Three or four fractions of 4-5 Gy per week in postoperative high-dose-rate brachytherapy for endometrial carcinoma.

Purpose: To evaluate the results of high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRBT) using a schedule of three or four fractions per week, when possible, in 89 patients on local control and toxicity in postoperative treatment of endometrial carcinoma. The effect of the overall HDRBT treatment time (OTT) on toxicity was also evaluated.

Patients And Methods: Fédération Internationale de Gynécologie Obstétrique Stage: 24 IB, 45 IC, 4 IIA, 6 IIB, 4 IIIA, 2 IIIB, and 4 IIIC.

Comparative study of laparoscopically assisted radical vaginal hysterectomy and open Wertheim-Meigs in patients with early-stage cervical cancer: eleven years of experience.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the feasibility, safety, and survival outcomes of Coelio-Schauta (CS) procedure versus open Wertheim-Meigs (WM) as primary surgical treatment of early-stage cervical cancer.

Methods: Observational study on the consecutive cases of cervical cancer undergoing CS during the last 11 years at our institution was performed. Data on clinical characteristics of patients, surgical performance, long-term morbidity, and survival were prospectively analyzed and compared with a historical series of 23 consecutive WM performed at the same hospital in the immediate previous period.

Exeresis and brachytherapy as salvage treatment for local recurrence after conservative treatment for breast cancer: results of a ten-year pilot study.

Purpose: To analyze the long-term results of a pilot study assessing excision and brachytherapy as salvage treatment for local recurrence after conservative treatment of breast cancer.

Methods And Materials: Between December 1990 and March 2001, 36 patients with breast-only recurrence less than 3 cm in diameter after conservative treatment for Stage I or II breast carcinoma were treated with local excision followed by high-dose rate brachytherapy implants (30 Gy in 12 fractions over a period of 5 days). No patient was lost to follow-up.

How to deal with prognostic factors and radiotherapy results in uterine neoplasms with a sarcomatous component?

Purpose: Uterine tumours with a sarcomatous component are rare neoplasms with a wide pathologic heterogeneity in which the stage is the main prognostic factor. These aspects and their aggressiveness make the analysis of prognostic factors and radiotherapy difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors by stages and to assess the impact of prognostic factors and the effect of radiotherapy on the outcome of the disease.

Validation and application of the sentinel lymph node concept in malignant vulvar tumours.

Purpose: Inguinal lymphadenectomy, unilateral or bilateral, is widely used in cases of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma but has a high morbidity. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy may be used in the management of these patients. The aims of this study were firstly to determine the reliability of SLN biopsy in predicting regional lymph node status and secondly to apply this technique in the routine clinical setting.

Is vascular and lymphatic space invasion a main prognostic factor in uterine neoplasms with a sarcomatous component? A retrospective study of prognostic factors of 60 patients stratified by stages.

Background: Sarcomatous neoplasms of the uterine corpus are still a challenge in terms of obtaining prognostic factors and the most optimum complementary treatment to surgery. The most important prognostic factor is stage; relapses usually appear during the first 2 years, and most patients die within the first 3 years. We have performed a multivariate study of prognostic factors, stratifying patients by stage, to determine their impact on overall survival, disease-free survival, local relapse-free survival, and distant metastasis-free survival.