Impact of Intraoperative Molecular Imaging after Fluorescent-Guided Pulmonary Metastasectomy for Sarcoma.

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) has been shown to improve lesion detection during pulmonary sarcomatous metastasectomy. Our goal in this study was to evaluate whether data garnered from IMI-guided resection of pulmonary sarcoma metastasis translate to improved patient outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: Fifty-two of 65 consecutive patients with a previous history of sarcomas found to have pulmonary nodules during screening were enrolled in a nonrandomized clinical trial. Patients underwent TumorGlow the day before surgery. Data on patient demographics, tumor biologic characteristics, preoperative assessment, and survival were included in the study analysis and compared with institutional historical data of patients who underwent metastasectomy without IMI. p values < 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: IMI detected 42 additional lesions in 31 patients (59%) compared with the non-IMI cohort where 25% percent of patients had additional lesions detected using tactile and visual feedback only (p < 0.05). Median progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with IMI-guided pulmonary sarcoma metastasectomy was 36 months vs 28.6 months in the historical cohort (p < 0.05). IMI-guided pulmonary sarcoma metastasectomy had recurrence in the lung with a median time of 18 months compared with non-IMI group at 13 months (p < 0.05). Patients with synchronous lesions in the IMI group underwent systemic therapy at a statistically higher rate and tended to undergo routine screening at shorter interval. CONCLUSIONS: IMI identifies a subset of sarcoma patients during pulmonary metastasectomy who have aggressive disease and informs the medical oncologist to pursue more aggressive systemic therapy. In this setting, IMI can serve both as a diagnostic and prognostic tool without conferring additional risk to the patient.

Factors associated with nodal metastasis in 2-centimeter or less non-small cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Lymph node involvement is an important determinant of treatment and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and must be determined via surgical lymph node (LN) evaluation. However, lymphadenectomy is associated with multiple significant morbidities. Recent studies have suggested LN evaluation can be foregone in some or all patients with NSCLC ≤2.0 cm. Our objective was to identify whether these patients may be safely spared the morbidity of lymphadenectomy. METHODS: We undertook a retrospective study of patients treated for NSCLC ≤2.0 cm at a single institution from 2005 to 2017. We examined patient, demographic, and tumor variables for associations with LN metastases via univariable and multivariable analyses. RESULTS: In total, 555 patients met our inclusion criteria. Our primary independent variables included tumor size, histology, and histologic subtype. Although tumors ≤1 cm were less likely to have LN metastases than 1.1- to 2-cm tumors (6.8% vs 13.3%), there was no statistically significant difference. Histologic type was not associated with LN status. In an adenocarcinoma subgroup analysis, micropapillary predominant tumors were more likely to have LN metastases. All invasive mucinous adenocarcinomas and minimally invasive adenocarcinomas were N0. CONCLUSIONS: LN evaluation may be unnecessary in patients with minimally invasive adenocarcinoma or invasive mucinous adenocarcinomas ≤2.0 cm. However, this information is rarely available pre- or intraoperatively. Thus, we recommend LN evaluation always be performed when possible, even for subcentimeter NSCLC, unless the histology is absolutely certain. To our knowledge, this is the largest dataset published to study patients with NSCLC ≤2.0 cm.

Near-infrared intraoperative imaging for minimally invasive pulmonary metastasectomy for sarcomas.

BACKGROUND: Complete pulmonary metastasectomy for sarcoma metastases provides patients an opportunity for long-term survival and possible cure. Intraoperative localization of preoperatively identified metastases and identification of occult lesions can be challenging. In this trial, we evaluated the efficacy of near-infrared (NIR) intraoperative imaging using second window indocyanine green during metastasectomy to identify known metastases and to detect occult nodules. METHODS: Thirty patients with pulmonary nodules suspicious for sarcoma metastases were enrolled in an open-label, feasibility study (NCT02280954). All patients received intravenous indocyanine green (5 mg/kg) 24 hours before metastasectomy. Patients 1 through 10 (cohort 1) underwent metastasectomy via thoracotomy to assess fluorescence patterns of nodules detected by traditional methods (preoperative imaging and intraoperative visualization/bimanual palpation). After confirming reliability within cohort 1, patients 11 through 30 (cohort 2) underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery metastasectomy with NIR imaging. RESULTS: In cohort 1, 14 out of 16 preoperatively identified pulmonary metastases (87.5%) displayed tumor fluorescence. Nonfluorescent metastases were deeper than fluorescent metastases (2.1 cm vs 1.3 cm; P = .03). Five out of 5 metastases identified during thoracotomy displayed fluorescence. NIR imaging identified 3 additional occult lesions in this cohort. In cohort 2, 33 out of 37 known pulmonary metastases (89.1%) displayed fluorescence. Nonfluorescent tumors were deeper than 2.0 cm (P = .007). NIR imaging identified 24 additional occult lesions. Of 24 occult lesions, 21 (87.5%) were confirmed metastases and the remaining 3 nodules were lymphoid aggregates. CONCLUSIONS: NIR intraoperative imaging with indocyanine green (5 mg/kg and 24 hours before surgery) localizes known sarcoma pulmonary metastases and identifies otherwise occult lesions. This approach may be a useful intraoperative adjunct to improve metastasectomy.