Surgical Management of Vulvar Cancer.

Vulvar cancer is a rare malignancy with high curability in early-stage disease, yet poor outcomes for advanced-stage and recurrent disease. Surgical management is at the cornerstone of treatment for most vulvar cancers, and includes conservative and radical resection of the primary vulvar tumor and excision of local lymph nodes, which are major prognostic factors and drive adjuvant treatment. This review summarizes the surgical management of primary squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, specifically initial treatment guidelines by stage, based on the 2017 NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Vulvar Cancer.

Worldwide impact of the human papillomavirus vaccine.

OPINION STATEMENT: Nearly 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 274,000 cervical cancer deaths are occurring worldwide each year. Approximately 80% of the 500,000 new cases occur in developing countries and this percentage is expected to increase to 90% by 2020. In developing countries, cervical cancer tends to affect relatively young poor women and is the single largest cause of years of life lost to cancer, since screening and treatment programs, and health care, in general, are relatively inaccessible to these women. Each 5-year delay in vaccinating women against HPV may lead to the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million women from cervical cancer in developing countries. The high efficacy of the two available cervical cancer vaccines and their proven ability to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer precursor lesions offer hope that the vaccine will have enormous worldwide impact and may dramatically reduce the cervical cancer burden. The current vaccines protecting against HPV-16 and HPV-18 may prevent up to 70% of new cervical cancers. Vaccine cross-reactivity for HPV-31, -33, -45, and -52 suggest that an even higher percentage of cervical cancers might be prevented with its use. Currently, the prohibitive cost of the vaccine precludes its widespread implementation. Cooperation between governments, international health organizations, and the vaccine industry is needed to overcome this significant barrier so that women are no longer denied a potentially life-saving advance. Worldwide HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening should be made an international priority.

Ovarian adenocarcinomas in the laying hen and women share similar alterations in p53, ras, and HER-2/neu.

We examined alterations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene and the ras and HER-2/neu oncogenes in chicken ovarian cancers to determine if these tumors have genetic alterations similar to those in human ovarian adenocarcinomas. Mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene and the H-ras and K-ras oncogenes were assessed by direct sequencing in 172 ovarian cancers obtained from 4-year-old birds enrolled at age 2 in two separate 2-year chemoprevention trials. Birds in trial B had approximately twice as many lifetime ovulations as those in trial A. Immunohistochemical staining for the HER-2/neu oncogene was done on a subset of avian ovarian and oviductal adenocarcinomas. Alterations in p53 were detected in 48% of chicken ovarian cancers. Incidence of p53 alterations varied according to the number of lifetime ovulations, ranging from 14% in trial A to 96% in trial B (P < 0.01). No mutations were seen in H-ras, and only 2 of 172 (1.2%) tumors had K-ras mutations. Significant HER-2/neu staining was noted in 10 of 19 ovarian adenocarcinomas but in only 1 of 17 oviductal adenocarcinomas. Similar to human ovarian cancers, p53 alterations are common in chicken ovarian adenocarcinomas and correlate with the number of lifetime ovulations. Ras mutations are rare, similar to high-grade human ovarian cancers. HER-2/neu overexpression is common and may represent a marker to exclude an oviductal origin in cancers involving both the ovary and oviduct.

The role of cytoreductive/debulking surgery in ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer-related death among women in the United States, although the median survival of patients has been increasing over the past few decades. In patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, chemotherapy has increased survival. Platinum agents combined with taxanes have become standard treatment. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy has also increased survival. Cytoreductive surgery to optimally debulk a tumor or, ideally, remove any gross disease has also been shown to increase survival. Each 10% increase in cytoreduction correlates with a 5.5% increase in median survival. The ability to successfully perform optimal cytoreduction ranges from 20% to 90%. Many institutions have recently begun to perform aggressive/ultraradical procedures to achieve this result. Interval cytoreduction may also benefit patients whose initial surgery is suboptimal, especially if the first procedure was performed by a surgeon unfamiliar with the disease. Secondary cytoreduction can increase survival in patients with low-volume disease and a long disease-free interval. All of these procedures should be performed by a specialist trained in ovarian cancer surgery.

Indications and efficacy of the human papillomavirus vaccine.

In the United States, there are 11,150 cases and 3670 deaths projected due to invasive cervical cancer for 2007. Approximately 500,000 new cases and 274,000 deaths will occur in women throughout the world. Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a "necessary cause" of cervical cancer. There are 6.2 million new cases of HPV diagnosed each year. In addition to cervical cancer, the virus has also been implicated in vaginal, vulvar, penile, anal, and head and neck cancers. Current methods for prevention of cervical cancer include Pap smears, HPV testing, ablative procedures, cervical conization, and hysterectomy. These are costly as well as invasive. The HPV vaccine is the most recent breakthrough for the prevention of cervical cancer. The quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil) covers types 6, 11, 16, & 18. The bivalent vaccine (Cervarix) covers types 16 & 18, and is expected to come out in the early part of 2007. Approximately 70% of cervical cancer is caused by HPV types 16 & 18. HPV types 6 &11 are responsible for 90% of anogenital warts. Females of ages 11-12 and those prior to their sexual debut should be vaccinated, with all females in the age range of 9-26 also eligible. This vaccination strategy can prevent the above HPV infections, cervical dysplasia, and possibly cervical cancer.

Sentinel node dissection in vulvar cancer.

Vulvar cancer is an uncommon but devastating disease. In addition to radical vulvectomy, most patients require inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy, which often results in wound infection, wound breakdown, and chronic lymphedema. In the past, the gold standard for early lesions was radical vulvectomy with complete bilateral inguinal-femoral lymphadenectomy. This resulted in a low rate of recurrence but devastating disfigurement and high complication rates. Because only approximately 20% of patients with vulvar cancer have positive lymph nodes upon presentation, the traditional approach of inguinal-femoral lymphadenectomy for all patients resulted in many patients undergoing a morbid procedure without any real benefit. Sentinel node dissection, by removing only the nodes with the highest risk of containing metastases, offers a much less morbid alternative. In addition, because only one or two lymph nodes are removed, these can be subjected to a more thorough histopathologic analysis than conventional complete lymphadenectomy. This involves serial sectioning and immunohistochemical staining for cytokeratin antigen. Very small metastases, termed micrometastases, can be detected in this fashion. Therefore, sentinel node dissection with serial sectioning and immunohistochemical staining potentially offers a more accurate assessment of the regional nodes with less morbidity. Patients with positive sentinel nodes may then undergo additional therapy. Patients with negative sentinel nodes are theoretically at very low risk for metastases and should not require any additional treatment.