Centralisation of epithelial ovarian cancer surgery: results on survival from a peripheral teaching hospital.

Objective: The objective of this retrospective descriptive study was to assess overall survival and disease free survival of patients treated for epithelial ovarian cancer by a gynaecologic-oncologist in a single Dutch peripheral teaching hospital and to identify independent prognostic factors.

Study Design: A retrospective series of 242 patients treated for epithelial ovarian cancer between 1999 and 2011 at Meander Medical Centre was reviewed. Data on patient, tumour and treatment characteristics were collected.

The frequency of interferon-gproducing cells reflects alloreactivity against minor histocompatibility antigens.

Background: In human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical living-related renal transplant recipients, no donor-specific alloreactivity can be detected in regular tests (mixed lymphocyte culture, helper T-lymphocyte precursor frequencies, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte precursor frequencies) to identify patients responding to minor histocompatibility antigens (mHag). We questioned whether a more sensitive method like the Elispot-assay could be more appropriate.

Methods And Results: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 16 HLA-identical living-related kidney transplant patients 3 months (range, 2 weeks to 5 months) after transplantation were tested for the frequency of interferon (IFN)-gamma producing cells by the Elispot-assay.