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Aim: The objective of present study was to investigate whether conisation is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in Flanders, Belgium. Therefore a retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Antwerp University Hospital. Materials and Methods: The study was approved by the Ethical Committee and based on a questionnaire as well as on medical records. Confounders, like smoking, alcohol use, drug use, chronic illness, and gynaecological disorders during pregnancy were all taken into account. A multiple logistic regression was performed for an association between adverse pregnancy outcomes and confounders. Results: The study showed that there was association between conisation, low birth weight, and caesarean section. After conisation there was a significantly higher risk of 3.275 on a low birth weight. The risk of a caesarean section after conisation was tripled. A gynaecological disorder during the pregnancy had a significantly higher risk of delivering a child with a low birth weight and a higher risk of a caesarean section. Smoking and a chronic illness gave a significant higher risk of caesarean section. Discussion: Conisation is easy to perform and highly effective in the prevention of cervical cancer. Conisation has a high morbidity, as it is associated with severe adverse pregnancy outcome. A conisation should therefore only be performed on a true indication; otherwise it will be the victim of its own success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are viable tumor cells that are released into the circulatory system. CTCs have shown a prognostic value in numerous solid tumors. CTC research in epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) has attracted only little attention. Since the primary route of metastasis in EOC is considered to be direct peritoneal spread in the abdominal cavity and distant metastases only occur in one third of the patients, it was thought that there is not enough shedding of tumor cells in the circulation. Nevertheless recent studies revealed an important role of hematogenous spread in EOC and showed that CTC status is associated with advanced tumor stage, CA-125 levels and residual disease after surgery. Furthermore the presence of CTCs correlates with shorter overall and disease free survival. However this prognostic value of CTCs in EOC seems to depend on the used isolation and detection methods. In EOC function- or density based enrichment methods seem to offer more promising results then epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM)-based approaches. This can be explained by a low number of EpCAM positive CTCs in EOC and the downregulation of EpCAM during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The presence of CTCs might also have predictive value as CTC status was associated with treatment response in two studies and CTCs showed to be a better monitoring tool then CA-125 in a small population. The (genotypic) characterization of CTCs might become even more important in the future paving the way for CTCs to a true predictive “liquid tumor biopsy”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intracystic papillary carcinoma of the male breast is a very rare disease with only a few cases reported in the literature. A case is described and the additional value of MRI is discussed. To our knowledge, this is the first report regarding the MRI findings of an intracystic papillary carcinoma of the male breast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enhancing area surrounding breast carcinoma on MR mammography is correlated with findings from pathological examination. We studied 194 patients with breast cancer who underwent preoperative MR mammography. Of all malignant lesions presenting with an enhancing surrounding area on MR mammography, morphologic features including long spicules, a ductal pattern, diffuse enhancement or nodules were evaluated and compared with histopathological examination. A double breast coil was used; we performed a 3D FLASH sequence with contiguous coronal slices of 2 mm, before and after injection of 0.2 mmol/kg GD-DTPA, and subtraction images were obtained. In total, 297 malignant lesions were detected at MR mammography and 101 of them had one or more types of enhancing surrounding area. In 49 of the 53 cancers with long spicules and in 49 of the 55 cancers with surrounding ductal pattern of enhancement, pathological examination showed in situ and/or invasive carcinoma. Multiple nodules adjacent to the carcinoma were seen in 20 patients and corresponded with six cases of invasive and ten cases of ductal in situ carcinoma. A diffuse enhancing area next to a mass was seen in ten patients and consisted of carcinoma in all cases: seven in situ and three invasive carcinomas. Enhancing areas including long spicules, a ductal pattern, noduli, or diffuse enhancement surrounding a carcinoma corresponded with in situ or invasive extension of the carcinoma in 92.5, 89, 80 and 100% of cases, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 74-year-old woman who was referred to an orthopedic surgeon for a fibula metastasis. The examination reveals an isolated metastatic bone lesion in the right fibula of a primary squamous carcinoma of the vagina. The patient was given a palliative therapy including bone resection and radiotherapy of the metastatic lesion.

Case: A 58-year old woman presented with microcalcifications in her left breast. A biopsy showed a low-grade ductal carcinoma in situ. A tumorectomy was performed using a harpoon-shaped guide wire to remove the entire lesion. No additional therapy was given. Six months later during follow-up the mammography revealed that the distal end of the guide wire was still present in the left breast. Conclusion: When performing a tumorectomy using a guide wire, the completeness of the wire should be checked during surgery. Additionally cutting of the wire can be prevented by using a scalpel instead of scissors during surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]