History of regional chemotherapy for cancer of the extremities.

Patients with recurrent cutaneous or soft tissue malignancies of the extremity provide a unique opportunity to evaluate therapy targeted to the isolated limb. The most common clinical presentation of recurrent extremity malignancy occurs in patients with melanoma. The extremity is the site of primary melanoma in half of patients with the disease 1, and of those with a primary melanoma of Breslow depth >or=1.

Assessment and management of patients with abnormal calcium.

Calcium is essential for homeostasis, and normocalcemia should be maintained strictly during the perioperative period. The biochemistry of calcium equilibrium results from the calcium-sensing receptors on the parathyroid glands, which detect changes in calcium concentrations and initiate the proper response. Asymptomatic hypercalcemia is a common metabolic derangement that is often discovered on routine serum screening.