World J Surg Oncol
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A comparison of thoracic or lumbar patient-controlled epidural analgesia methods after thoracic surgery.
We aimed to compare patient-controlled thoracic or lumbar epidural analgesia methods after thoracotomy operations. ⋯ TEA has beneficial hemostatic effects in comparison to LEA after thoracotomies along with more satisfactory pain relief profile.
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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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Comparative Study
Total thyroidectomy without prophylactic central neck dissection in clinically node-negative papillary thyroid cancer: is it an adequate treatment?
Cervical lymph node metastases in papillary thyroid cancer are common. Although central neck dissection is indicated in clinically nodal-positive disease, it remains controversial in patients with no clinical evidence of nodal metastasis. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the outcomes of clinically lymph node-negative patients with papillary thyroid cancer who underwent total thyroidectomy without a central neck dissection, in order to determine the rates of recurrence and reoperation in these patients compared with a group of patients submitted to total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection. ⋯ The role of prophylactic central lymph node dissection in the management of papillary thyroid cancer remains controversial. Total thyroidectomy appears to be an adequate treatment for clinically node-negative papillary thyroid cancer. Prophylactic central neck dissection could be considered for the more appropriate selection of patients for radioiodine treatment and should be reserved for high-risk patients only. No clinical or pathological factors are able to predict with any certainty the presence of nodal metastasis. In our experience, tumor size, some histological types, multifocality, and locoregional infiltration are related to an increased risk of recurrence. The potential use of molecular markers will hopefully offer a further strategy to stratify the risk of recurrence in patients with papillary thyroid cancer and allow a more tailored approach to offer prophylactic central neck dissection to patients with the greatest benefit. Multi-institutional larger studies with longer follow-up periods are necessary to draw definitive conclusions.
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This study aimed at identifying risk factors of recurrence for completely resected pathologic T1aN0M0 lung adenocarcinomas. ⋯ Our results showed that the solid- and micropapillary predominant subtype of IASLC/ATS/ERS classification remains the only risk factor for post-operative recurrence of T1aN0M0 adenocarcinomas, suggesting that they can be indicators of aggressive tumor behaviors.
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Case Reports
The effect of field strength on glioblastoma multiforme response in patients treated with the NovoTTF™-100A system.
The NovoTTF™-100A system is a portable device that delivers intermediate frequency alternating electric fields (TTFields, tumor treating fields) through transducer arrays arranged on the scalp. An ongoing trial is assessing its efficacy for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and it has been FDA-approved for recurrent GBM. The fields are believed to interfere with formation of the mitotic spindle as well as to affect polar molecules at telophase, thus preventing cell division. ⋯ A third patient on NovoTTF Therapy/TMZ remained stable for two years but developed a small, slow growing enhancing lesion, which was resected, and his fields were adjusted accordingly. Interestingly, the pathology showed giant cell GBM with multiple syncitial-type cells. Based on these observations, we believe that field strength may play a role in 'out of field' recurrences and that either the presence of a certain field strength may select for cells that are of a different size or that tumor cells may change size to avoid the effects of the TTFields.