Annals of surgery
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To clarify the characteristics related to long-term survival in patients with lateral nodal involvement. ⋯ For patients with lateral involvement, the most important prognostic variables are distant metastases, the total number of nodes involved, circumferential margin involvement, and age. Selection of patients based on these variables may lead to the identification of a subgroup for whom lateral nodal dissection could be the first treatment choice.
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To assess outcome and identify predictors of survival of adults with rhabdomyosarcoma. ⋯ Age, location, nodal status, and histologic subtype do not appear be associated with survival in adults with rhabdomyosarcoma treated with multimodal therapy. Metastatic disease at presentation and poor response to chemotherapy are strongly associated with poor prognosis. Future systemic therapies should be targeted to patients with localized/locoregional disease and partial responders to conventional chemotherapy.
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To evaluate the correlation between biliary-enteric surgical drainage and the late development of cholangiocarcinoma of the biliary tract. ⋯ Chronic inflammatory changes consequent to biliary-enteric drainage should be closely monitored for the late development of biliary tract malignancies.
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To evaluate the need for a preoperative tumor biopsy of liver lesions suspicious for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). ⋯ Preoperative diagnosis of HCC was highly accurate in lesions larger than 3 cm. Tumor biopsy is unnecessary in these patients. However, in a subgroup of patients with lesions less than 3 cm, particularly those with alpha-fetoprotein levels less than 100 ng/mL, there is a higher false-positive diagnostic rate, and tumor biopsy should be considered.