Prognostic value of CA 125 in advanced ovarian cancer.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G D Malkasian.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A 16-year-old girl sought medical attention at the Mayo Clinic because of a 4.5-kg weight loss, hypercalcemia, and a pelvic mass. Preoperatively, the level of the beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin was 147 IU/liter. After a brief period for observation and hydration, abdominal exploration revealed a stage III dysgerminoma; total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy were performed. Within the dysgerminoma, syncytial giant cells expressed human chorionic gonadotropin-positive immunostaining in the cytoplasm. Postoperatively, the value of the beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin decreased rapidly. The patient received whole-abdomen irradiation 4 weeks postoperatively, after which the level of calcium returned to normal. The patient has been free of disease for more than 7 years.
Fourteen patients with advanced/recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix received menogaril, 200 mg/m2 by one hour intravenous infusion at four-week intervals. No objective regressions were observed. Median time to progression was less than two months and median survival was seven months. All patients experienced neutropenia. Platelet toxicity was negligible. Venous irritation and phlebitis occurred at the infusion site in 43% of patients. Menogaril as administered in this protocol is ineffective in treating previously irradiated advanced/recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix and warrants no further investigation in this disease at the dosage and administration schedule used in this protocol.
The Bethesda System for reporting cervical/vaginal diagnoses was introduced to replace the numerical Papanicolaou class designations, thereby facilitating precise communication between cytopathologist and clinician. The terminology for squamous epithelial lesions includes the following categories: 1) atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance; 2) squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL), which encompasses the spectrum of squamous cell carcinoma precursors, divided into low-grade SIL (human papillomavirus [HPV]-associated cellular changes, mild dysplasia, and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia [CIN] I) and high-grade SIL (moderate dysplasia, severe dysplasia, and carcinoma in situ and CIN II and III); and 3) squamous cell carcinoma. The rationale for including HPV-related changes (koilocytosis) with CIN I within low-grade SIL is based on the morphologic, behavioral, and virologic similarity of these two lesions, which precludes their separation in a consistent and reliable fashion. For the same reasons, CIN II and III lesions have been combined within the category of high-grade SIL. The term "atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance" is used for cytologic findings that do not fulfill the criteria for defined benign reactive changes or SIL. Therefore, this term is more restricted in usage as compared with the wide range of interpretations previously ascribed to "atypia" or "inflammatory atypia."
Over the 38-year period from 1950 through 1987, 1,434 Olmsted County, Minnesota women had a first unilateral oophorectomy, while 1,828 underwent bilateral oophorectomy (including 113 with a second unilateral oophorectomy). Most procedures (61% of unilateral and 87% of bilateral oophorectomies) were in conjunction with hysterectomy, and trends over time paralleled those reported for hysterectomy. Almost half of all operations (27% of unilateral and 63% of bilateral oophorectomies) were elective. The rise in bilateral oophorectomy rates over time (3.7 per 100,000 person-years per year, P = 0.016) was mostly due to elective procedures among older women, with both an increased frequency of surgery and a shift from unilateral to bilateral oophorectomy.
Thirty-three patients were identified who had papillary serious carcinoma of the peritoneum (PSCP). The gross operative specimens, histopathologic condition, and treatment records were reviewed. The median age at presentation was 60 years (age range, 22 to 78 years). Abdominal pain and distention were the most common presenting symptoms. All patients had a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and all but two had debulking surgery. All patients had disease involving the omentum, the abdominal and pelvic peritoneum, and the surface of the ovaries, but none had intrinsic disease of the ovaries. Eight patients had disease outside of the abdominal cavity. Seven of these patients had malignant pleural effusions. All patients received platin-based chemotherapy. Sixteen patients underwent second-look laparotomy, two had no evidence of disease, and one had microscopic disease only. The median survival time for all patients was 17 months. Three patients are alive 6 to 7 years after the initial diagnosis. In conclusion, long-term survival can be achieved in some PSCP patients by debulking surgery and platin-based chemotherapy.
A retrospective review of 388 patients who presented to the Mayo Clinic for treatment of endometrial carcinoma between 1979 and 1983 was performed and the surgical and pathologic observations were documented. An uncommon histologic subtype was detected in 52 patients (13%): 20 adenosquamous, 14 serous papillary, 11 clear cell, 7 undifferentiated. In contrast to the survival of patients with endometrioid lesions (92%), the overall survival in these patients was only 33%. Each of the individual abnormal histologic subtypes exhibited a survival of less than 50%. At the time of surgical staging, 62% of patients with unfavorable histologic subtypes had extrauterine spread of disease. Despite liberal utilization of postoperative adjuvant therapy in 42 of the 52 patients (81%), only 10% of these patients survived 5 years. Fifty-five percent had a component of recurrence outside of the abdominal/pelvic cavity. Subsequent treatment considerations should incorporate regimens addressing systemic and local tissue control.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has a two-pronged Quality Assurance program for use by practitioners. The Voluntary Review of Quality Care Program allows hospital departments of obstetrics and gynecology to be reviewed, at their own request, by a team of trained reviewers. The Quality Assurance in Obstetrics and Gynecology Manual, published in May 1989, provides clinical indicators and clinical criteria to be used within a department to establish its own quality assurance program. It allows evaluation of a departmental practice; development of physician profiles, department profiles, and practice trends; and identification of educational needs. The planning of these programs is difficult. Setting standards and establishing quality assurance programs carries some risk, but certainly not the risk incurred by hearing, seeing, and doing nothing. We must provide a quality assurance program that changes appropriately and continuously with proven advances in science and technology.
Between March 1985 and January 1987, 103 women with histologically proven stage III-IV ovarian carcinoma were randomly allocated to groups receiving monthly intravenous regimens of 1 g of cyclophosphamide/m2 plus either 60 mg of cisplatin (CDDP)/m2 or 150 mg of carboplatin (CBDCA)/m2 for 1 year unless disease progressed earlier. The groups were well balanced according to the stratification factors (age, histologic differentiation, extent of residual disease, and performance score), and both treatments were well tolerated and produced similar median first-course leukopenia (2,200 and 2,000 cells/microL) and thrombocytopenia (220,000 and 202,500 cells/microL). The CBDCA regimen was less emetogenic. After an interim analysis in January 1987 revealed superior progression-free survival for the group of 53 patients receiving CDDP (P = .005), the study was closed to further accrual. Those 24 patients still receiving CBDCA were encouraged to cross over to the CDDP-based regimen and 21 of them did. Following treatment crossover, the relative risk of death associated with original allocation to CBDCA receded from 1.79 to 0.97, indicating success of the salvage treatment using the CDDP-based regimen. This aborted study demonstrated the superiority of CDDP over CBDCA when the two platinum compounds were compared at equally myelosuppressive low doses in combination with 1 g of cyclophosphamide/m2. If CDDP is to be supplanted by CBDCA, larger, more myelosuppressive doses of CBDCA will be required. The platinum drug antitumor effect is a critically important therapeutic feature of this combination.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Since 1981, a total of 729 ileal pouch-anal anastomoses have been performed at the Mayo Clinic-affiliated hospitals. Three hundred fifty-four were in women. Twenty of these patients subsequently had at least one successful pregnancy and delivery. Eleven deliveries were vaginal with episiotomy, and nine were cesarean sections. No maternal deaths occurred. One child died of hyaline membrane disease. The frequency of nocturnal stooling increased in the ileal pouch-anal anastomosis patients during pregnancy (P less than .01), and the increase persisted for three months after delivery (P less than .05). In contrast, the frequency of daytime stools, the incidence of incontinence, the consistency of the stool, and the development of perineal seepage or skin irritation were not greatly altered by pregnancy or delivery. Moreover, postpartum pouch function was not influenced by the type of delivery (vaginal vs. cesarean section). In conclusion, pregnancy and delivery are safe in patients with the ileal pouch-anal anastomosis, but they lead to more frequent nocturnal stools. The type of delivery (vaginal vs. cesarean section) does not influence pouch functional outcome.
Uterine sarcomas are uncommon malignancies. We retrospectively examined 24 cases of "high grade" endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESS). The histologic diagnosis was made if there was a high grade sarcoma with a high mitotic index and nuclear anaplasia. Heterologous elements could be present, if focal only. Leiomyosarcomas, mixed mesodermal sarcomas, and carcinosarcomas were excluded. Mitotic index was expressed as the number of mitoses per 10 high-power fields in active areas. Tumor grade was based on nuclear anaplasia. ESS were 5.7% of all uterine sarcomas. Median age was 58.2 years; median duration of symptoms was 67.5 days. Abnormal bleeding was the presenting complaint in 91.7%. Uterine enlargement was seen in 33%; protrusion through the cervical os was seen in 9 cases. Total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed in 95.8%. Twenty patients had myometrial involvement; 5 patients had serosal spread and extrauterine disease; residual disease was seen in 3 patients. Adjuvant radiation was not beneficial. Ten patients had recurrences: 60% in the pelvis, 50% each with subcomponent of abdominal or distant disease. Overall survival was 3.4 years and was significantly associated with extent of disease, size of the primary tumor, and grade.
To evaluate cancer risk by various causes of infertility, the authors conducted a retrospective cohort study among 2,335 women evaluated for infertility at the Mayo Clinic between 1935 and 1964. Most cancers occurred at expected frequencies, with the exception of cancers of the thyroid (standardized incidence ratio (SIR) = 2.6) and other endocrine glands (SIR = 6.7), although analyses were based on small numbers. Patients with progesterone deficiencies (31 per cent of the study subjects) had a 20 per cent higher cancer risk than did those with other causes of infertility, with excesses deriving primarily from cancers of the lung, cervix, ovary, and thyroid and from melanoma. Breast cancer risk, however, was not elevated in either patients with progesterone deficiencies (SIR = 0.9) or patients with other causes of infertility (SIR = 1.0). Examination of other parameters of infertility, including age at evaluation, type of infertility (primary vs. secondary), and years of attempted conception, showed no elevated risks of breast cancer in any subgroup. These results fail to support previous studies that have linked progesterone deficiencies among infertile women to elevated breast cancer risk. However, the data suggest a possible involvement of a progesterone deficiency in the etiology of other cancers, particularly thyroid cancer and melanoma.
Analyses of preoperative and one to seven day postoperative determinations of CA 19-9, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CA 125 levels in 873 patients indicate that postoperative CA 19-9 and CEA serum levels were within the expected technical variance of the preoperative assay values in patients who were considered to have negative findings (below the reference value) from these tests preoperatively. If the test results were preoperatively positive in patients with cancer, they decreased postoperatively to or below normal reference values, unless the operation was palliative and significant tumor removal was not possible. For patients with a preoperative positive CA 125 level (greater than 35 units per mililiter), the postoperative serum levels were comparable with the CEA and CA 19-9 result. However, when the preoperative CA 125 level was within normal limits, 62 per cent of the patients had postoperative elevations, often to levels of less than 35 units per milliliter. Sequential postoperative determinations of CA 125 in 21 patients revealed that maximum levels of CA 125 were seen about two to four hours after the operation and that elevations persisted for as long as three months. Inferential evidence suggests that postoperative increases in serum CA 125 occur from incision and healing of the peritoneum and omentum by de novo synthesis of this antigen rather than shedding from tissues. Patients with CA 125 negative results and with carcinoma of the ovary having postoperative increases of this antigen within two months of the operation may pose a difficult problem in interpretations, and such patients require further investigation.
The natural history of endometrial carcinoma recurring first in an inguinal, axillary, or supraclavicular node as an isolated site is not well documented. Twenty-two patients with such a recurrence were examined between January 1963 and December 1986 at our institution. This event is associated with a higher initial surgical stage and tumor grade. Supraclavicular and inguinal recurrences occur with equal frequency. Axillary recurrences are rare. Overall, 15 patients achieved local control of the nodal recurrence, including all seven patients treated by excision and aggressive local irradiation. Of the seven patients with uncontrolled local disease, four experienced significant local morbidity. Initial supraclavicular recurrence seems to be associated with subsequent systemic progression, whereas initial inguinal recurrence seems to be associated with subsequent abdominal progression. Although the median survival after isolated peripheral lymph node recurrence is only 19 months, six patients are alive without evidence of cancer at a median follow-up of 27 months. Although an effective systemic adjuvant treatment for these patients is needed, aggressive local treatment after thorough restaging can provide long-term, disease-free survival.
Between 1977 and 1984, second-look laparotomy to evaluate disease status after adjuvant chemotherapy was performed in 134 patients originally presenting with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Surgical and histologic assessment did not detect persistent disease in 50 patients (37%). Recurrent carcinoma was subsequently documented in 15 patients (30%), all failures occurring within the abdominal cavity or the retroperitoneal space. Several patient subgroups at high risk for recurrence after negative second-look laparotomy are identified that might benefit from additional adjunctive therapy. Because of different treatment-associated morbidities, the corresponding sensitivities and specificities of the high-risk groups may assist subsequent treatment selection.