Systematic evaluation of the efficacy of treatments for cesarean scar pregnancy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) is a type of ectopic pregnancy associated with severe complications, including significant hemorrhage, the potential need for hysterectomy, and life-threatening risks. Currently, two classification methods exist for CSP: Vial (type Ia and IIa) and Chinese Expert's Consensus (type Ib, type IIb, and type IIIb). However, these methods have limitations in guiding the selection of appropriate treatment plans for CSP. The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of various treatments for CSP within our clinic. METHOD: Our study included 906 patients with CSP from January 2013 to December 2018. The chi-squared test and logistic analysis were used to compare the clinical characteristics. The median and interquartile range (IQR) was calculated. We also analyzed whether preoperative application of methotrexate (MTX) could improve surgical outcomes and the relevant characteristics of misdiagnosed CSP patients. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in gestational age, gestational sac diameter, gestational sac width, gestational sac area, remnant myometrial thickness, vaginal bleeding and preoperative hemoglobin levels (p < 0.001) but not in the incidence of residual tissue (p = 0.053). The other factors (intraoperative blood loss, hemoglobin decline, first hemoglobin after operation, total hospital stay, hospital stay after operation, transfusion and duration of catheter drain) were significantly different (p < 0.001). For type Ia and type Ib CSP, 39.3% and 40.2% of patients were treated with dilatation and curettage (D&E) under ultrasound, respectively. For type IIa and type IIIb CSP, 29.9% and 62.7% of patients were treated with laparotomy, respectively. There were no differences in surgical methods, residual tissue and reoperation between the MTX and non-MTX groups (p = 0.20), but liver damage, hospital stay and pain perception were more remarkable in the MTX group. It is noteworthy that 14% of the patients were misdiagnosed with an intrauterine pregnancy. The incidence of misdiagnosis in type IIa CSP patients was higher than that in type Ia CSP patients (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: For type I CSP patients, D&E under ultrasound or D&E under hysteroscopy should be recommended. For type IIIb CSP patients, operative resection should be used. It is currently difficult to choose the appropriate treatment methods for type IIa or type IIb CSP patients.

Efficacy and safety of treatment modalities for cesarean scar pregnancy: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Cesarean scar pregnancy may lead to varying degrees of complications. There are many treatment methods for it, but there are no unified or recognized treatment strategies. This systematic review and network meta-analysis aimed to observe the efficacy and safety of treatment modalities for patients with cesarean scar pregnancy. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from their inception to January 31, 2024. In addition, relevant reviews and meta-analyses were manually searched for additional references. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Our study incorporated head-to-head trials involving a minimum of 10 women diagnosed with cesarean scar pregnancy through ultrasound imaging or magnetic resonance imaging, encompassing a detailed depiction of primary interventions and any supplementary measures. Trials with a Newcastle-Ottawa scale score <4 were excluded because of their low quality. METHODS: We conducted a random-effects network meta-analysis and review for cesarean scar pregnancy. Group-level data on treatment efficacy and safety, reproductive outcomes, study design, and demographic characteristics were extracted following a predefined protocol. The quality of studies was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tools for randomized controlled trials and the Newcastle‒Ottawa scale for cohort studies and case series. The main outcomes were efficacy (initial treatment success) and safety (complications), of which summary odds ratios and the surface under the cumulative ranking curve using pairwise and network meta-analysis with random effects. RESULTS: Seventy-three trials (7 randomized controlled trials) assessing a total of 8369 women and 17 treatment modalities were included. Network meta-analyses were rooted in data from 73 trials that reported success rates and 55 trials that reported complications. The findings indicate that laparoscopy, transvaginal resection, hysteroscopic curettage, and high-intensity focused ultrasound combined with suction curettage demonstrated the highest cure rates, as evidenced by surface under the cumulative ranking curve rankings of 91.2, 88.2, 86.9, and 75.3, respectively. When compared with suction curettage, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for efficacy were as follows: 6.76 (1.99-23.01) for laparoscopy, 5.92 (1.47-23.78) for transvaginal resection, 5.00 (1.99-23.78) for hysteroscopic curettage, and 3.27 (1.08-9.89) for high-intensity focused ultrasound combined with suction curettage. Complications were more likely to occur after receiving uterine artery chemoembolization, suction curettage, methotrexate+hysteroscopic curettage, and systemic methotrexate; hysteroscopic curettage, high-intensity focused ultrasound combined with suction curettage, and Lap were safer than the other options derived from finite evidence; and the confidence intervals of all the data were wide. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that laparoscopy, transvaginal resection, hysteroscopic curettage, and high-intensity focused ultrasound combined with suction curettage procedures exhibit superior efficacy with reduced complications. The utilization of methotrexate (both locally guided injection and systemic administration) as a standalone medical treatment is not recommended.

Clinical Application of a New Cesarean Scar Pregnancy Classification and Evaluation System and a Risk Scoring System.

Objective: Cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) is an uncommon form of ectopic pregnancy that carries the risk of severe bleeding. To date, there has not been a universally accepted classification and treatment strategy. We performed this study to establish a risk scoring system and new CSP classification system for CSP and evaluate its efficacy. Methods: A total of five groups were generated based on different methods of treatment, and the factors that increase the risk of intraoperative bleeding were examined in our center from 2013 to 2018. The construction of a risk scoring system in this study was based on the use of the chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis. To determine the appropriate cutoff scores, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the curve (AUC) were generated. Results: We identified the main high-risk factors for excessive intraoperative hemorrhage during CSP surgery through univariate and multivariate analyses. Within this investigation, the risk factors included gestational sac location and gestational sac diameter. Through analysis, an optimal cutoff score of 3 was determined, and the area under the ROC curve was calculated to be 0.8113 (95% CI=0.7696-0.8531). A score ranging from 0-3 was classified as low risk, while a score ranging from 5-7 was classified as high risk. Additionally, a new classification system for CSP has been established based on sonographic parameters. We also established a diagnostic and treatment process for CSP patients according to the risk scoring method and new CSP classification. Conclusion: We identified the high-risk factors associated with bleeding during CSP surgery and developed a scoring system incorporating these factors. The utilization of this novel CSP typing method, in conjunction with the risk scoring system, can effectively inform doctors in their decision-making process concerning treatment strategies for patients with CSP.

OS and DFS are affected by different diagnostic methods and hysterectomy procedures in endometrial cancer patients: A single-center retrospective study.

PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate whether hysteroscopy increases the risk of intraperitoneal dissemination or worsens the prognosis of endometrial carcinoma (EC) patients and whether radical hysterectomy (RH) improves overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with stage II to III EC and to investigate the effects of different procedures for identifying EC and the effects of different surgical methods on the OS and DFS of endometrial cancer patients. METHODS: Four hundred sixty-five women with EC were included in this retrospective study. Log-rank tests and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used for the outcome comparisons of the effects of the EC diagnostic method and different hysterectomy procedures. A Cox proportional hazards model was used for univariate regression analysis. RESULTS: Among the three procedures for diagnosing EC (diagnostic curettage, hysteroscopy, and hysterectomy), the incidences of fallopian tube and ovarian invasion were not significantly different (p = 0.506 and 0.066, respectively). The diagnostic methods for EC had no significant effect on OS (p = 0.577) or DFS (p = 0.294). In addition, type II RH and type III RH did not improve the prognosis of patients with FIGO stage II and III disease (log-rank p = 0.914 and 0.810 for OS; log-rank p = 0.707 and 0.771 for DFS, respectively). CONCLUSION: Based on the current study evidence, the use of diagnostic hysteroscopy procedures is safe and does not increase the risk of fallopian tube and ovarian invasion of intraperitoneal dissemination or worsen the prognosis of EC patients. Type II and type III RH did not demonstrate a benefit for stage II-III EC patients.

Transformer 2ß regulates the alternative splicing of cell cycle regulatory genes to promote the malignant phenotype of ovarian cancer.

Late-stage ovarian cancer (OC) has a poor prognosis and a high metastasis rate, but the underlying molecular mechanism is unclear. RNA binding proteins (RBPs) play important roles in posttranscriptional regulation in the contexts of neoplasia and tumor metastasis. In this study, we explored the molecular functions of a canonical RBP, Transformer 2ß homolog (TRA2B), in cancer cells. TRA2B knockdown in HeLa cells and subsequent whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis revealed the TRA2B-regulated alternative splicing (AS) profile. We disrupted TRA2B expression in epithelial OC cells and performed a series of experiments to confirm the resulting effects on OC cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion. TRA2B-regulated AS was tightly associated with the mitotic cell cycle, apoptosis and several cancer pathways. Moreover, the expression of hundreds of genes was regulated by TRA2B, and these genes were enriched in the functions of cell proliferation, cell adhesion and angiogenesis, which are related to the malignant phenotype of OC. By integrating the alternatively spliced and differentially expressed genes, we found that AS events and gene expression were regulated independently. We then explored and validated the oncogenic functions of TRA2B by knocking down its expression in OC cells. The high TRA2B expression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with OC. In ovarian tissue, TRA2B expression showed a gradual increasing trend with increasing malignancy. We demonstrated the important roles of TRA2B in ovarian neoplasia and aggressive OC behaviors and identified the underlying molecular mechanisms, facilitating the targeted treatment of OC.

Postoperative Adjuvant Treatment in Women with Stage I Endometrial Cancer: A Retrospective Study.

Objective: To evaluate whether postoperative adjuvant treatment is beneficial for patient survival after surgery for early stage endometrial cancer (EC). We analyzed the outcomes of patients treated with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or progestagen combined with other adjuvant treatments. Methods: We analyzed the outcomes of patients treated with radiotherapy alone, chemotherapy alone, or progestagen treatment with other adjuvant treatments. Women without any adjuvant treatment after operation were used as controls. We retrospectively examined disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and high-risk factors that affected the survival status of all patients who received different postoperative adjuvant therapies. Results: In all 192 patients, the total relapse and mortality rates were 5.57% and 1.68%, respectively. Fourteen patients (7.29%) developed isolated local recurrence, and 2 patients died (1.04%) of recurrence during the follow-up period. The 5-year DFS and OS rates of all patients were 95.83% and 93.75%, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the 5-year DFS, 5-year OS, OS, or DFS among the four groups of patients with FIGO stage I endometrial cancer (P=0.9849, 0.7430, 0.9754, and 0.4534, respectively). The differences in the log-rank test results of the estimates of the 5-year DFS, 5-year OS, DFS, and OS of patients with different disease stages and different ages were all significant, but no differences were observed in these parameters among patients with varying degrees of differentiation. Histologic grade, CA125 level, ER and PR status, and adjuvant therapy had no significant effect on the DFS and OS of all patients according to univariate and multivariate regression analyses, but a significant effect on DFS and OS was found when the patients were stratified by age. Conclusion: This retrospective study showed that adjuvant therapy after surgery was not significantly associated with improved DFS or OS in patients with early stage endometrial cancer. However, FIGO stage and age affected the survival of patients with stage I endometrial cancer.

Port Site Metastasis After Minimally Invasive Surgery in Gynecologic Malignancies: Two Case Reports and a Review of the Literature.

Port site metastasis (PSM) is considered an uncommon and rare complication in gynecologic malignancies with unclear treatment recommendations or guidelines. Thus, we report the treatment strategies and outcomes of two cases of PSMs following gynecologic malignancies and a review of the literature to provide much information about the most frequent sites of PSMs and the incidence of PSMs in different gynecological tumors. A 57-year-old woman underwent laparoscopic radical surgery for right ovarian serous carcinoma in June 2016 followed by postoperative chemotherapy. Because PSMs were present near the port site of the bilateral iliac fossa, the tumors were completely removed on August 4, 2020, and the patient received chemotherapy. She has shown no signs of relapse. During the same period, a 39-year-old woman underwent laparoscopic type II radical hysterectomy for endometrial adenocarcinoma involving the endometrium and cervix on May 4, 2014, without adjuvant treatment. In July 2020, a subcutaneous mass under her abdominal incision was removed, and chemotherapy plus radiotherapy was administered. Metastasis was found in the left lung in September 2022, but there was no abnormality in the abdominal incision. We showed the two cases of PSMs, reviewed articles to provide some new insights about the incidences of PSMs in the gynecologic tumors, and discussed the proper preventive strategies.

Selection of Laparoscopy or Laparotomy for Treating Cesarean Scar Pregnancy: A Retrospective Study.

Objective: Cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) can have catastrophic consequences, but a standardized diagnosis and treatment for CSP are lacking. At least 10 different treatments are currently available, further confusing treatment selection. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of using laparotomy or laparoscopy to treat CSP. Methods: We reviewed data from 935 patients with suspected CSP from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2018. A total of 278 patients were included in the study, of whom 121 were treated with laparoscopy and 157 were treated with laparotomy. We compared and analyzed the characteristics of laparoscopic and open surgeries for treating CSP cases and the advantages and disadvantages of different vascular pretreatments. Results: Intraoperative bleeding, the transfusion rate, total days of hospitalization and postoperative hospital length of stay were lower with laparoscopy than laparotomy (P < 0.05). There was no difference in the factors (beta human chorionic gonadotropin [ß-HCG] decrease, reoperation rate and tissue residues) closely related to the success of the surgery in the two groups. Furthermore, we used different blood vessel pretreatments among patients. The rates of tissue residue, reoperation and intraoperative blood transfusion were lower in patients with temporary vascular occlusion than in patients with permanent vascular occlusion. Conclusion: This study revealed that laparoscopic surgery is superior to laparotomic surgery for treating CSP. Patients in both groups benefited from temporary arterial occlusion. Thus, temporary arterial occlusion with laparoscopic surgery may be the best treatment for CSP.