Latest Research
All publications from the Cancer3.AI database, newest first.
Evaluating Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Survival Benefit in Early-Stage HER2-Positive Invasive Breast Cancer Following Breast-Conserving Surgery: A National Cohort Aligned with NRG-BR008 HERO Trial.
Cummock JS, et al
Researchers used the National Cancer Database to evaluate whether adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) improves survival in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer who underwent breast-conserving surgery and modern HER2-targeted systemic therapy, aligning their analysis with the eligibility criteria of the ongoing HERO de-escalation trial (NRG-BR008). The study divided patients into two groups mirroring the trial arms: those who received adjuvant chemotherapy and those who achieved a pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In the adjuvant chemotherapy group of 818 patients, omitting radiation was strongly associated with worse overall survival, with 10-year survival rates of 94.3% with RT versus 68.5% without RT and a hazard ratio of 4.78 for death when RT was omitted. In the neoadjuvant complete-response group of 176 patients, the survival difference favoring RT did not reach statistical significance in the primary analysis, though restricted mean survival time analyses still suggested a modest benefit. The authors caution that this retrospective registry study cannot establish causation, lacks recurrence-specific endpoints, and may be affected by unmeasured confounding, but conclude that the findings support continued use of adjuvant radiation outside the context of prospective de-escalation trials. These results are clinically relevant as they provide real-world evidence informing the ongoing debate about safely omitting radiation in HER2-positive breast cancer patients treated with modern targeted therapies.
Cancers
Source →Parathyroid carcinoma as an overlooked etiology of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women: a case report.
Su J, et al
A case report published in Frontiers in Endocrinology describes a 54-year-old postmenopausal woman initially treated for severe osteoporosis whose condition failed to improve with standard pharmacotherapy. Further endocrine investigation revealed hyperparathyroidism as the underlying cause, and surgical removal of the parathyroid gland led to a histopathological diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma, an extremely rare malignancy. Following the surgery, the patient's osteoporosis symptoms showed meaningful improvement, underscoring the importance of identifying the root cause of bone loss before initiating treatment. The case highlights that postmenopausal women are at particular risk of having secondary osteoporosis misclassified as primary, since age-related bone loss is so commonly assumed in this demographic. Clinicians are urged to perform thorough etiological workups in postmenopausal patients with osteoporosis, especially when response to standard therapy is inadequate, as treatment strategies for primary and secondary osteoporosis differ substantially.
Frontiers in endocrinology
Source →Clinical and surgical significance of the jugular foramen anatomy: systematic review with meta-analysis.
Taprantzis N, et al
A new systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience has examined the anatomy of the jugular foramen, a small but critical opening at the base of the skull that houses important nerves and blood vessels. Researchers analyzed data from multiple imaging and anatomical studies to determine how frequently anatomical variations such as high-riding jugular bulbs, bony domes, and internal septations occur across different populations and sexes. The analysis revealed striking geographic and sex-based differences: African populations had fewer bony domes and larger foramen diameters, while high-riding bulbs were most prevalent in Asian populations, and females showed a modestly higher rate of high-riding bulbs compared to males. These variations are clinically important because they can compress nearby nerves, cause hearing disturbances, affect how tumors spread, and significantly complicate surgeries involving the middle ear or skull base. The authors emphasize that surgeons and clinicians must be aware of these population-specific anatomical patterns to plan safer operations and reduce the risk of serious intraoperative complications. This comprehensive meta-analysis provides the most complete picture to date of jugular foramen variability and offers a valuable reference for neurosurgeons, otolaryngologists, and radiologists worldwide.
Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
Source →Primary Ovarian Leiomyoma in a 2-year-old Child: Youngest Worldwide and First Report from India with Review of Literature.
Ahmad MF, et al
Researchers from India have reported the youngest known case worldwide of primary ovarian leiomyoma, a rare benign tumor of smooth muscle origin, diagnosed in a 2-year-old girl. The child presented with incidental abdominal fullness, and imaging revealed a mass in the right adnexal region that was found during surgery to have completely replaced the right ovary. Surgeons performed a right oophorectomy along with omentectomy and peritoneal washings, and laboratory analysis confirmed the diagnosis through characteristic spindle-shaped smooth muscle cells and positive immunohistochemical staining for smooth muscle actin and desmin. This case is also the first reported instance of ovarian leiomyoma from India, adding to a global tally of fewer than 100 documented cases, with under 10 occurring in children or adolescents. The child recovered without complications and remained well at nine months of follow-up, underscoring that surgical removal can be curative. This report highlights the importance of considering rare benign tumors in the differential diagnosis of adnexal masses even in very young children, and reinforces the value of immunohistochemistry in achieving accurate diagnosis.
Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons
Source →Concomitant plasma cell myeloma and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia in elderly: diagnostic complexity, therapeutic challenges - case report and literature review.
Rohita DK, et al
Researchers report a rare and diagnostically challenging case of an 82-year-old woman found to have two simultaneous blood cancers: chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) and plasma cell myeloma (multiple myeloma). The patient presented with severe symptoms including bone pain, extreme white blood cell elevation, anemia, kidney dysfunction, and skeletal lesions, requiring extensive laboratory, imaging, and bone marrow analysis to untangle the overlapping diagnoses. Next-generation sequencing identified mutations in the NRAS and TET2 genes, which helped confirm the CMML diagnosis alongside immunophenotypic evidence of myeloma. Treatment required a carefully balanced combination of leukapheresis, hydroxyurea to reduce the white blood cell burden, and bortezomib-dexamethasone to target the myeloma, while managing significant complications in a frail elderly patient. This case highlights that when elderly patients present with monocytosis and cytopenias, clinicians must consider the possibility of concurrent hematologic malignancies and pursue comprehensive molecular and pathological workup. The findings underscore the importance of personalized, multidisciplinary treatment strategies when managing complex overlapping blood cancers in older adults.
Annals of medicine and surgery (2012)
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