Neoadjuvant denosumab: its role and results in operable cases of giant cell tumour of bone.

AIMS: The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of preoperative denosumab in achieving prospectively decided intention of therapy in operable giant cell tumour of bone (GCTB) patients, and to document local recurrence-free survival (LRFS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 44 patients received preoperative denosumab: 22 to facilitate curettage, 16 to facilitate resection, and six with intent of converting resection to curettage. There were 26 male and 18 female patients. The mean age was 27 years (13 to 47). RESULTS: The mean number of denosumab treatments was five (2 to 7) per patient. In 42 of 44 patients (95%), denosumab helped to achieve prospectively decided intention. A total of 41 patients were available for follow-up at a mean follow-up of 34 months (24 to 48). There were 12 local recurrences (29%), in 11 patients (11/25, 44%) who had curettage and in one patient (1/16, 6%) who had resection. The mean time to local recurrence was 16 months (8 to 25). The LRFS was 76% at two years: 94% for cases with resection and 64% for cases with curettage (p = 0.013). CONCLUSION: Although local control rates are unlikely to improve with use of preoperative denosumab, a short preoperative course of denosumab can facilitate surgery in certain cases of operable GCTB, with a high risk of local recurrence making curettage or resection technically easier. It may also help in converting a lesion requiring resection to a lesion that could possibly be treated with curettage.

Laparoscopic Live Donor Nephrectomy: Comparison of Outcomes Right Versus Left.

OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes between right- and left-sided laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy (LDN). Left LDN (LLDN) remains the side of choice whenever possible because the left renal vein is longer; however, there are some donors in whom the right kidney is taken for donation due to anatomical or functional reasons. Right LDN (RLDN) is perceived to be difficult due to anatomical factors. Therefore, many surgeons have a bias for left kidney donation or will do right side donation as an open donor nephrectomy. At our institution, we routinely perform RLDN when indicated and herein compare the outcomes between right- and left-sided LDN. METHODS: From January 2007 to January 2017, 1850 laparoscopic donor nephrectomies were conducted at the Max Super Speciality Hospital. Of these, 168 were right-sided donor nephrectomies and 1682 were left-sided donor nephrectomies. All the donor case records were retrospectively reviewed; the operative time, warm ischemia time, intraoperative events, blood loss, and postoperative parameters were recorded. The kidney recipient data were also recorded. RESULTS: The donor demographic characteristics were comparable between 2 groups. Among other variables, operating time was significantly less in RLDN (120 minutes) versus the LLDN group (146 minutes). Intraoperative estimated blood loss (118 mL in RLDN; 126 mL in LLDN), warm ischemia time (4.8 minutes in RLDN; 5.2 minutes in LLDN) and hospital stay (4.2 days in RLDN; 4.3 days in LLDN) was comparable. Vascular complications occurred in four patients in the RLDN group and six cases in the LLDN group. Recipient outcomes were comparable. CONCLUSIONS: With adequate experience, RLDN can be accomplished in a safe manner with comparable outcomes to LLDN.

Does a less intensive surveillance protocol affect the survival of patients after treatment of a sarcoma of the limb? updated results of the randomized TOSS study.

AIMS: A single-centre prospective randomized trial was conducted to investigate whether a less intensive follow-up protocol would not be inferior to a conventional follow-up protocol, in terms of overall survival, in patients who have undergone surgery for sarcoma of the limb. Initial short-term results were published in 2014. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The primary objective was to show non-inferiority of a chest radiograph (CXR) group compared with a CT scan group, and of a less frequent (six-monthly) group than a more frequent (three-monthly) group, in two-by-two comparison. The primary outcome was overall survival and the secondary outcome was a recurrence-free survival. Five-year survival was compared between the CXR and CT scan groups and between the three-monthly and six-monthly groups. Of 500 patients who were enrolled, 476 were available for follow-up. Survival analyses were performed on a per-protocol basis (n = 412). RESULTS: The updated results recorded 12 (2.4%) local recurrences, 182 (36.8%) metastases, and 56 (11.3%) combined (local + metastases) recurrence at a median follow-up of 81 months (60 to 118). Of 68 local recurrences, 60 (88%) were identified by the patients themselves. The six-monthly regime (overall survival (OS) 54%, recurrence-free survival (RFS) 46%) did not lead to a worse survival and was not inferior to the three-monthly regime (OS 55%, RFS 47%) in terms of detecting recurrence. Although CT scans (OS 53%, RFS 54%) detected pulmonary metastasis earlier, it did not lead to a better survival compared with CXR (OS 56%, RFS 59%). CONCLUSION: The overall survival of patients who are treated for a sarcoma of the limb is not inferior to those followed up with a less intensive regimen than a more intensive protocol, in terms of frequency of visits and mode of imaging. CXR at six-monthly intervals and patient education about examination of the site of the surgery will detect most recurrences without deleterious effects on the eventual outcome. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2018;100-B:262-8.

Histopathologic review of 400 biopsies and resection specimens of trunk and extremity-based soft tissue tumors.

AIMS: To review various pathologic parameters in diagnosed cases of trunk and extremity-based soft tissue tumors (STTs), in order to identify concordance rate between initial biopsy and resection specimen and discrepancies between initial and review diagnosis, by a specialist pathologist. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Over a 2-year-period, 400 retrospectively diagnosed STTs (553 specimens) including referral and "in-house" cases were studied. The reviewing specialist pathologist was blinded to the initial diagnoses. Discordances including discrepancies and deficiencies were defined as major and minor. Major discrepancies included those that could lead to significant treatment changes. True discrepancies were those related to sampling issues between the biopsies and resection specimens. Deficiencies relating to tumor subtyping, sarcoma grading, documentation of tumor size, and marginal status (in resections) were subdivided as major and minor. RESULTS: Most cases (328, 82%) were sarcomas (most common, synovial sarcoma; most common Stage, III), followed by benign tumors (36, 9%) (most common, schwannoma) and intermediate malignancies (32, 8%) (most common, fibromatosis). Within STTs, liposarcomas, neural tumors, and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcomas were relatively more frequently associated with discrepancies. Percentage of cases with major discordances between the referral reports (100 cases) and review diagnosis was 60%. Percentage of cases with major discordances between the specialist and other oncopathologists was 11%. True discrepancies were observed in 20 (5%) cases. The association of type of specimen with the rate of discordance was not significant (P = 0.114). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnoses of STTs are fraught with errors mostly from general pathologists, followed by nonspecialist oncopathologists. These findings reinforce the need for reporting of STTs, especially sarcomas, by specialist pathologists.

Clinical significance of geographic miss when using conventional four field radiotherapy technique in treatment of locally advanced carcinoma cervix.

BACKGROUND: Although conventional four- field radiotherapy based on bony landmarks has been traditionally used, areas of geographical miss due to individual variation in pelvic anatomy have been identified with advanced imaging techniques. AIMS: The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the geographical miss in patientswhen using the conventional four-field planningplanning and to find out the impact of 3-D conformal CT based in patients with locally advanced carcinoma cervix. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 50 patients, target volume delineation was done on planning computed tomography (CT) scans, according to guidelines by Taylor et al. Patients were treated with modified four field plan, except for the superior, where field border was kept at L4-L5 interspace A dosimetric comparison was done between the conventional four-field based on bony landmarks and the target volume delineated on computed tomography. The disease free survival, pelvic and para aortic nodal free survival, distant failures free survival were calculated using Kaplan Meir Product Limit Method. RESULTS: Patients were followed-up for a median period of 11 months. The median V95 for conventional and modified extended four field plans were 89.4% and 91.3% respectively. Patients with V95 for modified extended pelvic fields less than 91.3% had a trend toward inferior disease free survival (mean DFS 9.8 vs. 13.9 months) though the difference was not statistically significant log rank test. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary data shows trend toward lower DFS in patients with inadequate target volume coverage. We recommend routine use of CT based planning for four field technique.

Epidemiological data and case load spectrum of patients presenting to bone and soft tissue disease management group at a tertiary cancer center.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to know the spectrum and number of bone and soft tissue (BST) tumors presenting to our institute. We needed to assess the gap between the number of patients seen and infrastructure available, and based on this information, help formulate guidelines for optimum utilization of resources and to provide best possible evidence-based cancer care. SETTINGS AND DESIGNS: This is a prospective observational study (epidemiological). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included all new patients seen in BST-disease management group (DMG) in the year 2010. An audit form was devised to capture all the relevant information. A comparison of our data with other national and international studies was also done. RESULTS: Out of total 31,951 new patients registered at our institute, 2007 patients availed BST-DMG services. Sixty percent were bone tumors and 36% were soft tissue tumors. In bone tumor, 66% were malignant, 15% were benign, and 19% were non-neoplastic. Osteosarcoma (43%) was the most common malignant tumor followed by primitive neuroectodermal tumor/Ewing's (27%) and chondrosarcoma (11%). Giant cell tumor was the most common benign bone tumor. Eighty-one percent of all soft tissue lesions were malignant, of which 75% were of mesenchymal origin and 25% were of cutaneous origin. CONCLUSION: This is an attempt to document the epidemiology of musculoskeletal tumors presenting to our institution while guiding the institute to frame and implement disease-specific protocols and generate further research questions. Continued data collection and follow-up can provide valuable information on long-term survival and treatment-related toxicities. This data (within limitations) may be extrapolated to national level to identify the need for infrastructure and human resources.

Does magnetic resonance imaging accurately predict residual disease after unplanned excision of soft-tissue sarcomas?

BACKGROUND: Often, it is difficult to assess the presence of residual disease after an unplanned excision in soft-tissue sarcomas. Inadequate excision leads to disease recurrence and inferior oncological outcomes while unnecessary excision may lead to additional surgical procedures with inherent morbidity and increased cost of treatment. There is a paucity of literature comparing the preoperative imaging findings with the final histopathology report to accurately assess the presence of residual disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The clinical details of 55 patients who had oncological scar excision after unplanned prior excision were retrieved. Histopathological evaluation of scar was compared with presurgery magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the presence of residual disease. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value (NPV) of MRI for detection of residual disease were calculated. RESULTS: On MRI, residual disease was seen in 28 cases, no disease in 24 cases whereas findings of three patients were indeterminate. On final histopathology, residual disease was present in 30 (55%) patients whereas no residual tumor was seen in 25 (45%) patients. Two patients in whom MRI suggested the presence of residual disease had no tumor on final histopathology. No evidence of residual disease was reported in MRI of 24 patients. Of these, twenty patients were confirmed to have no tumor on final histopathology, whereas four patients had a residual tumor. Sensitivity: 86.66%, specificity: 90.90%, positive predictive value (PPV): 92.85%, NPV: 83.33%. CONCLUSION: MRI can aid in preoperative planning by identifying the site and extent of the previous surgery. It has a high PPV (92%) for detection of residual disease. However, a negative scan (NPV 83%) does not reliably exclude the presence of residual disease.

Surgical site infection rates in six cities of India: findings of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC).

BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections are a threat to patient safety. However, in India, data on their rates stratified by surgical procedure are not available. METHODS: From January 2005 to December 2011, the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) conducted a cohort prospective surveillance study on surgical site infections in 10 hospitals in 6 Indian cities. CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (CDC-NHSN) methods were applied and surgical procedures were classified into 11 types, according to the ninth edition of the International Classification of Diseases. RESULTS: We documented 1189 surgical site infections, associated with 28 340 surgical procedures (4.2%; 95% CI: 4.0-4.4). Surgical site infections rates were compared with INICC and CDC-NHSN reports, respectively: 4.3% for coronary bypass with chest and donor incision (4.5% vs 2.9%); 8.3% for breast surgery (1.7% vs 2.3%); 6.5% for cardiac surgery (5.6% vs 1.3%); 6.0% for exploratory abdominal surgery (4.1% vs 2.0%), among others. CONCLUSIONS: In most types of surgical procedures, surgical site infections rates were higher than those reported by the CDC-NHSN, but similar to INICC. This study is an important advancement towards the knowledge of surgical site infections epidemiology in the participating Indian hospitals that will allow us to introduce targeted interventions.

Outcomes after limb sparing resection in primary malignant pelvic tumors.

AIM: To evaluate morbidity, oncologic results and functional outcome in patients with malignant tumors of pelvis treated with limb sparing resection. METHODS: Between March 2002 and November 2010, 106 cases of non metastatic malignant pelvic tumors were treated with limb sparing resections of pelvis. Diagnosis included chondrosarcoma (65), Ewing's sarcoma (25), osteogenic sarcoma (10), synovial sarcoma (3) and malignant fibrous histiocytoma, high grade sarcoma, epitheloid hemangiothelioma (1 each). Three patients had intralesional surgery because of erroneous pre-operative diagnosis of benign tumor and were excluded from final analysis. Remaining 103 patients underwent limb sparing resections with intent to achieve tumor free margins. In 1 case, an intraoperative cardiac event lead to the surgery being abandoned. Reconstruction was done in 2 of 38 cases that did not include resection of acetabulum. For 64 resections involving acetabulum various reconstruction modalities were used. RESULTS: Surgical margins were involved in 20 patients. Forty five patients had complications. 91 patients were available for follow up. Follow up of survivors ranged from 24 to 122 months (mean 55 months).Twenty one patients (23%) had local recurrence. Sixty patients are currently alive, 46 being continuously disease free. Overall survival was 67% at 5 years. Patients in whom acetabulum was retained had better function (mean MSTS score 27) compared to patients in whom acetabulum was resected (mean MSTS score 22). CONCLUSIONS: Though complex and challenging, limb sparing surgery in non metastatic malignant tumors is oncologically safe and has better functional outcomes than after an amputation surgery.

Gelatin-thrombin hemostatic matrix injection to salvage refractory post-renal graft biopsy bleed.

Post-renal biopsy bleeding refractory to angioembolization usually requires graft nephrectomy as a life-saving measure. Gelatin-thrombin hemostatic matrix injection in the needle tract is a novel attempt to control bleeding in such cases and to salvage the allograft. We hereby describe two cases of post-graft biopsy bleed. Both these patients continued to bleed even after angioembolization. They were shifted to the operating room upon developing hypotension, having received multiple blood transfusions with the intention of performing graft nephrectomy to save their lives. However, bleeding was successfully controlled by using Gelatin-thrombin hemostatic matrix injection in the biopsy needle tract. Patients improved hemodynamically after the procedure. Graft function returned to normal in both the cases. At an average follow-up of 10.4 months, both the patients have shown stable graft functions.

The results of total humeral replacement following excision for primary bone tumour.

Rarely, the extent of a malignant bone tumour may necessitate resection of the complete humerus to achieve adequate oncological clearance. We present our experience with reconstruction in such cases using a total humeral endoprosthesis (THER) in 20 patients (12 male and eight female) with a mean age of 22 years (6 to 59). We assessed the complications, the oncological and functional outcomes and implant survival. Surgery was performed between June 2001 and October 2009. The diagnosis included osteosarcoma in nine, Ewing's sarcoma in eight and chondrosarcoma in three. One patient was lost to follow-up. The mean follow-up was 41 months (10 to 120) for all patients and 56 months (25 to 120) in survivors. There were five local recurrences (26.3%) and 11 patients were alive at time of last follow-up, with overall survival for all patients being 52% (95% confidence interval (CI) 23.8 to 74) at five years. The mean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score for the survivors was 22 (73%; 16 to 23). The implant survival was 95% (95% CI 69.5 to 99.3) at five years. The use of a THER in the treatment of malignant tumours of bone is oncologically safe; it gives consistent and predictable results with low rates of complication.

The outcome of the treatment of diaphyseal primary bone sarcoma by resection, irradiation and re-implantation of the host bone: extracorporeal irradiation as an option for reconstruction in diaphyseal bone sarcomas.

We analysed the outcome of patients with primary non-metastatic diaphyseal sarcomas who had en bloc resection with preservation of the adjoining joints and reconstruction with re-implantation of sterilised tumour bone after extracorporeal radiation (50 Gy). Between March 2005 and September 2009, 32 patients (16 Ewing's sarcoma and 16 osteogenic sarcoma) with a mean age of 15 years (2 to 35) underwent this procedure. The femur was the most common site in 17 patients, followed by the tibia in 11, humerus in three and ulna in one. The mean resected length of bone was 19 cm (10 to 26). A total of 31 patients were available at a mean follow-up of 34 months (12 to 74). The mean time to union for all osteotomy sites was 7.3 months (3 to 28): metaphyseal osteotomy sites united quicker than diaphyseal osteotomy sites (5.8 months (3 to 10) versus 9.5 months (4 to 28)). There were three local recurrences, all in soft-tissue away from irradiated graft. At the time of final follow-up, 19 patients were free of disease, one was alive with disease and 11 had died of disease. The mean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Score for 29 patients evaluated at the last follow-up was 26 (9 to 30). Extracorporeal irradiation is an oncologically safe and inexpensive technique for limb salvage in diaphyseal sarcomas and has good functional results.

Vascular patterns in basal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Dermoscopy has been proved to increase the diagnostic accuracy of basal cell carcinoma (BCC). OBJECTIVE: To characterize the type and frequency of vascular patterns in superficial and nodular BCCs. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed the dermoscopic images of 504 histopathologically proven BCCs. RESULTS: The most common vascular pattern was represented by arborizing vessels (306/504; 60.7%), which were significantly more frequent in nodular BCCs (nBCCs) compared with superficial BCCs (sBCCs), and in pigmented sBCCs vs. non-pigmented sBCCs (P<0.0001). Short fine telangectasias (SFTs) were found in 33.1% (167/504) of cases and were significantly more frequent in sBCCs compared with nBCCs (P<0.0001). Hairpin vessels were detected in 52/504 (10.3%) BCCs. Minor vascular patterns included glomerular vessels (41/504; 8.1%), dotted (21/504; 4.2%), comma vessels (5/504; 1.0%) and polymorphous pattern (9/504; 1.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Arborizing vessels are prototypic of nBCCs, whereas SFTs are characteristics of sBCCs. Differential diagnosis with squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma is mandatory when a polymorphous pattern is detected.

Ulnar translocation after excision of a Campanacci grade-3 giant-cell tumour of the distal radius: an effective method of reconstruction.

Between June 2005 and March 2008, 14 patients with a Campanacci grade-3 giant-cell tumour of the distal radius were treated by en bloc resection and reconstruction by ulnar translocation with arthrodesis of the wrist. The mean length of radius resected was 7.9 cm (5.5 to 15). All the patients were followed to bony union and 12 were available at a mean follow-up of 26 months (10 to 49). The mean time to union was four months (3 to 7) at the ulnocarpal junction and five months (3 to 8) at the ulnoradial junction. All except one patient had an excellent range of pronation and supination. The remaining patient developed a radio-ulnar synostosis. The mean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score was 26 (87%, range 20 to 28). Three patients had a soft-tissue recurrence, but with no bony involvement. They underwent a further excision and are currently well and free from disease. Ulnar translocation provides a local vascularised bone graft to reconstruct the defect left after excision of the distal radius for giant cell tumour. It avoids the need for a microvascular procedure while retaining rotation of the forearm and good function of the hand.

Teledermoscopy: education, discussion forums, teleconsulting and mobile teledermoscopy.

Teledermoscopy has become in the last years one of the most florid reality of teledermatology. Parallel to the achievement of dermoscopy in clinical settings, teledermoscopy has grown in different fields, namely tele-education and teleconsulting. Blogs, atlases, discussion forums, on line courses and Diploma Courses do not only offer a second opinion consultation but give the opportunity to residents in dermatology and dermatologists with different level of expertise in dermoscopy to easily learn at home, to train or to improve their level in dermoscopy. On the other side, in some countries demand for melanoma screening has led to commercialization of "teledermoscopy" by different companies. Images nowadays can be transmitted over telecommunication networks not only via e-mail or a specific web application but also with last generation cellular phones. This reality opens the new incoming field of mobile teledermatology. Mobile teledermoscopy is a new horizon that might become in the future the basis of the self examination of pigmented skin lesions as a screening tool for malignant cutaneous tumors or to follow-up of high risk patients.