Detection of tumour lymphovascular space invasion using dual cytokeratin and CD31 immunohistochemistry

BACKGROUND

Lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) is an important step in the complex process of tumour metastasis. Various methods have been used in the past to improve the histological detection of LVSI.

AIMS

To develop a sensitive immunohistochemical method for the detection of LVSI.

METHODS

Paraffin wax blocks from 108 patients who had undergone hysterectomy for stage I endometrial cancer were retrieved. Dual immunostaining for pancytokeratin and the CD31 endothelial cell marker was carried out on 4 micro m sections cut from these bocks and compared with conventional haematoxylin and eosin staining.

RESULTS

The detection rate for LVSI increased threefold compared with conventional haematoxylin and eosin staining in the test group.

CONCLUSION

This finding suggests that LVSI is a much more common phenomenon than previously thought and questions current understanding of tumour metastasis.

Comparison of HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) levels of epithelial ovarian cancer cyst fluids with benign ovarian cysts

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is known to take a role in oncogenesis and tumoral behavior of the tumors of the organs that contain both mesenchymal and epithelial cells. This study compares HGF levels in cyst fluids of epithelial ovarian cancer and benign ovarian cysts to look for the role of HGF in ovarian carcinogenesis. Twenty-four consecutive patients with ovarian cancer and 34 with benign ovarian cysts were recruited prospectively at the Gynecologic Oncology Departments of SSK Ankara Maternity Hospital and Hacettepe University School of Medicine between 2001 and 2002. Cyst fluids were collected during primary staging in cancer patients and during laparatomy for benign patients. HGF levels were measured by ELISA method. Median HGF levels of the benign ovarian cysts and epithelial ovarian tumoral fluids were found to be 3822 pg/ml (85–15,253 pg/ml) and 12,962 pg/ml (4136–16,025 pg/ml), respectively. Malignant cyst fluids have higher HGF levels when compared with benign ovarian cysts (P < 0.01). This finding suggests that HGF may take a paracrine role in oncogenic differentiation and tumoral development of epithelial ovarian cancers. Mechanisms that take a role in HGF secretion and the responses of neighboring epithelial cells to HGF during tumoral development need to be investigated.

Oncologic and reproductive outcome after fertility-saving surgery in ovarian cancer

The rate of ovarian tumour diagnosis in reproductive age woman has increased parallel to the improvements in diagnostic methods and regular gynaecological visits. Because of this organ saving surgical procedures for the preservation of reproductive and endocrine functions have gained more interest. Conservative surgical approaches for ovarian tumours after surgical staging include cystectomy, unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy plus contralateral cystectomy. Ovarian tumours diagnosed in young ages tend to be low-stage low-grade malignancies. This not only enables but also necessitates preserving the fertility of women who have not completed their family. In invasive ovarian cancer, fertility saving surgery is confined to early-stage and low-grade disease. But, it also had been reported in advanced stages (up to Stage IIIc). Candidates for those procedures were selected according to the FIGO stage, grade, ploidy state, histological subtypes and patients' desire. Adjuvant chemotherapy is necessary for high-risk patients. The rate of recurrence following conservative and radical surgical procedures in low-stage and low-grade tumours are 9% and 11.6%, respectively; and disease-free and overall survival rates do not differ significantly. Prognosis of borderline ovarian tumours is excellent. Five and 20-year survival rates are 95% and 80%, respectively. Management of borderline tumours has evolved significantly in the last few decades. In contrast to invasive ovarian cancer, borderline tumours can be operated on conservatively at all stages. Chemotherapy is rarely prescribed even in advanced stages. Eighty percent of malignant germ cell tumours are diagnosed less than 30 years of age, and 70-75% of patients have Stage I disease. Conservative surgery is generally used in malignant germ cell tumours even in advanced stages. The relation between ovulation induction and tumour recurrence is not consistent in the literature. Spontaneous pregnancy rates following fertility saving surgery has been reported as 60-88%. Because of this over-treatment of these patients for fertility should be avoided. Briefly, fertility saving surgery can be performed safely in germ cell, borderline and early stage epithelial ovarian tumours in selected cases. Any increment in the rate of tumour recurrence following ovulation induction has not yet been demonstrated. Menstrual irregularities caused by chemotherapy are transient. The congenital malformation rate of ovarian cancer patients is slightly higher than that of the normal population, but no significant difference has been observed between patients who received or did not receive chemotherapy.

Survival and prognostic factors in patients with synchronous ovarian and endometrial cancers and endometrial cancers metastatic to the ovaries

PURPOSE

To compare the survival and prognostic factors of patients with synchronous primary ovarian and endometrial cancers, and endometrial cancers metastatic to the ovaries.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Fifty-three patients with synchronous primary ovarian and endometrial cancer and 64 patients with endometrial cancer metastatic to the ovaries were evaluated.

RESULTS

Mean follow-up time was 47.2 months (18-170 months). There was no statistical difference in age, gravidity and parity between the two groups. Abnormal vaginal bleeding was the most common symptom in both groups. All patients were subjected to a surgical staging procedure. Overall survival of the synchronous group was significantly higher than that of the metastatic group (98 +/- 12 vs 59 +/- 6 months; p = 0.048). The significant prognostic factors for synchronous cancers after multivariate analysis were age, stage of ovarian cancer, grade of endometrial cancer, and adjuvant therapy status.

CONCLUSION

Patients with synchronous ovarian and endometrial cancers appear to have a good prognosis and should undergo primary surgical staging since the stage of tumors is a significant prognostic factor.

Surgical stage III endometrial cancer: analysis of treatment outcomes, prognostic factors and failure patterns

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the survival estimates of stage III endometrial cancer patients, and also to detect the prognostic factors and failure patterns.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sixty-eight surgical Stage III endometrial cancer patients treated at Hacettepe University Hospital were included. All patients underwent surgical staging procedures consisting of peritoneal cytology, infracolic omentectomy, total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and complete pelvic-paraaortic lymphadenectomy. By surgical staging 26 (38%) patients had Stage IIIA and 42 (62%) patients had Stage IIIC disease. The mean resected lymph node number was 26 (median, 25; range, 15-58).

RESULTS

The median age was 60 years (range, 38-77), and the median follow-up period was 62 months (range, 36-90 months). The 5-year disease free survival rate was 58% and the 5-year overall survival rate was 64%. These figures for Stage IIIA were 60% and 68%, respectively; and for Stage IIIC they were 57% and 62%, respectively. No significant survival difference was detected between Stage IIIA and IIIC (p = 0.60 for disease-free survival and p = 0.48 for overall survival). High grade and positive peritoneal cytology predicted poor survival in both univariate (p = 0.004 and p = 0.006, respectively) and multivariate (p = 0.05 and p = 0.04, respectively) analysis. Twenty-eight patients (41%) had recurrence with a median time of 23 months (range, 10-54 months). Nine patients (13%) had only local, 13 patients (19%) had only distant and six patients (9%) had both local and distant relapse.

CONCLUSION

Surgical staging is important in the management of Stage III endometrial cancer, and the main problem is still distant failure. In multivariate analysis high grade and positive peritoneal cytology predicted poor survival significantly.

An extraordinary case of four primary tumors in the same patient, involving the uterine cervix, lung, skin, and rectum

Four primary cancers in one patient are fairly rare. Here we present a case of four primary tumors in such a patient. These cancers were cervical carcinoma and lung carcinoma, which occurred synchronously, and basal cell carcinoma of the skin and rectal carcinoma which occurred metachronously. A successful resection of two synchronous and two metachronous cancers, which has never previously been reported in this specific combination, is described.

No relationship is indicated between FHIT expression and clinicopathologic prognostic parameters in early stage cervical carcinoma

In this study we investigated FHIT (Fragile Histidine Triad) protein alterations in cervical carcinomas to assess the relation of this gene with cervical cancer. Eighty-eight patients with surgically treated FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage IB carcinomas of the cervix were included in this study. Clinicopathologic prognostic factors were compared with FHIT expression status. Disease-free and overall survival was evaluated according to prognostic factors and FHIT expression. The FHIT gene was found to be depressed in 53% (47/88) of the tumors. None of the clinicopathologic prognostic parameters showed a correlation with FHIT expression. Univariate survival analysis with the Kaplan-Meier method showed that only the age of the patient is significantly correlated with disease-free survival. Interestingly, when the same analysis was done for 5-year overall survival; diameter of the primary tumor, depth of invasion, occurrence of lymph node involvement, and number of metastatic lymph nodes were found to be statistically significant. Furthermore, multivariate analysis with Cox regression revealed that lymph node involvement was the only independent variable for 5-year overall survival. In the present study there was no statistical correlation between FHIT expression and clinicopathologic prognostic factors or survival figures of the patients. These findings may be explained with the carcinogenic role of FHIT in tumoral progression but not in the tumoral development that takes place after the carcinogenetic period.

No relationship is indicated between FHIT expression and clinicopathologic prognostic parameters in early stage cervical carcinoma

In this study we investigated FHIT (Fragile Histidine Triad) protein alterations in cervical carcinomas to assess the relation of this gene with cervical cancer. Eighty-eight patients with surgically treated FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage IB carcinomas of the cervix were included in this study. Clinicopathologic prognostic factors were compared with FHIT expression status. Disease-free and overall survival was evaluated according to prognostic factors and FHIT expression. The FHIT gene was found to be depressed in 53% (47/88) of the tumors. None of the clinicopathologic prognostic parameters showed a correlation with FHIT expression. Univariate survival analysis with the Kaplan-Meier method showed that only the age of the patient is significantly correlated with disease-free survival. Interestingly, when the same analysis was done for 5-year overall survival; diameter of the primary tumor, depth of invasion, occurrence of lymph node involvement, and number of metastatic lymph nodes were found to be statistically significant. Furthermore, multivariate analysis with Cox regression revealed that lymph node involvement was the only independent variable for 5-year overall survival. In the present study there was no statistical correlation between FHIT expression and clinicopathologic prognostic factors or survival figures of the patients. These findings may be explained with the carcinogenic role of FHIT in tumoral progression but not in the tumoral development that takes place after the carcinogenetic period.

The prognostic value of nuclear grading and the revised FIGO grading of endometrial adenocarcinoma

The purpose of this study was to determine a convenient method for the modification of architectural grade by nuclear features and to evaluate the prognostic significance of the new International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) grading system by studying 288 patients with endometrioid endometrial carcinoma. All patients were subjected to initial surgical exploration and staging by 1988 FIGO guidelines. Three different grading systems were evaluated for their prognostic value: architectural, nuclear, and FIGO combined systems. All three grading systems significantly predicted poor survival, but only the FIGO grade (p < 0.001), stage (p < 0.001), and cervical involvement (p = 0.04) remained significant in multivariate analysis. In the architectural grade 2 group, the 5-year survival rate for 39 patients with grade 1 or 2 nuclei was 87%, compared with 66% for 35 patients with grade 3 nuclei (p = 0.03). In the architectural grade 1 group, the 5-year survival rate for 84 patients with grade 2 nuclei was 93% without significant difference from the original group (96%). FIGO grade 3 tumor predicted 70% of deaths (29/41), whereas architectural grade 3 tumor detected 41% (17/41) of deaths (p = 0.001). In conclusion, in determining the FIGO grade, upgrading of architectural grade 1 or 2 tumors by grade 3 nuclei was the most reliable method. The new FIGO grading system was prognostically superior to the previously used architectural grading system.