Federico Raveglia

Assessment of outcomes in typical and atypical carcinoids according to latest WHO classification

BACKGROUND Pulmonary carcinoid tumors represent a group of malignant neoplasms comprised of neuroendocrine cells. In 1999, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) proposed the definitive classification of neuroendocrine tumors based on the criteria from Travis and associates. The W.H.O. described two different groups of carcinoid tumors: typical carcinoids (TC) and atypical carcinoids (AC). Few reports have reviewed their data according to the current classification, and therefore, prognosis and standard therapy for TC and AC are still uncertain. METHODS From 1980 to 2001, 98 pulmonary resections have been performed for primary bronchial carcinoid tumors in our Thoracic Department of the University of Milan. We reviewed original histology using the current W.H.O. criteria and identified 88 patients with TC and 10 with AC. We reviewed the outcomes in each group. RESULTS The 5 year-overall survival rate was 91.9% for TC and 71% for AC. The 10-year overall survival rate was 89.7% for TC and 60% for AC. The 5-year TNM-related survival rates in the TC group were: IA-B, 100%; IIA-B, 75%; and IIIA, 50%. At 10 years, they were: IA-B, 100%; IIA-B, 75%; and IIIA, 0%. The 5-year survival rates in the AC group were: IA-B, 100%; IIA-B, 100%; and IIIA, 0%. At 10 years, they were: IA-B, 100%; IIA-B, 66%; and IIIA, 0%. CONCLUSIONS Prognosis is favorable for both subtypes in the early stage. Advanced stages are related to better prognosis in TC. Recurrences rate is worse in the AC subtype. Our data suggest avoiding limited resections when feasible in AC. Parenchyma-sparing resections should be encouraged in TC.

Analgesia in patients undergoing thoracotomy: Epidural versus paravertebral technique. A randomized, double-blind, prospective study

BACKGROUND Pain control after thoracotomy prevents postsurgical complications and improves respiratory function. The gold standard for post-thoracotomy analgesia is the epidural catheter. The aim of this study was to compare it with a new technique that involves placement of a catheter in the paravertebral space at the end of surgery under a surgeons direct vision. METHODS From November 2011 to June 2012, 52 patients were randomized into 2 groups depending on catheter placement: an epidural catheter for group A and a paravertebral catheter for group B. At 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery, the following parameters were recorded: (1) pain control using the patients completion of a visual analog scale module, (2) respiratory function using forced expiratory volume in 1 second and ambient air saturation, and (3) blood cortisol values as an index of systemic reaction to pain. RESULTS Statistically significant differences (P < .05) were found in favor of group B for both cough and rest pain control (P = .002 and .002, respectively) and respiratory function in terms of forced expiratory volume in 1 second and ambient air saturation levels (P = .023 and .001, respectively). No statistically significant differences were found in blood cortisol trends between the 2 groups (P > .05). Collateral effects such as vomiting, nausea, low pressure, or urinary retention were observed only in group A. No collateral effects were recorded in the paravertebral group. CONCLUSIONS According to our data, drugs administered through a paravertebral catheter are very effective. Moreover, it does not present contraindications to its positioning or collateral effects. More studies are necessary to confirm data we collected.

Personal experience in lung cancer sleeve lobectomy and sleeve pneumonectomy.

BACKGROUND Sleeve lobectomy (SL) and tracheal sleeve pneumonectomy (TSP) represent valuable alternative techniques to standard resections in the treatment of benign and malignant conditions of the airway and allow preservation of lung parenchyma. METHODS Eighty-three sleeve lobectomies and 27 tracheal sleeve pneumonectomies have been performed for nonsmall cell lung cancer in the thoracic department of the University of Milan from 1979 to 1999. There were 46 upper right lobectomies, 11 upper and middle lobectomies, 18 upper left lobectomies, 8 lower left lobectomies, and 27 right pneumonectomies. RESULTS Mortality rate was 3.6% in SL and 7.4% in TSP. Complications were 10.8% of all SLs and 15% of all TSPs. The overall 5-year survival rate was 43% for SL and 20% for TSP; the 10-year survival rate was 34% and 14%, respectively. There was a highly significant difference in survival between patients with N0 and N1-N2 disease. CONCLUSIONS Sleeve lobectomy is an appropriate surgical procedure and an alternative to pneumonectomy in patients with limited respiratory reserve whenever the situation permits. Trachael sleeve pneumonectomy is associated with more complications and poor survival.

Prognostic model of survival for typical bronchial carcinoid tumours: analysis of 1109 patients on behalf of the European Association of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) Neuroendocrine Tumours Working Group

OBJECTIVES Typical carcinoids (TCs) are uncommon, slow-growing neoplasms, usually with high 5-year survival rates. As these are rare tumours, their management is still based on small clinical observations and no international guidelines exist. Based on the European Society of Thoracic Surgeon Neuroendocrine Tumours Working Group (NET-WG) Database, we evaluated factors that may influence TCs mortality. METHODS Using the NET-WG database, an analysis on TC survival was performed. Overall survival (OS) was calculated starting from the date of intervention. Predictors of OS were investigated using the Cox model with shared frailty (accounting for the within-centre correlation). Candidate predictors were: gender, age, smoking habit, tumour location, previous malignancy, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS), pT, pN, TNM stage and tumour vascular invasion. The final model included predictors with P ≤ 0.15 after a backward selection. Missing data in the evaluated predictors were multiple-imputed and combined estimates were obtained from five imputed data sets. RESULTS For 58 of 1167 TC patients vital status was unavailable and analyses were therefore performed on 1109 patients from 17 institutions worldwide. During a median follow-up of 50 months, 87 patients died, with a 5-year OS rate of 93.7% (95% confidence interval: 91.7-95.3). Backward selection resulted in a prediction model for mortality containing age, gender, previous malignancies, peripheral tumour, TNM stage and ECOG PS. The final model showed a good discrimination ability with a C-statistic equal to 0.836 (bootstrap optimism-corrected 0.806). CONCLUSIONS We presented and validated a promising prognostic model for TC survival, showing good calibration and discrimination ability. Further analyses are needed and could be focused on an external validation of this model.

Thermal ablation in the treatment of lung cancer: present and future.

Surgery is considered the best choice for stage I non-small cell lung cancer and also in treatment of selected patients with lung metastasis. However, surgery is often a high-risk procedure because of severe medical comorbidities affecting this cohort of patients. Thermal ablation (TA) has recently been proposed to achieve destruction of lung tumours whilst avoiding the use of general anaesthesia, thereby limiting the invasiveness of the procedure. For pulmonary malignancies, there are two methods of TA based on tissue heating: radio frequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA). Both are mini-invasive procedures, delivering energy to the tumour through single or multiple percutaneous needles introduced under guidance of computed tomography. The procedure may be performed under conscious sedation or general anaesthesia to avoid pain caused by needle insertion and tissue heating. Local efficacy is directly correlated to tumour target size: for RFA, tumours smaller than 2 cm can be completed ablated in 78-96% of cases; for MWA-according to the largest available study-95% of initial ablations are reported to be successful for tumours smaller than 5 cm. Very few series provide survival data beyond 3 years. For nodules smaller than 3 cm, the registered survival rate is higher: 50% at five years. The data collected in the last 10 years allow us to conclude that TA is an established alternative treatment for patients who cannot undergo surgery because of their compromised general condition. In the case of pulmonary metastasis, most authors agree to offer TA only if lesions are smaller than 5 cm.

Clinical management of atypical carcinoid and large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma: a multicentre study on behalf of the European Association of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) Neuroendocrine Tumours of the Lung Working Group †

OBJECTIVES In 2012, the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) created the Lung Neuroendocrine Tumors Working Group (NETs-WG) with the aim to develop scientific knowledge on clinical management of such rare neoplasms. This paper outlines the outcome and prognostic factors of two aggressive NETs: atypical carcinoids (ACs) and large-cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (LCNCs). METHODS Using the ESTS NETs-WG database, we retrospectively collected data on 261 patients in seven institutions in Europe, between 1994 and 2011. We used a Cox regression model to evaluate variables affecting patient survival and disease-free survival. Univariate and multivariate analysis were also carried out. RESULTS Five-year overall survival rates for ACs and LCNCs were 77 vs 28% (P < 0.001), respectively. We found that for ACs, age (P < 0.001), tumour size (P = 0.015) and sub-lobar surgical resection (P = 0.005) were independent negative prognostic factors; for LCNCs, only pTNM stage III tumours (P = 0.016) negatively affected outcome in the multivariate analysis. Local recurrences and distant metastases developed in 93 patients and were statistically more frequent in LCNCs (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS The biological aggressiveness of ACs and LCNCs has been demonstrated with this study. Our aim is to confirm these results with enhanced data collection through the ESTS NETs database.

Surgical experience of 15 solitary benign fibrous tumor of the pleura

OBJECTIVE The localized benign fibrous tumor of the pleura represents 8% of all benign pathologies of the chest and 10% of neoplasms of the pleura. The authors review the literature, and report on 15 cases of localized benign fibrous tumors of the pleura surgically treated over a period of 15 years to further knowledge of this pathology, its therapy and prognosis. METHODS With respect to the well-known diffuse malignant mesothelioma, different etiopathogenesis, prognosis, and therapeutic approaches characterize the localized benign fibrous tumor of the pleura. In our experience, 15 patients underwent thoracotomy with excision of a pathological endothoracic mass, then histologically proved to be a localized benign tumor of the pleura. The whole group underwent pre-operative evaluation and, when clinic suggested, stadiation and post-operative frequent follow-up. RESULTS The whole group of 15 patients underwent surgical approach well tolerated the surgical treatment with perfect recovery of post-operative respiratory function. There was no relapse of disease in any patients. At the moment all patients are still alive except one dead of heart failure. CONCLUSION The differential diagnosis of benign fibrous tumor of the pleura and lung and pleural malignancy depends upon immunohistochemistry of the surgical specimen so that prognosis could be formulated only after surgery. We consider surgery as the treatment of choice in this pathology.

Primary multifocal angiosarcoma of the pleura.

Angiosarcoma is a malignant soft tissue tumor usually located in the dermis of the extremities. It rarely involves the respiratory system, or the pleura, and the prognosis is extremely poor. We present the case of a patient who had a primary multifocal angiosarcoma of the pleura with left-sided chest pain.

Palliative role of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for severe hemoptysis in an elderly patient with inoperable lung cancer

From the Thoracic Surgery Unit, Ospedale San Paolo, and the Department of Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Mangiagalli e Regina Elena, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. Disclosures: None. Received for publication Nov 17, 2009; revisions received Jan 8, 2010; accepted for publication Jan 18, 2010; available ahead of print July 2, 2010. Address for reprints: Alessandro Baisi, MD, Thoracic Surgery Unit, Ospedale San Paolo, Via A. di Rudini, 8, 20142 Milano, Italy (E-mail: alessandro.baisi@unimi.it). J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2010;140:1196-7 0022-5223/

Radiofrequency ablation of pulmonary lesions

36.00 Copyright 2010 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery doi:10.1016/j.jtcvs.2010.01.049