Emad Matanes

Surgical Technique for Sentinel Lymph Node Sampling in Presumed Early-stage Ovarian Cancer

Surgical staging for apparent early-stage ovarian cancer includes systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymph node evaluation to detect occult stage III disease [1]. Although, lymphadenectomy procedure is associated with increased duration of surgery and a 13% risk of lymphocyst formation [2]. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is still investigational, and no standardized approach has been studied. Recent mounting evidence has approved the applicability of SLN technique in early-stage ovarian cancer [3,4]. The objective of this video is to demonstrate a surgical technique for robotic performance of SLN biopsy in presumed early-stage ovarian cancer. Stepwise demonstration of the robotic technique for SLN sampling in presumed early-stage ovarian cancer. This video report is part of an institutional, investigational review board-approved study. Academic tertiary referral center. This video presents our team's robotic technique for SLN sampling in a 37-year-old woman who presented to our center with a 10-cm right complex adnexal mass, suspicious for malignancy. A 27-gauge spinal needle was inserted through the abdominal wall under direct visualization. We injected 0.5 mL of dilute indocyanine green solution (Novadaq Technologies, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) (1.25 mg/mL) subperitoneally into the utero-ovarian ligament. The SLN was checked with the fluorescence-guided camera of the Xi DaVinci robotic system (Sunnyvale, CA). Eight to 10 minutes after the injection, a right para-aortic SLN was identified, and dissection was performed. After dissection, the node was extracted and sent to pathology for evaluation by ultra-staging. The final pathology revealed a stage IA low-grade serous ovarian cancer. SLN sampling appears to be feasible in presumed early-stage ovarian cancer and may allow the avoidance of systematic lymph node dissection in this set of patients.

Endometrial Cancer in Germline BRCA Mutation Carriers: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) is standard treatment among women with BRCA mutations. The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the risk of endometrial cancer (EC) in BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutation carriers and to examine the justifiability of prophylactic hysterectomy at the time of RRSO. PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, BIOSIS, Medline (Ovid), Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar were searched. Eleven articles were selected and analyzed using the OpenMetaAnalyst 2012 software. Randomized controlled studies, cohort studies, and case-control studies evaluating the risk of EC and specifically uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC) in germline BRCA1/2 mutation carriers were included. Articles were excluded if they did not meet the inclusion criteria, or if data were not reported and the authors did not respond to inquiries. We assessed the methodological quality of the included studies on the basis of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Dichotomous results from each of the studies eligible for the meta-analysis were expressed as the proportion of patients with EC or UPSC per total number of BRCA mutation carriers, with 95% confidence interval (CI). The Mantel-Haenszel statistical method was used. Eleven studies reported the outcome of interest and were included in the final meta-analysis. In total, 13 871 carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations were identified. The pooled prevalence rates of EC and UPSC in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers were 82/13 827 (0.59%) and 19/11 582 (0.16%), respectively. The EC prevalence was 46/7429 (0.62%) in BRCA1 mutation carriers and 17/3546 (0.47%) in BRCA2 mutation carriers, with relative risk of 1.18 (95% CI, 0.7-2.0). For UPSC, the prevalence was 15/7429 (0.2%) and 3/3546 (0.08%) among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, respectively, (relative risk 1.39; 95% CI, 0.5-3.7). Most studies in this meta-analysis suggest a slightly increased risk of EC in BRCA mutation carriers, mainly for BRCA1. The decision regarding concurrent hysterectomy should be tailored individually to each patient on the basis of the patient's age, type of mutation, future need for hormone replacement treatment, history of breast cancer, tamoxifen use, and personal operative risks.

Surgical and oncological outcomes of sentinel lymph node sampling in elderly patients with intermediate to high-risk endometrial carcinoma

We aimed to evaluate the surgical and oncological outcomes of elderly patients with intermediate to high-risk endometrial cancer undergoing staging with sentinel lymph node (SLN) sampling and pelvic lymphadenectomy. We conducted a retrospective study of elderly (>65-year-old) patients diagnosed with endometrial cancer between December 2007 and August 2017. These patients had been treated at a single center in Montreal, Canada. We compared the surgical and oncological outcomes of three cohorts undergoing surgical staging in non-overlapping eras: 1) lymphadenectomy, 2) lymphadenectomy and SLN sampling, 3) SLN sampling alone. Using life tables, Kaplan-Meier survival curves and log-rank tests, we analyzed 2-year progression-free survival, overall survival, and disease-specific survival. Our study included 278 patients with a median age of 73 years (range; 65-91): 84 (30.2%) underwent lymphadenectomy, 120 (43.2%) underwent SLN sampling with lymphadenectomy, and 74 (26.6%) had SLN sampling alone. The SLN sampling alone group had shorter operative times with a median duration of 199 minutes (range, 75-393) compared with 231 (range, 125-403) and 229 (range, 151-440) minutes in the SLN sampling with lymphadenectomy and lymphadenectomy cohorts; respectively (p<0.001). The SLN sampling alone group also had lower estimated blood loss with a median loss of 20 mL (range, 5-150) vs 25 mL (range, 5-800) and 40 mL (range, 5-400) in the SLN sampling with lymphadenectomy and lymphadenectomy cohorts, respectively (p=0.002). The 2 year overall survival and progression-free survival were not significantly different between the three groups (p=0.45, p=0.51, respectively). On multivariable analysis after adjusting for age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, stage, grade, and lymphovascular space invasion, adding SLN sampling was associated with better overall survival, (HR 0.2, CI [0.1 to 0.6], p=0.006) and progression-free survival (HR 0.5, CI [0.1 to 1.0], p=0.05). Sentinel lymph node-based surgical staging is feasible and associated with better surgical outcomes and comparable oncological outcomes in elderly patients with intermediate and high

Four protective maneuvers in minimal invasive surgery of endometrial cancer

Surgical technique for sentinel lymph node sampling in endometrial cancer using the articulated HOOK monopolar instrument

Sentinel Lymph Node Sampling as an Alternative to Lymphadenectomy in Patients With Endometrial Cancer and Obesity

Although its use in endometrial cancer staging is relatively new, sentinel lymph node (SLN) sampling has been shown to be highly accurate and is associated with few complications. However, some studies report lower rates of detection with SLN sampling among patients with obesity. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the feasibility of SLN sampling in endometrial cancer for patients with obesity, and to determine whether omitting lymph node dissection (LND) in surgical staging using SLN sampling impacts oncologic outcomes. we conducted a retrospective study of patients with obesity (BMI ≥35 kg/m Out of 223 patients with a median BMI of 40.6 kg/m In patients with obesity, omitting LND from surgical staging with SLN sampling was associated with shorter operative times and less bleeding and did not affect survival at 2 years.

The impact of wait times on oncological outcome in high‐risk patients with endometrial cancer

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of surgical wait times on outcome of patients with grade 3 endometrial cancer.MethodsAll consecutive patients surgically treated for grade 3 endometrial cancer between 2007 and 2015 were included. Patients were divided into two groups based on the time interval between endometrial biopsy and surgery: wait time from biopsy to surgery ≤12 weeks (84 days) vs more than 12 weeks. Survival analyses were conducted using log‐rank tests and Cox proportional hazards models.ResultsA total of 136 patients with grade 3 endometrial cancer were followed for a median of 5.6 years. Fifty‐one women (37.5%) waited more than 12 weeks for surgery. Prolonged surgical wait times were not associated with advanced stage at surgery, positive lymph nodes, increased lymphovascular space invasion, and tumor size (P = .8, P = 1.0, P = .2, P = .9, respectively). In multivariable analysis adjusted for clinical and pathological factors, wait times did not significantly affect disease‐specific survival (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.6‐2.5, P = .6), overall survival (HR: 1.1, 95% CI, 0.6‐2.1, P = .7), or progression‐free survival (HR: 0.9, 95% CI, 0.5‐1.7, P = .8).ConclusionProlonged surgical wait time for poorly differentiated endometrial cancer seemed to have a limited impact on clinical outcomes compared to biological factors.