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Background: The interval between neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment and surgery has been described as an important predictor of pathologic response to therapy in nonesophageal cancer sites. We retrospectively reviewed our experience with patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation and esophagectomy to better understand the impact of the timing of surgery on pathologic complete response rates in esophageal cancer., Methods: Two hundred thirty-one sequentially treated patients from 2000 to 2011 were identified for this study; 88 of these patients completed neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by esophagectomy at our institution. The interval between completion of chemoradiation and surgery was calculated for each patient. The patients were categorized into quartiles and also into 3-week interval groups. Treatment factors and surgical morbidity data, including the estimated blood loss and length of operative stay, were also assessed., Results: Quartiles for the neoadjuvant chemoradiation to surgery interval were less than 45 days, 46 to 50 days, 51 to 63 days, and 64+ days. Corresponding pathologic complete response rates were 12.5%, 20.0%, 22.7%, and 40.9% (p = 0.03). Results for 3-week intervals were similar (p = 0.02). There was no association between increasing time interval between the ending of neoadjuvant chemoradiation to surgery and length of stay longer than 2 weeks., Conclusions: A longer interval between completion of neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgery was associated with higher pathologic complete response rates without an impact on surgical morbidity., (Copyright © 2015 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is a rare cause of pulmonary nodules that occurs when uterine leiomyomas metastasize to the lung. The management of these lesions varies from resection and hysterectomy to nonsurgical treatments such as hormonal therapy. We report a case of a 45-year-old woman with multiple nodules of the right lung identified during preoperative imaging before her hysterectomy for uterine fibroids., (Copyright © 2012 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Radiofrequency ablation is a new technology that has been used successfully to treat hepatic tumors. Recently, an increasing number of reports have described the use of radiofrequency ablation for primary and metastatic lung tumors. Although such early experience appears promising, many questions regarding patient selection, radiofrequency ablation technique, effectiveness of ablation on lung tumors, radiographic follow-up, and survival remain unanswered. This article addresses these issues and provides the thoracic surgeon with a current review of the application of radiofrequency ablation to lung tumors.

Background: We reviewed our experience with multimodality therapy for superior sulcus tumors to identify aspects of treatment that impact survival., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 39 consecutive patients who underwent surgical resection in a single institution between 1993 and 2000., Results: Median age at presentation was 59 years (range, 40 to 77). Twenty-five patients (64%) were men. At presentation, 36 patients (92%) had clinical T3 tumors and 3 (8%) had clinical T4 tumors. Mediastinoscopy was negative in all patients. Thirty-one patients (79%) received preoperative radiotherapy (median dose, 4500 cGy). Chemotherapy was administered concurrently with radiotherapy in 27 patients (69%). Complete surgical resection was performed in 34 patients (87%). There were 2 (5%) postoperative deaths. Of the 31 patients who received preoperative therapy, 14 (45%) had their tumors downstaged and 9 (29%) demonstrated a complete pathologic response. Median follow-up (100%) was 69 months. Overall 5-year survival was 47.9%. Five-year survival was 52.1% in patients with negative resection margins (p = 0.005), and 60.6% in patients who demonstrated a response to induction chemoradiation therapy (p = 0.008). Independently, margin status and response to induction therapy are predictors of overall survival (p = 0.01 and p = 0.02, respectively). Multivariable analysis identified margin status as the only factor significantly associated with overall survival. Negative margins strongly correlated with the response to preoperative therapy (p = 0.004). Disease-free survival correlated well with the response to induction therapy (p = 0.03). The chemotherapy regimen, T status, operative procedure, and complete pathologic response did not correlate with survival., Conclusions: The use of chemoradiation induction therapy may downstage tumors, enhance the ability to obtain a complete surgical resection, and prolong survival.

Background: Preliminary studies have shown that thoracic positron emission tomography (PET) is more accurate than thoracic computed tomography (CT) for the staging of non-small cell lung carcinoma. In the present study the cost-effectiveness, as measured by national Medicare reimbursed costs, and patient life expectancy are used to compare several thoracic PET-based strategies with a conventional thoracic CT-based strategy for preoperative staging., Methods: Five decision strategies for selection of potential surgical candidates were compared; thoracic CT alone or four different strategies that use thoracic CT plus thoracic PET. The various paths of each strategy are dependent on numerous variables that were determined from a review of the medical literature. Life expectancy was calculated using the declining exponential approximation of life expectancy and reduced on the basis of procedural morbidity and mortality. Costs were based on national Medicare reimbursed costs. For all possible outcomes of each strategy, the expected cost and projected life expectancy were determined. The effects of changing one or more variables on the expected cost and life expectancy were studied using sensitivity analysis., Results: A strategy that uses PET only after a negative CT study is shown to be a cost-effective alternative to the CT-alone strategy ($25,286 per life-year saved)., Conclusions: These results show through rigorous decision tree analysis the potential cost-effectiveness of using thoracic PET in the management of non-small cell lung carcinoma. Greater use of thoracic PET for nonsmall cell lung carcinoma staging is warranted, and further clinical trials should help to validate the analytic results predicted from this study.

Positron emission tomography detects increased glucose uptake in malignant tissue using the glucose analogue [2-18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose. We reviewed the scans obtained in 62 patients with lung tumors. All had undergone computed tomography and had tissue-based diagnoses: 22 had adenocarcinomas, 12 had squamous cell carcinomas, 13 had other malignancies, 1 had organizing pneumonia, 1 had a hamartoma, and 13 had granulomas. Positron emission tomography with [2-18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose identified 44 of 47 malignancies. Two of three false-negative findings were tumors that were 1 cm2 or less and the other was a bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. All three false-positive findings were granulomas. The sensitivity and specificity of the technique were 93.6% and 80%, respectively, and the positive and negative predictive values were 93.6% and 80%, respectively. The differential uptake ratio was determined in all 62 patients. The mean differential uptake ratio (+/- the standard error of the mean) for malignant tumors was 6.4 +/- 0.56 and that for benign tumors was 1.14 +/- 0.26 (p < 0.0001, t test). Twenty-five of the patients had N2 lymph nodes evaluated pathologically. Positron emission tomography with [2-18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose identified negative N2 nodes in 19 of 22 patients (86%) with negative nodes and positive N2 nodes in 2 of 3 patients (66%) with positive nodes, including one instance missed by computed tomography.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

We reviewed current blood conservation techniques and their use in cardiac surgery. Avoidance of aspirin preoperatively is an important blood conservation measure. Patients scheduled for an elective operation should participate in autologous predonation programs. With careful monitoring, patients with major coronary artery disease can safely donate blood preoperatively. Intraoperative processing of blood withdrawn before cardiopulmonary bypass provides autologous platelet-rich plasma for infusion after reversal of heparin sodium. Blood collected from the field during operation and blood remaining in the oxygenator after bypass can also be processed to yield washed and concentrated red blood cells for reinfusion. Randomized, prospective studies document that postoperative autotransfusion is both safe and effective in reducing homologous blood use. Aprotinin reduces plasma protein activation and platelet damage during bypass. The integration of available blood conservation techniques into a comprehensive program combined with careful consideration of the indications for transfusion may allow more patients to avoid transfusion entirely.