Clinical use of Indocyanine green fluorescence method for sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer in France in 2021.

INTRODUCTION: Indocyanine green (ICG) for axillary sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection in early breast cancer is at least equivalent to radioisotopic and/or colorimetric techniques. This procedure has not yet been recommended by learned societies in France. Following the recent drug approval of Infracyanin ® in this indication, we wished to study the use of ICG in France. METHODS: We conducted a web-based survey among members of multiple French breast cancer societies throughout November 2021. The survey assessed the profile of the respondent, the use or not of ICG for the detection of SLN in breast cancer, the technique used and the opinion of non-users and their expectations on the subject. RESULTS: Seventy-five surgeons participated. More than a third (37 %) have been using ICG for the detection of SLN in breast cancer for 2 to 3 years. Technique was highly variable. According to 82.1 % of the respondents, less than 20 procedures are necessary to master the use of ICG. The main advantage reported for this method is the reduction of organizational constraints. The obstacles to the use of the ICG are the near infra-red camera equipment, but also the lack of validation by the French guidelines. Among non-users, 83 % would like to develop this technique in their center and 72.3 % are interested in training on this subject. CONCLUSION: This work highlights the need for French learned societies to take a stand on this issue but also the need to carry out studies on the technical aspects in order to standardise practices.

Is an abdominal cerclage indicated with a cervical myomectomy? A case report.

INTRODUCTION: Cervical myomectomy can compromise cervical integrity and the risk of subsequent cervical incompetence is unclear. In this case report, the literature on cervical myomectomies is reviewed as well as that on the potential benefits of cervical cerclage. CASE PRESENTATION: A 30-year-old woman, nulligravida, with a 12 cm cervical leiomyoma consulted for heavy menstrual bleeding and pelvic pain. After failure of multiple medical therapies, a laparoscopic cervical myomectomy was successfully performed after pre-operative uterine artery embolization using absorbable gelatin sponges to reduce surgical blood loss. DISCUSSION: A concomitant laparoscopic cerclage was achieved in order to prevent cervical incompetence, given that the full thickness of the anterior cervix was penetrated during the myomectomy.

No Impact of Smoking Status on Breast Cancer Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes, Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Prognosis.

Tobacco use is associated with an increase in breast cancer (BC) mortality. Pathologic complete response (pCR) rate to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is influenced by tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) levels and is associated with a better long-term survival outcome. The aim of our study is to evaluate the impact of smoking status on TIL levels, response to NAC and prognosis for BC patients. We retrospectively evaluated pre- and post-NAC stromal and intra tumoral TIL levels and pCR rates on a cohort of T1-T3NxM0 BC patients treated with NAC between 2002 and 2012 at Institut Curie. Smoking status (current, ever, never smokers) was collected in clinical records. We analyzed the association between smoking status, TIL levels, pCR rates and survival outcomes among the whole population, and according to BC subtype. Nine hundred and fifty-six BC patients with available smoking status information were included in our analysis (current smokers, n = 179 (18.7%); ever smokers, n = 154 (16.1%) and never smokers, n = 623 (65.2%)). Median pre-NAC TIL levels, pCR rates, or median post-NAC TIL levels were not significantly different according to smoking status, neither in the whole population, nor in any BC subtype group. With a median follow-up of 101.4 months, relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were not significantly different by smoking status. We did not find any significant effect of tobacco use on pre- and post-NAC TILs nor response to NAC. Though our data seem reassuring, BC treatment should still be considered as a window of opportunity to offer BC patients accurate smoking cessation interventions.

Therapeutic value of surgical paraaortic staging in locally advanced cervical cancer: a multicenter cohort analysis from the FRANCOGYN study group.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic impact of surgical paraaortic staging remains unclear in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). The objective of our study was to evaluate the survival impact of surgical staging in patients with LACC and no evidence of paraaortic lymph node (PALN) metastasis on pre-operative imaging work-up. METHODS: Data of 1447 patients with cervical cancer treated between 1996 and 2016 were extracted from maintained databases of 10 French University hospitals. Patients with locally advanced disease (IB2 or more) treated by concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT) and no evidence of paraaortic metastasis on pre-operative imaging work-up were selected for further analysis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the survival distribution. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to account for the influence of multiple variables. RESULTS: Six hundred and forty-seven patients were included, 377 (58.3%) with surgical staging and 270 (41.7%) without, with a mean follow up of 38.1 months (QI 13.0-56.0). Pathologic analysis revealed positive lymph nodes in 47 patients (12.5%). In multivariate model analysis, surgical staging remained an independent prognostic factor for DFS (OR 0.64, CI 95% 0.46-0.89, p = 0.008) and OS (OR 0.43, CI 95% 0.27-0.68, p < 0.001). The other significant parameter in multivariate analysis for both DFS and OS was treatment by intracavitary brachytherapy (OR respectively of 0.7 (0.5-1.0) and 0.6 (0.4-0.9), p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Nodal surgical staging had an independent positive impact on survival in patients with LACC treated with CRT with no evidence of metastatic PALN on imaging.