Osteopontin, WNT3A, and ABCB5 Biomarkers Expression in Osteosarcoma Patients.

 This study aimed to correlate the expression, by immunohistochemistry, of the proteins OPN, ABCB5, and WNT3A from anatomopathological materials obtained from paraffin blocks, slides, or both, from patients with osteosarcoma (OS), analyzing epidemiological characteristics, as well as their presence and influence on the evolution and progression of the disease.  After the initial case selection, we searched for the respective paraffin blocks and took only those with sufficient tumor mass to allow additional sections with no complete loss of biological material. The sarcoma area identification in representative paraffin blocks used multisample blocks (tissue microarray [TMA]) created on a BenchMark ULTRA (Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Indianapolis, IN, USA) instrument.

Lymphopenia predicts 30-day morbidity and mortality following spinal metastasis surgery.

Background: Therapeutic decision-making regarding surgical treatment of spinal metastasis is supported by clinical characteristics that are potentially predictive of postoperative events. The predictive power of total lymphocyte count (TLC) in peripheral blood has not been elucidated for this type of surgery. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the capacity of TLC to predict 30-day morbidity and mortality following surgery for spinal metastases.

ASSESSING PSYCHOSOCIAL DISTRESS IN BONE METASTASES TREATED WITH ENDOPROSTHESIS.

Objective: To compare preoperative and early postoperative levels of psychosocial distress in patients undergoing bone metastasis treatment with endoprosthesis, evaluating its impact on quality of life.

Methods: Thirteen patients undergoing endoprosthetic treatment of bone metastasis were assessed at two time points: preoperatively and 30 days postoperatively. The tool used was the Distress Thermometer, a questionnaire for psychosocial screening developed by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.