Clinicopathologic risk factors for recurrence of ovarian endometrioma following laparoscopic cystectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To identify epidemiologic risk factors and investigate whether the characteristics of removed ovarian tissue during surgery influence the recurrence of endometriomas. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Medical university hospital. POPULATION: 248 women with endometriomas. METHODS: All women who had a minimum of 2 years of follow-up after the laparoscopic excision of endometriomas were analysed retrospectively. Specimens were analysed histologically. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sixteen epidemiologic variables were analysed as possible risk factors for recurrence. The association between the characteristics of removed ovarian tissue (the thickness of the cyst wall, the thickness of ovarian tissue, and the morphological features) and endometrioma recurrence was investigated. RESULTS: The cumulative incidence of endometriomas reached 42% at 60 months after surgery. We identified only a younger age at surgery as a risk factor, and postoperative pregnancy as a preventive factor. There were no differences in the mean thickness of the cyst wall and the removed ovarian tissue between patients with and without recurrence. No statistically significant associations were found between the morphologic characteristics of removed cyst wall, ovarian tissue, graded on a semi-quantitative basis, and recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the rate of endometrioma recurrence had a significant relation to patient age and postoperative pregnancy; however, there was no association between the histological characteristics of the excised tissue and recurrence.

Management of pelvic lymph nodes by sentinel node navigation surgery in the treatment of invasive cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Diagnosis of lymph node metastasis is a critical issue in the treatment of cervical cancer. Many studies describing sentinel node navigation surgery (SNNS) for examination of node status have been reported in the past decade. In this study, the feasibility of node status diagnosis by SNNS, including intraoperative frozen section diagnosis, in patients with early and advanced cervical cancer was evaluated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-eight cervical cancer patients with early and advanced stage disease were enrolled. All patients were treated with backup pelvic lymphadenectomy after SNNS. To detect sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), radioactive material and/or blue dye were used as tracers. Lymph nodes confirmed as SLNs were immediately sent to pathologists and diagnosed by frozen section intraoperatively. RESULTS: A total of 118 and 16 SLNs were pathologically investigated in early and advanced stage cervical cancer, respectively. The detection rate of SLNs in the early and advanced stages was 94.7% and 66.7%, respectively, whereas the detection rate using 1 or 2 tracers was 62.5% and 90%, respectively. The false-negative rate and negative predictive value was 0% and 100% for all stages. Pathological diagnosis by frozen section was completed within 30 minutes in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that SNNS in cervical cancer is a promising procedure for patients with early stage (up to Ib1) disease, especially patients with small tumor diameter (<2.0 cm). However, SNNS raises several points for discussion before it can be established as a practical clinical procedure or as part of a subsequent radical hysterectomy.

Suppression of invasive characteristics by antisense introduction of overexpressed HOX genes in ovarian cancer cells.

HOX genes encode transcription factors that function to establish basic body pattern during embryogenesis and maintain the function of specific organs in the adult. Recent studies have demonstrated that HOX genes are also involved in oncogenesis in a range of malignancies. To elucidate whether HOX genes contribute to ovarian carcinogenesis, we created an expression profile of HOX genes using ovarian derived materials from surgical samples and epithelial ovarian cancer cells derived from five different cell lines. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay indicated overexpression of 14 HOX genes in clusters A and B but only 2 genes in clusters C and D. Of the 16 HOX genes, overexpression of paralogs of HOX3, HOX4 and HOX7 is seen in cluster A and B, and of HOX13 in all paralogs. In addition, HOXB7, HOXA13 and HOXB13 showed high levels of overexpression in cancer cells and tissues whereas no or little expression was observed in normal controls. To examine whether overexpressed HOX genes regulate invasion of ovarian cancer cells directly, we introduced an antisense DNA fragment of overexpressed HOXB7 and HOXB13, and HOXC5 that did not show overexpression into SKOV3 cells by electroporation. Antisense introduction followed by chemoinvasion assay using matrigel chamber demonstrated that SKOV3 cells introduced an antisense of each HOXB7 and HOXB13 showed 85% and 50% reduction of invasion ability compared to the parental SKOV3 cells, respectively. In contrast, antisense of HOXC5 introduced cells showed no significant difference of the invasion ability. These results suggest an important role of overexpressed HOX genes, especially for invasive characteristics of ovarian cancer cells.

Cefpirome sulphate for gynaecological infections and prophylaxis of non-laparotomy surgery in patients with benign disease.

We organized a study group to conduct a clinical trial in patients with various gynaecological infections, and we also assessed the efficacy of a single dose of cefpirome sulphate as prophylaxis after vaginal hysterectomy. Cefpirome sulphate (CROM) was administered to 100 patients with gynaecological infections and the clinical and antibacterial efficacy was evaluated in 88 patients. The improvement rate was 77.0% (67/87) and the bacterial eradication rate 67.8% (40/59). Nineteen of the 210 patients enrolled in the comparison of CROM with cefmetazole sodium (CMET) prophylaxis developed postoperative infections. The incidence of infection showed no significant difference between the CROM group (n=11, 10.6%) and the CMET group (n=8, 7.5%) (P=0.56). Although these results suggest that CROM may be effective for the treatment of gynaecological infections and has a good safety profile, it was not superior to CMET as prophylaxis in women undergoing non-laparotomy procedures at our hospital.