Patient satisfaction with ultrasound, whole-body CT and whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI for pre-operative ovarian cancer staging: a multicenter prospective cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: In addition to the diagnostic accuracy of imaging methods, patient-reported satisfaction with imaging methods is important. OBJECTIVE: To report a secondary outcome of the prospective international multicenter Imaging Study in Advanced ovArian Cancer (ISAAC Study), detailing patients' experience with abdomino-pelvic ultrasound, whole-body contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT), and whole-body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (WB-DWI/MRI) for pre-operative ovarian cancer work-up. METHODS: In total, 144 patients with suspected ovarian cancer at four institutions in two countries (Italy, Czech Republic) underwent ultrasound, CT, and WB-DWI/MRI for pre-operative work-up between January 2020 and November 2022. After having undergone all three examinations, the patients filled in a questionnaire evaluating their overall experience and experience in five domains: preparation before the examination, duration of examination, noise during the procedure, radiation load of CT, and surrounding space. Pain perception, examination-related patient-perceived unexpected, unpleasant, or dangerous events ('adverse events'), and preferred method were also noted. RESULTS: Ultrasound was the preferred method by 49% (70/144) of responders, followed by CT (38%, 55/144), and WB-DWI/MRI (13%, 19/144) (p<0.001). The poorest experience in all domains was reported for WB-DWI/MRI, which was also associated with the largest number of patients who reported adverse events (eg, dyspnea). Patients reported higher levels of pain during the ultrasound examination than during CT and WB-DWI/MRI (p<0.001): 78% (112/144) reported no pain or mild pain, 19% (27/144) moderate pain, and 3% (5/144) reported severe pain (pain score >7 of 10) during the ultrasound examination. We did not identify any factors related to patients' preferred method. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound was the imaging method preferred by most patients despite being associated with more pain during the examination in comparison with CT and WB-DWI/MRI. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03808792.

Adjuvant chemotherapy vs. observation in stage I clear cell ovarian carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The role of adjuvant chemotherapy in surgically staged stage I clear cell ovarian cancer (OCCC) is unclear. Here, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis in order to evaluate the role of chemotherapy vs. observation in stage I OCCC. This systematic review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; ID: #129628). A protocol was defined prior to the search include the population criteria, description of interventions, comparisons, and the outcomes of interest, according to the PRIMA guidelines. Overall, the study population included 5073 women. Stage I OCCC experienced a 5-year disease-free survival and a 5-year overall survival of 83.7% and 86.9%, respectively. Pooled data suggested that in the overall population adjuvant chemotherapy did not impact on 5-year disease free survival (test for overall effect, Z = 0.18; p = 0.86) and 5-year overall survival (test for overall effect, Z = 0.62; p = 0.53). Focusing on 2264 stage IC OCCC we observed that adjuvant correlated with an improvement in overall survival (OR: 0.70 (95%CI: 0.52 to 0.93); Z = 2.44; p = 0.01). In conclusion our study underlines that adjuvant chemotherapy could be reserved for patients with stage IC OCCC; while in stage IA and IB it could be safely omitted. Owing to the inherent biases of the studies included in the meta-analysis further prospective evidences are needed.

Hysterectomy for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: A retrospective observational multi-institutional study.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical management, the outcomes, and the trend in hysterectomy rates (HR) in patients who underwent this procedure for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). METHODS: Multicentric retrospective observational study conducted on 242 patients who underwent hysterectomy for CIN between 2010 and 2020 in nine Italian institutions. Hysterectomy for invasive or micro-invasive neoplasia, sub-total hysterectomy, or trachelectomy were excluded. RESULTS: A significant increase in the trend of HR for CIN was recorded (P = 0.002, r = 0.81; C.I. 95%: 0.415-0.949); HR increased from 0.46% in the year 2010 to 3.32% in 2020. The mortality rate was 0.4%, and 5% had operative complications. On definitive histopathology examination, a CIN of any grade was recorded in 71.5% of cases, and an occult invasive cancer in 1.24%. No pathology or CIN1 was found in 26.8% of cases, suggesting over treatment. During follow-up, a vaginal lesion was recorded in 5% of cases. CONCLUSION: A significant increase in the number of hysterectomies performed for CIN in the last 10 years was recorded. Hysterectomy for CIN can lead to complications, risk of the onset of vaginal lesions, and risk of overtreatment, and remains, in the first instance, an unacceptable treatment, to be proposed only after adequate counseling.

A decision support system based on radiomics and machine learning to predict the risk of malignancy of ovarian masses from transvaginal ultrasonography and serum CA-125.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the performance of a decision support system (DSS) based on radiomics and machine learning in predicting the risk of malignancy of ovarian masses (OMs) from transvaginal ultrasonography (TUS) and serum CA-125. METHODS: A total of 274 consecutive patients who underwent TUS (by different examiners and with different ultrasound machines) and surgery, with suspicious OMs and known CA-125 serum level were used to train and test a DSS. The DSS was used to predict the risk of malignancy of these masses (very low versus medium-high risk), based on the US appearance (solid, liquid, or mixed) and radiomic features (morphometry and regional texture features) within the masses, on the shadow presence (yes/no), and on the level of serum CA-125. Reproducibility of results among the examiners, and performance accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve were tested in a real-world clinical setting. RESULTS: The DSS showed a mean 88% accuracy, 99% sensitivity, and 77% specificity for the 239 patients used for training, cross-validation, and testing, and a mean 91% accuracy, 100% sensitivity, and 80% specificity for the 35 patients used for independent testing. CONCLUSIONS: This DSS is a promising tool in women diagnosed with OMs at TUS, allowing to predict the individual risk of malignancy, supporting clinical decision making.

The Adoption of Radiomics and machine learning improves the diagnostic processes of women with Ovarian MAsses (the AROMA pilot study).

PURPOSE: To develop and evaluate the performance of a radiomic and machine learning model applied to ultrasound images in predicting the risk of malignancy of ovarian masses (OMs). METHODS: Single-center retrospective evaluation of consecutive patients who underwent transvaginal ultrasound (US) with images storage and surgery for ovarian masses. Radiomics methodology was applied to US images according to the International Biomarker Standardization Initiative guidelines. OMs were divided into three homogeneous groups: solid, cystic and motley. TRACE4© radiomic platform was used thus obtaining a full-automatic radiomic workflow. Three different classification systems were created and accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, AUC and standard deviation were defined for each group. RESULTS: A total of 241 women were recruited. OMs were divided in the three groups: 95 (39.5%) solid, 66 (27.5%) cystic, 80 (33%) motley. For solid OMs, 269 radiomic features were used for the training-validation-testing of the model with accuracy 80%, sensitivity 78%, specificity 83%, AUC 87%. For cystic OMs, 278 radiomic features were used for the training-validation-testing of the model with accuracy 87%, sensitivity 75%, specificity 90%, AUC 88%. For mixed OMs, 306 radiomic features were used for the training-validation-testing of the model with accuracy 81%, sensitivity 81%, specificity 81%, AUC 89%. CONCLUSION: Radiomics is a promising tool in improving preoeprative work-up of women diagnosed with OMs. Even in the absence of the subjective impression of expert ultrasound examiner, radiomics allows to easily identify patients with ovarian cancer. Future validation studies on larger series are needed.

Patterns of failure after adjuvant "sandwich" chemo-radio-chemotherapy in locally advanced (stage III-IVA) endometrial cancer.

PURPOSE: To investigate oncological outcomes and patterns of recurrence of patients undergoing adjuvant "sandwich" chemo-radio-chemotherapy for locally advanced endometrial cancer. METHODS: This is a multi-institutional retrospective study evaluating chart of consecutive patients undergoing chemo-radio-chemotherapy for FIGO stage III-IVA endometrial caner. RESULTS: The study population included 45 patients who had adjuvant sandwich regimen. Median age of the study population was 66 years. The majority of patients were diagnosed with endometrioid histology and with stage III disease. After a median follow-up of 35 months, 15 patients developed recurrent disease. Three-year disease-free and overall survivals was 45% and 81%, respectively. Three-years site-specific disease-free survival was 85%, 92% and 48% for local, loco-regional, and distant recurrence, respectively. All patients included in the study had nodal dissection. Nodal assessment included: sentinel node mapping, sentinel node mapping plus backup lymphadenectomy and lymphadenectomy in 15, 6 and 24 patients, respectively. The latter group included four patients detected by suspected enlarged nodes, intraoperatively. Even after the exclusion of patients with enlarged nodes, the type of nodal assessment did not impact on survival outcomes (p > 0.2). Positive peritoneal cytology was the only factor associated with an increased risk of developing (any site) recurrence and distant-specific recurrence, independently. No factor predicted for overall survival. CONCLUSION: Adjuvant "sandwich" chemo-radio-chemotherapy for locally advanced endometrial cancer guarantee promising local and loco-regional controls, but distant failure rate is high, thus suggesting the need for applying other systemic treatment strategies for these patients.