Impact of Laparoscopic Adrenalectomy on Overall Survival in Patients with Nonmetastatic Adrenocortical Carcinoma.

Background: Appropriate use of laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) for adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) remains controversial because complete resection with negative margins is the best chance for potential cure. This study compared the oncologic outcomes and overall survival (OS) of LA and open adrenalectomy (OA) for ACC.

Study Design: A retrospective analysis of the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) between 2010 and 2014 identified 423 European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors (ENSAT) stage I to III ACC patients who had LA (n = 137) or OA (n = 286).

Impact of Completion Lymph Node Dissection on Patients with Positive Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Melanoma.

Background: Whether patients with positive SLNB should undergo complete lymph node dissection (CLND) is an important unanswered clinical question.

Study Design: Patients diagnosed with positive SLNB at a melanoma referral center from 1991 to 2013 were studied. Outcomes of patients who underwent CLND were compared with those who did not undergo immediate CLND (observation [OBS] group).

Evolving Therapeutic Strategies in Mucosal Melanoma Have Not Improved Survival Over Five Decades.

Mucosal melanoma represents a distinct minority of disease sites and portends a worse outcome. The ideal treatment and role of adjuvant therapy remains unknown at this time. We hypothesized that a combination of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies would improve survival in these aggressive melanomas.

Predictors and Survival Impact of False-Negative Sentinel Nodes in Melanoma.

Background: The status of the sentinel lymph node in melanoma is an important prognostic factor. The clinical predictors and implications of false-negative (FN) biopsy remain debatable.

Methods: We compared patients with positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) [true positive (TP)] and negative SNB with and without regional recurrence [FN, true negative (TN)] from our prospective institutional database.

Overall Survival Is Impacted by Birthplace and Not Extent of Surgery in Asian Americans with Resectable Gastric Cancer.

Survival from gastric cancer in the USA still lags behind Asia. Genetic, environmental, and tumor biology differences, along with extent of surgery have been implicated. Our aim was to evaluate survival outcomes in Asian-American gastric cancer patients undergoing surgical resection by comparing place of birth and clinicopathologic characteristics (including evaluation of 15 lymph nodes).

Attitudes and Perceptions of Surgical Oncology Fellows on ACGME Accreditation and the Complex General Surgical Oncology Certification.

Background: With the first qualifying examination administered September 15, 2014, complex general surgical oncology (CGSO) is now a board-certified specialty. We aimed to assess the attitudes and perceptions of current and future surgical oncology fellows regarding the recently instituted Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accreditation.

Methods: A 29-question anonymous survey was distributed to fellows in surgical oncology fellowship programs and applicants interviewing at our fellowship program.

Long-Term Survival with Long-Acting Somatostatin Analogues Plus Aggressive Cytoreductive Surgery in Patients with Metastatic Neuroendocrine Carcinoma.

Background: Long-acting somatostatin analogues (S-LAR) improve recurrence-free survival in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumor (NET) from gastrointestinal (GI) primary, but their impact on overall survival when combined with aggressive cytoreductive surgery is unclear.

Study Design: We reviewed our institutional cancer database to identify patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery for metastatic NET from GI primary between December 1997 and June 2013. Additionally, a cohort selected from 3,384 metastatic neuroendocrine cases in the SEER-Medicare database (January 2003 to December 2009) was used to verify and expand on our results.

Immunoprofiling for prognostic assessment of colon cancer: a novel complement to ultrastaging.

Background: Although AJCC/TNM staging remains the gold standard for prognostic assessment of colon cancer, stage-specific outcomes vary. We therefore prospectively evaluated the prognostic role of immunoprofiling.

Methods: Our cohort included 35 patients from an ongoing prospective trial of ultrastaging for colon cancer.

Incorporating surgical quality into the AJCC 7th edition improves staging accuracy in gastric cancer.

Background: The staging of gastric cancer has become increasingly complex. With an emerging 15-node quality measure and a revised American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system, we evaluated the need for more intricate staging systems to predict survival outcomes in gastric cancer.

Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program (SEER) database was used to identify 124,972 patients with gastric cancer between 2000 and 2010.

A 20-year experience of hepatic resection for melanoma: is there an expanding role?

Background: Melanoma liver metastasis is most often fatal, with a 4- to 6-month median overall survival (OS). Over the past 20 years, surgical techniques have improved in parallel with more effective systemic therapies. We reviewed our institutional experience of hepatic melanoma metastases.

Small bowel carcinoid: Location isn't everything!

Aim: To investigate the prognostic significance of the primary site of disease for small bowel carcinoid (SBC) using a population-based analysis.

Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database was queried for histologically confirmed SBC between the years 1988 and 2009. Overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using Log rank testing.

AJCC Cancer Staging Manual 7th edition criteria for colon cancer: do the complex modifications improve prognostic assessment?

Background: The 7th edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual (AJCC-7) includes substantial changes for colon cancer (CC), which are particularly complex in patients with stage II and III disease. We used a national cancer database to determine if these changes improved prediction of survival.

Study Design: The database of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program was queried to identify patients with pathologically confirmed stage I to III CC diagnosed between 1988 and 2008.

Isolation of canine mesenchymal stem cells from amniotic fluid and differentiation into hepatocyte-like cells.

Recent findings have demonstrated that amniotic fluid cells are an interesting and potential source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In this study, we isolated MSCs from canine amniotic fluid and then characterized their multilineage differentiation ability. Canine amniotic fluid stem (cAFS) cells at passage 5 had a fibroblast-like morphology instead of forming colonies and were positive for pluripotent stem cell markers such as OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2.

Leptin and nonessential amino acids enhance porcine preimplantation embryo development in vitro by intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has been considered one of the strong assisted reproductive technologies for producing transgenic animals as well as treating infertility in animals and humans. However, in porcine ICSI, embryos produced by in vitro methods show low pregnancy rates with high abnormal offspring and blastocyst formation rate as well as quality are poor compared with those in other species. For these reasons, developing a protocol for porcine ICSI is essential to efficiently generate transgenic pigs.