Publications by authors named "Sandbank Judith"

Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the accuracy of a fully automated AI solution for interpreting HER2 immunohistochemistry (IHC) in breast cancer, acknowledging the need for more reliable HER2 scoring due to the effectiveness of HER2-targeted therapies.
  • In a two-arm study involving 120 HER2 IHC whole-slide images and four surgical pathologists, the AI solution showed improved interobserver agreement and scoring accuracy compared to manual readings, particularly for distinguishing between HER2 0 and 1+ cases.
  • The results indicate that the AI tool can enhance the consistency and reproducibility of HER2 scoring, supporting pathologists in following ASCO/CAP guidelines more effectively.
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Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease worldwide, with over 2.26 million new cases in 2020. Its diagnosis is determined by a histological review of breast biopsy specimens, which can be labor-intensive, subjective, and error-prone.

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The systemic anti-cancer approach is based on medical/pharmaceutical interventions affecting cancer cells at multiple sites, including local and distant regions. Interventions include: cytotoxic chemotherapy agents used for direct extermination of proliferating cells, hormonal interventions altering the tumor environment and affecting its ability to survive and thrive, biological drugs restoring the function defective proteins in mutated tumors, and immunological medications encouraging effective immune recognition of tumor cells and associated immune response. "Personalized medicine in oncology" aims to make anti-cancer treatment more effective and with less side effects.

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Unlabelled: Preservation of Scarpa's fascia in abdominoplasty has been previously presented. Herein we introduce the subscarpal lipo aponeurotic system (SLAS) and the technique of preserving the SLAS and its tightening in lipoabdominoplasty.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent lipoabdominoplasty performed by a single plastic surgeon (YW) between 2014 and 2019 was conducted.

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Objectives: This work is aimed to summarize the first year of the high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) screening test and compare it to the cytology screening test, regarding positivity rates and premalignant lesions diagnosed in the Israeli population. A specific consideration is for the age group 25-30 that is not considered mandatory for the HPV primary screening testing.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed in women who were screened for prevention of cervical cancer in Maccabi HealthCare HMO from March 2017 to March 2019.

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Background: There is high demand to develop computer-assisted diagnostic tools to evaluate prostate core needle biopsies (CNBs), but little clinical validation and a lack of clinical deployment of such tools. We report here on a blinded clinical validation study and deployment of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithm in a pathology laboratory for routine clinical use to aid prostate diagnosis.

Methods: An AI-based algorithm was developed using haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained slides of prostate CNBs digitised with a Philips scanner, which were divided into training (1 357 480 image patches from 549 H&E-stained slides) and internal test (2501 H&E-stained slides) datasets.

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Fusobacterium nucleatum is an oral anaerobe recently found to be prevalent in human colorectal cancer (CRC) where it is associated with poor treatment outcome. In mice, hematogenous F. nucleatum can colonize CRC tissue using its lectin Fap2, which attaches to tumor-displayed Gal-GalNAc.

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Bacteria were first detected in human tumors more than 100 years ago, but the characterization of the tumor microbiome has remained challenging because of its low biomass. We undertook a comprehensive analysis of the tumor microbiome, studying 1526 tumors and their adjacent normal tissues across seven cancer types, including breast, lung, ovary, pancreas, melanoma, bone, and brain tumors. We found that each tumor type has a distinct microbiome composition and that breast cancer has a particularly rich and diverse microbiome.

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Background: In colon cancer, data regarding proximal and distal metastasis to lymph nodes remains scarce.

Objectives: To evaluate lymph node distribution along the longitudinal axis of the colon as related to a tumor to re-examine the common practice of 5 cm proximal and 2 cm distal resection margins.

Methods: We studied 106 patients (53 males and 53 females, mean age 67.

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Growing evidence suggests that microbes can influence the efficacy of cancer therapies. By studying colon cancer models, we found that bacteria can metabolize the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine (2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine) into its inactive form, 2',2'-difluorodeoxyuridine. Metabolism was dependent on the expression of a long isoform of the bacterial enzyme cytidine deaminase (CDD), seen primarily in Gammaproteobacteria.

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Introduction: Immunotherapy is a novel treatment for lung cancer. Pembrolizumab (Merck Sharp and Dohme, Kenilworth, NJ) is a monoclonal antibody against programmed cell death 1 that has been approved for use with NSCLC together with a companion diagnostic by Dako (Carpinteria, CA). Ventana's BenchMark XT (Ventana Medical Systems, Tucson, AZ) is a widely used immunohistochemical (IHC) platform.

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Background: Receiving real-time information on tissue properties while performing biopsy procedures has the potential of improving biopsy accuracy. The study goal was to test the ability of a miniature flexible Radio-Frequency (RF) sensor (Dune Medical Devices), designed to be mounted on the surface of surgical tools, in measuring and mapping the various breast tissue types and abnormalities in terms of electrical properties.

Methods: Between January and October 2012, 102 patients undergoing lumpectomy, open-biopsy or mastectomy, in 3 medical centers, were enrolled in this study.

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Background & Aims: The geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) has been reported as a useful predictor of prognosis in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, demonstrating GNRI less than 90 as a marker of a poorer nutritional status and significantly increased mortality. We tested whether GNRI as a whole associated stronger with clinical and laboratory surrogates of nutrition and inflammation, muscle function, health-related quality of life (QoL), and predicts all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality in this population better than its individual components (albumin and body weight to ideal body weight ratio).

Methods: A prospective observational study with a median follow-up of 30 months (interquartile range - 19-41 months) was performed on 352 MHD outpatients (38.

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It has been suggested that oxidative stress is a potential mechanism for vancomycin-induced nephrotoxicity and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) has been shown to be effective in treating renal toxicity that has been pharmacologically induced in animal models. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of HBO therapy on vancomycin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. The study group comprised 36 Sprague Dawley male rats.

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Background And Objectives: One of the major unmet needs in Breast Conserving Surgery (BCS) is a rapid and accurate margin assessment of the lumpectomy specimen. This study evaluates the ability of a novel MRI system (prototype of the ClearSight™ system; Clear-Cut Medical Ltd., Rehovot, Israel) to distinguish malignant and non-malignant tissues in freshly excised breast specimen by comparing MR measurements to histopathology results.

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Background: Despite the ongoing decrease in the incidence of gastric cancer, this disease is still a major cause of death. It is still debatable whether D2 lymphadenectomy improves survival and whether this procedure should be performed routinely or selectively.

Objectives: To compare the pathological and short-term results following radical D2-type gastric resection and lymphadenectomy versus the more limited D1 type resection and lymphadenectomy.

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Background: Gallbladder (GB) cancer is rare. Most cases are incidentally found in specimens after a cholecystectomy. Cholelithiasis is almost always present when this diagnosis is made.

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Background: The optimal (minimal) number of harvested nodes is still a matter of debate. We prospectivly evaluated the relation between specimen length and tumor location to the number of harvested nodes and rate of node positivity.

Methods: Specimens of right hemicolectomy, left hemicolectomy, and subtotal colectomy were assessed for specimen length, overall number of harvested lymph nodes, and lymph node ratio.

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CDH1 gene mutations have been found to be associated with diffuse type gastric cancer and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) of the breast. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only study relating a family history of gastric cancer to ILC of the breast. We conducted a retrospective study comparing the family history of malignancies in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast and ILC treated in our Medical Center.

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Host-defense mechanisms may have an important role in predicting the outcome of colorectal cancer patients. We designed our study to evaluate the possible prognostic significance of the presence of lymphocytic infiltration (LI) and subgroups of lymphocytes (CD3 and CD20) in the primary tumors. We randomly selected 195 patients operated for colorectal carcinoma from a larger cohort of 1527 patients with colorectal cancer.

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Background: New animal models provide insights into the pathogenesis of different types of inflammatory bowel disease as well as novel pathways for new therapeutic options. However, the scarcity of large animal models hinders the research and development of new surgical procedures and technological devices in inflammatory bowel disease surgery. Common small animal inducible models involve chemical agents that result in the development of acute intestinal inflammation.

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Objective: The importance of serum uric acid (SUA) for the maintenance of a hemodialysis (MHD) population has not been well established. The aim of this study was to determine if SUA levels are associated with nutritional risk and consequently with adverse clinical outcomes in MHD patients.

Methods: This was a 2-y prospective observational study, performed on 261 MHD outpatients (38.

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Background: Sub-periosteal orbital abscess (SPOA) typically presents as a collection of pus in the space between the periorbita and the lamina papyracea, adjacent to acute suppurative ethmoiditis. Osteitis of the lamina papyracea may lead to sequestrum formation, with progression of the infectious process to cause suppuration beneath the orbital periosteum.

Materials And Methods: A case series of children with rhinosinusitis and SPOA admitted to our institute, from January 2005 to December 2011, was carried out.

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Objective: Heparanase plays a central role in processes of placentation. Abnormal placentation may result in inadequate uteroplacental blood flow, leading to unsuccessful pregnancy outcome and preeclampsia. We aimed to evaluate heparanase expression in placentas of preeclamptic patients.

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Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in Israeli patients with cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN3), to describe the distribution of the virus genotypes among positive cases, to characterize patients positive to HPV and, in particular, patients positive to HPV-16 and/or -18, and to evaluate the possible contribution of implementing HPV vaccination in Israel.

Methods: Samples from 84 patients with cervical cancer and 886 patients with CIN3, archived at the Maccabi Institute of Pathology, were screened for HPV. DNA extraction was performed using DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit/QIAGEN.

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