Investigation of the clinical features of lower uterine segment carcinoma: association with advanced stage disease and indication of poorer prognosis.

PURPOSE: We retrospectively analyzed the differential clinical features and prognosis of endometrial carcinomas arising from the lower uterus, which are reported to have a poorer prognosis than those arising from the upper uterus. METHODS: 246 patients with endometrial carcinoma who underwent surgery were entered as subjects. RESULTS: Twenty-three were classified as having lower uterine segment carcinomas (LUSC); the remaining 223 were upper uterine segment carcinomas (UUSC). LUSC cases were associated with a more advanced FIGO stage than UUSC (p < 0.001). Deep myometrial invasion and lymph node metastasis were more common in LUSC than in UUSC (p = 0.006 and p < 0.001, respectively). LUSC cases demonstrated significantly shorter overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) than UUSC (p = 0.02 and p < 0.001, respectively). Multivariate cox proportional hazards analysis demonstrated that the hazard ratio for LUSC was 1.769 for OS and 3.479 for PFS. For endometrial carcinoma survival, FIGO stage and histological type were extracted as independent variables. CONCLUSIONS: LUSC is a high-risk indicator for poorer prognosis for endometrial carcinoma because it is associated with more advanced stage disease, deep myometrial invasion and lymph node metastasis, and indicates a significantly worsened PFS probability. Our analysis concludes that LUSC is FIGO stage-dependent and an important factor for OS.

KaPPA-View4: a metabolic pathway database for representation and analysis of correlation networks of gene co-expression and metabolite co-accumulation and omics data.

Correlations of gene-to-gene co-expression and metabolite-to-metabolite co-accumulation calculated from large amounts of transcriptome and metabolome data are useful for uncovering unknown functions of genes, functional diversities of gene family members and regulatory mechanisms of metabolic pathway flows. Many databases and tools are available to interpret quantitative transcriptome and metabolome data, but there are only limited ones that connect correlation data to biological knowledge and can be utilized to find biological significance of it. We report here a new metabolic pathway database, KaPPA-View4 (http://kpv.kazusa.or.jp/kpv4/), which is able to overlay gene-to-gene and/or metabolite-to-metabolite relationships as curves on a metabolic pathway map, or on a combination of up to four maps. This representation would help to discover, for example, novel functions of a transcription factor that regulates genes on a metabolic pathway. Pathway maps of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and maps generated from their gene classifications are available at KaPPA-View4 KEGG version (http://kpv.kazusa.or.jp/kpv4-kegg/). At present, gene co-expression data from the databases ATTED-II, COXPRESdb, CoP and MiBASE for human, mouse, rat, Arabidopsis, rice, tomato and other plants are available.

Efficacy of dienogest in thinning the endometrium before hysteroscopic surgery.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of administration of dienogest to thin the endometrium before hysteroscopic surgery and to evaluate the surgical outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective clinical study (Canadian Task Force classification III). SETTING: Community hospital. PATIENTS: Twenty-six patients who underwent hysteroscopic surgery for treatment of endometrial polyps or submucous myomas <25 mm. INTERVENTIONS: Before hysteroscopic surgery, 13 patients (dienogest group) received 2 mg dienogest orally for 2 weeks, and 13 patients (GnRH group) received a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist subcutaneously 1 to 3 times every 4 weeks, and 4 of those received hormone therapy after surgery. Endometrial thickness, serum estradiol and progesterone concentrations, duration of surgery, weight of tissue removed, surgical field visualization, and time to resumption of spontaneous menstruation were recorded. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Endometrial thickness decreased from approximately 7.0 mm to 3.9 mm in the dienogest group. Duration of surgery and weight of tissue removed were similar between groups. The surgical field was clearly visualized in 12 patients in each group. Spontaneous menstruation resumed at approximately 22.0 days after hysteroscopic surgery in the dienogest group; in contrast, no resumption of spontaneous menstruation was observed within the first postoperative month in the GnRH group. No patients had perioperative complications, and none exhibited any residual tumor. CONCLUSION: Administration of dienogest for 2 weeks thinned the endometrium and yielded favorable surgical outcomes, similar to those with GnRH agonists. Administration of dienogest may be an effective and convenient treatment before hysteroscopy.

Total laparoscopic hysterectomy in patients with previous abdominal surgery.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of previous abdominal surgery on the feasibility and the safety of total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH). METHODS: One hundred seventy-four consecutive patients who underwent TLH in private hospital between February 2008 and December 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. Surgical history, operation time, blood loss, transfusion, conversion to an open surgery, complications and hospital stay were assessed in each patient. The patients were classified into two groups; patients with or without a history of abdominal surgery. RESULTS: Group 1 included patients with a history of abdominal surgery (n = 44) and Group 2 included patients without a history (n = 130). The complication rate was 6.8% in patients with (Group 1) and 5.4% in patients without (Group 2) a history of abdominal surgery, respectively. No bladder, bowel, ureteral, or vascular injuries occurred in either group. Transfusion was required in one patient without a history of abdominal surgery (Group 2; 0.8%). Three patients with (Group 1; 6.8%) and two patients without (Group 2; 1.5%) a history of abdominal surgery were converted to laparotomy. No statistically significant difference was noted between the groups with respect to the complication and conversion rates. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, TLH can be performed successfully in patients with a history of abdominal surgery.

Two cases of giant peritoneal inclusion cysts requiring treatment after total laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Peritoneal inclusion cysts (PICs) often develop in post-operative patients. Since the incidence of adhesions is lower with laparoscopic surgery than with open surgery, PICs are less likely to occur in the former. Although post-operative adhesions or PICs rarely develop after laparoscopic surgery (such as total laparoscopic hysterectomy: TLH), we encountered two cases of giant PICs with abdominal pain after TLH. In Case 1, strong adhesion was already present when TLH was performed. Therefore, this case may have been predisposed to the development of adhesions in the abdominal cavity. However, no adhesions were observed during TLH in case 2, and there were no risk factors, such as pre-operative adhesions and endometriosis. Therefore, adhesions and PICs may develop even after TLH, and approaches need to be considered for their prevention.

Aggressive skeletal muscle metastasis from cervical cancer invading into the spinal canal: A case report.

We present the first case of the patient with skeletal metastasis of uterine cervical cancer which invaded the vertebral body and spinal canal, with consequent paralysis of the lower extremities.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor coexisting with disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis.

BACKGROUND: A case of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) coexisting with disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis (DPL) is rare. We report a case of GIST coexisting with DPL. CASE PRESENTATION: A 50-year-old woman underwent exploratory laparoscopy under a preoperative diagnosis of gastric GIST with an ovarian tumor or peritoneal dissemination in the pelvic space. Laparoscopy showed multiple peritoneal masses in the pelvic space. Intraoperative frozen sectioning of the pelvic tumors showed multiple spindle cells, suggesting leiomyomas or retroperitoneal tumors; however, it was difficult to rule out peritoneal dissemination from GIST. No disseminated lesion was noted near GIST, and hence, we believed that GIST and pelvic lesions had different origins. We achieved R0 resection by partial resection of the stomach, total hysterectomy, and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The postoperative immunohistopathological examination confirmed the final diagnosis of GIST and DPL. The patient has been recurrence free for 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: Immunohistochemical examination is essential for correct diagnosis for GIST and DPL. R0 curative resection should be scheduled after immunohistochemical examination of specimens obtained from exploratory laparoscopy.

Successful Pregnancy following Myomectomy Accompanied with Abdominal Radical Trachelectomy for an Infertile Woman with Early Cervical Cancer: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Women in the reproductive age group diagnosed with cervical cancer can receive radical trachelectomy in case they wish to preserve fertility. However, the indication for this procedure in infertile women with cervical cancer is controversial depending on the underlying cause of infertility. Here, we present a case of a successful pregnancy following myomectomy accompanied with abdominal radical trachelectomy for an infertile woman with early cervical cancer. The patient was a 38-year-old nulliparous woman with a significant past medical history of infertility of unknown origin. She had been undergoing treatment with assisted reproductive technologies including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization for over four years. During her treatment for infertility, she was diagnosed with stage IB1 cervical squamous cell carcinoma. She received abdominal radical trachelectomy and abdominal myomectomy in the same surgical procedure. Six months after the surgery, she went for the first embryo transfer and became pregnant. At 26 weeks of pregnancy, a male baby weighing 980 g was delivered with an Apgar score of 3/5/7 by cesarean section due to chorioamnionitis. The baby has received general care in a neonatal intensive care unit for four months and weighed 4520 g when discharged.

Epithelioid Angiosarcoma Arising from a Huge Leiomyoma: A Case Report and a Literature Review.

Uterine mesenchymal tumors other than leiomyosarcoma, carcinosarcoma, and endometrial stromal sarcomas are extremely uncommon. We describe a case of epithelioid angiosarcoma of the uterus and review previous literature on such rare tumors. A 48-year-old woman presented with a 1-year history of abdominal fullness and 10kg weight loss. Pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a huge (30×18cm) uterus accompanied by degeneration and necrosis. She underwent supracervical hysterectomy and right salpingo-oophorectomy. We postoperatively diagnosed the mass as an epithelioid angiosarcoma arising from a leiomyoma. Vasodilatation was observed within the range of 2 cm × several mm in the leiomyoma, and proliferation of atypical cells was observed covering the surface of the luminal side. The tumor showed a partly fine vascular structure and was associated with obvious nuclear atypia and mitotic figures. She received 6 courses of adjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel, epirubicin, and carboplatin, and there have been no signs of recurrence for 10 months.