Radiotherapy for oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer: a narrative review.

Preclinical and early clinical evidence suggest that radical radiotherapy of oligometastatic disease in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients can impact outcomes with relatively limited toxicity. Whilst data from phase 2 randomized trials suggesting an improved overall survival (OS) with this treatment is promising, it has also illustrated the heterogeneity in this patient population and treatment. Oligometastatic disease in itself comprises a broad spectrum of patients, in terms of tumor load and location, stage of the disease and treatment history.

Structure and Processes of Existing Practice in Radiotherapy Peer Review: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Peer review in radiotherapy is an essential step in clinical quality assurance to avoid planning-related errors that can impact on patient safety and treatment outcomes. Despite recommendations that radiotherapy centres should include peer review in their regular quality assurance pathway, adoption of the practice has not been universal, and to date there have been no formal guidelines set out to standardise the process. We undertook a systematic review of the literature to determine existing practice in radiotherapy peer review internationally, with respect to meeting structure and processes, in order to define a standardised framework.

Ventilation and outcomes following robotic-assisted abdominal surgery: an international, multicentre observational study.

Background: International data on the epidemiology, ventilation practice, and outcomes in patients undergoing abdominal robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) are lacking. The aim of the study was to assess the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), and to describe ventilator management after abdominal RAS.

Methods: This was an international, multicentre, prospective study in 34 centres in nine countries.

Illustrated State-of-the-Art Capsules of the ISTH 2020 Congress.

The 2020 Congress of the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) was held virtually July 12-15, 2019, due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The congress convenes annually to discuss clinical and basic topics in hemostasis and thrombosis. Each year, the program includes State of Art (SOA) lectures given by prominent scientists.

Medical devices that look like medicines: safety and regulatory concerns for children in Europe.

Introduction: Medical devices (MedDevs) and medicines are assessed (and monitored) differently before and after launch. There are products for repeated oral ingestion that are marketed in the European Union as MedDevs.

Objectives And Methods: To illustrate the consequences of these differences in assessment, we compared the leaflet information of three MedDevs with the standards for medicines and with published evidence at launch.

Near-infrared fluorescence guided esophageal reconstructive surgery: A systematic review.

Background: After an esophagectomy, the stomach is most commonly used to restore continuity of the upper gastrointestinal tract. These esophago-gastric anastomoses are prone to serious complications such as leakage associated with high morbidity and mortality. Graft perfusion is considered to be an important predictor for anastomotic integrity.

Assessment of graft perfusion and oxygenation for improved outcome in esophageal cancer surgery: Protocol for a single-center prospective observational study.

Introduction: The main cause of anastomotic leakage (AL) is tissue hypoxia, which results from impaired perfusion of the pedicle stomach graft after esophageal reconstruction. Clinical judgment is unreliable in determining graft perfusion. Therefore, an objective, validated, and reproducible method is urgently needed.

Mutations in the gene PDE6C encoding the catalytic subunit of the cone photoreceptor phosphodiesterase in patients with achromatopsia.

Biallelic PDE6C mutations are a known cause for rod monochromacy, better known as autosomal recessive achromatopsia (ACHM), and early-onset cone photoreceptor dysfunction. PDE6C encodes the catalytic α'-subunit of the cone photoreceptor phosphodiesterase, thereby constituting an essential part of the phototransduction cascade. Here, we present the results of a study comprising 176 genetically preselected patients who remained unsolved after Sanger sequencing of the most frequent genes accounting for ACHM, and were subsequently screened for exonic and splice site variants in PDE6C applying a targeted next generation sequencing approach.

The importance of genetic testing as demonstrated by two cases of -associated retinal generation misdiagnosed as LCA.

Purpose: To describe in detail cases with an initial diagnosis of Leber congenital amaurosis that were later found to have a hemizygous mutation in the gene.

Methods: The patients underwent a detailed ophthalmological evaluation and full-field electroretinography (ERG). Selective targeted capture and whole-exome next-generation sequencing (NGS) were used to find the disease-causing mutations.

A rare case of concomitant sicca keratopathy and ipsilateral central facial palsy in Wallenberg's dorsolateral medullary syndrome.

To describe a patient with a right-sided supranuclear facial palsy and concomitant sicca keratopathy of the right eye following right-sided dorsolateral medullary infarction. Our patient underwent a complete ophthalmologic and neurologic examination including biomicroscopy, fundus examination, cranial nerve examination, Shirmer I test, and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. A 61-year-old woman presented in emergency with a central facial nerve palsy on the right side and truncal ataxia.

Copy-number variation is an important contributor to the genetic causality of inherited retinal degenerations.

Purpose: Despite substantial progress in sequencing, current strategies can genetically solve only approximately 55-60% of inherited retinal degeneration (IRD) cases. This can be partially attributed to elusive mutations in the known IRD genes, which are not easily identified by the targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) or Sanger sequencing approaches. We hypothesized that copy-number variations (CNVs) are a major contributor to the elusive genetic causality of IRDs.

Postoperative complications in cardiac patients undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Purpose Of Review: In this article we review the current knowledge on the underlying mechanisms of perioperative myocardial injury, the preoperative methods of predicting these complications, the diagnostic tools for detecting perioperative myocardial injuries, and the available protective strategies to prevent or attenuate the extent of myocardial injury.

Recent Findings: The last years' new insights have provided a better understanding of the problem of perioperative myocardial injury and infarction. Specifically, the importance of early diagnosis and prompt treatment are increasingly getting attention.

Diplopia as presenting sign of Turcot syndrome.

Purpose: To describe a patient with diplopia who was diagnosed with Turcot syndrome.

Methods: A 10-year-old boy presented with a history of left-sided sixth and seventh nerve palsy. He underwent imaging of the brain and colon, a full ophthalmological and genetic work-up.

Spectrum of Cav1.4 dysfunction in congenital stationary night blindness type 2.

Defective retinal synaptic transmission in patients affected with congenital stationary night blindness type 2 (CSNB2) can result from different dysfunction phenotypes in Cav1.4 L-type calcium channels. Here we investigated two prototypical Cav1.