154 SLN-positive patients, 166 had ENE, microsatellites, and/or >3 positive SLN. At 18.5 months median follow-up, 49% had recurrence (vs 26% in patients without high-risk features, p 3 positive SLN constitute a high-risk group with a 2-fold greater recurrence risk. For those managed with nodal surveillance, SLN-basin recurrences were more frequent, but all-site recurrence and melanoma-specific mortality were comparable to patients treated with CLND. Most recurrences were outside the SLN-basin, supporting use of nodal surveillance for SLN-positive patients with microsatellites, ENE, and/ or >3 positive SLN

Active surveillance of patients who have sentinel node positive melanoma:An international, multi-institution evaluation of adoption and early outcomes after the Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy trial II (MSLT-2)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168248/1/cncr33483.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168248/2/cncr33483_am.pd

Resection and Abdominal Wall Reconstruction of a Desmoid Tumor with Endometrioma Features

Desmoid tumors are rare, musculoaponeurotic mesenchymal origin tumors arising from the proliferation of well-differentiated fibroblasts. Desmoid tumors may arise from any location with the abdominal cavity, abdominal wall and extremity locations being most frequent. We present the case of a 35-year-old female with a history of endometriosis who presented palpable abdominal mass and cyclic abdominal pain. Resection was performed for a presumed desmoid soft tissue tumor. Final pathology demonstrated desmoid histology admixed with abdominal wall endometriosis (endometrioma). This unique pathologic finding has only been rarely reported and is discussed with a brief review of the literature

Locally Advanced, Unresectable Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Gallbladder

Primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the gallbladder is a rare malignancy of the gallbladder, accounting for less than 5% of gallbladder pathology. Initial presentation is often similar to adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder. SCC tends to be more locally aggressive, however, and possesses a worse prognosis than adenocarcinoma. We report a case of locally advanced SCC of the gallbladder

Cancer Control 295 Photo courtesy of Lisa Scholder. Hidden Power, 24ʺ × 28ʺ

Background: Targeted intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) as an alternative to whole breast irradiation (WBI) has been described for patients with earl

Restaging Patients with Rectal Cancer Following Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation: A Systematic Review

In the USA, most patients with clinical stage II/III rectal cancer receive neoadjuvant chemoradiation (chemo/XRT) over 5-6 weeks followed by a 6-10-week break before proctectomy. As chemotherapy is delivered at radio-sensitizing doses, there is essentially a 3-month window during which potential systemic disease is untreated. Evidence regarding the utility of restaging patients prior to proctectomy is limited. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for studies evaluating the utility of restaging patients with rectal cancer after completion of long-course chemo/XRT, and reporting associated changes in management. Studies that were non-English, included <50 patients, or examining the diagnostic accuracy of imaging modalities were excluded. Study quality was evaluated using the modified Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Eight studies were identified including a total of 1251 patients restaged between completion of chemo/XRT and proctectomy. All studies were retrospective. Restaging identified new metastatic disease in 72 (6.0%) patients, with 4 studies reporting specific sites: liver (n = 28), lung (n = 8), adrenal (n = 1), bone (n = 1), and multiple sites (n = 7). Overall progression (distant or local) was detected in 88 (7.0%) patients and resulted in a change in management in 77 (87.5%) of these patients. Tumor-related prognostic characteristics were inconsistently reported among studies, precluding meta-analysis. Although restaging between completion of neoadjuvant chemo/XRT and proctectomy detects disease progression in only a small percentage of patients, findings alter the treatment plan in the vast majority of these patients. Multi-institutional collaboration with analysis of well-defined prognostic variables may better identify patients most likely to benefit from restaging