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Galea M, Brincat MR, Calleja-Agius J. A review of the pathophysiology and evidence-based management of varicoceles and pelvic congestion syndrome. HUM FERTIL 2023; 26:1597-1608. [PMID: 37190955 DOI: 10.1080/14647273.2023.2212846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) in females and varicoceles in males may be regarded as closely related conditions since the main pathophysiological cause for both processes is pelvic venous insufficiency. Varicoceles are more prevalent amongst sub-fertile males, with an approximate incidence of 15% in the general male population. PCS is commonly diagnosed amongst premenopausal multiparous women, representing one of the leading causes of chronic pelvic pain. Both conditions appear to be predominantly left-sided and are associated with oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cascades with subsequent effects on fertility. Clinical examination and pelvic ultrasonography play an essential role in the assessment of varicoceles, PCS and chronic pelvic pain. Venography is generally considered as a gold-standard procedure for both conditions. There is still much debate on how these conditions should be managed. This review article provides a comparative analysis of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of both PCS and varicoceles, their impact on fertility, as well as their clinical management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Galea
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
| | - Mark R Brincat
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta
| | - Jean Calleja-Agius
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
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Brincat MR, Mira AR, Lawrence A. Current and Emerging Strategies for Tubo-Ovarian Cancer Diagnostics. Diagnostics (Basel) 2023; 13:3331. [PMID: 37958227 PMCID: PMC10647517 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics13213331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Revised: 10/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Tubo-ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological cancer. More than 75% of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, which is associated with poorer overall survival. Symptoms at presentation are vague and non-specific, contributing to late diagnosis. Multimodal risk models have improved the diagnostic accuracy of adnexal mass assessment based on patient risk factors, coupled with findings on imaging and serum-based biomarker tests. Newly developed ultrasonographic assessment algorithms have standardised documentation and enable stratification of care between local hospitals and cancer centres. So far, no screening test has proven to reduce ovarian cancer mortality in the general population. This review is an update on the evidence behind ovarian cancer diagnostic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark R. Brincat
- Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London E1 1FR, UK
| | - Ana Rita Mira
- Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London E1 1FR, UK
- Hospital Garcia de Orta, 2805-267 Almada, Portugal
| | - Alexandra Lawrence
- Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London E1 1FR, UK
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Brincat MR, Lam Shang Leen S, Faruqi A, Sideris M, Lau KKW, Lawrence A. Pulmonary benign metastasizing uterine leiomyoma (PBML): a case report and review of the literature. Ann Med Surg (Lond) 2023; 85:3686-3691. [PMID: 37427203 PMCID: PMC10328693 DOI: 10.1097/ms9.0000000000000884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is a rare disorder characterized by the presence of benign smooth muscle tumours in extrauterine sites, typically the lungs. It classically involves perimenopausal women with a history of uterine surgery. The condition follows an indolent course but may cause clinical symptoms with large or widespread lesions. Case presentation The authors report the case of a 47-year-old female who presented with a 6-month history of irregular vaginal bleeding and severe hot flushes. The patient had no previous history of gynaecological surgery. Ultrasonography and subsequent MRI identified a suspicious 105×65 mm mass involving the right uterine cornu and broad ligament. Computed tomography identified bilateral lung nodules, suspicious for metastases. Histological assessment of the final uterine surgical specimen identified a benign dissecting leiomyoma involving the broad ligament and cervix. BML was diagnosed after thoracoscopic resection of a lung lesion which revealed a histologically identical tumour with entrapped normal lung alveoli. Clinical discussion This case shows that there is a minority of patients without previous uterine surgery who still go on to develop pulmonary BML. In our case, a combined treatment approach was adopted, involving substitution of hormone replacement therapy to a non-hormonal alternative, thoracoscopic resection of lung lesions and interval surveillance imaging of the chest. Conclusions BML is a rare condition but should be considered as a differential in women with pulmonary nodules and a history of uterine leiomyomata. Its diagnosis and subsequent counselling can be challenging; therefore cases should be treated by multidisciplinary teams in tertiary specialized centres.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Michail Sideris
- Departments of Gynaecological Oncology
- Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Barts CRUK Cancer Centre, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London, UK
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Di Fiore R, Suleiman S, Ellul B, O’Toole SA, Savona-Ventura C, Felix A, Napolioni V, Conlon NT, Kahramanoglu I, Azzopardi MJ, Dalmas M, Calleja N, Brincat MR, Muscat-Baron Y, Sabol M, Dimitrievska V, Yordanov A, Vasileva-Slaveva M, von Brockdorff K, Micallef RA, Kubelac P, Achimas-Cadariu P, Vlad C, Tzortzatou O, Poka R, Giordano A, Felice A, Reed N, Herrington CS, Faraggi D, Calleja-Agius J. GYNOCARE Update: Modern Strategies to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment of Rare Gynecologic Tumors—Current Challenges and Future Directions. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13030493. [PMID: 33514073 PMCID: PMC7865420 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13030493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary More than 50% of all the tumors affecting the female genital tract can be classified as rare and usually have a poor prognosis owing to delayed diagnosis and treatment. Currently, gynecologic cancer research, due to distinct scientific and technological challenges, is lagging behind. Moreover, the overall efforts for addressing these challenges are fragmented across different countries. The European Network for Gynecological Rare Cancer Research: GYNOCARE aims to address these challenges by creating a unique network between key stakeholders covering distinct domains from basic research to cure. GYNOCARE is part of a European Collaboration in Science and Technology (COST) with the aim to focus on the development of new approaches to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare gynecological tumors. Here, we provide a brief overview describing the goals of this COST Action and its future challenges with the aim to continue fighting against this rare cancer. Abstract More than 50% of all gynecologic tumors can be classified as rare (defined as an incidence of ≤6 per 100,000 women) and usually have a poor prognosis owing to delayed diagnosis and treatment. In contrast to almost all other common solid tumors, the treatment of rare gynecologic tumors (RGT) is often based on expert opinion, retrospective studies, or extrapolation from other tumor sites with similar histology, leading to difficulty in developing guidelines for clinical practice. Currently, gynecologic cancer research, due to distinct scientific and technological challenges, is lagging behind. Moreover, the overall efforts for addressing these challenges are fragmented across different European countries and indeed, worldwide. The GYNOCARE, COST Action CA18117 (European Network for Gynecological Rare Cancer Research) programme aims to address these challenges through the creation of a unique network between key stakeholders covering distinct domains from concept to cure: basic research on RGT, biobanking, bridging with industry, and setting up the legal and regulatory requirements for international innovative clinical trials. On this basis, members of this COST Action, (Working Group 1, “Basic and Translational Research on Rare Gynecological Cancer”) have decided to focus their future efforts on the development of new approaches to improve the diagnosis and treatment of RGT. Here, we provide a brief overview of the current state-of-the-art and describe the goals of this COST Action and its future challenges with the aim to stimulate discussion and promote synergy across scientists engaged in the fight against this rare cancer worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Di Fiore
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta; (R.D.F.); (S.S.)
- Center for Biotechnology, Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA;
| | - Sherif Suleiman
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta; (R.D.F.); (S.S.)
| | - Bridget Ellul
- Centre for Molecular Medicine & Biobanking, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta;
| | - Sharon A. O’Toole
- Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Histopathology, Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 8, Ireland;
| | - Charles Savona-Ventura
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta;
| | - Ana Felix
- Department of Pathology, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, Instituto Portugues de Oncologia de Lisboa, NOVA Medical School, UNL, 130, 1169-056 Lisboa, Portugal;
| | - Valerio Napolioni
- Genomic And Molecular Epidemiology (GAME) Lab., School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy;
| | - Neil T. Conlon
- National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, 9 Dublin, Ireland;
| | - Ilker Kahramanoglu
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Emsey Hospital, Istanbul 3400, Turkey;
| | - Miriam J. Azzopardi
- Directorate for Health Information and Research, PTA 1313 G’Mangia, Malta; (M.J.A.); (N.C.)
| | - Miriam Dalmas
- Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Department of Policy in Health, Ministry for Health, 15 Merchants Street, VLT 1171 Valletta, Malta;
| | - Neville Calleja
- Directorate for Health Information and Research, PTA 1313 G’Mangia, Malta; (M.J.A.); (N.C.)
| | - Mark R. Brincat
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mater Dei Hospital, Triq Dun Karm, MSD 2090 Msida, Malta; (M.R.B.); (Y.M.-B.)
| | - Yves Muscat-Baron
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mater Dei Hospital, Triq Dun Karm, MSD 2090 Msida, Malta; (M.R.B.); (Y.M.-B.)
| | - Maja Sabol
- Laboratory for Hereditary Cancer, Division of Molecular Medicine, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
| | | | - Angel Yordanov
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Medical University Pleven, 5800 Pleven, Bulgaria;
| | | | - Kristelle von Brockdorff
- Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre, Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Mater Dei Hospital, MSD 2090 Msida, Malta; (K.v.B.); (R.A.M.)
| | - Rachel A. Micallef
- Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre, Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Mater Dei Hospital, MSD 2090 Msida, Malta; (K.v.B.); (R.A.M.)
| | - Paul Kubelac
- Department of Medical Oncology, The Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuţă”. 34–36 Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
- Department of Oncology, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (P.A.-C.); (C.V.)
| | - Patriciu Achimas-Cadariu
- Department of Oncology, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (P.A.-C.); (C.V.)
- Department of Surgical Oncology, The Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta”, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Catalin Vlad
- Department of Oncology, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (P.A.-C.); (C.V.)
- Department of Surgery, The Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta”, 400015 Cluj Napoca, Romania
| | - Olga Tzortzatou
- Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Soranou Efesiou 4 str., 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Robert Poka
- Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary;
| | - Antonio Giordano
- Center for Biotechnology, Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA;
- Department of Medical Biotechnologies, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy
| | - Alex Felice
- Centre of Molecular Medicine and BioBanking, Department of Physiology & Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta;
| | - Nicholas Reed
- Beatson Oncology Centre, Gartnavel General Hospital, 1053 Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 0YN, UK;
| | - C. Simon Herrington
- Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, Western General Hospital, University of Edinburgh, Crewe Road South, Edinburgh EH4 2XR, UK;
| | - David Faraggi
- Department of Statistics, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel;
| | - Jean Calleja-Agius
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta; (R.D.F.); (S.S.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +356-2340-1892
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Zammit V, Brincat MR, Cassar V, Muscat-Baron Y, Ayers D, Baron B. MiRNA influences in mesenchymal stem cell commitment to neuroblast lineage development. Noncoding RNA Res 2018; 3:232-242. [PMID: 30533571 PMCID: PMC6257889 DOI: 10.1016/j.ncrna.2018.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2018] [Revised: 11/12/2018] [Accepted: 11/13/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are widely used in therapeutic applications. Their plasticity and predisposition to differentiate into a variety of cell types, including those of the neuronal lineage, makes them ideal to study whether a selection of miRNAs may direct the differentiation of MSCs into neuroblasts or neuroblastoma to mature neurons. Following a short-listing, miR-107, 124 and 381 were selected as the most promising candidates for this differentiation. MSCs differentiated into cells of the neural lineage (Conditioned Cells) upon addition of conditioned medium (rich in microvesicles containing miRNAs) obtained from cultured SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Characterisation of stemness (including SOX2, OCT4, Nanog and HCG) and neural markers (including Nestin, MASH1, TUBB3 and NeuN1) provided insight regarding the neuronal state of each cell type. This was followed by transfection of the three miRNA antagonists and mimics, and quantification of their respective target genes. MiRNA target gene expression following transfection of MSCs with miRNA inhibitors and mimics demonstrated that these three miRNAs were not sufficient to induce differentiation. In conditioned cells the marginal changes in the miRNA target expression levels reflected potential for the modulation of intermediate neural progenitors and immature neuron cell types. Transfection of various combinations of miRNA inhibitors and/or mimics revealed more promise. Undoubtedly, a mix of biomolecules is being released by the SH-SY5Y in culture that induce MSCs to differentiate. Screening for those biomolecules acting synergistically with specific miRNAs will allow further combinatorial testing to elucidate the role of miRNA modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Zammit
- National Blood Transfusion Service, St. Luke's Hospital, G'Mangia, PTA1010, Malta.,School of Biomedical Science and Physiology, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY, UK
| | - Mark R Brincat
- Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, MSD2090, Malta
| | - Viktor Cassar
- Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, MSD2090, Malta
| | - Yves Muscat-Baron
- Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, MSD2090, Malta
| | - Duncan Ayers
- Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking, University of Malta, Msida MSD2080, Malta.,School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Byron Baron
- Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking, University of Malta, Msida MSD2080, Malta
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