European journal of surgical oncology : the journal of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and the British Association of Surgical Oncology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Eight-year follow up result of the OTOASOR trial: The Optimal Treatment Of the Axilla - Surgery Or Radiotherapy after positive sentinel lymph node biopsy in early-stage breast cancer: A randomized, single centre, phase III, non-inferiority trial.
The National Institute of Oncology, Budapest conducted a single centre randomized clinical study. The OTOASOR (Optimal Treatment Of the Axilla - Surgery Or Radiotherapy) trial compares completion of axillary lymph node dissection (cALND) to regional nodal irradiation (RNI) in patients with sentinel lymph node metastasis (pN1sn) in stage I-II breast cancer. ⋯ The long term follow-up results of this prospective-randomized trial suggest that RNI without cALND does not increase the risk of axillary failure in selected patients with early-stage invasive breast cancer (cT ≤ 3 cm, cN0) and pN1(sn). Axillary radiotherapy should be an alternative treatment for selected patients with sentinel lymph node metastases.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Intraoperative ultrasound guidance in breast-conserving surgery shows superiority in oncological outcome, long-term cosmetic and patient-reported outcomes: Final outcomes of a randomized controlled trial (COBALT).
The multicenter randomized controlled COBALT trial demonstrated that ultrasound-guided breast-conserving surgery (USS) results in a significant reduction of margin involvement (3.1% vs. 13%) and excision volumes compared to palpation-guided surgery (PGS). The aim of the present study was to determine long term oncological and patient-reported outcomes including quality of life (QoL), together with their progress over time. ⋯ By significantly reducing positive margin status and lowering resection volumes, USS improves the rate of good cosmetic outcomes and increases patient-satisfaction. Considering the large impact of cosmetic outcome on QoL, USS has great potential to improve QoL following breast-conserving therapy.
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Oncoplastic surgery (OPS) replaces lumpectomy as standard technique in breast conserving surgery (BCS). OPS has shown to give good cosmetic results, but is it as safe as standard lumpectomy? We conducted a retrospective cohort study to determine postoperative complications, resection margins and re-excision rates for OPS compared to standard lumpectomy. ⋯ Oncoplastic breast surgery can be safely applied in larger tumors, resulting in comparable postoperative complications, resection margins and re-excision rates compared to standard lumpectomy.
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Oncoplastic breast surgery is used to extend the role of breast-conserving surgery (BCS) to women with an unfavourable tumour to breast volume ratio. However, large-breasted women with a relatively small breast cancer may be offered bilateral reduction mammoplasty (BRM) despite being suitable for standard BCS as the more complex surgery may have advantages in terms of patient satisfaction and reduced adverse effects of radiotherapy. ⋯ Limitations of this study mean it can only be regarded as hypothesis-generating. Nonetheless, the trends merit a prospective study to investigate the optimal management of smaller breast cancers in larger-breasted women.
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Malignant melanoma contributes the majority of skin cancer related deaths and shows an increasing incidence in the past years. Despite all efforts of early diagnosis, metastatic melanoma still has a poor prognosis and remains a challenge for treating physicians. In recent years, improved knowledge of the pathophysiology and a better understanding of the role of the immune system in tumour control have led to the development and approval of several immunotherapies. ⋯ Talimogene laherparepvec (TVEC) is the first oncolytic virus approved in the therapy of metastatic melanoma offering a treatment option especially for patients with limited disease. In this review, data on these recently developed and approved immunotherapies are presented. However, further studies are necessary to determine the optimal duration, sequencing and combinations of immunotherapies to further improve the outcome of patients with advanced melanoma.