Assessment of surgical treatment in elderly patients with breast cancer.

Aims And Background: The incidence of breast cancer increases with advancing age and in clinical practice approximately 50% of new cases occur in women over the age of 65 years. Although breast cancer in elderly patients presents more favorable biological characteristics than similar-stage cancer in younger women, disease control still remains uncertain and is becoming a major health problem.

Patients And Methods: Between 1984 and 2006, 133 patients aged over 65 with operable breast cancer underwent surgical treatment.

Early gallbladder carcinoma: a single-center experience.

Aims And Background: Controversy continues regarding the best surgical treatment for early gallbladder carcinoma defined as a tumor confined to the mucosa (pT1a) or to the muscularis propria (pT1b) according to the TNM classification. This study evaluates the effectiveness of different surgical approaches in patients with early gallbladder carcinoma in terms of long-term survival.

Materials And Methods: From 1980 to 2001, 175 patients with gallbladder carcinoma were admitted to our department.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the breast. Report of two cases and review of the literature.

Sarcomas of the breast are uncommon, accounting for less than 1% of all primary malignancies. Among these tumors, malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is very rare. Two cases of this neoplasm are reported, with histological findings and surgical treatment.

Lymph node dissection in papillary or follicular thyroid carcinoma.

Background: Prospective randomized studies aimed at evaluating the different therapeutic protocols for the treatment of papillary or follicular carcinoma are lacking at the moment. Although total thyroidectomy is widely accepted, indication to locoregional lymphadenectomy is strongly debated.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-four patients with papillary or follicular thyroid carcinoma (45 papillary and 9 follicular) underwent functional evaluation of the gland before intervention, FNAB included Surgical management was carried out as follows: 41 total thyroidectomy, 6 lobectomy with further totalization in 5, 6 total thyroidectomy plus central compartment lymphadenectomy and 1 left laterocervical lymphadenectomy (papillary carcinoma, treated elsewhere through total thyroidectomy plus central and right laterocervical lymphadenectomy).

Nuclear methylation levels in normal and cancerous thyroid cells.

Background: Most cancers show abnormal DNA methylation and a positive correlation between hypomethylation and tumour progression.

Patients And Methods: In our laboratory the extent of DNA methylation in individual nuclei in normal, cancer and non-cancer thyroid tissue samples was quantified according to a previously described method of computer-assisted semi-quantitative analysis. Cancer and non-cancer samples were obtained from nine patients with different thyroid pathologies (one multinodular goitre and eight carcinomas).

Palliative management of malignant antro-pyloric strictures. Gastroenterostomy vs. endoscopic stenting. A randomized prospective trial.

Background: Gastroenterostomy was the palliative treatment of choice in patients with malignant unresectable gastric outlet obstruction. Palliative endoscopic treatment of malignant gastric outlet obstruction with endoluminal self-expanding metallic stents is nowadays a well-established procedure.

Patients And Methods: Eighteen patients referred for treatment with diagnosis of malignant strictures of the antro-pyloric tract presenting at an advanced unresectable stage.

Palliative management of malignant rectosigmoidal obstruction. Colostomy vs. endoscopic stenting. A randomized prospective trial.

Background: Colostomy was the palliative treatment of choice in patients with malignant unresectable rectosigmoid obstruction. Palliative endoscopic treatment of malignant rectosigmoid obstruction by endoluminal self-expanding metallic stents is nowadays a well-established procedure.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-two patients, referred for treatment with diagnosis of malignant obstruction of the rectosigmoid region presenting an advanced unresectable stage, were enrolled.

Comparative analysis of clinical features and prognostic factors in resected bronchioloalveolar carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung.

Background: Over the past few years, clinical, radiological and pathological classification of lung adenocarcinoma and its subtypes, particularly bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC), has radically changed.

Patients And Methods: Out of a series of 384 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, submitted to surgical resection and followed-up in our Department from 1981 to 1999, the data of 151 adenocarcinomas (35 BAC and 116 non-BAC) were reviewed and analyzed for prognosis.

Results: BAC and non-BAC series were similar in clinical and radiographic findings, type of resection and stage.

Mediastinal lymph node involvement in non-small cell lung cancer: evaluation with 99mTc-tetrofosmin SPECT and comparison with CT.

Unlabelled: In patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), surgical resection offers the best chance of cure. The preoperative assessment of mediastinal lymph node involvement is crucial to selecting those patients for whom surgery is indicated.

Methods: To evaluate the possible clinical role of (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin scintigraphy in the presurgical detection of mediastinal node metastases from NSCLC, we performed a prospective comparative study with CT on 83 patients (48 men, 35 women; age range, 38-81 y) with primary NSCLC (36 adenocarcinomas, 39 epidermoid squamous cell carcinomas, and 8 large cell anaplastic carcinomas).