Evaluation of treatment, prognostic factors, and survival in 198 vulvar melanoma patients: implications for clinical practice

Objective. To identify clinicopathological characteristics, treatment patterns, clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with vulvar melanoma (VM). Materials & methods. This retrospective multicentre cohort study included 198 women with VM treated in eight cancer centres in the Netherlands and UK between 1990 and 2017. Clinicopathological features, treatment, recurrence, and survival data were collected. Overall and recurrence-free survival was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Prognostic parameters were identified with multivariable Cox regression analysis. Results. The majority of patients (75.8%) had localized disease at diagnosis. VM was significantly associated with high-riskclinicopathological features, including age, tumour thickness, ulceration, positive resection margins and involved lymph nodes. Overall survival was 48% (95% CI 40?56%) and 31% (95% CI 23?39%) after 2 and 5 years respectively and did not improve in patients diagnosed after 2010 compared to patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2009. Recurrence occurred in 66.7% of patients, of which two-third was non-local. In multivariable analysis, age and tumour size were independent prognostic factors for worse survival. Prognostic factors for recurrence were tumour size and tumour type. Only the minority of patients were treated with immuno- or targeted therapy. Conclusion. Our results show that even clinically early-stage VM is an aggressive disease associated with poor clinical outcome due to distant metastases. Further investigation into the genomic landscape and the immune microenvironment in VM may pave the way to novel therapies to improve clinical outcomes in these aggressive tumours. Clinical trials with immunotherapy or targeted therapy in patients with high-risk, advanced or metastatic disease are highly needed.Objective. To identify clinicopathological characteristics, treatment patterns, clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with vulvar melanoma (VM).Materials & methods. This retrospective multicentre cohort study included 198 women with VM treated in eight cancer centres in the Netherlands and UK between 1990 and 2017. Clinicopathological features, treatment, recurrence, and survival data were collected. Overall and recurrence-free survival was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Prognostic parameters were identified with multivariable Cox regression analysis.Results. The majority of patients (75.8%) had localized disease at diagnosis. VM was significantly associated with high-riskclinicopathological features, including age, tumour thickness, ulceration, positive resection margins and involved lymph nodes. Overall survival was 48% (95% CI 40-56%) and 31% (95% CI 23-39%) after 2 and 5 years respectively and did not improve in patients diagnosed after 2010 compared to patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2009. Recurrence occurred in 66.7% of patients, of which two-third was non-local. In multivariable analysis, age and tumour size were independent prognostic factors for worse survival. Prognostic factors for recurrence were tumour size and tumour type. Only the minority of patients were treated with immuno-or targeted therapy.Conclusion. Our results show that even clinically early-stage VM is an aggressive disease associated with poor clinical outcome due to distant metastases. Further investigation into the genomic landscape and the immune microenvironment in VM may pave the way to novel therapies to improve clinical outcomes in these aggressive tumours. Clinical trials with immunotherapy or targeted therapy in patients with high-risk, advanced or metastatic disease are highly needed. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Cervix cance

Evaluation of treatment, prognostic factors, and survival in 198 vulvar melanoma patients: Implications for clinical practice

Objective: To identify clinicopathological characteristics, treatment patterns, clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with vulvar melanoma (VM). Materials & methods: This retrospective multicentre cohort st

Essentials in cardiac arrest during cesarean section

Cardiac arrest during cesarean section is very rare. Obstetrical teams have low exposure to these critical situations necessitating frequent rehearsal and knowledge of its differential diagnosis and treatment. A 40-year-old woman pregnant with triplets underwent cesarean sections because of vaginal bleeding due to a placenta previa at 35.2 weeks of gestation. Spinal anesthesia was performed. Asystole occurred during uterotomy. Immediate resuscitation and delivery of the neonates eventually resulted in good maternal and neonatal outcomes. The differential diagnosis is essential and should include obstetric and non-obstetric causes. We describe the consideration of Bezold Jarisch reflex and amniotic fluid embolism as most appropriate in this case

Unilateral inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy in patients with early-stage vulvar squamous cell carcinoma and a unilateral metastatic sentinel lymph node is safe

Objective. Optimal management of the contralateral groin in patients with early-stage vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) and a metastatic unilateral inguinal sentinel lymph node (SN) is unclear. We analyzed patients who participated in GROINSS-V I or II to determine whether treatment of the contralateral groin can safely be omitted in patients with a unilateral metastatic SN.Methods. We selected the patients with a unilateral metastatic SN from the GROINSS-V I and II databases. We determined the incidence of contralateral additional non-SN metastases in patients with unilateral SN-metastasis who underwent bilateral inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy (IFL). In those who underwent only ipsilateral groin treatment or no further treatment, we determined the incidence of contralateral groin recurrences during follow-up.Results. Of 1912 patients with early-stage VSCC, 366 had a unilateral metastatic SN. Subsequently, 244 had an IFL or no treatment of the contralateral groin. In seven patients (7/244; 2.9% [95% CI: 1.4%-5.8%]) disease was di-agnosed in the contralateral groin: five had contralateral non-SN metastasis at IFL and two developed an isolated contralateral groin recurrence after no further treatment. Five of them had a primary tumor >= 30 mm. Bilateral ra-diotherapy was administered in 122 patients, of whom one (1/122; 0.8% [95% CI: 0.1%-4.5%]) had a contralateral groin recurrence.Conclusion. The risk of contralateral lymph node metastases in patients with early-stage VSCC and a unilateral metastatic SN is low. It appears safe to limit groin treatment to unilateral IFL or inguinofemoral radiotherapy in these cases.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Radiotherapy Versus Inguinofemoral Lymphadenectomy as Treatment for Vulvar Cancer Patients With Micrometastases in the Sentinel Node: Results of GROINSS-V II

PURPOSE The Groningen International Study on Sentinel nodes in Vulvar cancer (GROINSS-V)-II investigated whether inguinofemoral radiotherapy is a safe alternative to inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy (IFL) in vulvar cancer patients with a metastatic sentinel node (SN).METHODS GROINSS-V-II was a prospective multicenter phase-II single-arm treatment trial, including patients with early-stage vulvar cancer (diameter 2 mm and/or extracapsular spread. The protocol was amended so that those with SN macrometastases (> 2 mm) underwent standard of care (IFL), whereas patients with SN micrometastases (<= 2 mm) continued to receive inguinofemoral radiotherapy. Among 160 patients with SN micrometastases, 126 received inguinofemoral radiotherapy, with an ipsilateral isolated groin recurrence rate at 2 years of 1.6%. Among 162 patients with SN macrometastases, the isolated groin recurrence rate at 2 years was 22% in those who underwent radiotherapy, and 6.9% in those who underwent IFL (P = .011). Treatment-related morbidity after radiotherapy was less frequent compared with IFL.CONCLUSION Inguinofemoral radiotherapy is a safe alternative for IFL in patients with SN micrometastases, with minimal morbidity. For patients with SN macrometastasis, radiotherapy with a total dose of 50 Gy resulted in more isolated groin recurrences compared with IFL. (C) 2021 by American Society of Clinical OncologyBiological, physical and clinical aspects of cancer treatment with ionising radiatio

Impact of the COVID-19-pandemic on patients with gynecological malignancies undergoing surgery: A Dutch population-based study using data from the 'Dutch Gynecological Oncology Audit'

Objective. The COVID-19-pandemic caused drastic healthcare changes worldwide. To date, the impact of these changes on gynecological cancer healthcare is relatively unknown. This study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19-pandemic on surgical gynecological-oncology healthcare.Methods. This population-based cohort study included all surgical procedures with curative intent for gynecological malignancies, registered in the Dutch Gynecological Oncology Audit, in 2018-2020. Four periods were identified based on COVID-19 hospital admission rates: 'Pre-COVID-19', 'Firstwave', 'Interimperiod', and'Second wave'. Surgical volume, perioperative care processes, and postoperative outcomes from 2020 were compared with 2018-2019.Results. A total of 11,488 surgical procedureswere analyzed. For cervical cancer, surgical volume decreased by 17.2% in 2020 compared to 2018-2019 (mean 2018-2019: n= 542.5, 2020: n= 449). At nadir (interimperiod), only 51% of the expected cervical cancer procedures were performed. For ovarian, vulvar, and endometrial cancer, volumes remained stable. Patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer more frequently received neoadjuvant chemotherapy in 2020 compared to 2018-2019 (67.7% (n = 432) vs. 61.8% (n = 783), p = 0.011). Median time to first treatmentwas significantly shorter in all four malignancies in 2020. For vulvar and endometrial cancer, the length of hospital staywas significantly shorter in 2020. No significant differences in complicated course and 30-day-mortality were observed.Conclusions. The COVID-19-pandemic impacted surgical gynecological-oncology healthcare: in 2020, surgical volume for cervical cancer dropped considerably, waiting time was significantly shorter for all malignancies, while neoadjuvant chemotherapy administration for advanced-stage ovarian cancer increased. The safety of perioperative healthcare was not negatively impacted by the pandemic, as complications and 30-day-mortality remained stable. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.Analysis and support of clinical decision makin