2024 Featured Articles
Citation: Switalla, K.M., Boughey, J.C., Dimitroff, K. et al. Clipping the Positive Lymph Node in Patients with Clinically Node Positive Breast Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Impact on Axillary Surgery in the ISPY-2 Clinical Trial. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 7249–7259 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-024-15792-x
Synopsis: Clip placement in positive axillary lymph node prior to NAC is increasingly common and may facilitate avoidance of ALND without negative impact on EFS. Localization of the clipped node increases likelihood of clipped node retrieval without increasing rates of ALND.
Citation: Moore, A.M., Caudle, A.S., Sun, S.X. et al. Residual Nodal Burden After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in cN1 Breast Cancer Patients with Positive Nodes at Targeted Axillary Dissection. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 7264–7270 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-024-15797-6
Synopsis: In N1 breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and positive targeted axillary dissection (TAD), ~25% have additional disease on completion axillary dissection. TAD alone does not accurately define residual cancer burden (RCB) in 45% of RCB class I/II patients.
Citation: Feng, J., Wang, L., Yang, X. et al. Pretreatment Pan-Immune-Inflammation Value (PIV) in Predicting Therapeutic Response and Clinical Outcomes of Neoadjuvant Immunochemotherapy for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 272–283 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-14430-2
Synopsis: The present study explores the clinical utility and response of pretreatment pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV) to neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (NICT) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Owing to better prognostic stratification, pretreatment PIV was found to be a novel, sensitive, and effective indicator in ESCC receiving NICT. The prognostic results of PIV need to be further verified in more and more prospective studies.
Citation: Doppenberg, D., Stoop, T.F., van Dieren, S. et al. Serum CEA as a Prognostic Marker for Overall Survival in Patients with Localized Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma and Non-Elevated CA19-9 Levels Treated with FOLFIRINOX as Initial Treatment: A TAPS Consortium Study. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 1919–1932 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-14680-0
Synopsis: Elevated serum CEA at baseline is associated with impaired overall survival (OS) and may be a useful tool, both for decision-making at staging and at time of response evaluation. Although serum CEA dynamics are not predictive for OS, serum CEA normalization seems to be a potentially valuable parameter but has to be investigated in larger studies.
Citation: Smith, H.G., Schlesinger, N.H., Chiranth, D. et al. The Association of Mismatch Repair Status with Microscopically Positive (R1) Margins in Stage III Colorectal Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 6423–6431 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-024-15595-0
Synopsis: Increasing evidence suggests that R1 margins in colorectal cancer may represent a surrogate for aggressive cancer biology. Here we find increased risks of R1 margins in deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) cancers, supporting this theory and providing further rationale for neoadjuvant immunotherapy in this patient group.
Citation: van Keulen, AM., Buettner, S., Olthof, P.B. et al. Comparing Survival of Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma After R1 Resection Versus Palliative Chemotherapy for Unresected Localized Disease. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 6495–6503 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-024-15582-5
Synopsis: The authors report on a comparison of postoperative characteristics and overall survival between patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (pCCA) who underwent an R1 resection and patients with localized pCCA who received palliative systemic chemotherapy. Study results indicate that palliative systemic chemotherapy should be considered instead of resection in patients with a high risk of both R1 resection and postoperative mortality.
Citation: Diskin, B., Sevilimedu, V., Morrow, M. et al. Management of Ipsilateral Breast Tumor Recurrence Following Breast Conservation Surgery for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ: A Data-Poor Zone. Ann Surg Oncol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-024-16133-8
Synopsis: For women with ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence following breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for ductal carcinoma in situ, we found a higher rate of local re-recurrence with re-BCS compared to mastectomy but no difference in other oncologic outcomes.
Citation: Alcasid, N.J., Fink, D., Banks, K.C. et al. The Impact of D2 Versus D1 Lymphadenectomy in Siewert II Gastroesophageal Junction (GEJ) Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-024-15623-z
Synopsis: There remains little consensus regarding the optimal lymph node harvest for Siewert II gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers. For these tumors, a D2 lymphadenectomy (LAD) may lead to increased morbidity with no difference in survival compared to a D1 LAD alone.