Improved quality of colon cancer surveillance after implementation of a personalized surveillance schedule.

BACKGROUND: Early detection of recurrence through surveillance after curative surgery for primary colon cancer is recommended. We previously reported inadequate quality of surveillance among patients operated for colon cancer. These poor results led to the introduction of a personalized surveillance schedule. This study reassesses the quality of surveillance after the introduction of the personalized schedule. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 93 patients undergoing curative surgery for colon cancer between January 2009 and December 2014 (prospective data registration) were included in this retrospective single-center cohort study. Written informed consent was given by all patients. Compliance with surveillance was compared with national guidelines, as well as with the previous results and analyzed depending on where surveillance was conducted (general practitioner or outpatient clinic). RESULTS: Adherence to surveillance was higher when performed by oncologists compared to general practitioners with an odds ratio (OR), 6.03 (95%CI: 3.41-10.67, P = .001). Compared with the previous study, adherence to surveillance was significantly higher in the later cohort with an OR = 4.55 (95%CI: 2.50-8.33, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the implementation of a personalized surveillance schedule improves adherence to recommendations and that awareness can be increased with this simple measure.

Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping with Isosulfan Blue or Indocyanine Green in Colon Cancer Shows Comparable Results and Identifies Patients with Decreased Survival: A Prospective Single-Center Trial.

BACKGROUND: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping was reported to improve lymph node staging in colon cancer. This study compares isosulfan blue (IB) with indocyanine green (ICG)-based SLN-mapping and assesses the prognostic value of isolated tumor cells (ITC) and micro-metastases in upstaged patients. METHODS: A total of 220 stage I-III colon cancer patients were included in this prospective single-center study. In 170 patients, SLN-mapping was performed in vivo with IB and in 50 patients ex vivo with ICG. Three levels of each SLN were stained with H&E. If negative for tumor infiltration, immunostaining for cytokeratin (AE1/3; cytokeratin-19) was performed. RESULTS: SLN detection rate for IB and ICG was 100 and 98%, respectively. Accuracy and sensitivity was 88 and 75% for IB, 82 and 64% for ICG, respectively (p = 0.244). Overall, 149 (68%) patients were node negative. In these patients, ITC and micro-metastases were detected in 26% (31/129) with IB and 17% (5/29) with ICG (p = 0.469). Patients with ITC and micro-metastases did show decreased overall survival (hazard ratio = 1.96, p = 0.09) compared to node negative disease. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a high diagnostic accuracy for both the IB and the ICG SLN-mapping. SLN-mapping upstaged a quarter of patients with node negative colon cancer, and the detected ITC and micro-metastases were an independent negative prognostic marker in multivariate analysis.

Lymphocyte subset recovery and outcome after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for plasma cell myeloma.

Rapid immune reconstitution--particularly of natural killer cells (NK cells)--after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is associated with protection from relapse. Whether such an association also exists after autologous stem cell transplantation is less clear. We retrospectively assessed lymphocyte subsets after autologous HSCT in 114 patients and correlated lymphocyte recovery with outcome. CD8 T cell and NK cell counts recovered rapidly to pretransplantation levels, whereas B cell and CD4 T cell recovery were delayed. Compared with patients with low NK cells (<100/uL), high NK cell count at 1 month after HSCT was associated with significantly prolonged progression-free survival: for NK cells 100 to 200/uL hazard ratio [HR], .33 (95% confidence interval [CI]; .16 to .80; P = .004); for NK cells > 200/µL HR, .27 (95% CI, .13 to .58; P = .001). No significant protective effects were associated with rapid recovery of any other lymphocyte subset. None influenced overall survival (OS) or time to next treatment. Early NK cell recovery is associated with better progression-free survival after autologous HSCT. The failure to detect an effect on OS might be due to the salvage strategies available to these patients.

Megaduodenum in a 59-year-old man: a very late postoperative complication after duodenal atresia.

Intestinal malformations are common defects of the newborn, treated in experienced centres. Reports on long-term follow-up and associated complications are scarce, possibly leading to misinterpretation of clinical signs and symptoms in adulthood. To prevent treatment errors, it is important that physicians are aware of long-term complications of intestinal malformations.