Publications by authors named "Schmalfeldt B"

Introduction: The trinational survey project conducted by the Young Forums of the German, Austrian, and Swiss Societies for Gynecology and Obstetrics aims to assess the preferences of prospective and practicing gynecologists regarding various work-time models, the compatibility of family and career, as well as parental leave.

Materials And Methods: Between October 2023 and May 2024, a total of 1364 participants took part in the survey. The questionnaire consisted of 62 questions covering topics such as the workplace in general, work-time models, training priorities, team compositions, and professional goals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Anastomotic leakage is a significant complication following bowel resection in cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer. Previous studies have highlighted the detrimental effects of anastomotic leakage on patients' postoperative course. However, there is still a lack of precise identification of the high-risk population and established strategies for preventing its occurrence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The integration of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) into routine gynecologic cancer treatment requires a thorough understanding of how to manage immune-related adverse events (irAEs) to ensure patient safety. However, reports on real-world clinical experience in the management of ICIs in gynecologic oncology are very limited. The aim of this survey was to provide a real-world overview of the experiences and the current state of irAE management of ICIs in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: In advanced ovarian cancer, the majority of patients receive anti-angiogenic treatment with bevacizumab. However, its use is often associated with severe side effects, and not all patients benefit from the therapy. Currently, there are no reliable biomarkers to predict response to treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the psychosocial burdens of patients with ovarian cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Ovarian cancer patients answered a quantitative survey assessing their resilience (BRS) and quality of life (FACT-G7) as well as clinical (first- vs. ≥ second-line treatment), demographic (age < 65 vs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Ovarian cancer often leads to muscle loss, malnutrition, and fatigue, adversely affecting patients' quality of life, especially during first-line chemotherapy.
  • A new study aims to assess an app-based exercise and nutrition program's effectiveness over six months compared to standard care, with physical performance measured by the 6-Minute Walk Test as the main focus.
  • The study will involve a multicenter trial with a minimum of 182 participants, all diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, and assess various health and nutrition indicators alongside physical performance improvements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Maintenance therapies like PARP inhibitors and bevacizumab have improved outcomes for advanced ovarian cancer patients, prompting a study to explore treatment variability across Europe.
  • A Delphi study was conducted with experts to understand maintenance treatment strategies and gauge consensus on best practices.
  • Key factors influencing treatment choices include tumor mutation status and perceived risk of disease progression, with high-risk cases defined by advanced FIGO stages or residual disease after initial treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Actin-binding proteins (ABPs) are essential for the regulation of morphological plasticity required for tumor cells to metastasize. The aim of this study was to perform an unbiased bioinformatic approach to identify the key ABPs significantly associated with the metastatic potential of breast cancer cells.

Methods: Microarray data from 181 primary breast cancer samples from our hospital were used, and all genes belonging to the Gene Ontology term actin cytoskeleton organization were obtained from QuickGO.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Adjuvant radiotherapy to the vulva in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) is frequently performed albeit strong evidence is lacking. This systematic review aims to summarize the current literature on this topic.

Methods: 19 retrospective studies were included and analyzed, focusing on the primary outcome of local recurrence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The acceptance of telemedicine in the German health care system is growing. This also extends to gynecological applications such as the prescription of contraceptives. This study investigates the contraceptive use and adherence of patients using a direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription platform for oral contraception.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Residual tumor after cytoreductive surgery is the most important prognostic parameter for the outcome of patients with advanced ovarian cancer (5-year survival rate FIGO III 39%, FIGO IV 20%). As more than half of the patients suffer from upper abdominal tumor burden, surgery in this area is inevitable in order to achieve adequate cytoreduction. Our analysis focuses on the impact of upper abdominal interventions (UAI) regarding residual tumor and prognosis (OS, PFS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: It remains unknown whether there is a causal relationship between intraoperative hypotension and postoperative neurocognitive disorders. We tested the hypothesis that personalised-compared to routine-intraoperative blood pressure management reduces the incidence of postoperative neurocognitive disorders in patients having major noncardiac surgery.

Methods: In this single-centre trial, 328 elective major noncardiac surgery patients were randomly allocated to receive personalised blood pressure management (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immune exhaustion is a hallmark of ovarian cancer. Using multiparametric flow cytometry, the study aimed to analyze protein expression of novel immunological targets on CD3 T cells isolated from the peripheral blood ( = 20), malignant ascites ( = 16), and tumor tissue ( = 6) of patients with ovarian cancer (OVCA). The study revealed an increased proportion of effector memory CD8 T cells in OVCA tissue and malignant ascites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The primary objective of this study was to establish a benchmark by collecting baseline data on surgical education in obstetrics and gynecology in Germany, including factual number of operations performed.

Materials And Methods: A nationwide anonymous survey was conducted in Germany between January 2019 and July 2019 utilizing a specially designed questionnaire which addressed both residents and senior trainers.

Results: A total of 601 participants completed the survey, comprising 305 trainees and 296 trainers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Recent years have seen a considerable shift from male doctors to female doctors in the field of gynecology. Female doctors are traditionally more involved with planning and maintaining their family. For gynecology, this could be associated with a risk that research activities will decrease, particularly if results are published in scientific journals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Survival rates for ovarian cancer are influenced by the success of primary surgery in removing tumors.
  • Researchers conducted genome-wide studies on 7,705 ovarian cancer patients to find genetic variants linked to resection status, particularly focusing on high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSOC).
  • The study highlighted significant associations with the rs72845444 variant and the genes MGMT (involved in DNA repair) and PPP2R5C (a tumor suppressor), correlating with disease outcomes and patient survival.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is still a rare extralymphatic lymphoma. As of March 1, 2023, approximately 1,355 cases of BIA-ALCL have been reported worldwide. However, no such case has yet been described with pectoral implants in male patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Around 5 percent of all patients with metastatic breast cancer go on to develop distant metastases in the meninges, also known as meningeal carcinomatosis. The median survival of these patients is between 3.5 and 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Most cancer patients ultimately die from the consequences of distant metastases. As metastasis formation consumes energy mitochondria play an important role during this process as they are the most important cellular organelle to synthesise the energy rich substrate ATP, which provides the necessary energy to enable distant metastasis formation. However, mitochondria are also important for the execution of apoptosis, a process which limits metastasis formation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: More than 95% of cervical cancers and their precancerous lesions are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Cell-free (cf) HPV DNA detection in blood samples may serve as a monitoring tool for cervical cancer.

Methods: In our methodological study, an HPV panel for simultaneous detection of 24 types using mass spectrometry-based analysis was developed for liquid biopsy approaches and tested on HPV positive cell lines, plasmid controls, and cervical high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) in positive smear samples (n = 52).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • RNA-based multi-gene panels for breast cancer risk assessment can be unreliable due to changes in tumor purity, but multiplex fluorescence immunohistochemistry (mfIHC) offers a better solution.
  • A new automated framework using artificial intelligence for breast cancer detection analyzed 1404 invasive breast cancer cases, achieving a 98.4% accuracy in distinguishing between normal and malignant cells.
  • The study found that a combination of five biomarkers (PR, ER, AR, GATA3, PD-L1) was linked to improved overall survival and provided strong prognostic value, making it an effective independent risk factor for breast cancer prognosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: In the PAOLA-1/ENGOT-ov25 trial (NCT02477644), adding maintenance olaparib to bevacizumab provided a substantial progression-free survival benefit in patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)-positive tumors, irrespective of clinical risk. Subsequently, a clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival was reported with olaparib plus bevacizumab in the HRD-positive subgroup. We report updated progression-free survival and overall survival by clinical risk and HRD status.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Persistent high-risk HPV infection is associated with an elevated risk for prevalent CIN II + despite normal cytology (NILM). Our study aims to evaluate the clinical relevance of a persistent high-risk HPV infection without cytologic changes in women aged ≥ 65 and to determine the role of colposcopy for triage in these cases.

Methods: 211 patients aged ≥ 65 with persistent HPV infection and normal cytology (NILM) who presented for colposcopy at five certified centers between January 2021 and April 2022 were included in the study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) represent an important cell population within the tumor microenvironment, but little is known about the phenotype and function of these cells. The present study aims to characterize macrophages in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).

Methods: Phenotype and expression of co-regulatory markers were assessed on TAMs derived from malignant ascites (MA) or peripheral blood (PB) by multiparametric flow cytometry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of this study was to evaluate how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the number and patterns of sexual assault victims within a German metropolitan city. A retrospective single center analysis of the gynecology examination reports of all women presenting to the emergency department of a university hospital after a sexual offense between 03/2013 and 02/2021 (n = 1167). Comparison of the first year of the pandemic 03/2000-03/2021) to previous years (03/2017-02/2020) and comparison of periods of government-imposed social distancing (03/12/2020-05/23/2020 and 10/23/2020-02/28/2021) with corresponding periods of pre-pandemic years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF