World J Surg Oncol
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Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is an extremely common problem affecting cancer patients, and thoracentesis is an essential procedure in an attempt to delineate the etiology of the fluid collections and to relieve symptoms in affected patients. One of the most common complications of thoracentesis is pneumothorax, which has been reported to occur in 20% to 39% of thoracenteses, with 15% to 50% of patients with pneumothorax requiring tube thoracostomy.The present study was carried out to assess whether thoracenteses in cancer patients performed with ultrasound (US) guidance are associated with a lower rates of pneumothorax and tube thoracostomy than those performed without US guidance. ⋯ The routine use of US guidance during thoracentesis drastically reduces the rate of pneumothorax and tube thoracostomy in oncological patients, thus improving safety as demonstrated in this study.
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Case Reports
Response of an aggressive periosteal aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC) of the radius to denosumab therapy.
Aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC), once considered a reactive lesion, has been proven to be a neoplasia characterized by rearrangements of the USP6-gene. Aggressive local growth and recurrences are common and therapeutic options may be limited due to the vicinity of crucial structures. We describe a case of a locally aggressive, multinucleated giant cell-containing lesion of the forearm of a 21-year old woman, treated with denosumab for recurrent, surgically uncontrollable disease. ⋯ The diagnosis of a periosteal ABC was confirmed by FISH demonstrating USP6 gene rearrangement on the initial biopsy. Function conserving surgery could be performed, enabling reconstruction of the affected bone. Inhibition of RANKL with denosumab may offer therapeutic option for patients not only with giant cell tumors but also with ABCs.
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The Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) model, its Portsmouth (P-POSSUM) modification and the Estimation of physiologic ability and surgical stress (E-PASS) are three surgical risk scoring systems used extensively to predict postoperative morbidity and mortality in general surgery. The aim was to undertake the first study of the predictive value of these models in patients undergoing surgical treatment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma. ⋯ POSSUM, P-POSSUM and E-PASS scores effectively predict morbidity and mortality in surgical treatment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma. However, improvements are still needed in the future because none of these scoring systems yielded an AUC value exceeding 0.9 for operations with all different levels of severity. Only POSSUM had more accuracy in predicting postoperative morbidity after operations with higher severity.
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VATS has been extensively considered as a standard method of pulmonary diagnosis and treatment of benign lung diseases. This study aimed to investigate the safety, efficacy, and feasibility of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy compared with conventional lobectomy via open thoracotomy in patients with clinical early stage lung cancer. ⋯ Anatomical lobectomy was successfully completed by VATS lobectomy for lung cancer; the standard lymph node dissection was also achieved. This procedure also showed advantages in terms of surgical bleeding, duration, postoperative complications, indwelling time of chest tube, and short-term recurrence rate without significant differences from conventional lobectomy.
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Although pericardial effusion (PE) is not uncommon in patients with cancer, it may lead to cardiac tamponade, a life-threatening condition. Prompt life-saving treatment is essential, and also allows the continuation of the cancer treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic factors for survival in patients with cancer who were treated surgically for PE. ⋯ Evidence of pericardial metastasis on preoperative imaging and cytopathologic confirmation that the PE and/or pericardial tissue are positive for malignant cells can be used to predict poor clinical outcomes in patients with cancer-related PE.