Chirurgia italiana
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Multicenter Study
[Sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer. Experience of the Rome Breast Cancer Study Group].
We report our multicentric experience with sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer patients. Patients with breast cancer operated on from January 1999 to March 2005 in 6 different institutions in the Rome area were retrospectively reviewed. All patients gave written informed consent. 1440 consecutive patients were analysed, with a median age of 59 years (range: 33-81) and a median tumour diameter of 1.3 cm (range: 0.1-5). ⋯ At a median follow-up of 36 months, only 1 axillary recurrence has been reported. Sentinel lymph node biopsy improves staging in women with breast cancer because it is accurate and reproducible, and allows detection of micrometastases and isolated tumour cells that would otherwise be missed. Our multicentric study confirms that this is the preferred axillary staging procedure in women with breast cancer.
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Multicenter Study
[Chronic pain after inguinal hernia mesh repair: possible role of surgical manipulation of the inguinal nerves. A prospective multicentre study of 973 cases].
The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the surgical treatment reserved for the ilioinguinal, iliohypogastric and genital branches of the genitofemoral nerves, during open hernia mesh repair, is effective in reducing chronic post-operative pain. A multicentre prospective study involving 11 Italian Institutions led to the recruitment of 973 cases of hernioplasty. All surgeons were asked to report whether or not each nerve had been identified and preserved or divided. ⋯ Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that lack of identification of nerves is significantly correlated with presence of chronic pain, the risk of developing inguinal pain increasing with the number of nerves not detected. Likewise, division of nerves was clearly correlated with presence of chronic pain. The present findings indicate that identification and preservation of nerves during open inguinal hernia repair reduce chronic incapacitating groin pain.