Minimally Invasive Surgery for Cervical Cancer: Should We Look beyond Squamous Cell Carcinoma?

JAM3 promotes cervical cancer metastasis by activating the HIF-1α/VEGFA pathway

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the leading cause of mortality among women worldwide. Tumor metastasis is an important cause of poor prognosis. Determining the exact mechanisms of metastasis and potential targeted therapies is urgently needed. Junctional adhesion molecule 3 (JAM3) is an important member of the TJ tight junction (TJ) family, and its biological function in cervical cancer needs to be further clarified. We found that JAM3 was highly expressed in cervical cancer patients with lymph node metastasis and that high expression of JAM3 promoted cervical cancer cell metastasis both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, overexpression of JAM3 induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Moreover, silencing JAM3 suppressed cervical cancer cell migration and invasion in vitro. Finally, JAM3 overexpression activated the HIF-1α/VEGFA pathway. In conclusion, our results suggested that JAM3 promotes cervical cancer cell migration and invasion by activating the HIF-1α/VEGFA pathway. JAM3 may be a promising biomarker and effective therapeutic target for cervical cancer.

Regular follow-up with cervical cytology is of questionable value following surgical treatment of microinvasive cervical cancer

OBJECTIVES

To assess the follow-up smears and their outcomes of patients with conservatively managed early-stage cervical cancer as per UK guidelines within our service. To evaluate whether intensive follow-up can detect pre-cancer early compared to the standard 3 yearly follow-up.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective review.

METHODS

All patients treated for early stage (stage 1A1 and 1A2) with cervical cancer from 01/2002 to 01/2020 at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton were included. Patients who had initial hysterectomy were excluded from our analysis. Review conducted using electronic patient records for treatment, histology, and follow-up smears. Number of abnormal follow-up smears and number of recurrent cervical cancers were considered the main outcome measures.

RESULTS

98 cases were identified. 81 (82.65 %) were stage 1A1 and 17 (17.35 %) were stage 1A2. 74 (75.51 %) patients had squamous histology and 24 (24.49 %) had adenocarcinomas. Median follow-up was 11.08 years (4043 days). 510 follow-up smears were performed, of which 33 (6.47 %) were abnormal. 5 of these abnormal smears showed low grade dyskaryosis (0.98 %) and 2 smears showed high grade dyskaryosis (0.39 %). The positive predictive value of follow-up smears to detect pre-cancerous changes was 5.71 %. There were no recurrent cancers detected.

CONCLUSIONS

Microinvasive cervical cancer is effectively managed with conservative surgery. There were no recurrent cancers detected in our cohort during follow-up and there were only 2 high grade dyskaryoses detected (n = 2/510, 0.39 %). We therefore believe that reducing the intensity of follow up of these patients should be considered.

Factors influencing same-day discharge after minimally invasive hysterectomy for malignant and non-malignant gynecological diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective

To explore the factors influencing the successful implementation of same-day discharge in patients undergoing minimally invasive hysterectomy for malignant and non-malignant gynecological diseases.

Method

We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and Clinical Trials.gov from inception to May 23, 2023. We included case-control and cohort studies published in English reporting same-day discharge factors in patients undergoing minimally invasive hysterectomy for malignant and non-malignant gynecological diseases. STATA 16.0 was used for the meta-analysis. Risk factors were assessed using odds ratios (OR) (relative risk (RR)/hazard ratios (HR)) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), and logistic regression determined the same-day discharge rate (%).

Results

We analyzed 29 studies with 218192 patients scheduled for or meeting same-day discharge criteria. The pooled rates were 50% (95% CI 0.46-0.55), and were similar for malignant and non-malignant gynecological diseases (48% and 47%, respectively). In terms of basic characteristics, an increase in age (OR: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01-1.05), BMI (OR: 1.02; 95% CI: 1.01-1.03), and comorbidities including diabetes and lung disease were risk factors affecting SDD, while previous abdominal surgery history (OR: 1.54; 95% CI: 0.93-2.55) and hypertension (OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 0.80-2.93) appeared not to affect SDD. In terms of surgical characteristics, radical hysterectomy (OR: 3.46; 95% CI: 1.90-6.29), surgery starting after 14:00 (OR: 4.07; 95% CI: 1.36-12.17), longer surgical time (OR: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01-1.06), intraoperative complications (OR: 4.68; 95% CI: 1.78-12.27), postoperative complications (OR: 3.97; 95% CI: 1.68-9.39), and surgeon preference (OR: 4.47; 95% CI: 2.08-9.60) were identified as risk factors. However, robotic surgery (OR: 0.44; 95% CI: 0.14-1.42) and intraoperative blood loss (OR: 1.16; 95% CI: 0.98-1.38) did not affect same-day discharge.

Conclusions

An increase in age, body mass index, and distance to home; certain comorbidities (e.g., diabetes, lung disease), radical hysterectomy, surgery starting after 14:00, longer surgical time, operative complications, and surgeon preference were risk factors preventing same-day discharge. Same-day discharge rates were similar between malignant and non-malignant gynecological diseases. The surgery start time and body mass index have a greater impact on same-day discharge for malignant diseases than non-malignant diseases.

Reconnoitering correlation between human papillomavirus infection-induced vaginal microecological abnormality and squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) progression

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to investigate the relationship between abnormal vaginal microecology and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, as well as the squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) progression.

METHODS

A total of 383 patients diagnosed with HPV infection in our hospital between March 2017 and February 2022 were selected as the experimental group. In addition, several volunteers (n = 898) who underwent physical examination during the same period were randomly selected as the control group. Subsequently, we conducted several investigations, such as HPV detection and gene typing, examined vaginal microecological imbalances, and performed cytological examinations to analyze the correlation between microecological changes, different types of HPV infection, and SIL progression.

RESULTS

HPV detection primarily included single and high-risk types of HPV infections. Moreover, significant disparities in the vaginal microecological environment between patients with persistent HPV infection and the control group, as well as patients with low-grade and high-grade SIL (LSIL and HSIL), were observed. The regression analysis revealed a correlation between LSIL and microflora density, diversity, bacteriological vaginosis (BV), vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), trichomonas vaginalis (TV), sialidase, as well as Lactobacillus. In addition, we identified an association between HSIL and pH, flora density, diversity, BV, VVC, candida vaginitis (CV), leukocyte esterase, catalase, and Lactobacillus levels.

CONCLUSION

These findings revealed a significant association between abnormal vaginal microecology and both HPV infection and the SIL progression.

Analysis of prognostic factors for cervical mucinous adenocarcinoma and establishment and validation a nomogram: a SEER-based study

Up to now, there are no relevant studies on prognostic factors of cervical mucinous adenocarcinoma. Therefore, we explored the prognostic factors for cervical mucinous adenocarcinoma, and established and validated the prognostic model using the SEER database. We selected the independent factors through univariate and multivariate analyses. LASSO regression analysis was conducted to identify potential risk factors. In conjunction with LASSO and multivariate analysis, the nomogram incorporated three variables, including age, tumour size, and AJCC stage for OS. The c-index was 0.794 and 0.831 in development and validated cohorts, indicating that this prediction model showed adequate discriminative ability in the development cohort. Besides, calibration curves showed good concordance for the development cohort, as well as the validation cohort. We constructed a first-of-its-kind nomogram to predict cervical mucinous adenocarcinomas OS and it showed better performance than AJCC and FIGO stages. Patients with cervical mucinous adenocarcinoma might benefit from using this model to develop tailored treatments.IMPACT STATEMENTWhat is already known on this subject? Cervical cancer has a variety of pathological types. The biological behaviour of each type is different, and the prognosis is quite different.What do the results of this study add? We analysed and explored the relevant factors affecting the prognosis of cervical mucinous adenocarcinoma.What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Through the analysis of the SEER dataset, the prognostic factors affecting cervical mucinous adenocarcinoma were identified, and the first predictive model was created to predict the prognosis to help doctors develop individualised treatment plans and follow-up plans.

Comparison of the survival outcomes of laparoscopic, abdominal and gasless laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer: trial protocol of a multicenter randomized controlled trial (LAGCC trial)

Background

Radical hysterectomy (RH) is considered a cornerstone in the treatment of early-stage cervical cancer. However, the debate surrounding the optimal surgical approach, whether minimally invasive or open surgery, remains controversial. The objective of this trial is to evaluate the survival outcomes of cervical cancer patients who undergo different surgical approaches.

Methods

This study is designed as a prospective, multicenter, open, parallel, and randomized controlled trial. A total of 500 patients diagnosed with stage IA1 with LVSI, IA2, IB1, or IB2 (2018 FIGO) will be recruited. Recruitment of participants started in November 2020. The participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: conventional laparoscopic RH, gasless laparoscopic RH, or abdominal RH. The primary endpoint of this trial is the 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate. The secondary endpoints will include the 2-year overall survival (OS) rate, 5-year DFS/OS, recurrence rates, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, surgery-related complications, and impact on quality of life (QoL).

Discussion

We expect this trial to provide compelling and high-quality evidence to guide the selection of the most appropriate surgical approach for early-stage cervical cancer.

Clinical trial registration

Chinese Clinical Trial Register, identifier ChiCTR2000035515.

Identifying health research in the era of COVID-19: A scoping review

Background

Health improvements are considered one of the most important fields of research. Since the coronavirus disease 2019 was declared a pandemic, it might have impacted clinical and public health research in various forms.

Objectives

The goal of this study is to explore health research approaches in the era of coronavirus disease 2019.

Methods

In this scoping review, we reviewed published medical full-text studies and identified potential areas of interest of health research in the era the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic during the last 3 years within a higher educational setting. A bibliometric analysis was used to compare among published works.

Results

Among the 93 studies that met the inclusion criteria, most focused on mental health (n = 23; 24.7%). Twenty-one publications targeted coronavirus disease 2019 and its consequences on general health. Other studies have described hemato-oncological, cardiovascular, respiratory, and endocrinological diseases. 42 studies were cross-sectional or cohort studies and most of them published in Q1 journals. Almost half of them belonged to the Faculty of Medicine (49.5%) followed by the School of Arts, Sciences, and Psychology (26.9%).

Conclusions

Health research has been demonstrated to be important, at all times, especially during crises. Therefore, researchers need to invest more efforts into seeking new medical updates in various health-related fields, regardless of their correlation with coronavirus disease 2019.

Advanced cervical stump cancer after laparoscopic subtotal hysterectomy: a case report of imaging, laparoscopic staging and treatment approach

BACKGROUND

Advanced cancer of the cervical stump, occurring years after a laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy (LASH), is a rare but serious clinical condition. Many patients who undergo a LASH are unaware of this possible complication. Upon diagnosis of advanced cervical stump cancer, a holistic approach including imaging, laparoscopic surgery and multimodal oncological therapy is required.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 58-year-old patient presented to our department with the suspicion of advanced cervical stump cancer eight years after LASH. She reported pelvic pain, irregular vaginal bleedings and irregular discharge. Gynaecological examination revealed a locally advanced tumor of the uterine cervix with suspicion of infiltration of the left parametria and bladder. After thorough diagnostic imaging and laparoscopic staging, the tumor stage was determined as FIGO IIIB and the patient was treated with combined radiochemotherapy. The patient presented with tumor recurrence 5 months after the completion of therapy and she is currently being treated with multichemotherapy and immunotherapy regimens as palliative treatment.

CONCLUSION

Patients should be made aware about the risk of cervical stump carcinoma after LASH and the necessity for regular screening. Cervical cancer after LASH is often diagnosed at advanced stages and the treatment requires an interdisciplinary approach.

Changing trends in the minimally invasive surgery for chronic pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis is a debilitating pancreatic inflammatory disease characterized by intractable pain resulting in poor quality of life. Conventional management of pancreatic pain consists of a step-up approach with medications and lifestyle modifications followed by endoscopic intervention. Traditionally surgery is reserved for patients who do not improve with other interventions. However, recent studies suggest that early surgical intervention is more beneficial as it can mitigate the progression of the pathological process and prevent loss of pancreatic function. Despite the widespread adoption of minimally invasive approaches in various gastrointestinal surgical disorders, minimally invasive surgery for chronic pancreatitis is slow to evolve. Technical difficulty due to severe inflammatory changes has been the major impediment to the widespread usage of minimally invasive surgery in chronic pancreatitis. With this background, the present review aimed to critically analyze the available evidence on the minimally invasive treatment of chronic pancreatitis. A Pub Med search of all relevant articles was performed using the appropriate keywords, parentheses, and Boolean operators. Most initial laparoscopic series have reported the feasibility of lateral pancreaticojejunostomy, considered an adequate procedure only in a small proportion of patients. The pancreatic head is the pacemaker of pain, so adequate decompression is critical for long-term pain relief. Recent studies have documented the feasibility of minimally invasive duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection. With improvements in laparoscopic instrumentation and technological advances, minimally invasive surgery for chronic pancreatitis is gaining momentum. However, more high-quality evidence is required to document the superiority of minimally invasive surgery for chronic pancreatitis.

Effect of annualized surgeon volume on major surgical complications for abdominal and laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer in China, 2004-2016: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have suggested that higher surgeon volume leads to improved perioperative outcomes for oncologic surgery; however, the effect of surgeon volumes on surgical outcomes might differ according to the surgical approach used. This paper attempts to evaluate the effect of surgeon volume on complications or cervical cancer in an abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH) cohort and laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH) cohort.

METHODS

We conducted a population-based retrospective study using the Major Surgical Complications of Cervical Cancer in China (MSCCCC) database to analyse patients who underwent radical hysterectomy (RH) from 2004 to 2016 at 42 hospitals. We estimated the annualized surgeon volumes in the ARH cohort and in the LRH cohort separately. The effect of the surgeon volume of ARH or LRH on surgical complications was examined using multivariable logistic regression models.

RESULTS

In total, 22,684 patients who underwent RH for cervical cancer were identified. In the abdominal surgery cohort, the mean surgeon case volume increased from 2004 to 2013 (3.5 to 8.7 cases) and then decreased from 2013 to 2016 (8.7 to 4.9 cases). The mean surgeon case volume number of surgeons performing LRH increased from 1 to 12.1 cases between 2004 and 2016 (P < 0.01). In the abdominal surgery cohort, patients treated by intermediate-volume surgeons were more likely to experience postoperative complications (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.11-2.15) than those treated by high-volume surgeons. In the laparoscopic surgery cohort, surgeon volume did not appear to influence the incidence of intraoperative or postoperative complications (P = 0.46; P = 0.13).

CONCLUSIONS

The performance of ARH by intermediate-volume surgeons is associated with an increased risk of postoperative complications. However, surgeon volume may have no effect on intraoperative or postoperative complications after LRH.

Learning Laparoscopic Radical Hysterectomy: Are We Facing an Emerging Situation?

Despite wide screening campaigns and early detection, cervical cancer remains the fourth most common cancer among women. Radical hysterectomy, whether by open, laparoscopic or by robotic-assisted techniques, is the mainstay treatment. However, for adequate surgical results and good oncological prognosis, a gynecological surgeon should be trained to perform those procedures. The learning curve of radical hysterectomy, especially by laparoscopy, is influenced by several factors. The LACC trial, the decrease in cervical cancer incidence and radical hysterectomy procedures have widely reduced the learning curve for surgeons. This article mainly discusses the learning curve of laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for cervical cancers, and how several factors are influencing it negatively, with the need to have medical authorities reset specific surgical training programs and allocate them to special oncological centers.

Uterine cervical Müllerian adenosarcoma possibly arising from ovarian cystadenofibroma: A case report and review of the literature

Uterine cervical Müllerian adenosarcoma (MA), a rare malignant tumor of the female reproductive organs, is composed of a benign epithelium and a low-grade malignant stromal component. Because few studies have investigated the clinical management of MA, misdiagnosis often occur. Therefore, we proposed an optimal course of clinical management for patients with MA. MA is possibly a malignant transformation of the cystadenofibroma. In this study, we present a case of a 46-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of MA of the uterine cervix, such as metrorrhagia and a cyst in the cervical canals, after transvaginal excision of the left ovarian mucinous cystadenofibroma.

Accurate deep learning model using semi-supervised learning and Noisy Student for cervical cancer screening in low magnification images

Deep learning technology has been used in the medical field to produce devices for clinical practice. Deep learning methods in cytology offer the potential to enhance cancer screening while also providing quantitative, objective, and highly reproducible testing. However, constructing high-accuracy deep learning models necessitates a significant amount of manually labeled data, which takes time. To address this issue, we used the Noisy Student Training technique to create a binary classification deep learning model for cervical cytology screening, which reduces the quantity of labeled data necessary. We used 140 whole-slide images from liquid-based cytology specimens, 50 of which were low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, 50 were high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, and 40 were negative samples. We extracted 56,996 images from the slides and then used them to train and test the model. We trained the EfficientNet using 2,600 manually labeled images to generate additional pseudo labels for the unlabeled data and then self-trained it within a student-teacher framework. Based on the presence or absence of abnormal cells, the created model was used to classify the images as normal or abnormal. The Grad-CAM approach was used to visualize the image components that contributed to the classification. The model achieved an area under the curve of 0.908, accuracy of 0.873, and F1-score of 0.833 with our test data. We also explored the optimal confidence threshold score and optimal augmentation approaches for low-magnification images. Our model efficiently classified normal and abnormal images at low magnification with high reliability, making it a promising screening tool for cervical cytology.

Hysterectomy: Let's Step Up the Ladder of Evidence to Look Over the Horizon

Hysterectomy is one of the most common non-obstetric gynecological surgical procedures carried out in Western countries [...].

Evaluation of Surgical Outcomes of Abdominal Radical Hysterectomy and Total Laparoscopic Radical Hysterectomy for Cervical Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis of Data Collected before the LACC Trial

Although a surgical approach is one of the key treatments for stages IA1-IIA2, results of the Laparoscopic Approach to Cervical Cancer (LACC) published in 2018 radically changed the field, since minimally invasive surgery was associated with a four-fold higher rate of recurrence and a six-fold higher rate of all-cause death compared to an open approach. We aimed to evaluate surgical outcomes of abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH) and total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (TLRH) for cervical cancer, including data collected before the LACC trial. In our retrospective analysis, operative time was significantly longer in TLRH compared to ARH (p < 0.0001), although this disadvantage could be considered balanced by lower intra-operative estimated blood loss in TLRH compared with ARH (p < 0.0001). In addition, we did not find significant differences for intra-operative (p = 0.0874) and post-operative complication rates (p = 0.0727) between ARH and TLRH. This was not likely to be influenced by age and Body Mass Index, since they were comparable in the two groups (p = 0.0798 and p = 0.4825, respectively). Finally, mean number of pelvic lymph nodes retrieved (p = 0.153) and nodal metastases (p = 0.774), as well as death rate (p = 0.5514) and recurrence rate (p = 0.1582) were comparable between the two groups. Future studies should be aimed at assessing whether different histology/grades of cervical cancer, as well as particular subpopulations, may have significantly different outcomes using minimally invasive surgery or laparotomy, with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

New Advances in Cervical Cancer: From Bench to Bedside

Cervical cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy and the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. Over the last two decades, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has emerged as the mainstay in the surgical management of early-stage cervical cancer, bringing advantages such as a lower operative morbidity and shorter hospital stay compared to open surgery, while maintaining comparable oncologic outcomes in numerous retrospective studies. Considering oncological patients, it is mandatory to assess the oncological outcomes and safety of this type of surgery. Moreover, there are different future outlooks on cervical cancer therapy, based on immunotherapy, target therapy, and poly-ADP-ribose polymerases (PARP) inhibitors in combination with each other, and in combination with standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The goal is to find an approach that is as personalized as possible.