The Significance of Lymph Node Dissection in Patients with Early Epithelial Ovarian Cancer.

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the impact of lymph node dissection on the prognosis of early epithelial ovarian cancer and to assess the factors associated with lymph node metastasis. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we collected and analyzed the demographic characteristics, clinical pathological data, and perioperative adverse events in newly diagnosed early epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients, Federation International of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IA-IIA. The patients underwent surgical treatment at the First, Second, and Third Affiliated Hospitals of Wenzhou Medical University in Zhejiang Province, China, between June 2012 and June 2022. The survival analysis was performed. RESULTS: We enrolled 284 patients in this study, including 246 stage I, 28 stage II, and 10 stage III patients after surgery. Among them, 42 patients did not undergo lymph node dissection, 113 underwent pelvic lymph node dissection only, and 129 underwent pelvic plus para-aortic lymph node dissection. Among the lymph node dissection group, only 8 patients had lymph node metastasis (8/242, 3.3%), including 6 with pelvic lymph node metastasis and 2 with pelvic plus para-aortic lymph node metastasis. The median follow-up duration was 63 months. The systematic lymph node dissection group significantly prolonged the median operation duration and increased intraoperative blood loss and postoperative complications (p < 0.05). Postoperative multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed FIGO stage III as an independent risk factor for Progression-Free-Survival (PFS) and Overall Survival (OS) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the preoperative cancer antigen 125 (CA125) level was observed as an independent factor affecting lymph node metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic lymph node dissection showed minimal effect on the survival rate of patients with clinically apparent early epithelial ovarian cancer and increased the postoperative complications of patients.

Anti-tumour effect of in situ vaccines combined with VEGFR inhibitors in the treatment of metastatic cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common malignant tumor in the world, for advanced cervical cancer, more than 30% of patients continue to have tumor and relapse or metastasis after the traditional treatment (concurrent chemoradiotherapy), and the response rate of immune checkpoint inhibitor (PD-1) is less 15%, so additional approaches are required. In situ vaccine is a very promising immunotherapy strategy. In the preclinical study, the combination of CPG and anti-Ox40 antibody can completely resolve injection site tumours and distant tumours and leads to the recovery of most mice with lymphoma. However, our early exploration process found that the effect of CpG + OX40 in the treatment of advanced cervical cancer is not ideal. Hence, we explored the anti-tumor effect of CpG + OX40 combined with anti-angiogenic therapy for the first time. The results showed that the combination significantly inhibited the proliferation of primary and secondary tumor volume and prolonged the survival time of mice, compared with the control group, CD3+, CD4 + and CD8 + T cells in the combined group showed an increasing trend. In addition, in terms of metabolism, the anti-vascular effect of anlotinib can significantly reduce the blood supply and metabolic level of tumor, the expression of Ki67 and CD31 in the control group was significantly higher than that in each administration group. In conclusion, our preclinical research results showed that the combination of in situ vaccine and anti-angiogenic therapy has a good anti-tumor effect, and may potentially offer an effective treatment option for patients with advanced cervical cancer.

Management of pelvic organ prolapse of ruptured and extruded bladder from a rare complication of vaginal hysterectomy: a case presentation.

BACKGROUND: The prolapse of a ruptured and extruded bladder after vaginal hysterectomy is rare in clinical practice. We report the case of a significant mass that prolapsed from the vagina after a vaginal hysterectomy in a multiparous postmenopausal woman. CASE PRESENTATION: A 67-year old multiparous postmenopausal Chinese woman was found to have a significant mass extruding from the vagina after a vaginal hysterectomy. The mass was a ruptured and everted bladder, and the diagnosis was confirmed after physical and imaging examinations and urethral catheterization. The patient underwent an emergency operation for mass reduction, bladder repair, and partial colpocleisis under general anesthesia. She recovered without prolapse or urinary drainage complications after 35 months of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The present case serves as a guide for the management of patients with pelvic organ prolapse. The condition of patients should be carefully evaluated before surgery, and individualized operation should be performed. Careful postoperative follow-up is crucial for the timely exclusion of complications, especially in elderly patients with persistently increased abdominal pressure.

Comparison of laparoscopic and open radical hysterectomy in cervical cancer patients with tumor size ≤2 cm.

OBJECTIVE: There is recent evidence that demonstrates worse oncologic outcomes associated with minimally invasive radical hysterectomy when compared with open radical hysterectomy, particularly in patients with tumors >2 cm. The aim of our study was to retrospectively evaluate the oncological outcomes between laparoscopic and open radical hysterectomy in International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics(FIGO) 2009 stage IB1 (FIGO 2009) cervical cancer patients with tumor size ≤2 cm. METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records was performed to identify patients who underwent either laparoscopic or open radical hysterectomy during January 2010 and December 2018. Inclusion criteria were: (1) histologically confirmed cervical cancer including all histological types; (2) FIGO 2009 stage IB1; (3) tumor size ≤2 cm (determined by pelvic examination, magnetic resonance imaging or transvaginal ultrasound); (4) had undergone radical hysterectomy (type II or III) with pelvic and/or para-aortic lymphadenectomy as primary surgical treatment; (5) had follow-up information. Patients with FIGO 2009 stage IA1 or IA2, tumor size >2 cm, or who received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy before surgery, those with cervical cancer incidentally found after simple hysterectomy, or with insufficient data were excluded. Concurrent comparison between the laparoscopic and open cohorts was made for disease-free survival and overall survival. RESULTS: A total of 325 cervical cancer patients were included; of these, 129 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery and 196 patients had open surgery. The median follow-up times were 51.8 months (range 2-115) for laparoscopic surgery and 49.5 months (range 3-108) for open surgery. Patients in the laparoscopic group had significantly worse 5 year disease-free survival than those in the open group (90.4% vs 97.7%; p=0.02). There was no significant difference in 5 year overall survival between groups (96.9% vs 99.4%, p=0.33). The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis indicated that laparoscopic surgery was associated with lower disease-free survival compared with open surgery (adjusted hazard ratio 4.64, 95% CI 1.26 to 17.06; p=0.02). In patients with non-squamous cell carcinoma or with grade II-III, laparoscopic surgery had a significantly worse 5 year disease-free survival compared with the open surgery group (74% vs 100%, p=0.01, and 88.8% vs 98.0%, p=0.02, respectively). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic radical hysterectomy was associated with worse disease-free survival for stage IB1 (FIGO 2009) cervical cancer patients with tumor size ≤2 cm compared with open radical hysterectomy. Further studies may shed additional light on the impact of minimally invasive surgery in this low-risk patient population.

Survivin Promotes Piperlongumine Resistance in Ovarian Cancer.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most fatal female malignancies while targeting apoptosis is critical for improving ovarian cancer patients' lives. Survivin is regarded as the most robust anti-apoptosis protein, and its overexpression in ovarian cancer is related to poor survival and apoptosis resistance. Piperlongumine (PL) extracted from peppers is defined as an active alkaloid/amide and exhibits a broad spectrum of antitumor effects. Here, we demonstrate that PL induces the rapid depletion of survivin protein levels via reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated proteasome-dependent pathway in vitro, while exerting a remarkable inhibitory influence on the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells. Overexpression of survivin raises the survival rate of ovarian cancer cells to PL. Moreover, PL inhibits ovarian cancer cells xenograft tumor growth and downregulates survivin in vivo. Our findings reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism of PL in suppressing survivin expression as well as survivin promotes piperlongumine resistance in ovarian cancer and suggest that ROS-mediated proteasome-dependent pathway can be exploited to overcome apoptosis resistance triggered by aberrant expression of survivin.

Correction to: Laparoscopy versus open surgery for adnexal masses in pregnancy: a meta-analytic review.

The article listed above was initially published.

Laparoscopy versus open surgery for adnexal masses in pregnancy: a meta-analytic review.

PURPOSE: The objective of this meta-analysis is to investigate and compare the pregnancy outcomes of laparoscopy and open surgery in the treatment of ovarian tumors during pregnancy. METHODS: Search was conducted using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Databases from January 1990 to November 2018. A broad search strategy was used to identify studies comparing laparoscopy and open surgery in pregnancy. Inclusion criteria included comparative studies with the quantitative outcome data on gravida. Two authors independently reviewed and assessed for the quality of included studies according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Data were extracted for fetal loss, preterm delivery, duration of surgery, blood loss and length of hospital stay. RESULTS: Nine retrospective trials were identified involving 985 patients. No statistical significance was found in fetal loss between laparoscopy and open surgery (P value = 0.334). The pooled estimate for preterm labor statistically significantly decreased for laparoscopy group (P value = 0.014). Reduced operative blood loss was found in laparoscopy group by 83.81 ml (P value = 0.015). Duration of operation may be longer in the laparoscopy group, but without statistical significance (P value = 0.346). Length of hospital stay was shorter in the laparoscopy group with reduction of 1.95 days (P value < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The available low-grade evidence suggests that laparoscopic surgery might be a feasible alternative for pregnant women with adnexal masses.

Celastrol Inhibits the Growth of Ovarian Cancer Cells in vitro and in vivo.

Celastrol is a natural triterpene isolated from the Chinese plant Thunder God Vine with potent antitumor activity. However, the effect of celastrol on the growth of ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo is still unclear. In this study, we found that celastrol induced cell growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase and apoptosis with the increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in ovarian cancer cells. Pretreatment with ROS scavenger N-acetyl-cysteine totally blocked the apoptosis induced by celastrol. Additionally, celastrol inhibited the growth of ovarian cancer xenografts in nude mice. Altogether, these findings suggest celastrol is a potential therapeutic agent for treating ovarian cancer.