Simone Elias

Linfonodos axilares em pacientes com câncer de mama: avaliação ultrassonográfica

Axillary staging of patients with early-stage breast cancer is essential in the treatment planning. Currently such staging is intraoperatively performed, but there is a tendency to seek a preoperative and less invasive technique to detect lymph node metastasis. Ultrasonography is widely utilized for this purpose, many times in association with fine-needle aspiration biopsy or core needle biopsy. However, the sonographic criteria for determining malignancy in axillary lymph nodes do not present significant predictive values, producing discrepant results in studies evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of this method. The present study was aimed at reviewing the literature approaching the utilization of ultrasonography in the axillary staging as well as the main morphological features of metastatic lymph nodes.Axillary staging of patients with early-stage breast cancer is essential in the treatment planning. Currently such staging is intraoperatively performed, but there is a tendency to seek a preoperative and less invasive technique to detect lymph node metastasis. Ultrasonography is widely utilized for this purpose, many times in association with fine-needle aspiration biopsy or core needle biopsy. However, the sonographic criteria for determining malignancy in axillary lymph nodes do not present significant predictive values, producing discrepant results in studies evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of this method. The present study was aimed at reviewing the literature approaching the utilization of ultrasonography in the axillary staging as well as the main morphological features of metastatic lymph nodes.

Estimativa de custo do rastreamento mamográfico em mulheres no climatério

PURPOSE: to evaluate the cost of preventive mammographic screening in climacteric women, as compared to the cost of breast cancer treatment in more advanced stages. METHODS: one thousand and fourteen patients attended at the Climacteric outpatient service of the Gynecology Department, Federal University of Sao Paulo Paulista School of Medicine, were included in the study and submitted to mammographic test. All mammographic tests were analyzed by the same two physicians and classified according to the BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System American College of Radiology) categories. The detected lesions were submitted to cytological and histological examination. RESULTS: the final diagnostic impression of the 1014 examinations, according to the classification of BI-RADS categories was: 1=261, 2=671, 3=59, 4=22 and 5=1. The invasive procedures were performed through a needle guided by ultrasound or stereotactic examinations: 33 fine-needle aspiration biopsies, 6 core biopsies guided by ultrasound and 20 core biopsies guided by stereotactic examination. Five cancer diagnoses were established. The total cost of this screening based on Brazilian procedure values was R

Estudo piloto dos efeitos da terapia hormonal sobre o tecido mamário normal de mulheres após a menopausa

76,593.79 (25,534 dollars). Therefore, the cost of the diagnosis of the five cases of cancer in this screening was R

The influence of the initiation of an exercise programme on seroma formation and dehiscence following breast cancer surgery

15,318.75 (5,106 dollars) each. However, the average cost per patient screened was R

Prevalence of c-myc expression in breast lesions associated with microcalcifications detected by routine mammography

75.53 (25 dollars). CONCLUSIONS: considering that the total treatment cost of only one case of breast cancer in advanced stage including hospital costs, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal treatment is similar to the cost of 1,000 mammographic screenings in climacteric women, it may be concluded that the cost of the early cancer diagnosis program is worth it and should be included in the public health program, as a way of lowering the public health expense.

Punção Aspirativa por Agulha Fina Orientada por Ultra-Sonografia em Lesões Não-palpáveis

PURPOSE: to analyze breast tissue of postmenopausal women before and after six months of continuous combined estrogen-progestin replacement therapy (0.625 mg conjugated equine estrogens associated with 2.5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate). METHODS: all patients were evaluated before treatment and considered eligible to receive the drug. The material was obtained from the upper outer left quadrant, through a percutaneous large-core breast biopsy. Epithelial density and nuclear volume on hematoxylin-eosin-stained plates were evaluated for the morphological study. Morphometry was graphically analyzed by optical microscopy (400X) after acquisition of image by a digital image-capturing system (Vidcap 32) and image analysis system (Imagelab 2000 Software®). RESULTS: after six months of estrogen-progestin replacement therapy, there was a significant increase in nuclear volume in late postmenopausal women (103.6 to 138.1 µm3). There was no difference in epithelial density with the treatment (before 0.08 and later 0.10). CONCLUSIONS: estrogen-progestin combined replacement therapy for six months induced an enhacement in nuclear volume of breast epithelial cells, suggesting an increase in their metabolic activity. However, it is important to emphasize that this finding was observed only in late postmenopausal women. The increased nuclear volume could precede other events that confirm the stimulation of cellular proliferation by these hormones.

Evaluation of the clinical efficacy of minimally invasive procedures for breast cancer screening at a teaching hospital

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To verify whether early (first post-operative day) or late initiation (after removal of the continuous suction drain) of a functional rehabilitation exercise programme influences the incidence of seroma formation and dehiscence for women after breast cancer surgery. BACKGROUND Benefits of early implementation of an exercise programme initiated with women in the first days following breast cancer surgery are widely known. However, the safe initiation of the exercises is still a controversial issue and some authors correlate early initiation of the exercises with an increase in seroma formation. DESIGN A prospective, randomised, controlled clinical trial. METHODS Seventy-seven women were randomly assigned to initiate the programme on post-operative day 1 (early group = 40) or after removal of the drain (late group = 37) and were monitored until the 45th post-operative day. Patients in the early group were instructed to perform the exercises daily at home, beginning on post-operative day 1, while those of the late group began the exercises after the drain was removed. The assessment for seroma formation and dehiscence was performed on post-operative days 7 and 45. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference regard to seroma formation between early group and late group. Also there was no association between the presence of dehiscence and early exercises. CONCLUSION The early initiation of the exercises for women, following breast cancer surgery, constitutes a safe practice for the rehabilitation. However, these findings need to be further explored and confirmed in a larger sample. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Studies showing evidence that early functional rehabilitation process is a safe practice for women having surgery for breast cancer, as well as the present research, are of interest to health professionals who care for these patients and contribute to the wider global clinical community.

QualIM®: software para treinamento na interpretação de imagens médicas digitais

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE Genetic abnormalities in cell proliferation-regulating genes have been described in premalignant lesions. The aims here were to evaluate c-myc protein expression in non-palpable breast lesions associated with microcalcifications, detected by screening mammography, and to compare these results with histopathological, clinical and epidemiological variables. DESIGN AND SETTING Analytical cross-sectional study, with retrospective data collection, in a university hospital in São Paulo. METHODS Seventy-nine female patients who underwent routine mammography between 1998 and 2004 were studied. Lesions classified by the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) as 4 or 5 underwent percutaneous biopsy using a large-core needle. Ninety-eight lesions were studied anatomopathologically. Paraffin blocks properly representing the lesions were selected for immunohistochemical analyses using the streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase technique with monoclonal mouse c-myc antibodies. RESULTS Among the 98 lesions, 29 (29.6%) contained malignant neoplasia; 40 (40.8%) had a positive immunohistochemical reaction for c-myc. When the groups were divided between lesions without atypias versus atypical lesions plus malignant lesions, 31.03% of the 58 lesions without atypias were positive for c-myc and 55% of the 40 malignant and atypical lesions (P = 0.018). Comparing the atypical lesions with ductal carcinoma in situ versus the benign lesions without atypias, c-myc was present in 51.61% of the 31 atypical lesions and 31.03% of the benign lesions without atypias (P = 0.057). CONCLUSION C-myc protein was more frequently expressed in atypical and malignant lesions than in benign lesions without atypias. C-myc expression correlated with the presence of atypias (P = 0.018).

Techniques and Devices Used in Palpation Simulation with Haptic Feedback

Purpose: to determine the relationship between fine needle aspiration cytology guided by ultrasound of nonpalpable breast lesions (cystic or solid masses) with the ultrasound and histopathological features of the biopsy lesions. Methods: a total of 617 nonpalpable lesions were analyzed by ultrasound. Fine needle aspiration cytology was guided by ultrasonography and the cysts were distinguished from the solid masses by comparing the biopsies. The cytologic results were compared with the histological results in the case surgical biopsy was carried out. Results: of the 617 nonpalpable lesions 471 were cysts (451 simple cysts with 100% negative cytology and 20 cases were considered complex cysts; 3 (15%) of these had a positive or suspected cytology and in 2 cases malignancy was confirmed. There were 105 solid masses, 63 of them with negative cytology. Fifty-nine cases had a negative biopsy, and 4 cases (0.3%) were false-negative but all of them presented disagreement between the cytological and image features; in 14 cases (13%) there was a suspected cytology and in 5 of them carcinoma was confirmed; in 14 cases (13%), the samples were insufficient, 1 case was carcinoma and in 51 cases, a triple diagnosis was concordant and the lesions were followed-up. Conclusion: cytological analysis of simple cysts is not required, but when they are complex, cytological analysis is mandatery. In the case of nonpalpable solid masses, cytology must be correlated with ultrasound and mammography features. If the results are discordant, the lesion should be followed-up.

The relationship between estrogen receptor gene polymorphism and mammographic density in postmenopausal women

Aims To assess the clinical efficacy of diagnostic procedures for breast cancer at a teaching hospital using internal auditing tools and quality control measures. Methods A retrospective assessment of 500 patients who underwent core needle biopsy (wide-bore needle biopsy; WBN) of palpable or non-palpable breast nodes that were submitted for at least one cytological examination (fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology and/or imprint of a WBN specimen). For statistical analysis the auditing tool and quality control proposed by the National Health Service breast screening programme was utilised. Results For FNA, full specificity, positive predictive value, inadequate rates and suspicious rates were satisfactory while absolute sensitivity, complete sensitivity, false negatives and false positives were unsatisfactory. For imprint, absolute sensitivity, complete sensitivity, inadequate rate from cancers and suspicious rates were satisfactory, and the remaining indicators were unsatisfactory. WBN displayed the best performance with absolute sensitivity, complete sensitivity, false negative, suspicious rates, full specificity and predictive value showing satisfactory results and only one unsatisfactory result (false positive). Conclusions Based on an overall analysis, WBN displayed the highest clinical efficacy compared with FNA and imprint, and demonstrated adequate safety for confirming the appropriate diagnosis and management of patients, ensuring the efficacy of the service.