Bone marrow micrometastases do not impact disease-free and overall survival in early stage sentinel lymph node-negative breast cancer patients.

Background: The presence of lymph node metastases is the most important prognostic factor in early stage breast cancer. Whether bone marrow micrometastases (BMM) impact the prognosis in sentinel lymph node (SLN)-negative breast cancer patients remains a matter of debate. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the impact of BMM on 5-year disease-free and overall survival among those patients.

CD34+ cord blood cell-transplanted Rag2-/- gamma(c)-/- mice as a model for Epstein-Barr virus infection.

Recent studies suggest that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can infect naïve B cells, driving them to differentiate into resting memory B cells via the germinal center reaction. This hypothesis has been inferred from parallels with the biology of normal B cells but has never been proven experimentally. Rag2(-/-) gamma(c)(-/-) mice that were transplanted with human CD34(+) cord blood cells as newborns were recently shown to develop human B, T, and dendritic cells, constituting lymphoid organs in situ.

Human T cell development and HIV infection in human hemato-lymphoid system mice.

Advances in generation of mice that on human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell transplantation develop and maintain human hemato-lymphoid cells have fueled an already thriving field of research. We focus here on human T cell development and HIV infection in Rag2 -/- gamma(c) -/- mice transplanted as newborns with human CD34+ cord blood hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

Accuracy of frozen section of sentinel lymph nodes: a prospective analysis of 659 breast cancer patients of the Swiss multicenter study.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of sentinel lymph node (SLN) frozen section in a prospective multicenter study of early-stage breast cancer patients.

Summary Background Data: The decision to perform an immediate completion axillary node dissection (ALND) is based on results of SLN frozen section. However, SLN frozen sections are not routinely performed in all centers.

Morbidity of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLN) alone versus SLN and completion axillary lymph node dissection after breast cancer surgery: a prospective Swiss multicenter study on 659 patients.

Objective: To assess the morbidity after sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy compared with SLN and completion level I and II axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in a prospective multicenter study.

Summary Background Data: ALND after breast cancer surgery is associated with considerable morbidity. We hypothesized: 1) that the morbidity in patients undergoing SLN biopsy only is significantly lower compared with those after SLN and completion ALND level I and II; and 2) that SLN biopsy can be performed with similar intermediate term morbidity in academic and nonacademic centers.

Association of the presence of bone marrow micrometastases with the sentinel lymph node status in 410 early stage breast cancer patients: results of the Swiss Multicenter Study.

Background: The sentinel lymph node (SLN) status has proven to accurately reflect the remaining axillary lymph nodes and represents the most important prognostic factor. It is unknown whether an association exists between the SLN status and the presence of bone marrow (BM) micrometastases. The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate whether or not such an association exists.

The prognosis of agenesis of the corpus callosum might mostly be favourable.

The post-natal development of 6 patients with complete agenesis of the corpus callosum was assessed. The diagnosis of agenesis of the corpus callosum had been suspected prenatally in 3 cases. In the remaining 3 cases diagnostic neuro-imaging was performed because of partial seizures (n = 2) and pendular nystagmus (n = 1).

Partial irradiation of the breast: Old challenges, new solutions.

Breast-conserving treatment, characteristically consisting of surgical removal of the tumor and post-operative whole breast irradiation, is nowadays considered as the standard therapeutic approach for most women with stage I/II, invasive breast cancer. Recently, a number of institutions started investigating the feasibility and safety of novel approaches in radiotherapy, modulating concomitantly treatment time and irradiation volume. Whilst this strategy is still under investigation, recent clinical studies on accelerated partial breast irradiation with intra-operative radiotherapy or high conformality irradiation strongly suggest that the way patients with early breast cancer are irradiated should be revisited.

Human adaptive immune system Rag2-/-gamma(c)-/- mice.

Although many biologic principles are conserved in mice and humans, species-specific differences exist, for example, in susceptibility and response to pathogens, that often do not allow direct implementation of findings in experimental mice to humans. Research in humans, however, for ethical and practical reasons, is largely restricted to in vitro assays that lack components and the complexity of a living organism. To nevertheless study the human hematopoietic and immune system in vivo, xenotransplantation assays have been developed that substitute human components to small animals.

Development of a human adaptive immune system in cord blood cell-transplanted mice.

Because ethical restrictions limit in vivo studies of the human hemato-lymphoid system, substitute human to small animal xenotransplantation models have been employed. Existing models, however, sustain only limited development and maintenance of human lymphoid cells and rarely produce immune responses. Here we show that intrahepatic injection of CD34+ human cord blood cells into conditioned newborn Rag2-/-gammac-/- mice leads to de novo development of B, T, and dendritic cells; formation of structured primary and secondary lymphoid organs; and production of functional immune responses.

Mammareconstruction with skin-expander and silicone prostheses: 15 years' experience.

We report on 170 breasts that were reconstructed with Skin-Expander and silicone implants over a period of 15 years [1,2]. Reconstruction occurred primarily in only about one-third of the cases, since the information provided by the first doctor in charge regarding the possibilities of breast reconstruction was rather scanty. In cases treated with radiotherapy, reconstruction with Skin-Expander should not be excluded, but it is necessary to proceed with extreme caution and to give patients exact information.

Hysteroscopy in the assessment of postmenopausal bleeding.

Although postmenopausal bleeding (PMPB) is a frequent problem in clinical practice and as such has major clinical relevance, the management strategies are often quite different. This review, after an introduction describing the various causes of PMPB, analyses in which order diagnostic procedures are indicated. There is much concern in decreasing the rate of invasive procedures; this is possible with the aid of transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) which is very reliable in excluding endometrial cancer at a thickness of < or = 4 mm.

[Guideline for the diagnosis of postmenopausal bleeding. PMPB Working Group of the SGGG].

2.1. History and clinical-gynecological investigation including a Pap smear are the first step in the clarification.

The value of transvaginal sonography with and without saline instillation in the diagnosis of uterine pathology in pre- and postmenopausal women with abnormal bleeding or suspect sonographic findings.

In this prospective study, 139 patients, 83 premenopausal patients with abnormal uterine bleeding and 56 postmenopausal patients either with metrorrhagia (33) or a suspect sonographic finding (23), were examined preoperatively with transvaginal sonography (TVS) and saline contrast hysterosonography (SCHS). The histological results, obtained by hysteroscopy, were compared with the preoperative findings. Uterine pathology (benign polyps, submucous fibroids, endometrial hyperplasia and carcinoma) was found in 74.

Postpartum periarticular hip abscess with later coxitis caused by group B streptococcus.

Intrapartum haematogenous spread of vaginal group B Streptococcus is rare, but it can lead to severe complications like abscesses, endocarditis and meningitis postpartum. We report a postpartum periarticular hip abscess caused by group B Streptococcus. Clinically it caused pain in the hip and a compression of the femoral nerve with motor and sensory component.

[Effect of primary surgical treatment on breast reconstruction].

How the primary surgical treatment influences the mamma reconstruction, we show on examples. If the ablatio has been made correctly, the reconstruction can be realized with a simple technique.

[Ulcerated breast cancer of the young patient: a case report].

A 29-year-old woman presented with an exulcerating cancer of the right breast. She underwent a total mastectomy and axillary clearance which revealed a pathological stage of T4 N+ (21/23) M0. She received chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy and by chemotherapy again.