Impact of 2 years of COVID-19 pandemic on ovarian cancer treatment in IRCCS-AUSL of Reggio Emilia.

Objective: To assess compliance with the 2019 regional recommendation to centralize epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients and to assess whether the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the quality of care for EOC patients.

Methods: We compared data from EOC patients treated before the introduction of the 2019 regional recommendation (2018-2019) with data obtained from EOC patients treated after the regional recommendation was adopted during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). Data were retrieved from the Optimal Ovarian Cancer Pathway records.

Pyomyositis associated with abscess formation caused by streptococcus pneumoniae in children: a case report and review of literature.

Background: Pyomyositis is an unusual bacterial infection but potential severe in children. Staphylococcus Aureus is the main caused of this disease (70-90%), following by Streptococcus Pyogenes (4-16%). Streptococcus Pneumoniae rarely caused invasive muscular infections.

Solitary vulvar metastasis from early-stage endometrial cancer: Case report and literature review.

Rationale: Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecological malignancy in developed countries. It is usually diagnosed at early-stage and presents a favorable prognosis. Conversely, advanced or recurrent disease shows poor outcome.

Coxalgia? Call the gynecologist.

Cellular angiofibroma is a rare mesenchymal tumor that usually affects the vulvar region. It is commonly asymptomatic and treated with radical excision. We describe the first case of cellular angiofibroma located in the retroperitoneum presenting with coxalgia and laparoscopically treated.

The role of imaging in the diagnosis of recurrence of primary seminal vesicle adenocarcinoma.

Primary seminal vesicle (SV) adenocarcinoma is a rare tumor. A small amount of data about the role of imaging to detect tumor recurrence is available. We report the case of a 58-year-old patient with primary SV clear-cell well-differentiated adenocarcinoma.

Potentiated autologous tumor cell and peripheral blood lymphocyte lysate vaccination.

Immune stimulation is a promising prospect in cancer therapy. Immunotherapy may be local or systemic, aspecific or targeted and may use monoclonal antibodies or vaccines. The aim of using vaccines is to stimulate the body to produce its own antibodies.

Hyperthermia-induced cell death by apoptosis in myeloma cells.

We have analyzed by morphological (TEM) and histochemical (TUNEL reaction) criteria the type of cell death occurring in one case of human multiple myeloma after hyperthermia. Samples of cells examined immediately at the end of two treatments with a 15-day interval showed a significant degeneration, mostly demonstrating features of apoptosis (cell shrinkage, DNA fragmentation, karyorrhexis). The possible causes of the lag period between heating and apoptosis onset-expression are discussed.

Immunohistochemical and molecular analysis of bax, bcl-2 and p53 genes in laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas.

Background: We investigated the role of apoptosis and its potential alterations in laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas (LSCCs) by evaluating bax, bcl-2 and p53 protein expression in 50 cases and by characterising the molecular status of the bax and p53 genes.

Material And Methods: p53 and bax gene mutations were investigated by means of PCR/SSCP and direct DNA sequencing, and bax, bcl-2 and p53 protein expression by means of immunohistochemistry.

Results: We identified p53 gene mutations in 17/50 cases (34%); p53 expression in 26 of the 50 cases (52%); bcl-2 expression in 5/50 cases (10%); bax expression in 32/47 cases (68%).

Growth curves: a method of monitoring established long-term primary human tumor cell cultures for autologous immunotherapy.

Cytomorphologic methods evidentiate tumor cells (TC) and differentiate them from fibroblasts, but are not indicated f for long term cultures. Growth rate and curve shape of TC and autologous fibroblasts cultures were recorded and compared over 4 weeks. Both were morphologically documented ex vivo and after MGG stain.

Long-term primary human tumor cell cultures and mixed autologous tumor-lymphocyte cultures for adoptive specific antitumoral immunotherapy.

Anticancer immunotherapy may improve the body's cancer defences, quality of life and survival. Encouraging treatment models have been proposed, namely the non-specific LAK and ALT cell therapies; the relatively specific TIL/CTL cell therapy as well as allogenic cancer vaccines; autologous cancer vaccines. A procedure to prepare an autologous antitumor serum for cancer therapy using ex vivo activated autologous cells is here reported.

Hyperthermic effects on the human metastatic liver: a TEM study.

Using ultrastructural analysis, we studied the effects of hyperthermic treatment of one case of human liver metastasis from colon carcinoma. The results indicate that the main hyperthermic response involves the neoplastic and the histiocytic cell population. The drastic decrease in metastatic cells was accompanied by the appearance of cell fragments and apoptotic bodies.

Higher survival of refractory metastatizing breast cancer after thermotherapy and autologous specific antitumoral immunotherapy.

46 women (average 54.3 yrs) with refractory metastatizing breast cancer were treated with thermotherapy and autologous specific immunotherapy (rhIL-2 ex vivo activated cells). Metastases involved one organ in 69%; in particular, bone, lung, liver.

Lysosomal exocytosis induced by hyperthermia: a new model of cancer death. III. Effect on liver metastasis.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate by morphological approaches (light and electron microscopy), the effect of hyperthermic treatment in one case of human liver metastasis. The results demonstrate that hyperthermia causes a significant reduction of the metastatic cells circulating into sinusoids and the "normalization" of the hepatocytes substructure. The data are consistent with a direct and/or indirect action of the temperature on the presence of infiltrating tumor cells.