Assessing the Sentimag system for guiding sentinel node biopsies in patients with breast cancer.

Introduction: Sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer is a method to localize and excise the first draining lymph node from an invasive cancer of the breast. The histopathologic evaluation of the sentinel lymph node is used for predicting recurrence and survival and thus, guiding oncologists for treatment-decision making to administer adjuvant therapies. The ability to identify the sentinel node depends on methods to map lymphatic drainage from the breast to the sentinel node and accurately discriminate that node from other non-sentinel lymph nodes of the axilla.

Shifting paradigms for the treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ: Less is more.

Ductal carcinoma in situ is a diverse disease in which only 50% of lesions progress to invasive carcinoma, but unfortunately, all patients receive similar treatment recommendations independent of the disease variability. De-escalation is the philosophy that treatment for this disease should be differentiated based on the likelihood of future progression and recurrence. Four surgical trials are looking at the possibility of removing surgical intervention, the current mainstay of treatment, from the algorithm.

Early versus delayed appendectomy: A comparison of outcomes.

Background: The optimal timing for performing appendectomy in adults remains controversial.

Method: A one-year retrospective review of adult patients with acute appendicitis who underwent appendectomy. The cohort was divided by time-to-intervention into two groups: patients who underwent appendectomy within 8 h (group 1), and those who had surgery after 8 h (group 2).