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G Leight

Publications and source records attributed to G Leight.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Complications of axillary lymph node dissection for carcinoma of the breast: a report based on a patient survey.

BACKGROUND: Axillary lymph node dissection is commonly performed as part of the primary management of breast carcinoma. Its value in patient management, however, has recently been questioned. Few studies exist that document long term complications. METHODS: Four hundred thirty-two patients with Stage I or II breast carcinoma who were free of recurrence 2-5 years after surgery were identified. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of long term symptoms and complications as perceived by the patient, and patient and treatment factors that may have predicted complications were determined. Three hundred thirty of the 432 (76%) completed a mailed, self-administered questionnaire. In addition, the medical records of the 330 patients were reviewed. Patient and treatment factors were analyzed with logistic regression. RESULTS: Numbness was reported by 35% of patients at the time of the survey. Pain was noted in 30%, arm swelling in 15%, and limitation of arm movement in 8%. Eight percent reported episodes of infection or inflammation at some point since the diagnosis of breast carcinoma. The majority of symptoms were mild and interfered minimally with daily activities. Younger age (P=0.001) was associated with more frequent reporting of pain. Numbness was more common in younger patients (P=0.004) as well as in those with a history of smoking (P=0.012). There was a positive association of limitation of arm motion with adjuvant tamoxifen therapy (P=0.016). Arm swelling was associated with both younger age (P=0.004) and greater body surface area (P=0.008). Radiation therapy was associated with a higher frequency of infection or inflammation in the arm and/or breast (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Mild symptoms, especially pain and numbness, are common 2-5 years after axillary lymph node dissection. The frequency of inflammation or infection in patients treated with radiation to the breast or chest wall after an axillary lymph node dissection may be greater than previously appreciated. Severe complications or symptoms that have a major impact on daily activities are uncommon. These findings should help health care providers and their patients with breast carcinoma weigh the pros and cons of axillary lymph node dissection.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Local failure and margin status in early-stage breast carcinoma treated with conservation surgery and radiation therapy.

OBJECTIVE: The authors determined whether microscopically positive surgical margins are detrimental to the outcome of early stage breast cancer patients treated with conservation surgery and radiation therapy. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: The optimal extent of breast surgery required for patients treated with conservation surgery and radiation therapy has not been established. To achieve breast preservation with good cosmesis, it is desirable to resect as little normal tissue as possible. However, it is critical that the resection does not leave behind a tumor burden that cannot be adequately managed by moderate doses of radiation. It is not known whether microscopically positive surgical margins are detrimental to patient outcome. METHODS: The records of 259 consecutive women (262 breasts) treated with local excision (complete removal of gross tumor with a margin) and axillary dissection followed by radiation therapy for clinical stage I and II infiltrating ductal breast cancer at Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina between 1983 and 1988 were reviewed. Surgical margins were considered positive if tumor extended to the inked margins; otherwise the margins were considered negative. Margins that could not be determined, either because the original pathology report did not comment on margins, or because the original specimen had not been inked were called indeterminate. RESULTS: Of the 262 tumors, 32 (12%) had positive margins, 132 (50%) had negative margins, and the remaining 98 (38%) had indeterminate margins. There were 11 (4%) local failures; 3/32 (9%) from the positive margin group, 2/132 (1.5%) from the negative margin group, and 6/98 (6%) from the indeterminate group. The actuarial local failure rates at 5 years were 10%, 2%, and 10%, respectively, p = 0.014 positive vs. negative, p = 0.08 positive vs. indeterminate (log rank test). Margin status had no impact on survival or freedom from distant metastasis; 63 patients who originally had positive or indeterminate margins were re-excised. Two of 7 with positive margins after re-excision versus 1/56 rendered margin negative had a local recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: The authors recommend re-excision for patients with positive margins because of improved local control of those rendered margin negative and identification of those patients at high risk for local failure (those who remain positive after re-excision). Because margin status impacts on local control, tumor margins after conservation surgery should be accurately determined in all patients.

Adult↗

Long-term prognostic implications of sex-steroid receptors in human cancer.

Progesterone receptor analysis has been used to enhance the prognostic usefulness of estrogen receptor analysis in breast cancer. Immunocytochemical assays for both steroid receptors have been shown to correlate with established biochemical techniques but lack long term clinical follow-up studies to validate their use. One hundred fifty- two patients were followed for up to 10 years after primary surgical treatment. Steroid receptor analyses, using both biochemical and immunocytochemical techniques were performed on their tumor specimens. Patients with estrogen or progesterone receptor positive tumors had longer survival than patients with negative tumors. This difference was most clearly demonstrated with immunocytochemical analysis of estrogen receptors (p = 0.04). The two methods for progesterone receptors gave very similar results. Use of multivariate analysis revealed that ER by immunocytochemical analysis was the only significant predictor of prognosis when all four variables were considered simultaneously (p = 0.04). This study suggests that immunocytochemistry gives comparable results to biochemical analysis for progesterone receptors but that immunocytochemical analysis of estrogen receptors was the stronger single prognostic indicator of the four.

Breast Neoplasms↗

Primary hyperparathyroidism: a new experimental animal model.

Although potentially useful in the understanding of hypercalcemic states, a satisfactory animal model of primary hyperparathyroidism has not been developed. Models that use transplants of supernumerary parathyroid (PT) glands or chronic parathyroid hormone (PTH) infusion are not ideal for many reasons. We report a new animal model in which athymic nude mice were used as recipients of human PT tissue heterografts. Three groups received 14, six, or one piece of PT adenoma tissue, and one group received six pieces of normal PT tissue. The significantly higher PTH levels in mice that received adenoma heterografts versus those with similar amounts of normal tissue suggest that adenomatous tissue is functionally distinct. A dose-response relationship between induction of hypercalcemia and the number of pieces implanted was in evidence, although only a small percentage of the mice with high PTH levels developed hypercalcemia. This differential response could be the result of any of several factors: (1) loss of ability to secrete bioactive PTH, (2) differing secretion rates among donor adenomas, (3) variability in host responsiveness to human PTH, and (4) requirement of additional factor(s) to generate consistently the hypercalcemia characteristic of human primary hyperparathyroidism.

Animals↗

Clinical response to hormone therapy correlated with estrogen receptor analyses. Biochemical v histochemical methods.

Estrogen receptor (ER) analysis by sucrose density gradient analysis (SDGA) was compared with histochemical localization of estrogen binding using 6-carbomethoxy-bovine serum albumin-fluorescein isothiocyanode-estradiol (E2-6-CMO-BSA-FITC) (6FE), 17-thiosemicarbozene-BSA-FITC-estrogen (E-17-TSC-BSA-FITC) (17FE), and polyestradiol phosphate-antiestradiol antibody-FITC (PEP) on serial frozen sections of metastatic breast cancer lesions from 72 patients treated with hormonal therapy. A comparison of assays to clinical responses gave the following sensitivities: ER-SDGA, 90%; 6FE, 50%; 17FE, 55%; and PEP, 58%. Specificities were as follows: ER-SDGA, 81%; 6FE, 47%; 17FE, 41%; and PEP, 59%. The SDGA gave the highest predictive value for clinical response, while the predictive value for each of the three histologic techniques approximated that predicted by chance alone. These selected histochemical techniques for ER localization, despite impressive cytologic localization patterns, therefore, do not correlate with clinical response.

Antibodies↗

Transplantation in miniature swine. I. Fixation of the major histocompatibility complex.

Three strains of miniature swine, each homozygous for a different allele of the major histocompatibility locus (MHC), have been developed by a selective breeding scheme based on tissue typing of the offspring of each generation. Prior to breeding, the original parents were reciprocally immunized by skin grafts and lymphocyte injections to produce lymphocytotoxic antisera. These antisera were then used to assess the MHC genotype of the offspring by an analysis based on selective absorption of cytotoxicity. Offspring inheriting the same serologically determined genotype were then bred sequentially. Subsequent mixed lymphocyte cultures showed a pattern of reactivity consistent with the serological genotyping, further confirming the homology between the MHC of these miniature swine and those of man and mouse. In addition to their usefulness as a model for large animal surgical transplantation, these animals provide an abundant homozygous source of histocompatibility antigens and of antihistocompatibility antisera for use in chemical characterization of products of the MHC.

Animals↗

Malignant teratoma of the thyroid in an adult: CT appearance.

A case of malignant teratoma of the thyroid gland is presented. Computed tomography identified an inhomogeneous mass with dense calcifications involving the thyroid gland and compressing the upper airway. Enlarged, peripherally enhancing lymph nodes in the neck and mediastinum suggested its malignant etiology.

Adult↗