Recent Publications by CFE Educators

BACKGROUND

Controversies regarding anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) surround aggressiveness of tumor resection in the presence of extrathyroidal extension and the impact of delayed surgery on patient survival. Our goal was to analyze the survival implications of complete and timely resections.

METHODS

Adult patients with ATC were culled from the National Cancer Data Base for the years 2003-2006. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were used for univariate and multivariate survival analyses, respectively.

RESULTS

A total of 680 ATC patients were identified. In the surgical cohort (n = 335), the female-to-male ratio was 1.6:1; mean age was 68.6 years. Patients with ATCs were staged as IVA in 42.7 % of cases, IVB in 32.2 %, and IVC in 25.1 %. Median time from diagnosis to surgery was 15 days. Negative margin status was more often achieved in patients diagnosed with stage IVA disease (p 0.001). Compared to surgical patients, those who did not receive thyroid resections were older and had a more advanced stage of disease (both p 0.001). In multivariable analyses, positive margin status was associated with increased mortality in stage IVA ATC (p = 0.017) but had no survival impact in stages IVB and IVC (p > 0.05). After adjustment for possible confounders, increasing time from diagnosis to surgery was not found to be associated with compromised survival outcomes for any disease stage.

CONCLUSIONS

Timely and aggressive surgical management should be pursued in patients with intrathyroidal disease; however, aggressive resections may not be recommended for patients with stage IVB and IVC disease when morbidity and operative risks outweigh the limited benefits of surgery.

Traditional recommendations suggest placement of a subclavian central venous catheter (CVC) ipsilateral to a known pneumothorax to minimize risk of bilateral pneumothorax. We present the case of a 65-year-old male with a right hemopneumothorax who was found to have intrathoracic placement of his right subclavian CVC at thoracotomy despite successful aspiration of blood and transduction of central venous pressure (CVP). We thus recommend extreme caution with the interpretation of CVC placement by blood aspiration and CVP measurement alone in patients with large volume ipsilateral hemothorax.

High-dose ionizing radiation is associated with circulatory disease. Risks from lower-dose fractionated exposures, such as from diagnostic radiation procedures, remain unclear. In this study we aimed to ascertain the relationship between fractionated low-to-medium dose radiation exposure and circulatory disease mortality in a cohort of 13,568 tuberculosis patients in Massachusetts, some with fluoroscopy screenings, between 1916 and 1961 and follow-up until the end of 2002. Analysis of mortality was in relation to cumulative thyroid (cerebrovascular) or lung (all other circulatory disease) radiation dose via Poisson regression. Over the full dose range, there was no overall radiation-related excess risk of death from circulatory disease (n = 3221; excess relative risk/Gy -0.023; 95% CI -0.067, 0.028; p = 0.3574). Risk was somewhat elevated in hypertensive heart disease (n = 89; excess relative risk/Gy 0.357; 95% CI -0.043, 1.030, p = 0.0907) and slightly decreased in ischemic heart disease (n = 1950; excess relative risk/Gy -0.077; 95% CI -0.130, -0.012; p = 0.0211). However, under 0.5 Gy, there was a borderline significant increasing trend for all circulatory disease (excess relative risk/Gy 0.345; 95% CI -0.032, 0.764; p = 0.0743) and for ischemic heart disease (excess relative risk/Gy 0.465; 95% CI, -0.032, 1.034, p = 0.0682). Pneumolobectomy increased radiation-associated risk (excess relative risk/Gy 0.252; 95% CI 0.024, 0.579). Fractionation of dose did not modify excess risk. In summary, we found no evidence of radiation-associated excess circulatory death risk overall, but there are indications of excess circulatory death risk at lower doses (0.5 Gy). Although consistent with other radiation-exposed groups, the indications of higher risk at lower doses are unusual and should be confirmed against other data.

Purpose. To investigate the efficacy and morbidity of limb-sparing surgery with intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) for patients with locally recurrent extremity soft tissue sarcoma (ESTS). Methods and Materials. Twenty-six consecutively treated patients were identified in a single institution retrospective analysis of patients with locally recurrent ESTS treated with IORT following salvage limb-sparing resection from May 2000 to July 2011. Fifteen (58%) patients received external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) prior to recurrence (median dose 63 Gy), while 11 (42%) patients received EBRT following IORT (median dose 52 Gy). The Kaplan-Meier product limit method was used to estimate disease control and survival and subsets were compared using a log rank statistic, Cox's regression model was used to determine independent predictors of disease outcome, and toxicity was reported according to CTCAE v4.0 guidelines. Results. With a median duration of follow-up from surgery and IORT of 34.9 months (range: 4 to 139 mos.), 10 patients developed a local recurrence with 4 subsequently undergoing amputation. The 5-year estimate for local control (LC) was 58% (95% CI: 36-75%), for amputation-free was 81% (95% CI: 57-93%), for metastasis-free control (MFC) was 56% (95% CI: 31-75%), for disease-free survival (DFS) was 35% (95% CI: 17-54%), and for overall survival (OS) was 50% (95% CI: 24-71%). Prior EBRT did not appear to influence disease control (LC, p = 0.74; MFC, p = 0.66) or survival (DFS, p = 0.16; OS, p = 0.58). Grade 3 or higher acute and late toxicities were reported for 6 (23%) and 8 (31%) patients, respectively. The frequency of both acute and late grade 3 or higher toxicities occurred equally between patients who received EBRT prior to or after IORT. Conclusions. IORT in combination with oncologic resection of recurrent ESTS yields good rates of local control and limb-salvage with acceptable morbidity. Within the limitations of small subsets, these data suggest that prior EBRT does not significantly influence disease control or toxicity.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS

Introduce the Chronic Obstructive Sialadenitis Symptoms (COSS) questionnaire to quantify chronic sialadenitis symptoms and assess the impact of sialendoscopic-assisted salivary duct surgery (SASDS).

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective outcome symptoms questionnaire study.

METHODS

The COSS questionnaire assesses the severity of sialadenitis symptoms from 0 to 100. Patients who underwent SASDS from April 2006 to December 2013 completed the COSS questionnaire and the ShortForm8 Health Survey (SF-8) based on current symptoms, and reported whether they had complete, partial, or no symptomatic response to SASDS.

RESULTS

Sixty-six of the 156 (43%) contacted patients completed the questionnaires who had had symptoms in 26 submandibular ducts and 53 parotid ducts. The mean COSS score was higher for parotid ducts (12.0; interquartile range [IQR] 1.0-20.0) than for submandibular ducts (7.6; IQR 0.5-15.0) but not significantly so (P = 0.20). Thirty-eight (60%) patients reported complete resolution of symptoms, with a mean COSS score of 4.5 (IQR 0-7). Twenty-one (33%) patients reported partial resolution, with a mean COSS score of 18.5 (IQR 11.3-22.8). Five (8%) patients reported no improvement, with a mean COSS score of 25.1 (IQR 15.2-35). Thirty-six (46%) ducts with sialoliths had a significantly lower mean COSS score (5.8; IQR 0-9.5) compared to those without sialoliths (14.2; IQR 4.5-21.5, P = 0.0004). There was no significant difference in SF-8 survey scores between these groups.

CONCLUSION

The COSS questionnaire is a novel survey instrument to measure obstructive sialadenitis symptom severity that could be helpful in defining outcomes of SASDS. COSS scores under 10 correlate with complete resolution of symptoms, whereas scores between 10 and 25 correlate with partial resolution.

Dynamic adaptations in synaptic plasticity are critical for learning new motor skills and maintaining memory throughout life, which rapidly decline with Parkinson's disease (PD). Plasticity in the motor cortex is important for acquisition and maintenance of motor skills, but how the loss of dopamine in PD leads to disrupted structural and functional plasticity in the motor cortex is not well understood. Here we used mouse models of PD and two-photon imaging to show that dopamine depletion resulted in structural changes in the motor cortex. We further discovered that dopamine D1 and D2 receptor signaling selectively and distinctly regulated these aberrant changes in structural and functional plasticity. Our findings suggest that both D1 and D2 receptor signaling regulate motor cortex plasticity, and loss of dopamine results in atypical synaptic adaptations that may contribute to the impairment of motor performance and motor memory observed in PD.

Improved vascular function after the incorporation of walnuts into controlled or high-fat diets has been reported; however, the mechanism(s) underlying this effect of walnuts is(are) poorly defined. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the acute and short-term effects of walnut intake on changes in microvascular function and the relationship of these effects to plasma epoxides, the cytochrome-P450-derived metabolites of fatty acids. Thirty-eight hypercholesterolemic postmenopausal women were randomized to 4 weeks of 5 g or 40 g of daily walnut intake. All outcomes were measured after an overnight fast and 4 h after walnut intake. Microvascular function, assessed as the reactive hyperemia index (RHI), was the primary outcome measure, with serum lipids and plasma epoxides as secondary measures. Compared to 5 g of daily walnut intake, consuming 40 g/d of walnuts for 4 weeks increased the RHI and Framingham RHI. Total cholesterol and low- and high-density cholesterol did not significantly change after walnut intake. The change in RHI after 4 weeks of walnut intake was associated with the change in the sum of plasma epoxides (r=0.65, P=.002) but not with the change in the sum of plasma hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids. Of the individual plasma epoxides, arachidonic-acid-derived 14(15)-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid was most strongly associated with the change in microvascular function (r=0.72, P.001). These data support the concept that the intake of walnut-derived fatty acids can favorably affect plasma epoxide production, resulting in improved microvascular function.