Hidradenitis suppurativa of the breast: a diagnostic dilemma.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic skin condition characterised by recurrent abscesses, nodules, sinus tracts and fistulas. The condition has a known diagnostic delay and well-documented negative effect on the quality of life of patients. When affecting the periareolar region, there is a capacity for confusion with other more mainstream surgical conditions of the breast.

Synchronous contralateral axillary lymph node metastasis in a recurrent breast cancer following previous axillary clearance.

Ipsilateral axillary lymph node metastasis is common, while contralateral axillary lymph node metastasis (CAM) is uncommon. This report is of a patient that presented with a recurrence of left breast cancer and synchronous CAM, with a distant history of left breast conserving surgery and axillary dissection for invasive carcinoma. The CAM was confirmed following a non-routine lymphoscintigraphy and sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Risk Factors for Adverse Outcome for Elderly Patients undergoing Curative Oncological Resection for Gastrointestinal Malignancies.

Background: The incidence of gastrointestinal cancer increases with age, with approximately 20% of these cases in people over 80 years of age. Due to pre-existing comorbidities, this onco-geriatric population often presents diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.

Methods: A systematic review of articles on PubMed was performed to determine the predictive ability of screening tools and their components regarding the occurrence of adverse outcomes in elderly onco-surgical patients with gastrointestinal malignancies.

Sentinel lymph node mapping and biopsy for malignant melanoma at a rural-based university medical center.

Sentinel lymph node mapping and biopsy (SLNMB) is a standard of practice in the management of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM). Since there were no published articles reviewing the experience of a single-institution, rural-based university medial center, we compiled our results from the patients we treated from Nov. 11, 1998 to May 23, 2001.

Sentinel lymph node mapping and biopsy for breast cancer at a rural-based university medical center: initial experience with intraparenchymal and intradermal injection routes.

Background: Recent data suggests that intradermal (ID) injection for sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping and biopsy in breast cancer is as effective and reproducible as intraparenchymal (IP) injection. The aim of this study was to review our initial experience with IP and ID injection for SLN mapping and biopsy at our rural-based university medical center.

Methods: From January 4, 1999 to January 5, 2001, 113 of 165 patients with breast cancer underwent attempted SLN mapping and biopsy by either IP (n=63) or ID (n=50) injection.