Improved long-term survival after resection of colorectal liver metastases following staging with FDG positron emission tomography.

Background And Objectives: Actual long-term survival of patients with colorectal liver metastases staged by PET CT has not been reported. Objectives were to investigate whether PET CT staging results in actual improved long-term survival, to examine outcome in patients with 'equivocal' PET CT scans, and those excluded from hepatectomy by PET CT.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients undergoing hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastases between March 1998 and September 2008.

Randomized controlled trial of forward-planned intensity modulated radiotherapy for early breast cancer: interim results at 2 years.

Purpose: This single-center randomized trial was designed to investigate whether intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) reduces late toxicity in patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Methods And Materials: The standard tangential plans of 1,145 nonselected patients were analyzed. The patients with inhomogeneous plans were randomized to a simple method of forward-planned IMRT or standard radiotherapy (RT).

Long term outcome following repeat transsphenoidal surgery for recurrent endocrine-inactive pituitary adenomas.

It is widely accepted that the standard first-line treatment for most endocrine inactive pituitary macroadenomas (EIA) is surgery, usually via a transsphenoidal approach. What is less clear is what approach to take when these tumors recur, especially when this recurrence involves areas which are difficult to surgically remove tumor from, such as the suprasellar region or cavernous sinuses. We present long term follow-up for a series of 81 patients who underwent repeat surgery for recurrent non-secreting pituitary adenomas.

A randomised controlled trial of forward-planned radiotherapy (IMRT) for early breast cancer: baseline characteristics and dosimetry results.

Background And Purpose: This large trial was designed to investigate whether correction of dose inhomogeneities using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) reduces late toxicity and improves quality of life in patients with early breast cancer. This paper reports baseline characteristics of trial participants and dosimetry results.

Materials And Methods: Standard tangential plans of 1145 trials were analysed.

Incidence of severe capsular contracture following implant-based immediate breast reconstruction with or without postoperative chest wall radiotherapy using 40 Gray in 15 fractions.

Purpose: To determine the incidence of capsular contracture (CC) requiring revisional surgery in patients receiving postoperative radiotherapy (RT) or no RT following mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction.

Material And Methods: One hundred and seventy-eight immediate breast reconstructions performed at the Cambridge Breast Unit between 1.1.

Pre-operative dopamine agonist therapy improves post-operative tumor control following prolactinoma resection.

Objective: Normalization of serum prolactin concentrations in patients with prolactinomas is an accepted endpoint of therapy. Clinical signs and symptoms of hyperprolactinemia are usually resolved when prolactin levels are lowered to within the normal range. While most patients are treated with dopamine agonist drugs, some patients require surgical resection of their tumors.

Long-term recurrence and mortality after surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy for nonfunctional pituitary adenomas.

Object: Long-term outcomes following surgery for nonfunctional pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) are unclear. The role of adjuvant radiation therapy is therefore controversial because it is associated with higher tumor control but also carries known long-term morbidity. The authors' aim was to determine predictors of recurrence and overall survival and to define patient subgroups that may benefit from radiotherapy.

Pediatric intracranial aneurysms: durability of treatment following microsurgical and endovascular management.

Object: Longer life expectancies and differences in the underlying disease in children with aneurysms raise important issues concerning the choice of microsurgical or endovascular therapy. The authors reviewed their experience at one institution regarding patients treated between 1977 and 2003, focusing on the issue of treatment durability.

Methods: Forty-three aneurysms in 32 pediatric patients were identified.

Adoption of new surgical technology.

Surgeons and patients seeking improved treatment often forget that a new technique is not necessarily a better one

Transsphenoidal microsurgery for Cushing's disease: initial outcome and long-term results.

Untreated Cushing's disease and the resultant chronically elevated glucocorticoid levels lead to severe metabolic disturbances, including diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, muscle wasting, and osteoporosis. Although transsphenoidal resection has become the standard of care for Cushing's disease with high initial success rates, little information is available on the long-term morbidity and mortality of patients in remission compared with patients with recurrent or persistent Cushing's disease after such treatment. We therefore conducted a retrospective study of 289 patients with Cushing's disease who underwent transsphenoidal microsurgery for an ACTH-secreting adenoma at a tertiary care center exclusively by one surgeon (C.

Cavernous and inferior petrosal sinus sampling in the evaluation of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome.

Objective: Central venous sampling (CVS) is used frequently in the evaluation of ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome. However, several controversies exist including the diagnostic accuracy, the sampling site of choice (cavernous sinus vs. inferior petrosal sinus) and the use of lateralization data in tumour localization.

Treatment of progressive or recurrent glioblastoma multiforme in adults with herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene vector-producer cells followed by intravenous ganciclovir administration: a phase I/II multi-institutional trial.

To determine the safety and evaluate the efficacy of repeated administration of virus-producing cells (GLI 328) containing the herpes simplex virus thymidine-kinase gene followed by ganciclovir treatment in adults with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, we conducted a phase I/II multi-institutional trial. Eligible patients underwent surgical resection of tumor, followed by injections of vector producing cells (VPC) into the brain adjacent to the cavity. An Ommaya reservoir placed after surgery was used to inject a further dose of VPC seven days after surgery, followed seven days later by ganciclovir.

Magnetic source imaging demonstrates altered cortical distribution of function in patients with arteriovenous malformations.

Objective: Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) can be treated successfully, but treatment can pose unacceptable risks if the AVM is located in eloquent cortex. Because AVMs are developmental lesions, the location of primary cortical function may be deranged. We used magnetic source imaging (MSI) to identify the central sulcus and to determine whether primary cortical function was shifted in a set of 30 patients.

Predictive model for pain recurrence after posterior fossa surgery for trigeminal neuralgia.

Background: Surgical exploration of the posterior fossa is the definitive treatment for trigeminal neuralgia refractory to medication, but predictors of its success in effecting long-term pain relief have not been established.

Objective: To develop a model that allows stratification of patients' risk of postoperative recurrence of pain based on pretreatment factors.

Methods: We reviewed the records of 420 consecutive patients who underwent posterior fossa exploration by one of us (C.

Delayed surgical resection reduces intraoperative blood loss for embolized meningiomas.

Objective: Embolization before surgical resection of tumors has been demonstrated to reduce intraoperative blood loss, but the optimal time that should elapse between embolization and tumor resection has not been established. We evaluated whether immediate surgical resection (< or =24 h) after embolization or delayed surgical resection (>24 h) was more effective in minimizing intraoperative blood loss.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records for 50 patients with meningiomas who underwent preoperative embolization between 1993 and 1999.