Wound fluids (WF) are believed to play a role in the local recurrences by inducing an inflammatory process in scar tissue area. Given that most local relapse in primary breast cancer patients occur ...within the scar tissue area, researchers have investigated whether localized radiotherapy, such as intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT), could be more effective than postoperative RT in inhibiting local tumor recurrence. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program plays a critical role in promoting metastasis in epithelium-derived carcinoma. Given this background the main aim of the present study was to determine the mechanisms by which IORT decreases the tumorigenic potential of WF. We assumed that postoperative fluids from patients would activate the radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE) in treated cells, thus altering the tumor microenvironment. To confirm this hypothesis, WF collected from patients after breast conserving surgery (BCS) alone, after BCS followed by IORT treatment or WF from BCS patients together with RIBE medium were incubated with MCF7 and MDA-MB-468 cells. Changes in the CSC phenotype, in EMT program and potential to migrate were performed to determine the possible role of WF on the migration of breast cancer cells. Our findings show that wound fluids stimulate the CSC phenotype and EMT program in breast cancer cell lines. This effect was partially abrogated when the cells were incubated in wound fluids collected from patients after breast-conserving surgery followed by IORT. Additionally, we confirmed the role of radiation-induced bystander effect in altering the properties of the WF to induce the CSC phenotype and EMT program.
Background
Staging laparoscopy (SL) with cytologic lavage is a useful staging procedure that allows tailoring the treatment of advanced gastric cancer (GC). The current study aimed to evaluate the ...total yield of SL in patients with various Laurén histo‐types of GC, before planned neoadjuvant chemotherapy and gastrectomy.
Methods
After exclusion of distant metastatic disease on imaging modalities, 173 patients with primary advanced gastric adenocarcinoma who underwent SL between August 2016 and September 2018, were eligible for the analysis. Patients sex, age, Lauren histo‐type, tumor location, grade, cT, and cN were assessed in bivariate analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent factors associated with peritoneal metastases.
Results
Peritoneal metastases, ascites, and positive cytology were found in 39 (22.5%), 17 (9.8%) and 38 (22%) patients, respectively. The total yield of the SL in the current study was 36.4%. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that serosal involvement (cT4) and diffuse histo‐type were independent predictors of peritoneal metastases (OR, 15; 95% CI, 1.9–119, P = .02 and OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.2–4.6, P = .01, respectively).
Conclusions
Although cT4 and diffuse tumors show the highest association with peritoneal metastases, SL is a valuable diagnostic procedure in all advanced GC patients.
The cellular response to hypoxia includes the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) and its target genes: vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4). ...The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and prognostic significance of VEGF and CXCR4, which are responsible for angiogenesis and progression in gastric cancer. Twenty-eight gastric cancer patients were analyzed. The mRNA expression was examined in primary tumors and corresponding normal gastric mucosa by RT-PCR. The protein level was examined by immunohistochemistry staining. The high expression of VEGF and CXCR4 was found in 71.0 and 64.0% of tumors, respectively. The mean levels of VEGF and CXCR4 were upregulated in primary tumors compared to normal mucosa (p = 0.0007, p = 0.0052). A correlation between VEGF expression and tumor invasion (p = 0.0216) and stage (p = 0.0181) was found. CXCR4 expression correlated with lymph node metastases (p = 0.0237) and stage (p = 0.0054). The VEGF expression correlated with microvessel density (MVD) (p = 0.0491). The overall 3-year survival rate was 46.4% and correlated negatively with high CXCR4 mRNA expression (p = 0.0089). VEGF and CXCR4 play an important role in tumor progression. Their overexpression correlates with a bad prognosis and may improve high-risk patient selection, and these patients may obtain additional survival benefits if treated more aggressively.
In patients with breast cancer who undergo breast-conserving surgery (BCS), more than 90% of local recurrences occur in the same quadrant as the primary cancer. Surgical wound fluids (SWF) are ...believed to play a role in this process by inducing an inflammatory process in the scar tissue area. Despite strong clinical data demonstrating the benefits of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT), the biological basis underlying this process remains poorly understood. Ionizing radiation (IR) directly affects cells by damaging DNA, thereby altering the cell phenotype. IR directly affects cancer cells and also influences unirradiated cells located nearby, a phenomenon known as the radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE), significantly modifying the tumor microenvironment. We hypothesized that SWF obtained from patients after BCS and IORT would induce a radiobiological response (due to RIBE) in unirradiated cells, thereby modifying their phenotype. To confirm this hypothesis, breast cancer cells were incubated with SWF collected from patients after BCS: (1) without IORT (wound fluid (WF) group), (2) with IORT (radiotherapy wound fluid (RT-WF) group), and (3) WF with conditioned medium from irradiated cells (WF+RIBE group) and then subjected to microarray analysis. We performed gene set enrichment analysis to determine the biological processes present in these cells. This analysis showed that the RT-WF and WF+RIBE groups shared common biological processes, including the enhancement of processes involved in cell-cycle regulation, DNA repair, and oxidative phosphorylation. The WF group was characterized by overrepresentation of pathways involved in the INF-α and INF-γ response, inflammatory response, and the IL6 JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway. These findings show that MDA-MB-468 cells stimulated with surgical wound fluids obtained from patients who underwent BCS plus IORT and from cells stimulated with SWF plus RIBE share common biological processes. This confirms the role of the radiation-induced bystander effect in altering the biological properties of wound fluids.
Infection is one of the most common complications of breast reconstruction. The presence of bacterial biofilm on the implant surface does not always manifest itself clinically as an infection. Still ...little is known about the factors that trigger the transition from a normal to a pathological state. The aim of study: To examine a specific profile of microorganisms associated with a tissue expander, and to ascertain whether the collection of intraoperative bacteriological swabs constitutes a significant predictive factor. Material and methods: A 2-centre review of outcomes of breast cancer patients who underwent immediate 2-stage expander-implant breast reconstruction between June 2020 and September 2021 was conducted. During this period, 68 replacements of expanders with implants from 56 women were performed. A bacteriological swab was taken from each expander compartment, and microbiological culture was performed. Patients' characteristics were taken into consideration.
Tissue expanders were implanted from 2 to 26 months. Seven patients had an emergency expander removed due to infection or damage to the device. Out of all 56 patients evaluated, 47 had a negative and 9 had a positive culture, 1 in both breasts. The results did not correlate closely with the clinical status.
Bacteria colonize both clinically normal and infected expanders. It is difficult to determine the specific flora associated with the pocket after expander-based reconstruction, and taking a bacteriological swab each time as a standard does not influence the success of treatment.
Many early-stage breast cancers are not palpable and thus must be localized before surgery. Detecting these lesions is crucial before they become clinically symptomatic to avoid morbidity and ...mortality. Nowadays, there are several new alternative techniques to traditional needle/wire localization available. These methods allow for better surgical margins, decreased costs and operating room delays, as well as improved patient satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the nonradioactive inducible magnetic seed system Magseed (Endomagnetics Ltd, Cambridge, UK) for preoperative localization of nonpalpable breast lesions. To our knowledge, this report documents the first clinical experience with Magseed in Poland.
A single-institution case report of 10 women with nonpalpable breast lesions localized and excised by using the Magseed surgical guidance system between November 2017 and May 2018.
Magseed is an easy, sensitive and effective localization method. It is beneficial for oncoplastic outcomes and for scheduling efficiency, which overcomes many limitations of other localization methods. Surgical specimen margins were evaluated in 90% of cases as negative, with no additional re-excision. Only one patient with ductal carcinoma in situ had a positive tumor margin at the axillary side.
(1) Introduction: In response to patient concerns about breast cancer recurrence, increased use of breast magnetic resonance imaging and genetic testing, and advancements in breast reconstruction ...techniques, mastectomy rates have been observed to rise over the last decade. The aim of the study is to compare the outcomes of prepectoral and subpectoral implants and long-term, dual-stage resorbable mesh-based breast reconstructions in mutation carriers (prophylactic surgery) and breast cancer patients. (2) Patients and methods: This retrospective, two-center study included 170 consecutive patients after 232 procedures: Prepectoral surgery was performed in 156 cases and subpectoral was performed in 76. (3) Results: Preoperative chemotherapy was associated with more frequent minor late complications (p < 0.001), but not major ones (p = 0.101), while postoperative chemotherapy was related to more frequent serious (p = 0.005) postoperative complications. Postoperative radiotherapy was associated with a higher rate of minor complications (31.03%) than no-radiotherapy (12.21%; p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression found complications to be significantly associated with an expander (OR = 4.43), skin-reducing mastectomy (OR = 9.97), therapeutic mastectomy vs. risk-reducing mastectomy (OR = 4.08), and postoperative chemotherapy (OR = 12.89). Patients in whom prepectoral surgeries were performed demonstrated significantly shorter median hospitalization time (p < 0.001) and lower minor complication rates (5.77% vs. 26.32% p < 0.001), but similar major late complication rates (p = 0.915). (4) Conclusions: Implant-based breast reconstruction with the use of long-term, dual-stage resorbable, synthetic mesh is a safe and effective method of breast restoration, associated with low morbidity and good cosmesis. Nevertheless, prospective, multicenter, and long-term outcome data studies are needed to further evaluate the benefits of such treatments.
Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is used to treat many different types of wounds, but there is still a lack of large studies describing its effectiveness in breast surgery. Enhanced recovery, ...reduction of complications, and good scar quality might be improved by the application of NPWT. Existing data show that vacuumassisted closure (VAC) application after expander-based breast reconstruction may be beneficial because of decreasing overall complications in comparison with standard wound treatment. There are few cases in which the use of negative pressure resulted in healing of complicated breast wounds after implant insertion - most breasts achieved healing, wherein duration of NPWT ranged from seven to 21 days. The use of NPWT leads to a decrease of seroma formation (from 70% to 15%), the mean percutaneous aspirated volume (from 193 ml to 26 ml) and the numbers of percutaneous aspirations (from three to one) in latissimus dorsi flap reconstruction. Furthermore, a prospective, within-patient, randomised study with 200 participants showed that treating closed incisional wounds after reduction mammoplasty with a VAC system resulted in a decrease of overall complications and protected against wound dehiscence. In the literature, there are cases showing that NPWT may be useful for the successful treatment of chronic and non-healing wounds, included non-puerperal mastitis and surgical sites affected by radiation therapy due to breast cancer. There is still a need for evidence confirming the effectiveness of NPWT in breast surgery because of the deficiency of large prospective studies that compare NPWT with standard treatment.
This text is based on the recommendations accepted by the 4th Hungarian Consensus Conference on Breast Cancer, modified on the basis of the international consultation and conference within the frames ...of the Central-Eastern European Academy of Oncology. The recommendations cover non-operative, intraoperative and postoperative diagnostics, determination of prognostic and predictive markers and the content of cytology and histology reports. Furthermore, they address some specific issues such as the current status of multigene molecular markers, the role of pathologists in clinical trials and prerequisites for their involvement, and some remarks about the future.
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