1,720,973 research outputs found
Evaluation of a breast cancer nomogram for predicting the likelihood of additional nodal metastases in patients with a positive sentinel node biopsy
No full textAIM:Completion axillary lymph node dissection (CALND) performed as a standard procedure after a positive sentinel node biopsy (SLNB) in breast cancer patients results, in almost 40-70% of cases, in no additional positive nodes. A nomogram has been developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) to predict the likelihood of nonsentinel node metastases (NSLNM) after a positive SLNB. Aim of study was to assess the accuracy of MSKCC nomogram in our community breast cancer population.
MATERIAL OF STUDY:
From a retrospective database of 276 breast cancer patients we evaluated 62 consecutive cases who underwent CALND after a positive SLNB. Patient and tumor characteristics were collected and the nomogram was used to calculate the probability of NSLNM. The accuracy of MSKCC nomogram was tested by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. The Area Under the Curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were calculated for a 10% cut-off value.
RESULTS:
Presence of macrometastases (p=0.03) and its extranodal extension (p=0.013) in sentinel node were associated with NSLNM, while other tumor and patient characteristics were not. The accuracy of MSKCC nomogram as measured by AUC was 0.67. The nomogram showed 95% sensitivity and 14% specificity. We revised the nomogram by incorporating the presence of extranodal extension and we obtained a new test with improved specificity (84%).
DISCUSSION:
The modified predictive model is a useful tool in predicting the likelihood of NSLNM in our cohort of patients and may help decision regarding the need of completion axillary lymph node dissectio
Clinicopathologic factors predicting involvement of nonsentinel axillary lymphnodes in breast cancer patients: is axillary dissection always indicated?
No full textAIM: The aim of this study was to determine factors that predict non-sentinel axillary lymph nodes (NSLNs) metastases in breast cancer patients with positive sentinel node biopsy (SLNB). MATERIAL OF STUDY: We reviewed the records of a consecutive series of 176 breast cancer patients who underwent SLNB at our institution. From the database we analysed those cases with one or more positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in order to determine factors predicting NSLN metastases.
RESULTS: From a series of 176 consecutive patients, we evaluated 41 cases (23.3%) with positive SLNB. Subsequent completion axillary lymph node dissection (CALND) revealed NSLN metastases in 15 cases (36.6%). The significant variables predictive of NSLN involvement were the presence of macrometastases with extranodal extension (p = 0.048), the presence of more than one positive SLN (p = 0.08) and a ratio between positive SLN and SLNs globally dissected higher than 0.5 (p = 0.05).
DISCUSSION: CALND is the gold standard for patients with positive SLNB, but results, in almost 40-70% of cases, in no additional positive nodes and its therapeutic benefit remains controversial. Clinicopathologic factors predictive of NSLN metastases may be useful in identifying a subset of patients with lower risk of further axillary involvement.
CONCLUSIONS: In patients with early breast carcinoma and a positive SLNB, the size of SLN metastases, the presence of extranodal extension, more than one positive SLN and a nodal ratio higher than 0.5 are the factors that significantly increase the frequency of additional axillary positive lymph nodes
BREAST CYTOLOGY: AN EXAMPLE OF STRONG SYNERGY BETWEEN MORFOLOGY AND CLINICAL NEEDS
No full textBreast Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) represents first choice diagnostic tool to determine mammographic lesions and clinically palpable breast nodules. FNAC is affected anyway by a certain degree of subjectiveness, that is more evident with the so- called “grey zone” cases (the ones not clearly benign or not clearly malignant) and when there are some doubts about material adequacy. These situations may create some misunderstandings between clinicians and pathologists with possible over or undertreatment for patients. The need for clear communication is extremely important, but it becomes a priority in senology because of the multidisciplinary aspects of the field. For this reasons a breast cytology reporting system has been proposed since 1993 within a U.K. mammographic breast screening programme. From our experience we think only a cytological exam with well demonstrated and well documented quality which satisfies those criteria suggested by guidelines will be able to play a key role in patients’ clinical management. It will allow reducing as much as possible diagnostic biopsies on benign lesions and frozen sections to confirm malignant lesions.We believe that a good quality cytology can provide an important and relevant contribution to define breast lesions’ nature without using other invasive procedures and to obtain in most cases good material for subsequent molecular investigations.
Cytological approach to breast lesions was also validated in Breast Unit of Trieste during EUSOMA certification visit
Comparison between male and female breast cancer survival using propensity score matching analysis
Full text linkMale breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease. The few studies on MBC reported conflicting data regarding survival outcomes compared to women. This study has two objectives: to describe the characteristics of a single-cohort of MBC and to compare overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) between men and women using the propensity score matching (PSM) analysis. We considered MBC patients (n = 40) diagnosed between January 2004 and May 2019. Clinical, pathological, oncological and follow-up data were analyzed. Univariate analysis was performed to determine the prognostic factors on OS and DFS for MBC. We selected female patients with BC (n = 2678). To minimize the effect of the imbalance of the prognostic factors between the two cohorts, the PSM method (1:3 ratio) was applied and differences in survival between the two groups were assessed. The average age of MBC patients was 73 years. The 5-year OS and DFS rates were 76.7% and 72.2% respectively. The prognostic factors that significantly influenced OS and DFS were tumor size and lymph node status. After the PSM, 5 year-OS was similar between MBC and FBC (72.9% vs 72.3%, p = 0.70) while we found a worse DFS for MBC (72.2% vs 91.4%, p = 0.03). Our data confirmed previous reported MBC characteristics: we found a higher risk of recurrence in MBC compared to FMC but similar OS. MBC and FMC are different entities and studies are needed to understand its epidemiology and guide its management
Breast citology
No full textFine needle aspiration (FNA) has traditionally been regarded as the simplest, less invasive and less expensive diagnostic procedure for the definition of breast lesions. In expert hands, it allows obtaining an accurate diagnosis in most breast lesions.
The introduction of widespread mammographic screeningprogrammes and the consequent detection of a large number of small, non-palpable lesions have increasingly brought to the routine use of other minimally invasive biopsy methods using heavier gauge cutting needles – the so-called core biopsies (CB) and other automatic, imaging-guideddevices, such as vacuum assisted biopsies (VAB) – partially obscuring the central role of FNA. Recently, new recommendations propose to definitively abandon FNA, restricting all morphological investigations to CB.Has FNA completely lost its role as to let us to remove it from the routine diagnostic practice? In our personal experience from the breast unit of Trieste, where there systematic use of FNA is available, it is proved that this method may bring to a definitive diagnosis 2/3 of the lesions investigated. The unjustified abandonment of the technique by breast healthcare centres must be avoided, since it could only have negative repercussions on the whole preoperative diagnostics.it is necessary for the pathologists to guarantee the maintenance of their professional expertise in this field, and to transmit it to the young
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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