To report our 15-year institutional experience of fertility-sparing treatment in young patients with early endometrial cancer (EC) treated by combined hysteroscopic resection and progestin therapy.
...Twenty-eight patients (stage IA, G1 and 2 endometrioid EC) wishing to preserve their fertility were enrolled into this prospective study. Hysteroscopic resection was used to resect the tumor, endometrium adjacent to the tumor and myometrium underlying the tumor. Adjuvant hormonal therapy consisted of oral megestrol acetate or levonorgestrel intrauterine device for 6 months or more.
After 3 months from the progestin start date, 25 patients (89.3%) showed a complete regression (median time to complete regression, 3 months range, 3-9 months), two (7.1%) showed persistent disease, while one patient (3.6%) presented with progressive disease and underwent definitive surgery (stage IA, G3 endometrioid). At 6 months, one of the two patients with persistent disease underwent definitive surgery (stage IA, G1 endometrioid), while the other one was successfully re-treated. Two recurrences were observed (7.7%) both involving the endometrium and synchronous ovarian cancer. The median duration of complete response was 94.5 months (range, 8-175 months). More than half of the responders (57.7%) attempted to conceive with 93.3% and 86.6% pregnancy and live birth rates, respectively.
The addition of a standardized three-step resectoscopy to progestin would seem to improve the efficacy of progestin alone. High pregnancy and live birth rates were observed in women attempting to conceive.
Abstract Objective This study evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of combined operative hysteroscopy (HSC) and hormone therapy as fertility-preserving treatment in a cohort of selected young women ...with early endometrial carcinoma (EC). Methods Fourteen patients (median age 38 years, range 26–40) with FIGO stage IA (intramucous) EC wishing to preserve fertility were enrolled with the following inclusion criteria: age ≤ 40 years; no evidence of Lynch II syndrome; well-differentiated estrogen/progesterone receptor positive (ER+/PR+) endometrioid EC; no evidence of myoinvasion, multifocal tumor, node metastasis, ovarian mass; normal serum CA 125. Treatment consisted of hysteroscopic ablation of the lesion and the myometrial tissue below, followed by oral megestrol acetate (MA) 160 mg/day for 6 months (6 pts) or 52 mg levonorgestrel-medicated intrauterine device (LNG-IUD) for 12 months (8 pts). Results With a median follow-up of 40 months (range 13–79), one patient recurred after 5 months from operative HSC and underwent definitive surgery, one patient showed an endometrial hyperplasia without atypia at the 3 and 6 month HSC control, with negative controls thereafter. Three patients have attempted to conceive and one of them conceived and term delivered a healthy baby. Conclusions Combined operative HSC and progestin therapy may have a role for safe and effective conservative management of early EC in selected patients wishing to preserve fertility.
Abstract Objective Low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (LG-ESS) is a rare malignancy, often occurring before menopause. There is no consensus regarding its optimal management. Total hysterectomy ...and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy precludes future fertility and may thus be undesirable by women wishing to maintain their reproductive potential. However, experience of fertility-sparing management in LG-ESS is very limited. In this paper, the disease outcome is presented in six young women with LG-ESS conservatively treated by combined hysteroscopic resection and hormonal therapy. Study design From October 2009 to February 2013, at the Gynecologic Oncology Department of the National Cancer Institute of Naples, six women, with early-stage LG-ESS aged 18–40 years who desired childbearing and/or retaining their fertility, were enrolled into a pilot study of fertility-sparing management. Diagnosis of LG-ESS was made on specimens from hysteroscopic resection performed on a presumed benign lesion. All patients were planned to be treated with adjuvant megestrol acetate for two years. Hormonal therapy was started within 6 weeks from the hysteroscopic resection, with orally megestrol acetate at 40 mg daily, increasing gradually according to patient's tolerance to the recommended total dose of 160 mg daily. Results All patients were submitted to hysteroscopic resection in a one-step procedure. Five patients started megestrol acetate within 6 weeks from the hysteroscopic resection (one patient did not start hormonal therapy because of early pregnancy after the hysteroscopic resection). Hormonal therapy was well tolerated; one patient stopped megestrol acetate after 12 months because of self-supporting strong desire to conceive; the other four patients regularly completed the hormonal therapy. To date, all patients show no evidence of disease. Conclusions Although fertility-sparing management is not the current standard of care for young women with early-stage LG-ESS, our preliminary data are promising. Larger series with a longer follow-up are needed to further assess safety and efficacy of combined hysteroscopic resection and hormonal therapy.
This study aimed to analyze the long-term oncologic and reproductive outcomes in endometrial cancer (EC) in young patients conservatively treated by combined hysteroscopic resection (HR) and ...levonorgestrel intrauterine device (LNG-IUD).
Twenty-one patients (age ≤ 40 years; Stage IA, G1-2 endometrioid EC), wishing to preserve their fertility, were enrolled into this prospective study. The HR was used to resect (1) the tumor lesion, (2) the endometrium adjacent to the tumor, and (3) the myometrium underlying the tumor. Hormonal therapy consisted of LNG-IUD (52 mg) for at least 6 months.
The median follow-up time is 85 months (range, 30-114). After 3 months from the progestin start date, 18 patients (85.7%) showed a complete regression (CR), 2 (9.5%) showed persistent disease, whereas 1 patient (4.8%) presented with progressive disease and underwent definitive surgery (Stage IA, G3 endometrioid). At 6 months, 1 of the 2 persistences underwent definitive surgery (Stage IA, G1 endometrioid), whereas the other was successfully re-treated. Two recurrences (10.5%) were observed, both involving the endometrium and synchronous ovarian cancer (OC) (atypical hyperplasia and Stage IIB G1 endometrioid OC; Stage IA endometrioid G1 EC, and Stage IA G1 endometrioid OC). The median duration of complete response was 85 months (range, 8-117). Sixty-three percent of complete responders attempted to conceive with 92% and 83% pregnancy and live birth rates, respectively. To date, all patients are alive and have no evidence of disease.
After a long follow-up, combined HR and LNG-IUD would seem to improve the efficacy of progestin alone. High pregnancy and live birth rates were observed in women attempting to conceive. This approach is still experimental and should be offered only in the framework of scientific protocols conducted in cancer centers.
To test the Proactive Molecular Risk Classifier for Endometrial Cancer (ProMisE) and determine the frequency of specific/prognostic molecular alterations within a cohort of endometrial cancer (EC) ...women conservatively treated by combined hysteroscopic resection and progestin therapy.
We used blocks of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue from the primary tumors of patients enrolled into the ECCo trial (EudraCT 2010-018581-23) between 2007 and 2016. In order to assign EC resectoscopic specimens to one of four ProMisE subgroups, testing involved sequential assessment of i) immunohistochemistry (IHC) for mismatch repair (MMR) proteins MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2; ii) sequencing for POLE/POLD1 exonuclease domain mutations (EDMs); iii) p53 IHC.
Molecular analysis methods were used in 25 patients (stage IA, G1-2 endometrioid EC), of whom 15 (60%) represented fully evaluable cases. Seven cases (46.7%) had abnormal MMR IHC, POLE/POLD1 EDMs were found in 3 cases (20%), and abnormal p53 IHC in 1 case (6.6%). Three patients (20%) had more than one molecular feature. Among 10 (40%) ‘unclassifiable’ patients, six failures in achieving complete molecular categorization were due to the low tumor volume. Molecular classification of the 15 fully evaluable cases yielded the following ProMisE subtypes: 7 (46.7%) MMR IHC abnormal, 1 (6.6%) POLE EDM, 0 (0%) p53 IHC abnormal, 7 (46.7%) p53 IHC wild-type.
Although larger series are needed to further assess the feasibility of a molecular categorization in a fertility-sparing setting, data presented are promising. In women with early stage low-volume disease, operative hysteroscopy could be advantageous to provide samples allowing complete genetic risk assessment.
Anesthetic dreaming and anesthesia awareness are well distinct phenomena. Although the incidence of intraoperative awareness is more common among patients who reported a dream after surgery, the ...exact correlation between the two phenomena remains an unsolved rebus. The main purpose of this study was to investigate anesthetic dreaming, anesthesia awareness and psychological consequences eventually occurred under deep sedation. Intraoperative dreaming experiences were correlated with dream features in natural sleep.
Fifty-one patients, undergoing surgical excision of fibroadenomas under a Bispectral index-guided deep sedation anesthesia with propofol target controlled infusion, were enrolled into this prospective study. Psychological assessment was performed through the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. A questionnaire was adopted to register dreaming and anesthesia awareness. Data were collected after emergence (t0), 24 hours (t1), 1 month (t2), 6 months (t3).
Six patients (12%) reported anesthetic dreaming at t0 confirming the response at each subsequent evaluation. One patient (2%) confirmed dreaming during anesthesia in all, but denied it at t0. There was a high correlation between the intraoperative dream contents and the features of dreams in natural sleep. No cases of anesthesia awareness were detected. A similar level of satisfaction was observed in dreaming and no-dreaming patients.
Anesthetic dreaming does not seem to influence satisfaction of patients undergoing deep sedation with propofol target controlled infusion. A psychological assessment would seem to improve the evaluation of possible psychological consequences in dreamer patient.
Abstract Objective To draw a reliable picture of the surgical management of advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) within the MITO Group, trying to correlate the disease extent at presentation, the category ...of center, and surgical outcome. Methods Three tertiary referral centers for gynecologic oncology and four non-oncologic referral gynecologic surgical centers, participated in the project. A questionnaire was adopted to register perioperative data on AOCs (FIGO Stage IIIC IV) consecutively operated on for a period of 12 months. Results A total of 205 patients were registered into the study: 140 and 65 were recruited in oncological referral centers and non-referral centers, respectively. Following a multivariate analysis, the Eisenkop score and the category of center resulted the most potent predictors of complete surgical cytoreduction followed by PCI, preoperative CA125, and ASA score. Complete surgical cytoreduction was associated with oncological referral centers (60% vs 24.6%, p < 0.001). The proportion of patients undergoing additional surgical procedures was significantly different comparing the two categories of centers (at least one additional procedure was performed in 81.4% vs 50.8% in oncological referral centers compared to the others, p < 0.001). Despite the more aggressive surgery performed in oncological referral centers, the perioperative outcome measures were not significantly different in the two groups. Conclusions The chance of obtaining a complete cytoreduction mainly depends on patient characteristics, tumor spread, and quality of treatment. The latter is amenable for direct influence, and therefore, seems to be of utmost importance when considering efforts aiming at improvement in the outcome of this disease.
Objective: To report our 15-year institutional experience of fertility-sparing treatment in young patients with early endometrial cancer (EC) treated by combined hysteroscopic resection and progestin ...therapy. Methods: Twenty-eight patients (stage IA, G1 and 2 endometrioid EC) wishing to preserve their fertility were enrolled into this prospective study. Hysteroscopic resection was used to resect the tumor, endometrium adjacent to the tumor and myometrium underlying the tumor. Adjuvant hormonal therapy consisted of oral megestrol acetate or levonorgestrel intrauterine device for 6 months or more. Results: After 3 months from the progestin start date, 25 patients (89.3%) showed a complete regression (median time to complete regression, 3 months range, 3-9 months), two (7.1%) showed persistent disease, while one patient (3.6%) presented with progressive disease and underwent definitive surgery (stage IA, G3 endometrioid). At 6 months, one of the two patients with persistent disease underwent definitive surgery (stage IA, G1 endometrioid), while the other one was successfully re-treated. Two recurrences were observed (7.7%) both involving the endometrium and synchronous ovarian cancer. The median duration of complete response was 94.5 months (range, 8-175 months). More than half of the responders (57.7%) attempted to conceive with 93.3% and 86.6% pregnancy and live birth rates, respectively. Conclusion: The addition of a standardized three-step resectoscopy to progestin would seem to improve the efficacy of progestin alone. High pregnancy and live birth rates were observed in women attempting to conceive.