Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men with more than 52,000 cases diagnosed every year on average. With the introduction of robotic surgery, robotic assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) has become a popular treatment option in recent years. Achieving oncological control, urinary continence and satisfactory erectile sexual function after RP is the main goal also known as “trifecta”. All these outcomes are highly influenced by surgical experience and caseload. The main objective of this study is to analyze oncological and functional outcomes in RARP after 15 years of experience.
From 2008 until December 2023, 1790 RARP for localized prostate cancer were performed. A retrospective analysis was conducted based on prospectively collected data correlated with electronic medical records.
Subgroup analyses were conducted in order to evaluate oncological and functional outcomes (n: 1400). Red blood cell transfusion and conversion to open surgery rate was 1.9 % and 0.1 %, respectively. Mean surgical time was 194 min. Mean follow-up time was 69.5 months, 23.8 % patients experienced biochemical recurrence and 1 % died, primarily due to disease progression. Estimated 10-year recurrence-free survival was 68.7 % (95 % CI 67.2–72.2) while estimated 10-year overall survival was 97.9 % (95 % CI 96.3–99.4). Overall urinary continence rate at 2 years was 86.9 % while satisfactory erectile function rate at 18 months was 56.8 %.
Robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy has become a standard surgical technique in our urological practice for the management of clinically localized and locally advanced prostate tumors in selected cases. After 15 years since the inception of our robotic surgery program, we can conclude that our results are comparable to those published in the international literature, enabling patients to maintain satisfactory sexual function with a high continence rate within the first year of surgery.
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in the lower lip is among the most frequently encountered types of cancer. As the size of this cancer increases, the need for reconstruction becomes evident, posing a significant challenge. Depending on the staging results in these patients, neck dissection may be recommended.
This study aims to demonstrate the successful application or feasibility of our Bilobed Platysma Myocutaneous Flap technique in patients with lower lip SCC.
The Bilobed Platysma Myocutaneous Flap was applied to all patients. Following TNM staging, supraomohyoid and/or radical neck dissection were performed. Surveys were conducted with the patients, and scoring was implemented based on the results for evaluation.
Between 2014 and 2018, 23 patients underwent treatment with this flap, and all flaps survived. Among these patients, bilateral supraomohyoid neck dissection was performed on 14, while modified radical neck dissection on one side and supraomohyoid neck dissection on the other side were conducted on the remaining 9 patients. Throughout the 5-year follow-up period, no recurrence was observed in the patients.
The combination of the Bilobed Platysma Myocutaneous Flap technique and neck dissection can be successfully employed in the reconstruction and treatment of lower lip cancers.
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor in women. Between 20 % and 30 % of patients develop metastases from BC, 50 % of them in the liver. The mean survival rate reported in patients with liver metastases from BC (LMBC) ranges from 3 to 29 months. The role of surgery in LMBC is not clearly defined. The objective of the present study was to determine the long-term survival and disease-free survival of patients undergoing surgery for LMBC and to identify the patients who most likely benefit from surgery.
This retrospective multicenter cohort study included all consecutive patients undergoing LMBC surgery at the participating European centers from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2015. The ClinicalTrials.gov ID is NCT04817813.
A hundred women (mean age 52.6 years) undergoing LMBC surgery were included. Five-year disease-free survival was 29 %, and 5-year overall survival was 60 %. Median survival after BC surgery was 12.4 years, and after LMBC surgery, 7 years. Patients with ECOG 1, ASA score I-II, metachronous LMBC, positive hormone receptors, and who had received neoadjuvant and adjuvant hormone treatment obtained the best overall and disease-free survival results.
In cases of correct patient selection and as part of a comprehensive onco-surgical strategy, surgery for LMBC improves overall long-term survival. In our series, certain factors were linked to better disease-free and overall survival; consideration of these factors could improve the selection of the best candidates for LMBC surgery.
NCT04817813.
Ductal carcinoma in situ is considered a local disease with no metastatic potential, thus sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) may be deemed an overtreatment. SLNB should be reserved for patients with invasive cancer, even though the risk of upstaging rises to 25 %. We aimed to identify clinicopathological predictors of post-operative upstaging in invasive carcinoma.
We retrospectively analyzed patients with a pre-operative diagnosis of DCIS subjected to breast surgery between January 2017 to December 2021, and evaluated at the Breast Unit of PTV (Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome).
Out of 267 patients diagnosed with DCIS, 33(12.4 %) received a diagnosis upstaging and 9(3.37 %) patients presented with sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis. In multivariate analysis, grade 3 tumor (OR 1.9; 95 % CI 1.2–5.6), dense nodule at mammography (OR 1.3; 95 % CI 1.1–2.6) and presence of a solid nodule at ultrasonography (OR 1.5; 95 % CI 1.2–2.6) were independent upstaging predictors. Differently, the independent predictors for SLNB metastasis were: upstaging (OR 2.1.; 95 % CI 1.2–4.6; p = 0.0079) and age between 40 and 60yrs (OR 1.4; 95 % CI 1.4–2.7; p = 0.027).
All 9 patients with SLN metastasis received a diagnosis upstaging and were aged between 40 and 60 years old.
We identified pre-operative independent predictors of upstaging to invasive ductal carcinoma. The combined use of different predictors in an algorithm for surgical treatments of DCIS could reduce the numbers of unnecessary SLNB.
Modern systemic therapy has dramatically improved outcomes for many patients with advanced metastatic melanoma. The success of these therapies has attracted much scientific interest while these therapies have made their way into the treatment of earlier stages of disease. Randomized trials have led to the approval of adjuvant immunotherapy and targeted therapy for resected stage III melanoma. However, most recently, these therapies have gained traction in the neoadjuvant setting. Promising early results led to randomized controlled trials that have now established neoadjuvant therapy as standard of care in advanced melanoma patients. Questions remain regarding the optimal choice of therapy, duration and timing of neoadjuvant therapy, extent of surgery, and the need for additional adjuvant therapy for patients who received neoadjuvant therapy. Herein we provide an overview of neoadjuvant therapy for melanoma and dilemmas to its broader applications.
Systemic inflammatory response (SIR) indicators are an emerging category of serum biomarkers with significant potential as prognostic and predictive factors in various types of cancers The primary focus of our study was to determine the prognostic value of the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), platelet-to-albumin ratio (PLR) and platelet-to-albumin ratio (PAR) in evaluating the response to neoadjuvant treatment for patients with rectal cancer.
We included 99 consecutive patients with rectal cancer which were admitted for surgery in our institution after completing a standard neoadjuvant radio-chemotherapy regimen. Several hematologic parameters, including LMR, PAR and PLR, were calculated by collecting and analyzing blood samples preoperatively. Cases were divided into groups using ROC curve analysis to determine optimal cutoff values for each of the investigated parameters. Treatment response was assessed through histopathological analysis of the resected specimens.
PLR values over 215.2 were correlated with the presence of lymph node metastasis. A similar correlation was observed between PAR values over 41.89 and lymph node positivity. A significant correlation was observed between the presence of tumor budding on histopathological analysis and high-PAR values. A statistically significant correlation between a high PLR and a good response to neoadjuvant treatment was determined.
High PLR values may be associated with a more favorable treatment response to neoadjuvant radio-chemotherapy. A high PAR may be associated with unfavorable histopathological characteristics. Further studies on these readily available biomarkers are required in order to validate their clinical utility.
For retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS), aggressive surgical resection offers the only chance for a cure; however, 5-year survival remains below 65%. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify drivers of poor clinical outcomes.
To identify biomarkers of tumors likely to recur following curative intent resection, we performed genomic and transcriptomic sequencing for 47 and 34 patients, respectively, with non-metastatic RPS at a single, high-volume sarcoma center.
At the DNA level, alterations in TERT were associated with poor disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Increased RNA expression of gene sets related to growth signaling and DNA repair were associated with poor DFS and OS. Infiltration of CD8+ T-Cells and activated dendritic cells were associated with poor DFS and OS.
These findings may help to better identify and treat non-metastatic, high-risk RPS.