[Study of the radiotherapy modality for patients with stage IIb-IIIb cervical stump cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the radiotherapy modality progress of stageIIb-IIIb cervical stump cancer. METHODS: The clinical data of 13 patients with stageIIb-IIIb cervical stump cancer undergoing radiotherapy from January 2000 to April 2012 was reviewed. Before 2006, 8 patients received conventional external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy.Since 2006, 5 patients received intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and brachytherapy. RESULTS: The median survival was 12-139 months. The median overall survivals and disease free survivals in the conventional radiotherapy (CRT) group were 57 months and 50 months, 3 cases of them recurred during 8-19 months and died of tumor progression.While, the median overall survivals and disease free survival in the IMRT group both were 21 months and nobody recurred. In the CRT group, 7 patients suffered toxicities, including 5 patients grade I-II acute rectum reaction, 2 patients grade I bladder reaction; and 3 had grade I-III, late rectum reaction, 2 patients for grade II bladder late reaction.In the IMRT group, toxicities including 1 case grade I acute or late rectum reaction, and no bladder reaction. CONCLUSION: In our experience, the recommended IMRT and interstitial brachytherapy for the selected patients with advanced cervical stump carcinoma may be obtain better tumor dose distribution and more sparing of the organ at risk.

[Clinicopathological characteristics of six patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and treatment of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland. METHODS: The clinicopathological data of six patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland were retrospectively analyzed. The median age was 40.8 years (range 30 to 54 years). Surgery was the primary treatment. Simple vulvar tumor resection was performed in 1 patient. Four cases underwent radical vulvectomy with bilateral inguinal lymph node dissection and 1 case underwent wide local excision of the vulva with bilateral inguinal lymph node biopsy. Two cases with high risk factors received postoperative radiotherapy. RESULTS: All patients had definite pathological diagnosis. Cribriform arrangement of tubules and gland-like elements and infiltration of perineural spaces were two main microscopic features of this type of tumor. The pathological examination after surgery revealed that two patients had positive surgical margins, one had negative margin, 1 adjacent to the tumor and 1 unknown; 5 cases had negative inguinal lymph nodes and 1 unknown. All the 6 patients were followed-up. Recurrence developed in 4 cases including 3 with both local recurrence and lung metastasis, and one had lung metastasis only. One patient died of lung metastasis and her total survival period was 135 months. The other 3 recurrent patients survived with tumor and the total survival period was 241, 128 and 103 months, respectively. Two cases without recurrence survived 8 and 121 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland is a slow growing but locally very aggressive neoplasm with a high capacity for local recurrence and lung metastasis. Surgery is the most common and useful treatment. Radiation is a choice of treatment for patients with high risk factors after surgery such as positive surgical margin, deep local invasion and infiltration of perineural spaces or for recurrent patients without opportunity of excision.

[Clinical analysis of 35 cases of vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia grade III].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the etiology, clinicopathological characteristics, treatment and prognosis of VINIII. METHODS: Thirty-five patients with VINIII admitted in Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between 1993 and 2008 were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: All 35 patients attended to hospital with the symptoms of pruritus vulvae and lumps. Among of them, there were 28 (80%) cases whose lesions presented as multiple plaques, while 7 (20%) cases lesion were monofocal. Fifteen out of 35 cases had coexistent with human papillomavirus (HPV) related lesions, and there were the evidence of HPV in 22 patients whose pathologic sections revealed koilocytes. 34 cases (97%) except one received different types of surgical resections, including wide local resection (14/34), simple vulvectomy (16/34) and simple vulvectomy plus perianal skin resection (4/34), while there two cases shown positive cut-edges and one of them received radiotherapy postoperatively. Four out of the 34 cases recurred locally in 2, 4, 6 and 22 months and received surgical treatment again or laser therapy, respectively. The median follow-up period was 66 months (range 1-166), and none of them were died of the disease itself except one case died of the concurrent cervical cancer. Among 26 cases received the investigation of the quality of life, there were nine cases (35%) suffered from sexual dysfunction after the operation, and one of them received vulvoplasty. CONCLUSIONS: VINIII has good prognosis. The development of VINIII may be related to the infection of HPV, because most of them concurrent with HPV diseases. Its primary treatment is surgical resection, while affecting on the quality of life.

[An initial experience of the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy in squamous cell cancer of the vulva].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients with vulvar cancer. METHODS: Twenty-one patients with vulvar squamous cancer undergoing radical surgery admitted in Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from Oct. 2004 to Apr. 2008, were enrolled in the study. SLNB procedure was performed with blue dye alone in the first eleven patients, while the later ten patients, a combination procedure with radioactive tracer and blue dye was used to detect sentinel lymph node (SLN). All resected nodes were submitted to the pathological examination, which was considered as the gold standard to determine the efficacy of SLNB. The complications related to SLNB were also observed during the study. RESULTS: The sentinel node was identified in 20 patients (95%), included 8 cases with unilateral SLNs and 12 cases with bilateral SLN. A total of 83 SLN were identified with a mean number of 4.2 per patient (range, 1 - 9) or 2.6 per groin (range, 1 - 6). Difference between the mean number of SLN (4.4 per patient, 2.5 per groin) identified by blue dye or by combined procedure (3.9 per patient, 2.7 per groin) was not statistically significant (t = 0.459, P = 0.652;t = -0.421, P = 0.717). Twenty patients were detected to positively superficial inguinal SLN and one of them also positively bilateral deep femoral SLN, 8 (10 groins) of them were detected positively nodal metastases. Among of eight patients, 7 (9 groins) of them were detected more than one SLN involved, while 1 of them were detected false-negative node involved. The false negative rate of was 10% (1/10), negative predictive value was 96% (22/23). No complications were attributed to the study. CONCLUSIONS: SLNB procedure in vulvar cancer is feasible and safe. SLN identification appears to be highly accurate for detecting metastases in the ipsilateral inguinal lymphatic basins.

[A prospective study on nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy in patients with cervical cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy (NSRH) technique and its impact on postoperative voiding function. METHODS: Forty-four patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I b1-IIa cervical cancer were enrolled and randomized into NSRH group (study group, n = 22) and conventional radical hysterectomy (CRH) group (control group, n = 22). The pelvic autonomic nerve pathway (including hypogastric nerve, pelvic splanchnic nerve, inferior hypogastric plexus and bladder branch) was completely preserved in the NSRH group. Related parameters were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The estimated blood loss in NSRH group and CRH group were (550 +/- 241) ml and (475 +/- 284) ml, respectively, with no significant difference (P > 0.05). The mean operation time in NSRH group and CRH group were (329 +/- 43) min and (272 +/- 56) min, respectively, with a significant difference (P < 0.01). More patients in NSRH group had post-void residual urine volume (PVR) < 100 ml than that in CRH group on day 8 after surgery (68% vs. 18%, P < 0.01). The median duration of postoperative catheterization was significantly shorter in NRSH group (8 - 23 days, median 8 days) than that in CRH group (8 - 32 days, median 20 days; P < 0.01). Neither surgery-related injury nor pathologically positive margin was reported in either of the groups. CONCLUSIONS: NSRH is a feasible and safe technique for preserving bladder function. Larger prospective studies are needed to confirm the efficacy of this technique.

[Clinical analysis of 42 cases of primary malignant melanoma in female genital tract].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of primary malignant melanoma in female genital tract. METHODS: The clinical data of 42 patients of primary malignant melanoma in female genital tract were reviewed. RESULTS: The tumors were originated from vulva, vagina and cervix in 14 (33%), 23 (55%) and 5 (12%) cases, respectively. Thirty-eight cases had biopsies. Among them, 6 cases were misdiagnosed. Eighteen surgical specimens were examined by immunohistochemistry assays. S-100 protein was positive in all cases, and monoclonal antibody to melanoma of human (HMB-45) was positive in 14 cases. The 2-year and 5-year cumulative recurrence-free survival rates were 35% and 23% respectively, while the 2-year and 5-year cumulative overall survival rates were 53% and 27% respectively. The 2-year cumulative overall survival rates for the patients of early stage [International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I and II] and that of advanced stage (stage III and IV) were 77% and 34% respectively (P < 0.05). The 2-year cumulative overall survival rates for the patients of stage I and stage II were 78% and 74% respectively (P = 0.303). In the 40 patients who received surgery, univariate analysis showed that the adjuvant chemotherapy improved the recurrence-free survival and the overall survival significantly (P < 0.05), and the other factors including radical surgery, regional lymphadenectomy, biotherapy and radiotherapy did not affect prognosis (P > 0.05). Compared with chemotherapy, biochemotherapy did not improve prognosis significantly (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Biopsy for the malignant melanoma in female genital tract has high misdiagnosis rate. Immunohistochemistry assay could improve diagnosis markedly. The FIGO staging system fails to predict the prognosis accurately. Surgery plays an important role in treatment, while the adjuvant chemotherapy could improve survival effectively.

Nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy: a simplified technique of nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy for invasive cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND: In order to simplify the complicated procedure of nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy, a novel technique characterized by integral preservation of the autonomic nerve plane has been employed for invasive cervical cancer. The objective of this study was to introduce the nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy technique and compare its efficacy and safety with that of nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy. METHODS: From September 2006 to August 2010, 73 consecutive patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IB to IIA cervical cancer underwent radical hysterectomy with two different nerve-sparing approaches. Nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy was performed for the first 16 patients (nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy group). The detailed autonomic nerve structures were identified and separated by meticulous dissection during this procedure. After January 2008, the nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy procedure was developed and performed for the next 57 patients (nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy group). During this modified procedure, the nerve plane (meso-ureter and its extension) containing most of the autonomic nerve structures was integrally preserved. The patients' clinicopathologic characteristics, surgical parameters, and outcomes of postoperative bladder function were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy and nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy groups regarding age, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, pathological type, preoperative treatment, or need for intraoperative blood transfusion. The nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy group had a higher body mass index than that of the nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy group (P = 0.028). The mean surgical duration in the nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy and nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy groups were (262 ± 46) minutes and (341 ± 36) minutes (P < 0.01). On the 8th postoperative day, 41 (71.9%) patients in the nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy group and nine (56.3%) patients in the nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy group had a postvoid residual urine volume of < 100 ml (P = 0.233). The median duration of catheterization was eight days (range 8 - 23 days) for the nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy group and eight days (range 8 - 22 days) for the nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy group (P = 0.509). Neither surgery-related injury nor pathologically positive margins were reported in either group. CONCLUSION: Nerve plane-sparing radical hysterectomy is a reproducible and simplified modification of nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy, and may be preferable to nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy for treatment of early-stage invasive cervical cancer.