The Journal of Bucharest College of Physicians and the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences

Cristina Orlov-Slavu

Cristina Orlov-Slavu

Intraoperative Post-parathyroidectomy Correlation of PTH Hormone Values with Preoperative Scintigraphy

Preoperative parathyroid evaluation through nuclear medicine and intraoperative hormone monitoring has significantly increased the success of the surgical intervention. Material and method: Our study is descriptive, the database is retrospective but it is maintained prospectively. The preoperative protocol included single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with the use of technetium-99 sestamibi tracer. We preferred this approach as it allowed 3-D localization of the adenomas. PTH values were obtained from blood drawn from the ipsilateral jugular vein at the regular intervals of 5, 10 and 15 minutes post excision. Results: We had 6 cases with false negative which led to necessary dissection of the contralateral neck. Two had previous surgery and 4 had tumors in other locations which were observed after the surgical intervention through methodical investigations. We encountered 3 patients with false positive results. 2 had intrathyroidal adenomas and 1 was diagnosed with thyroid papillary carcinoma. Causes of a misinterpretation are related to: thyroid disease in association with hyperparathyroidism, a history of parathyroid surgery or multiple locations of hyperproductive parathyroid glands.

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Second Primary Lung Cancer after Breast Cancer: Challenges and Approaches

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies, with a 10-year survival rate for early non-metastatic stages of over 80%. However, recurrence or relapse may occur decades after completing therapy, and cancer survivors have also a risk of secondary neoplasia especially due to radiation therapy. This case highlights the challenges of an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment in patients with second primary cancer and uncommon metastasis.

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News in Cancer-Related Pain Management

Introduction: Cancer related- pain causes a negative psychosocial and physical impact on patients’ lives. The purpose of this review was to investigate the current strategies for cancer pain treatment. Material and Methods: We conducted a PubMed search of the literature published from 2018 to 2020, and details were extracted from the articles with adequate study quality. Discussion: Of 63 titles, 19 studies were selected and used in review. Conclusions: This review article focuses on the novel treatments available for cancer pain management.

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The Controversy of Intraperitoneal Hyperthermic Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer

Although the standard treatment for ovarian carcinoma with peritoneal metastases is systemic chemotherapy alone or systemic chemotherapy with debulking surgery, a new technique gains more ground: a combination of hipertermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and optimal cytoreduction surgery. The proof is mounting regarding the benefits of HIPEC for patients with metastatic ovarian carcinoma but it still lacks a standard protocol of use. It has increased costs, and incomplete data regarding its safety. Due to these reasons, it is still considered an alternative treatment. Our study aimed to evaluate the published literature regarding this technique from the point of view of safety and efficacy when compared with the standard of care treatment.

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The Role of Multigene Assays in Adjuvant Treatment Decision for Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Multigene assays were developed to guide treatment in early-stage breast cancer and to evaluate the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients with invasive breast carcinoma, either T1 or T2, N0 or N1 (one to three positive lymph nodes), with no invaded surgical margins (R0), positive for hormone receptors and negative for Her2 receptor derive benefit from these tests. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) validated the use of the following tests: OncotypeDX (a 21 gene test), Mammaprint (70 ARN messenger genes), Predictor Analysis of Microarray 50-PAM50 (50 genes) also known as Prosigna and Endopredict (12 genes). These gene expression signatures have been increasingly used to evaluate the prognosis (such as Endopredict- that can predict outcomes more accurately than ki67 values in early-stage breast cancer) or the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy (such as Oncotype DX). For the moment only two assays, the 70-gene signature (MammaPrint) and the 21-gene Recurrence Score (RS) assay (Oncotype DX), are supported by prospective randomized phase 3 trials. However, all multigene assays are important tools in the identification of low-risk, breast cancer patients, for whom chemotherapy could be avoided.

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