Thoracic surgery - An underestimated dream job?

Background: Thoracic surgery is an expanding surgical specialty, but a shortage of qualified and motivated thoracic surgery residents is expected. It is estimated that around 23 % of all surgical specialist jobs will be vacant by 2030. We therefore need to assess the current clinical situation and urgently improve the recruitment and training of our next generation of surgeons.

Comparing TIMP-1 and Hsp70 in Blood and Saliva as Potential Prognostic Markers in HNSCC.

(1) Background: Currently, there is no clinically used liquid biomarker in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. One reason could be the limited shedding of tumor material in early disease stages. Molecular diagnostics assessing both blood and especially saliva could potentially improve the accuracy of biomarkers.

Circulating Tumor DNA Profiling of a Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patient with Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL) are the most common neoplasia of the lymphatic system. Circulating cell-free DNA released from tumor cells (ctDNA) has been studied in many tumor entities and successfully used to monitor treatment and follow up. Studies of ctDNA in DLBCL so far have mainly focused on tracking mutations in peripheral blood initially detected by next-generation sequencing (NGS) of tumor tissue from one lymphoma manifestation site.

Preinfection laboratory parameters may predict COVID-19 severity in tumor patients.

Background: Infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to COVID-19, the course of which is highly variable and depends on numerous patient-specific risk factors. Patients with tumor diseases are considered to be more susceptible to severe COVID-19; however, they also represent a heterogeneous group of individuals with variable risk. Identifying specific risk factors for a severe course of COVID-19 in patients with cancer is of great importance.