Percutaneous cryoablation of breast tumours in patients with stable metastatic breast cancer: safety, feasibility and efficacy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate safety, feasibility and efficacy of percutaneous cryoablation of breast tumours in patients with clinically stable metastatic breast cancer, and to compare the findings with reports on alternative procedures, namely surgery and local radiotherapy. METHODS: 17 female patients (average age of 54.8 years ± 10.8; range 37-72) with primary breast tumour not surgically treated because of metastatic disease were included. Patients were treated for their primary lesion by percutaneous cryotherapy in period of stable disease. This minimally intervention was performed using ultrasound or CT scan guidance. All patients had clinical and breast-MRI evaluation before and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the procedure. RESULTS: All procedures were performed under local anaesthesia and technically successful. The mean largest diameter of the primary lesions was 16 ± 12 mm (size range 5-45 mm). In 15 patients, we obtained a complete regression of the primary breast lesion without recurrence during the follow-up period. Two patients with lesions measured at 40 and 45 mm had recurrence in follow up period. A second session of cryotherapy was performed for these 2 patients, not included in this study. Five patients had painful masses before cryotherapy. All were immediately relieved after the intervention and durably during all follow-up. CONCLUSION: These results show that the cryoablation of primary breast lesions seems to be well suited to the palliative care of metastatic patients, particularly because of its good tolerance, low complication rate and ability to provide local or analgesic control. Advances in knowledge: Therapies are limited for these symptomatic patients at metastatic state of primary breast tumour. This study shows that cryoablation in palliative care is achievable in common practice, is effective in local control of the tumour and can provide immediate and long-term analgesic control.

Utility of routine post-therapy surveillance imaging in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PURPOSE: We examined the utility of post-therapy surveillance imaging in a large, prospectively enrolled cohort of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) from the United States and confirmed our results in an independent cohort of patients from France. METHODS: Patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL and treated with anthracycline-based immunochemotherapy were identified from the Molecular Epidemiology Resource (MER) of the University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Specialized Program of Research Excellence and the Léon Bérard Cancer Center, Lyon, France. In those with relapse, details at relapse and outcomes were abstracted from records. RESULTS: 680 individuals with DLBCL were identified from the MER, 552 (81%) of whom achieved remission after induction. 112 of the 552 patients (20%) suffered a relapse. The majority (64%) of relapses were identified before a scheduled follow-up visit. Surveillance imaging detected DLBCL relapse before clinical manifestations in nine out of 552 patients (1.6%) observed after therapy. In the Lyon cohort, imaging identified asymptomatic DLBCL relapse in four out of 222 patients (1.8%). There was no difference in survival after DLBCL relapse in patients detected at scheduled follow-up versus before scheduled follow-up in both the MER (P = .56) and Lyon cohorts (P = .25). CONCLUSION: The majority of DLBCL relapses are detected outside of planned follow-up, with no difference in outcome in patients with DLBCL detected at a scheduled visit compared with patients with relapse detected outside of planned follow-up. These data do not support the use of routine surveillance imaging for follow-up of DLBCL.

Management of patients diagnosed with atypical ductal hyperplasia by vacuum-assisted core biopsy: a prospective assessment of the guidelines used at our institution.

BACKGROUND: Because of underestimation, surgical excision is recommended for atypical ductal hyperplasia diagnosed on directional vacuum-assisted biopsies. The following guidelines have been established according to our retrospective study published in 2008: excision for lesions ≥ 21 mm, follow-up for lesions <6 mm with complete removal of microcalcifications, and follow-up or excision for 6 to 21-mm lesions with respectively less or >2 atypical ductal hyperplasia foci. METHODS AND RESULTS: These guidelines were assessed in a prospective series of 124 patients with a median follow-up of 30 months. Conformity rate was 92%. Upgrading was 28% (15 of 53 patients) for conformed surgery and absent for surgery performed beyond the scope of guidelines. For the patients with benign result at surgery (n = 38) or just followed (n = 61), 3 cancers occurred in either breast at 1 to 3 years. CONCLUSIONS: These convenient guidelines can safely spare surgery for a subset of patients. However, annual mammographic follow-up is recommended since the risk of subsequent cancer remains high for both breasts.

[Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and ovarian cancer]. / Chimiothérapie néoadjuvante et cancer de l'ovaire.

Primary surgical cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy usually is the preferred management of advanced (stage III or IV) ovarian cancer. The presence of residual disease after surgery is one of the most important adverse prognostic factors for survival. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been proposed as an alternative approach to conventional surgery as initial management of bulky ovarian cancer, with the goal of improving surgical quality. Retrospective analyses suggest that a subgroup of patients with Stage III and IV ovarian carcinoma can be treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery. The absolute indications for neoadjuvant chemotherapy appear to be Stage IV disease (excluding pleural fluid) or metastases of more than 1 g at sites where resection is impossible. Interval debulking surgery in patients with suboptimal primary debulking surgery has been proven effective in increasing overall survival and progression-free survival in a large prospective, randomized trial of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). GOG evaluated the effect of adding secondary cytoreductive surgery to postoperative chemotherapy. Unfortunately in this study, for patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma in whom primary cytoreductive surgery was considered to be maximal, the addition of secondary cytoreductive surgery to postoperative chemotherapy with paclitaxel plus cisplatin does not improve progression-free survival or overall survival. The strategy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by interval debulking surgery, should be confirmed in a prospective randomized trial. The EORTC55971 trial is currently addressing this issue.