Options for repair of rectus abdominis myocutaneous perineal/vaginal flap prolapse: A case series.

•The VRAM flap is commonly used for perineal and vaginal reconstruction at the time of pelvic exenteration.•Prolapse of the VRAM flap may be under reported.•We have shown successful repair of VRAM flap prolapse via an obliterative technique and sacral suspension.

Stroke Risk in Patients with Implanted Cardiac Devices.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with embolic stroke. AF can be asymptomatic and the first detection of AF may be from the stored electrograms of cardiac implantable electronic devices. These devices can digitally record and store intracardiac electrograms that satisfy criteria for AF.

Sustained long-term complete regression of a giant cell tumor of the spine after treatment with denosumab.

Background Context: Although giant cell tumors (GCTs) are histologically benign, they may become locally aggressive bone tumors. As these lesions tend to respond poorly to radio- and chemotherapy, currently the standard surgical paradigm for the treatment of spinal GCTs involves en bloc surgical resection. Denosumab is a newly developed monoclonal antibody designed to inhibit the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) which has already been demonstrated to induce marked radiographic responses on GCTs of the appendicular skeleton.

When Standard Therapy Fails in Breast Cancer: Current and Future Options for HER2-Positive Disease.

The area of HER2-positive breast cancer is a rapidly changing field. The use of the humanized monoclonal antibody, trastuzumab, significantly improved the prognosis for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, however, increasing knowledge regarding mechanisms of resistance to trastuzumab have come to light, prompting research into additional methods to target the HER2 protein. The purpose of this article is to discuss evidence for why continued blockade of the HER2 pathway continues to be important despite progression on trastuzumab, as well as to review additional HER2-targeted therapies and progression in the central nervous system.

Cellular localization of protein arginine methyltransferase-5 correlates with grade of lung tumors.

Background: Protein arginine methyltransferase-5 (PRMT5) is a chromatin-modifying enzyme capable of methylating histone and non-histone proteins, and is involved in a wide range of cellular processes that range from transcriptional regulation to organelle biosynthesis. As such, its overexpression has been linked to tumor suppressor gene silencing, enhanced tumor cell growth and survival.

Material And Methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western immunoblot and immunohistochemistry were used to characterize PRMT5 expression in lung cancer cell lines and human tumors.

Incidence and survival in sarcoma in the United States: a focus on musculoskeletal lesions.

Background/aim: The purpose of this study was to analyze the incidence and survival in all sarcomas based on year of diagnosis, anatomical site, grade, stage, and age of patient.

Materials And Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was queried for the years 1975 to 2009 and included 18 registries across the United States representing 28% of the national population. Incidence rates for 2005-2009 and five-year survival rates for 2000-2004 were calculated for all categories of sarcomas for multiple key variables.

A review of trends in attrition rates for surgical faculty: a case for a sustainable retention strategy to cope with demographic and economic realities.

Background: Our aim was to compare trends in retention of academic surgeons by reviewing surgical faculty attrition rates (leaving academic surgery for any reason) of 3 cohorts at 5-year intervals between 1996 and 2011.

Study Design: The Association of American Medical Colleges' Faculty Administrative Management On-Line User System database was queried for a retention report of all tenure/clinical track full-time MD faculty within our academic medical center on July 1, 1996 (group 1), July 1, 2001 (group 2), and July 1, 2006 (group 3). Retention was tracked for 5 years post snapshot.

The impact of close surgical margins after radical hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer.

Objective: While it is known that positive surgical margins increase the risk of cervical cancer recurrence, little is known about the effect of close surgical margins (CSM). Therefore, we set out to determine the impact of margin status on recurrence and survival in patients with early-stage cervical cancer.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of patients undergoing radical hysterectomy from 2000 to 2010 with Stage IA2-IIA cervical cancer.

Mismatch repair protein deficiency is common in sebaceous neoplasms and suggests the importance of screening for Lynch syndrome.

The association between Lynch syndrome and sebaceous neoplasms is well characterized. The absence of expression of mismatch repair proteins (MMRPs) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) is often used in other Lynch-associated tumors to guide testing. IHC for MLH1, PMS2, MSH2, and MSH6 was performed on 36 benign and malignant sebaceous neoplasms with the absence of one or more MMRP in 38.