Impact of preoperative carbohydrate loading on postoperative course and morbidity in debulking surgery for epithelial ovarian cancer

Despite the theoretical benefits, the favorable effect of preoperative carbohydrate loading on postoperative morbidity remains controversial. Most of the outcomes reported in the literature are derived from non-gynecologic surgery data, with only one study involving a limited number of patients specifically in gynecological oncology. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of carbohydrate loading, as a single element of enhanced recovery after surgery protocols, on postoperative course and morbidity in patients undergoing debulking surgery for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The present study was a non-randomized, prospective cohort trial enrolling patients with EOC who underwent surgery between June 2018 and December 2021. An oral carbohydrate supplement with a dose of 50 g was given to patients 2-3 h before anesthesia. Data on postoperative course and morbidity were collected and compared with data of a historical cohort including consecutive patients who underwent surgery without a carbohydrate loading between January 2015 and June 2018. Analyses were performed on a total of 162 patients, including 72 patients in the carbohydrate loading group and 90 patients in the control group. Median length of hospital stay (11 days vs. 11 days; P=0.555), postoperative days 1-7 serum c-reactive protein levels (P=0.213), 30-day readmission (11.6% vs. 11.5%, P=0.985), 30-day relaparotomy (2.8% vs. 3.4%, P=0.809) and 30-day morbidity (48.6% vs. 46.7%; P=0.805) were comparable between the cohorts. No significant differences in grades of morbidities were identified between the cohorts (P=0.511). Multivariate analysis revealed that the sole independent risk factor for any postoperative morbidity was operative time. In conclusion, based on the results of the present study, postoperative course and morbidity seemed to be unaffected by carbohydrate loading in patients undergoing debulking surgery for EOC.

The role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy before radical surgery in stage IB2/IIA2 squamous cell cervical cancers

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of patients diagnosed with stage IB2/IIA2 cervical squamous cell carcinoma who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) prior to radical hysterectomy compared to those who did not receive NACT before surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a multicenter study including data of 6 gynecological oncology departments. The study is approved from one of the institution's local ethics committee. Patients were stratified into two cohorts based on the receipt of NACT preceding their surgical intervention. Clinico-pathological factors and progression-free survival were analyzed.

RESULTS

Totally 87 patients were included. Lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) was observed as 40% in the group receiving NACT, while it was 66.1% in the group not receiving NACT (p = 0.036). Deep stromal invasion (> 50%) was 56% in the group receiving NACT and 84.8% in the group not receiving NACT (p = 0.001). In the univariate analysis, application of NACT is statistically significant among the factors that would be associated with disease-free survival. Consequently, a multivariate analysis was conducted for progression-free survival, incorporating factors such as the depth of stromal invasion, the presence of LVSI, and the administration of NACT. Of these, only the administration of NACT emerged as an independent predictor associated with decreased progression-free survival. (RR:5.88; 95% CI: 1.63-21.25; p = 0.07).

CONCLUSIONS

NACT shouldn't be used routinely in patients with stage IB2/IIA2 cervical cancer before radical surgery. Presented as oral presentation at National Congress of Gynaecological Oncology & National Congress of Cervical Pathologies and Colposcopy (2022/ TURKEY).

Intermediate‑risk factors affecting oncological outcome in patients with FIGO 2018 stage IB2 cervical cancer who do not receive adjuvant therapy

The objective of the present study was to examine how intermediate-risk factors affect the oncological outcomes of patients diagnosed with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2018 stage IB2 cervical cancer who do not undergo any adjuvant treatment. A multicentric retrospective study that involved 612 patients who were diagnosed with stage IA-IB2 cervical cancer at seven tertiary gynaecological oncology centres between 1993 and 2023 was conducted. A total of 232 patients were classified as FIGO 2018 stage IB2. Patients who had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, parametrial or surgical border involvement, received adjuvant therapy and synchronous tumours were excluded from the present cohort. Therefore, the present study cohort consisted of 120 patients who had undergone radical hysterectomy and lymphadenectomy. Among the 120 patients, 89 (74.2%) had squamous cell cancer, 18 (15%) had adenocarcinoma, 2 (1.7%) had a mixed type tumour consisting of squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma and 11 (9.1%) had other types of tumours (adenosquamous cancer and glassy cell cancer). Deep cervical stromal invasion was found in 68 (56.7%) patients. The duration of patient follow-up varied from 1 to 246 months, with a median of 36 months. Overall, 6 patients (5%) experienced recurrence and 1 patient (0.8%) succumbed to the disease. The 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 94%, whereas the 3-year overall survival rate was 99%. The presence of deep cervical stromal invasion had a statistically significant impact on DFS (P=0.038). Deep cervical stromal invasion was found to be associated with recurrence in patients with stage IB2 cervical cancer. Hence, the present study demonstrated that the presence of deep cervical stromal invasion may be considered a key parameter in determining whether adjuvant treatment should be applied in patients with stage IB2 cervical cancer.

β‑catenin expression in endometrioid type endometrial cancer: Expression patterns and impact on disease outcomes

Determination of nuclear and/or cytoplasmic expression of β-catenin by immunohistochemistry in patients with endometrial cancer (EC) may constitute a potential diagnostic method for identifying patients with a catenin β1 (CTNNB1) gene mutation and those at risk of disease recurrence. The present study aimed to investigate β-catenin expression patterns in hysterectomy specimens of patients with endometrioid type EC using immunohistochemistry, and to examine the prognostic impact of β-catenin. The study was a single-institutional, retrospective cohort trial enrolling consecutive patients with a postoperative histopathological diagnosis of endometrioid EC who underwent hysterectomy between January 2015 and December 2018. Histopathology slides from 75 patients were stained with a monoclonal antibody targeting the β-catenin protein. Any percentage of nuclear staining, whether focal or diffuse, was considered 'β-catenin nuclear-positive'. The cytoplasmic staining reaction of β-catenin was assessed based on the percentage of stained cells and staining intensity. Immune-reactivity score (IRS) values were determined by multiplying the scores for the percentage of staining and staining intensity. IRS values 0 to 2 were regarded as negative expression, 3 to 4 as low expression, 6 to 8 as moderate expression, and 9 to 12 as high expression. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was used as the prognostic endpoint. Only 2 out of 75 tissue samples (2.7%) exhibited nuclear β-catenin expression, with a low staining percentage of 5%. By contrast, cytoplasmic staining was observed in all samples (100%). According to the IRS findings, 1.3% of the samples exhibited negative cytoplasmic expression, 42.7% low expression, 38.7% moderate expression and 17.3% high expression. Cox regression analysis revealed that staining with β-catenin, either nuclear or cytoplasmic, had no impact on RFS, and stage was the sole independent prognostic factor. In conclusion, based on these results, β-catenin expression in endometrioid EC was revealed to be mostly cytoplasmic, with only 2.7% of tissue samples exhibiting nuclear expression. Overall, β-catenin expression has no impact on RFS.

Prediction of Clavien Dindo Classification ≥ Grade III Complications After Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Surgery Using Machine Learning Methods

Background and Objectives: Ovarian cancer surgery requires multiple radical resections with a high risk of complications. The aim of this single-centre, retrospective study was to determine the best method for predicting Clavien-Dindo grade ≥ III complications using machine learning techniques. Material and Methods: The study included 179 patients who underwent surgery at the gynaecological oncology department of Antalya Training and Research Hospital between January 2015 and December 2020. The data were randomly split into training set n = 134 (75%) and test set n = 45 (25%). We used 49 predictors to develop the best algorithm. Mean absolute error, root mean squared error, correlation coefficients, Mathew's correlation coefficient, and F1 score were used to determine the best performing algorithm. Cohens' kappa value was evaluated to analyse the consistency of the model with real data. The relationship between these predicted values and the actual values were then summarised using a confusion matrix. True positive (TP) rate, False positive (FP) rate, precision, recall, and Area under the curve (AUC) values were evaluated to demonstrate clinical usability and classification skills. Results: 139 patients (77.65%) had no morbidity or grade I-II CDC morbidity, while 40 patients (22.35%) had grade III or higher CDC morbidity. BayesNet was found to be the most effective prediction model. No dominant parameter was observed in the Bayesian net importance matrix plot. The true positive (TP) rate was 76%, false positive (FP) rate was 15.6%, recall rate (sensitivity) was 76.9%, and overall accuracy was 82.2% A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to estimate CDC grade ≥ III. AUC was 0.863 with a statistical significance of p < 0.001, indicating a high degree of accuracy. Conclusions: The Bayesian network model achieved the highest accuracy compared to all other models in predicting CDC Grade ≥ III complications following epithelial ovarian cancer surgery.

Defining the relationship between ovarian adult granulosa cell tumors and synchronous endometrial pathology: Does ovarian tumor size correlate with endometrial cancer?

OBJECTIVE

The main feature of adult granulosa cell tumors (AGCT) is their capacity to secrete hormones, with nearly all of them capable of synthesizing oestradiol. The primary goal of this study is to identify synchronized endometrial pathologies, particularly endometrial cancer, in AGCT patients who had undergone a hysterectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study cohort comprised retrospectively of 316 AGCT patients from 10 tertiary gynecological oncology centers. AGCT surgery consisted of bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, hysterectomy, peritoneal cytology, omentectomy, and the excision of any suspicious lesion. The median tumor size value was used to define the relationship between tumor size and endometrial cancer. The relationship between each value and endometrial cancer was evaluated.

RESULTS

Endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia, or hyperplasia with complex atypia, was detected in 7.3% of patients, and endometrial cancer in 3.1% of patients. Age, menopausal status, tumor size, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, ascites, and CA-125 level were not statistically significant factors to predict endometrial cancer. There was no endometrial cancer under the age of 40, and 97.8% of women diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia were over the age of 40. During the menopausal period, the endometrial cancer risk was 4.5%. Developing endometrial cancer increased to 12.1% from 3.2% when the size of the tumor was >150 mm in menopausal patients (p = 0.036).

CONCLUSION

Endometrial hyperplasia, or cancer, occurs in approximately 30% of AGCT patients. Patients diagnosed with AGCT, especially those older than 40 years, should be evaluated for endometrial pathologies. There may be a relationship between tumor size and endometrial cancer, especially in menopausal patients.

Evaluation of Factors Associated with Pulmonary Complications in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Background: Ovarian cancer surgery requires multiple radical resections with a high risk of complications. The objective of this single-centre, retrospective study was to identify the factors associated with pulmonary complications following cytoreduction. Methods: The study included 179 patients who underwent surgery at the gynaecological oncology department of the Antalya Training and Research Hospital between January 2015 and December 2021. A univariate analysis was performed to identify significant risk factors for postoperative pulmonary complications. The data obtained were then subjected to multivariate analysis to determine the relative importance of each factor. Results: A total of 176 ovarian cancer patients underwent cytoreductive surgical procedures for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) during the study period. Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) occurred in a total of 24 patients (13.4%). Of the complications observed, n = 18 (10.06%) were pulmonary effusion, n = 5 (2.79%) were pulmonary thromboembolism, n = 1 (0.56%) was pneumo-mediastinum, n = 6 (3.35%) were pulmonary oedema, and n = 1 (0.56%) was transfusion-related lung injury (TRALI). Pulmonary complication rates were 6.512 times higher in patients who underwent diaphragm peritonectomy (p = 0.014) and 26.1 times higher in smokers (p = 0.005). When an ROC analysis was performed for quantitative parameters related to pulmonary complications, the sensitivity and specificity of the duration of surgery were 83.3% and 64.5%, respectively, and the sensitivity and specificity of the duration of postoperative hospital stay were 79.2% and 67.5% (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001). Conclusions: An improved understanding of the multifactorial aetiology of PPCs and the development of an appropriate perioperative management strategy may serve to mitigate the negative impact of these complications, thereby contributing to an enhancement in patient outcomes.