Impact of Neck Dissection in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas of Unknown Primary.

PURPOSE: Management of head and neck cancers of unknown primary (HNCUP) combines neck dissection (ND) and radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy. The prognostic value of ND has hardly been studied in HNCUP. METHODS: A retrospective multicentric study assessed the impact of ND extent (adenectomy, selective ND, radical/radical-modified ND) on nodal relapse, progression-free survival (PFS) or survival, taking into account nodal stage. RESULTS: 53 patients (16.5%) had no ND, 33 (10.2%) had lymphadenectomy, 116 (36.0%) underwent selective ND and 120 underwent radical/radical-modified ND (37.3%), 15 of which received radical ND (4.7%). With a 34-month median follow-up, the 3-year incidence of nodal relapse was 12.5% and progression-free survival (PFS) 69.1%. In multivariate analysis after adjusting for nodal stage, the risk of nodal relapse or progression was reduced with lymphadenectomy, selective or radical/modified ND, but survival rates were similar. Patients undergoing lymphadenectomy or ND had a better PFS and lowered nodal relapse incidence in the N1 + N2a group, but the improvement was not significant for the N2b or N2 + N3c patients. Severe toxicity rates exceeded 40% with radical ND. CONCLUSION: In HNCUP, ND improves PFS, regardless of nodal stage. The magnitude of the benefit of ND does not appear to depend on ND extent and decreases with a more advanced nodal stage.

Office Cystoscopy Urinary Tract Infection Rate and Cost before and after Implementing New Handling and Storage Practices.

INTRODUCTION: Based on 2010 American Urological Association recommendations our practice transitioned from sterile to high level disinfection flexible cystoscope reprocessing and from sterile to clean handling practices. We examined symptomatic urinary tract infection rate and cost before and after policy implementation. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 30-day outcomes following 1,888 simple cystoscopy encounters that occurred from 2007 to 2010 (sterile, 905) and 2012 to 2015 (high level disinfection, 983) at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center. We excluded veterans who had recent instrumentation, active or recent urinary tract infection, performed intermittent catheterization, or had complicated cystoscopy (dilation, biopsy etc). Patient/procedural factors and cost were collected and compared between groups. RESULTS: Both cohorts had similar age (mean 68 years), race (Caucasian, 82%), comorbidities (cancer history, 62%; diabetes mellitus, 36%; tobacco use, 24.5%), and cystoscopy procedural indications (cancer surveillance, 50%; hematuria, 34%). Urological complication rate was low between groups (1.43%) with no significant difference in symptomatic urinary tract infection events (0.99% sterile vs 0.51% high level disinfection, p=0.29) or unplanned clinic/emergency department visits (0.66% sterile vs 0.71% high level disinfection, p=0.91). Roughly 95% of the cohorts were given prophylactic antibiotics, most commonly fluoroquinolones (91%). High level disinfection was $82 cheaper per procedure than sterile with most cost disparity stemming from reprocessing. Total savings for our facility by switching to high level disinfection was more than $100,000 annually. CONCLUSIONS: In an older, morbid veteran population receiving centralized care and prophylactic antibiotics we found no difference in symptomatic urinary tract infection or unplanned visits between sterile or high level disinfection techniques. However, high level disinfection was associated with a sizable cost savings, improved clinic workflow, and reduced use of personal protective equipment.

Postoperative Radiation Therapy in Patients with Extracranial Chondrosarcoma: A Joint Study of the French Sarcoma Group and Rare Cancer Network.

PURPOSE: Postoperative radiation therapy (poRT) of intracranial/skull base chondrosarcomas (CHSs) is standard treatment. However, consensus is lacking for poRT in extracranial CHS (eCHS) owing to their easier resectability and intrinsic radioresistance. We assessed the practice and efficacy of poRT in eCHS. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This multicentric retrospective study of the French Sarcoma Group/Rare Cancer Network included patients with eCHS who were operated on between 1985 and 2015. Inverse propensity score weighting (IPTW) was used to minimize poRT allocation biases. RESULTS: Of 182 patients, 60.4% had bone and 39.6% had soft-tissue eCHS. eCHS were of conventional (31.9%), myxoid (28.6%; 41 extraskeletal, 11 skeletal), mesenchymal (9.9%), or other subtypes. En-bloc surgery with complete resection was performed in 52.6% and poRT in 36.8% of patients (median dose, 54 Gy). Irradiated patients had unfavorable initial characteristics, with higher grade and incomplete resection. Median follow-up time was 61 months. Five-year incidence of local relapse was 10% with poRT versus 21.6% without (P = .050). Using the IPTW method, poRT reduced the local relapse risk (hazard ratio, 0.27; 95% confidence interval, 0.14-0.52; P < .001). Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 71.8% with poRT and 64.2% without (P = .680). Using the IPTW method, poRT improved DFS (hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.30-0.85; P = .010). The benefit of poRT on local relapse and DFS was confirmed after exclusion of the extraskeletal subtype. There was no difference in overall survival. Prognostic factors of poorer DFS in multivariate analysis were deeper location, higher grade, incomplete resection, and no poRT. CONCLUSIONS: poRT should be offered in patients with eCHS and high-grade or incomplete resection, regardless of the histologic subtype.

Unilateral or bilateral irradiation in cervical lymph node metastases of unknown primary? A retrospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with cervical lymphadenopathy of unknown primary carcinoma (CUP) usually undergo neck dissection and irradiation. There is an ongoing controversy regarding the extent of nodal and mucosal volumes to be irradiated. We assessed outcomes after bilateral or unilateral nodal irradiation. METHODS: This retrospective multicentre study included patients with CUP and squamous cellular carcinoma who underwent radiotherapy (RT) between 2000 and 2015. RESULTS: Of 350 patients, 74.5% had unilateral disease and 25.5% had bilateral disease. Of 297 patients with available data on disease and irradiation sides, 61 (20.5%) patients had unilateral disease and unilateral irradiation, 155 (52.2%), unilateral disease and bilateral irradiation and 81 (27.3%), bilateral disease and bilateral irradiation. Thirty-four (9.7%) and 217 (62.0%) patients received neoadjuvant and/or concomitant chemotherapy, respectively. Median follow-up was 37 months. Three-year local, regional, locoregional failure rates and CUP-specific survival were 5.6%, 11.7%, 15.0% and 84.7%, respectively. In patients with unilateral disease, the 3-year cumulative incidence of regional/local relapse was 7.7%/4.3% after bilateral irradiation versus 16.9%/11.1% after unilateral irradiation (hazard ratio = 0.56/0.61, p = 0.17/0.32). The cumulative incidence of CUP-specific deaths was 9.2% after bilateral irradiation and 15.5% after unilateral irradiation (p = 0.92). In multivariate analysis, mucosal irradiation was associated with better local control, whereas no neck dissection, ≥N2b and interruption of RT for more than 4 days were associated with poorer regional control. Toxicity was higher after bilateral irradiation (p < 0.05). No positron-emission tomography-computed tomography, largest node diameter, ≥N2b, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and interruption of RT were associated with poorer cause-specific survival. CONCLUSION: Bilateral nodal irradiation yielded non-significant better nodal and mucosal control rates but was associated with higher rates of severe toxicity.

Effects of climate change on water resources in the upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia.

Drawing on hydrology, rainfall, and climatic data from the past 25 years, this article investigates the effects of climate change on water resources in the transnational Blue Nile Basin (BNB). The primary focus is on determining the long-term temporal and seasonal changes in the flows of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia at the border to Sudan. This is important because the Blue Nile is the main tributary to the Nile river, the lifeline of both Sudan and Egypt. Therefore, to begin with long-term trends in hydrological time series were detected by means of both parametric and nonparametric techniques. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was calibrated using several sub-basins and new high-resolution land use and soil maps. Future climate change impacts were projected using data from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) of the National Centers for Environmental Predictions based on three different climate change scenarios from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3). Projected time series were analysed for changes in rainfall and streamflow trends. Climate change scenario modelling suggested that the precipitation will increase from 7% to 48% and that streamflow from the BNB could increase by 21% to 97%. The results provide a basis for evaluating future impacts of climate change on the upper Blue Nile River (Abay River). This is the main river basin contributing to the Nile and a source of water for millions of people in Sudan and Egypt, downstream from Ethiopia. Three models (CCCMA, CNRM, MRI) were applied in this research, within two future time periods (2046-2064 and 2081-2099) and one scenario (A1B). The Abay Basin was divided into seven sub-basins, six of which were used as inlets to the lowest basin at the border to Sudan. The above-mentioned results show that under current climate change scenarios there is a strong seasonal shift to be expected from the present main rainfall season (June to September) to an earlier onset from January to May with less pronounced peaks but longer duration of the rainfall season. This has direct consequences on the streamflow of the Blue Nile, which is connected to the rainfall season and therefore has direct effects on the people living in the sphere of influence of the Nile River.