In early breast cancer (BC), there has been a trend to escalate endocrine therapy (ET) and to de-escalate chemotherapy (CT). However, the impact of ET versus CT on the quality of life (QoL) of early ...BC patients is unknown. Here, we characterize the independent contribution of ET and CT on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) at 2 years after diagnosis.
We prospectively collected PROs in 4262 eligible patients using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30/BR23 questionnaires inside CANTO trial (NCT01993498). The primary outcome was the C30 summary score (C30-SumSc) at 2 years after diagnosis.
From eligible patients, 37.2% were premenopausal and 62.8% postmenopausal; 81.9% received ET and 52.8% CT. In the overall cohort, QoL worsened by 2 years after diagnosis in multiple functions and symptoms; exceptions included emotional function and future perspective, which improved over time. ET (Pint = 0.004), but not CT (Pint = 0.924), had a persistent negative impact on the C30-SumSc. In addition, ET negatively impacted role and social function, pain, insomnia, systemic therapy side-effects, breast symptoms and further limited emotional function and future perspective recovery. Although CT had no impact on the C30-SumSc at 2-years it was associated with deteriorated physical and cognitive function, dyspnea, financial difficulties, body image and breast symptoms. We found a differential effect of treatment by menopausal status; in premenopausal patients, CT, despite only a non-significant trend for deteriorated C30-SumSc (Pint = 0.100), was more frequently associated with QoL domains deterioration than ET, whereas in postmenopausal patients, ET was more frequently associated with QoL deterioration, namely using the C30-SumSc (Pint = 0.004).
QoL deterioration persisted at 2 years after diagnosis with different trajectories by treatment received. ET, but not CT, had a major detrimental impact on C30-SumSc, especially in postmenopausal women. These findings highlight the need to properly select patients for adjuvant ET escalation.
To compare the accuracy of five major risk stratification systems (RSS) in classifying the risk of recurrence and nodal metastases in early-stage endometrial cancer (EC).
Data of 553 patients with ...early-stage EC were abstracted from a prospective multicentre database between January 2001 and December 2012. The following RSS were identified in a PubMed literature search and included the Post Operative Radiation Therapy in Endometrial Carcinoma (PORTEC-1), the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG)-99, the Survival effect of para-aortic lymphadenectomy (SEPAL), the ESMO and the ESMO-modified classifications. The accuracy of each RSS was evaluated in terms of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and nodal metastases according to discrimination.
Overall, the ESMO -modified RSS provided the highest discrimination for both RFS and for nodal metastases with a concordance index (C-index) of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.70-0.76) and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.80 (0.78-0.72), respectively. The other RSS performed as follows: the PORTEC1, GOG-99, SEPAL, ESMO classifications gave a C-index of 0.68 (0.66-0.70), 0.65 (0.63-0.67), 0.66 (0.63-0.69), 0.71 (0.68-0.74), respectively, for RFS and an AUC of 0.69 (0.66-0.72), 0.69 (0.67-0.71), 0.68 (0.66-0.70), 0.70 (0.68-0.72), respectively, for node metastases.
None of the five major RSS showed high accuracy in stratifying the risk of recurrence or nodal metastases in patients with early-stage EC, although the ESMO-modified classification emerged as having the highest power of discrimination for both parameters. Therefore, there is a need to revisit existing RSS using additional tools such as biological markers to better stratify risk for these patients.
Breast reconstruction is becoming increasingly important in the management of breast cancer. Among breast reconstruction with flap, latissimus dorsi flap is the most frequent technique used in ...France. Lipofilling's emergence led to changes for using latissimus dorsi flap in breast reconstruction. The aim of this study was to compare postoperative complications following conventional latissimus dorsi (CLD) flap versus muscle-sparing latissimus dorsi (MSLD) flap breast reconstruction.
Data from 96 patients, who underwent CLD flap or MSLD flap breast reconstruction, were retrospectively collected from January 2018 to December 2019 in Georges-Francois Leclerc Cancer Center in France. Uni- and multivariate analyses, using a logistic regression, were performed to define operative factors and postoperative morbidity associated with surgical technique and evaluate whether MSLD flap could be associated with less postoperative outcome.
After univariate analysis, factors significantly associated with MSLD flap were reduced surgical time (p<0.001), reducing seroma and punctures (p<0.001), postoperative complications of donor site (p=0.09), and a shorter length hospital stay (p<0.001). After multivariate analysis, a shorter length hospital stay was significantly associated with the muscle-sparing group (OR=0.47, 95% CI (0.30–0.73), p<0.001).
This is the first French study comparing postoperative complications following the two techniques of latissimus dorsi flap breast reconstruction. In this study, the hospital stay was significantly decreased with MSLD flap compared with the CLD flap breast reconstruction. Both seem to be reliable methods with few complications.
We evaluated the literature on fish behavior as it relates to passage of fish near or through hydropower turbines. Our goal was to foster compatibility of engineered systems with the normal behavior ...patterns of fish species and life stages such that passage into turbines and injury in passage are minimized. In particular, we focused on aspects of fish behavior that could be used for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of fish trajectories through turbine systems. Salmon smolts approaching dams are generally surface oriented and follow flow. They can be diverted from turbines by spills or bypasses, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Smolts typically become disoriented in dam forebays. Those smolts drawn into turbine intakes orient vertically to the ceilings but are horizontally distributed more evenly, except as they are affected by intake‐specific turbulence and vortices. Smolts often enter intakes while oriented with their heads upstream, but they may change orientation in the flow fields of the intake. Nonsalmonids most often enter intakes from the vicinities of shorelines, and they do so episodically, which suggests accidental capture of schools (often of juveniles or in cold water) and little behavioral control during turbine passage. Models of fish trajectories should not assume neutral buoyancy throughout the time period during which a fish passes through a turbine, largely because of pressure effects on swim bladders and the resulting compensatory behavior. Fish use their lateral line system to sense obstacles and to change their orientation, but this sensory‐response system may not be effective in the rapid passage times and complex pressure regimes of turbine systems. The effects of preexisting stress levels on fish performance in turbine passage (especially as they affect trajectories) are not known but may be important. There are practical limits of observation and measurement of fish and flows in the proximity of turbines that may inhibit the development of much information that is germane to developing a more fish‐friendly turbine. We provide recommendations for CFD modelers of fish passage and for additional research.
Lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) is one of the most important predictors of nodal involvement and recurrence in early stage endometrial cancer (EC). Despite its demonstrated prognostic value, ...LVSI has not been incorporated into the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) classification. The aim of this prospective multicentre database study is to investigate whether it may improve the accuracy of the ESMO classification in predicting the recurrence risk.
Data of 496 patients with apparent early-stage EC who received primary surgical treatment between January 2001 and December 2012 were abstracted from prospective multicentre database. A modified ESMO classification including six risk groups was created after inclusion of the LVSI status in the ESMO classification. The primary end point was the recurrence accuracy comparison between the ESMO and the modified ESMO classifications with respect to the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).
The recurrence rate in the whole population was 16.1%. The median follow-up and recurrence time were 31 (range: 1-152) and 27 (range: 1-134) months, respectively. Considering the ESMO modified classification, the recurrence rates were 8.2% (8 out of 98), 23.1% (15 out of 65), 25.9% (15 out of 58), and 45.1% (28 out of 62) for intermediate risk/LVSI-, intermediate risk/LVSI+, high risk/LVSI-, and high risk/LVSI+, respectively (P<0.001). In the low risk group, LVSI status was not discriminant as only 7.0% (14 out of 213) had LVSI+. The staging accuracy according to AUC criteria for ESMO and ESMO modified classifications were of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.68-0.74) and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.71-0.77), respectively.
The current modified classification could be helpful to better define indications for nodal staging and adjuvant therapy, especially for patients with intermediate risk EC.
Background
The European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO)/European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO)/European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) classification for endometrial ...cancer (EC) now includes a high–intermediate risk (HIR) group of recurrence due to the adverse prognostic role of lymphovascular space involvement (LVSI) and grade 3 for women at intermediate risk. However, optimal surgical staging, and especially the place of lymphadenectomy, remains to be elucidated. We aimed to establish whether systematic nodal staging should be part of surgical staging for women with HIR EC.
Methods
We abstracted from a prospectively maintained multicentre database the data of 181 women with HIR EC based on uterine factors (endometrioid type 1, grade 1–2 tumors with deep (≥50%) myometrial invasion and unequivocally positive LVSI, and those with grade 3 tumors with <50% myometrial invasion regardless of LVSI status), who received primary surgical treatment between January 2001 and December 2013. We recorded frequency of lymph node (LN) metastases in those who underwent nodal staging. The secondary outcomes were overall survival and recurrence patterns.
Results
Overall, 145 (80.1%) women underwent nodal staging consisting of at least pelvic lymphadenectomy. Of these, 62 (42.7%) had LN disease (9.7% with micrometastases). The respective 5-year overall survival rates according to LN status were 85.0% (95% confidence interval CI 76.5–91.4), 71.8% (95% CI 61.9–80.4) and 36.0% (95% CI 26.6–46.2) for women with negative LN, positive LN, and unstaged (
p
= 0.047). Unstaged women were more likely to experience nodal recurrence than surgically staged/LN negative women (
p
= 0.05).
Conclusions
Systematic nodal staging should be part of surgical staging for women with apparent ESMO/ESGO/ESTRO HIR EC. Sentinel LN biopsy (SLNB) could be an option in this specific setting that may possibly substitute comprehensive staging, for the identification of patients with lymphatic dissemination.
The aim of this study was to compare clinical and pathological outcomes after neoadjuvant chemotherapy between oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive invasive pure lobular carcinoma (ILC) and invasive ...ductal carcinoma (IDC).
This analysis included 1895 patients (n=177 ILC; n=1718 IDC), with stage I-III breast cancer, who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Clinical and pathological response rates, the frequency of positive surgical margins and rate of breast-conserving surgery were compared.
There was a trend for fewer good clinical responses in ILC compared with IDC. Tumour downstaging was significantly less frequent in ILC. Positive or close surgical resection margins were more frequent in ILC, and breast-conserving surgery was less common (P<0.001). These outcome differences remained significant in multivariate analysis, including tumour size, nodal status, age, grade and type of chemotherapy. Invasive pure lobular carcinoma was also associated with a significantly lower pathological complete response (pCR) rate in univariate analysis, but this was no longer significant after adjusting for tumour size and grade.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy results in lower rates of clinical benefit, including less downstaging, more positive margins and fewer breast-conserving surgeries in ER-positive ILC compared with ER-positive IDC. Pathological complete responses are rare in both groups, but do not significantly differ after adjusting for other variables.
To assess the diagnostic and prognostic characteristics of borderline ovarian tumours (BOTs) detected during pregnancy, and to establish an inventory of French practices.
A retrospective multi-centre ...case study of 14 patients treated for BOTs, diagnosed during pregnancy between 2005 and 2017, in five French pelvic cancerology expert centres, including data on clinical characteristics, histological tumour characteristics, surgical procedure, adjuvant treatments, follow-up and fertility.
The mean age of patients was 29.3 standard deviation (SD) 6.2 years. Most BOTs were diagnosed on ultrasonography in the first trimester (85.7 %), and most of these cases (78.5 %) also underwent magnetic resonance imaging to confirm the diagnosis (true positives 54.5 %). Most patients underwent surgery during pregnancy (57 %), with complete staging surgery in two cases (14.3 %). Laparoscopy was performed more frequently than other procedures (50 %), and unilateral adnexectomy was more common than cystectomy (57.5 %). Tumour size influenced the surgical approach significantly (mean size 7.5 cm for laparoscopy, 11.9 cm for laparoconversion, 14 cm for primary laparotomy; P = 0.08), but the type of resection did not. Most patients were initially diagnosed with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IA (92.8 %) tumours, but many were upstaged after complete restaging surgery (57.1 %). Most BOTs were serous (50 %), two cases had a micropapillary component (28.5 %), and one case had a micro-invasive implant. BOTs were bilateral in two cases (14.2 %). Mean follow-up was 31.4 (SD 14.8) months. Recurrent lesions occurred in two patients (14.2 %) and no deaths have been recorded to date among the study population.
BOTs remain rare, but this study – despite its small sample size – supports the hypothesis that BOTs during pregnancy have potentially aggressive characteristics.
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