Neoadjuvant Platinum-based Chemotherapy Followed by Radical Hysterectomy for Stage Ib2-IIb Adenocarcinoma of the Uterine Cervix - An Italian Multicenter Retrospective Study

AIM: To assess the patterns of recurrence and clinical outcomes of patients with cervical adenocarcinoma who underwent neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy (NACT) followed by radical hysterectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were retrospectively analyzed for 82 patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage Ib2-IIb cervical adenocarcinoma who underwent this chemo-surgical treatment. The median follow-up of survivors was 89 months (range=5-208 months). RESULTS: Pathological complete response, optimal response and suboptimal response with intra-cervical residual disease were obtained in five (6%), 10 (12%) and 36 (44%) patients, respectively. Adjuvant external-beam radiotherapy with or without concurrent chemotherapy was administered to 47 patients. Nineteen (23%) out of the 82 patients experienced recurrence after a median of 12 months (range=5.3-86.8 months). Recurrent disease was pelvic in 12 (63%) patients, extra-pelvic in five (26%), and both pelvic and extra-pelvic in two (10%). According to pathological response, tumor relapsed in 10% of optimal responders, 14% of sub-optimal responders with intra-cervical residual disease, and 36% of sub-optimal responders with extra-cervical residual disease or non-responders. Five-year recurrence-free and overall survival were 77% and 84%, respectively. Patients who achieved an optimal response or sub-optimal response with intra-cervical residual disease had better 5-year recurrence-free (87% vs. 64%, p=0.017) and overall (92% vs. 74%, p=0.012) survival than those who had sub-optimal response with extra-cervical residual disease or no response. The latter had a 1.441-fold higher risk of recurrence and a 1.652-fold higher risk of death than those who obtained an optimal response or a sub-optimal response with intra-cervical residual disease. CONCLUSION: NACT followed by radical hysterectomy may be an option for patients with stage Ib2-IIb adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix

Genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections

Chlamydia trachomatis (C.t.) infection is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease in Europe and in developed countries. The main biological features and pathogenic mechanisms of C.t. infection are summarized in this review. It usually occurs without symptoms and often goes undiagnosed. If untreated, it can cause severe consequences for women, including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy and tubal infertility. Several studies have found that Chlamydia is more common among young women <25 years old, with multiple sexual partners within six months and non protected intercourses. Because re-infection rates are high, complications may be reduced if partners are treated and women re-tested. This paper emphasizes the importance of counselling and prevention programs and underlines that selective screening of high-risk population remains an essential component of C.t. control. In the last years, the detection of C.t. infection has been improved in sensitivity and specificity.We describe the main diagnostic techniques, from culture, enzyme immunoassay (EIA), direct fluorescent-antibody assay (DFA) to the new DNA-based test systems. Actually, NAATs (nucleic acid amplification tests) are regarded as the gold standard diagnostic techniques for chlamydial infections

HE4, CA125 and risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA) as diagnostic tools for ovarian cancer in patients with a pelvic mass: An Italian multicenter study

Objective. This multicenter study aims to evaluate HE4, CA125 and risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA) performance in the differential diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).Methods. A total of 405 patients referred to gynecological oncologist with suspicious pelvic mass requiting a surgery for identification of EOC were consecutively enrolled; 387 patients satisfied inclusion criteria: 290 benign diseases; 15 borderline neoplasia and 82 tumors (73 EOC).Results. Good diagnostic performance in discriminating benign from EOC patients was obtained for CA125, HE4 and ROMA when calculating optimal cut-off values: premenopause, specificity (SP) >86.6, sensitivity (SN) >82.6, area under the curves (AUC) >= 0.894; postmenopause, SP > 93.2, SN > 82, AUC >= 0.928. Fixing SP at 98%, performance indicators obtained for benign vs EOC patients were: premenopause, SN:65.2%, positive predictive value (+PV): 75%, positive likelihood ratio (+LR): 26.4 for CA125; SN:69.6%, +PV:76.2%, +LR:28.1 for HE4; SN:69.6%, +PV: 80%; +LR:35.1 for ROMA; postmenopause, SN:88%, +PV: 95.7%, +LR:38.7 for CA125; SN:78%, +PV:95.1%, +LR:34.3 for HE4; SN:88%, +PV:97.8%, +LR:77.4 for ROMA. When using routine cut-off thresholds, ROMA showed better well-balanced values of both SP and SN (premenopause, SN:87%, SP:86.1%; postmenopause, SN:90%; SP:94.3%).Conclusions. Overall, ROMA showed well balanced diagnostic performance to differentiate EOC from benign diseases. Meaningful differences of +PVs and + LRs between HE4 and CA125 suggest that the two markers may play at least in part different roles in EOC diagnosis, with HE4 seeming to be more efficient than CA125 in ruling in EOC patients in the disease group, also in early stages tumors, both in pre and postmenopause. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc

Could Different Follow-Up Modalities Play a Role in the Diagnosis of Asymptomatic Endometrial Cancer Relapses? An Italian Multicentric Retrospective Analysis

OBJECTIVE: To determine current practice and to assess the value of routine follow-up procedures for endometrial cancer surveillance. To discuss whether such procedures are feasible and effective to identify asymptomatic recurrences and describe the pattern of relapse detected by procedures. METHODS: The records of 282 consecutive women with recurrent endometrial cancer treated from 1986 to 2005 were retrospectively collected in 8 Italian institutions. Primary disease, clinical history, and recurrence features and data were analyzed. RESULTS: Thirty-five (12.4%) of 282 patients had recurrence in vaginal vault, 51 patients (18.0%) had recurrence in central pelvis, 14 patients (4.9%) had recurrence in pelvic wall, and 39 patients (13.8%) had recurrence in lymph nodes. One-hundred twenty-eight patients (45.3%) showed a distant relapse, whereas 15 patients (5.3%) developed both distant relapse and local relapse. The site of relapse influenced survival because the patients with vaginal vault recurrences lived significantly longer than the patients with recurrences in other sites. Eighty (28.4%) of the 282 patients became symptomatic and anticipated the scheduled visit, 37 (13.1 %) of the patients reported their symptoms during the follow-up meeting, and 165 (58.5 %) of the patients were asymptomatic and the diagnostic path was introduced by a planned visit or examination. Among the asymptomatic patients, the first procedure that led to further examinations was clinical visit alone for 60 (36.4%) of 165 patients, imaging for 103 patients (62.4%), and cytologic examination for 2 patients (1.2%). Symptoms at recurrence can predict survival: patients with an asymptomatic recurrence had a median survival time from relapse of 35 months versus 13 months if they had a symptomatic repetition (P = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Follow-up after endometrial cancer treatment varies in Italy. In this retrospective study, women with asymptomatic recurrence have shown a better clinical outcome compared with those with symptomatic relapse. The optimal approach is actually unknown, and guidelines comparing follow-up protocols have not been established. Prospective cost-effectiveness studies are needed