A multicentre validation of Metasin: a molecular assay for the intraoperative assessment of sentinel lymph nodes from breast cancer patients.

Aims: Treatment strategies for breast cancer continue to evolve. No uniformity exists in the UK for the management of node-positive breast cancer patients. Most centres continue to use conventional histopathology of sampled sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), which requires delayed axillary clearance in up to 25% of patients.

BRAF V600 co-testing in thyroid FNA cytology: short-term experience in a large cancer centre in the UK.

Aims: To ascertain whether BRAF V600 mutational analysis is useful for diagnosis of thyroid cancer in thyroid fine needle aspirate (FNA).

Methods: Over 8 months thyroid FNAs reported as Thy 3F (neoplasm possible/suggestive of follicular neoplasm), Thy4 (suspicious of malignancy) and Thy 5 (malignant) were tested for BRAF V600 mutation and managed as malignant if mutations were present.

Results: Of 207 FNAs from 176 patients, 5 were Thy 5, 19 Thy 4, 36 Thy 3f, 13 Thy 3a, 84 Thy 2 and 50 Thy 1.

Randomized multicenter trial of sentinel node biopsy versus standard axillary treatment in operable breast cancer: the ALMANAC Trial.

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy in women with operable breast cancer is routinely used in some countries for staging the axilla despite limited data from randomized trials on morbidity and mortality outcomes. We conducted a multicenter randomized trial to compare quality-of-life outcomes between patients with clinically node-negative invasive breast cancer who received sentinel lymph node biopsy and patients who received standard axillary treatment.

Methods: The primary outcome measures were arm and shoulder morbidity and quality of life.

Cancer cell adaptation to chemotherapy.

Background: Tumor resistance to chemotherapy may be present at the beginning of treatment, develop during treatment, or become apparent on re-treatment of the patient. The mechanisms involved are usually inferred from experiments with cell lines, as studies in tumor-derived cells are difficult. Studies of human tumors show that cells adapt to chemotherapy, but it has been largely assumed that clonal selection leads to the resistance of recurrent tumors.