Author(s) West S.
Source Breast Cancer Research; 2021; vol. 23
Breast carcinomas can take on a multitude of appearances that display the features of a true carcinoma. These being: shape, orientation, echo pattern and posterior features. However, some benign entities can mimic these appearances on ultrasound. This pictorial review demonstrates some of the great mimickers that display the worrying features. Diabetic Mastopthy-Disease with fibro inflammatory processes of the breast. Features can include hard, irregular hypoechoic mass with posterior shadowing. Fat Necrosis-Known as a benign non-supparitive inflammatory process. This process occurs due to breast trauma. Some of the common causes are: radiotherapy, surgery or trauma. Sonographically, the appearance may display an irregular complex mass, edge shadowing or a hyper-echoic irregular mass. Tuberculosis-The most frequent mode of infection is spread from the axillary nodes. Appearances can present as nodular, diffuse and sclerosing. The nodular type of Tuberculosis can manifest as an ill defined hypoechoic mass. The diffuse type can simulate inflammatory carcinoma, and the sclerosing type can be associated with areas of architectural distortion. Granular Cell tumour-A benign neoplasm derived from perineural scwann cell of peripheral nerves. On ultrasound, the appearances can present as an irregular or ill defined mass with posterior acoustic shadowing. Fibromatosis-This is a benign tumour that can occur in the breast. The definitive eitology is unclear but can be associated with Gardeners' syndrome. On Ultrasound, this can present as an irregular hypoechoic mass with a thick echogenic rim and posterior shadowing.

• Available in full text at Breast Cancer Research from BioMed Central

Author(s) Alurralde C.; Caram E.L.; Eskinazi D.; Badra R.; Garcia J.S. et al.
Source Colorectal Disease; Mar 2021; vol. 23 (no. 3); p. 732-749
Aim: This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. 

• Available in full text at Colorectal Disease from Wiley Online Library Medicine and Nursing Collection 2013

Author(s) Shaker H.; Bundred N.J.; Castle J.; Kirwan C.C.; Landberg G. et al.
Source Cancer Medicine; Mar 2020; vol. 9 (no. 5); p. 1768-1778
Background: Tumor stroma, of which fibroblasts are the most abundant cell, resembles a non-healing wound, where a procoagulant environment creates a permissive milieu for cancer growth. We aimed to determine if tumor expression of coagulation factors (procoagulant phenotype), and systemic hypercoagulability, occur at the preinvasive (ductal carcinoma in situ; DCIS) stage and correlate with breast cancer subtype, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS). 

• Available in full text at Cancer medicine from Europe PubMed Central - Open Access
• Available in full text at Cancer medicine from Wiley Online Library Free Content - NHS

Author(s) Balata H.; Harvey J.; Barber P.V.; Duerden R.; Evison M. et al.
Source Thorax; May 2020
BACKGROUND: COPD is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in populations eligible for lung cancer screening. We investigated the role of spirometry in a community-based lung cancer screening programme. 

• Available in full text at Thorax from BMJ Journals - NHS

Author(s) Mateo J.; Perez-Lopez R.; Seed G.; Bertan C.; Rescigno P. et al.
Source Journal of Clinical Investigation; Apr 2020; vol. 130 (no. 4); p. 1743-1751
The genomics of primary prostate cancer differ from those of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). We studied genomic aberrations in primary prostate cancer biopsies from patients who developed mCRPC, also studying matching, same-patient, diagnostic, and mCRPC biopsies following treatment. We profiled 470 treatment-naive prostate cancer diagnostic biopsies and, for 61 cases, mCRPC biopsies, using targeted and low-pass whole-genome sequencing (n = 52). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize mutation and copy number profile. Prevalence was compared using Fisher's exact test. Survival correlations were studied using log-rank test. TP53 (27%) and PTEN (12%) and DDR gene defects (BRCA2 7%; CDK12 5%; ATM 4%) were commonly detected. TP53, BRCA2, and CDK12 mutations were markedly more common than described in the TCGA cohort. Patients with RB1 loss in the primary tumor had a worse prognosis. Among 61 men with matched hormone-naive and mCRPC biopsies, differences were identified in AR, TP53, RB1, and PI3K/AKT mutational status between same-patient samples. In conclusion, the genomics of diagnostic prostatic biopsies acquired from men who develop mCRPC differ from those of the nonlethal primary prostatic cancers. RB1/TP53/AR aberrations are enriched in later stages, but the prevalence of DDR defects in diagnostic samples is similar to mCRPC.Copyright © 2020, Mateo et al. This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

• Available in full text at The Journal of clinical investigation from EBSCO (MEDLINE Complete)

Author(s) Williamson S.; Beaver K.; Langton S.
Source European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society; Apr 2020; vol. 46 ; p. 101759
PURPOSE: To meet the long-term needs of cancer survivors the focus of recent cancer care reform in the United Kingdom (UK) has been the implementation of alternative follow-up strategies to relieve the growing pressures threatening to overwhelm cancer services. In 2013, the UK's National Cancer Survivorship Initiative recommended an integrated package of care called the Recovery Package to meet cancer survivors' psychosocial and information needs and supported self-management. 

Author(s) Chandran A.; Bhanji A.; Rao J.
Source British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; Dec 2019; vol. 57 (no. 10)
Introduction/Aims A surgeon's experience undertaking larger case volumes is often linked to better performance. The aim was to assess a single surgeons performance in NMHNSC excisions over five years. We analysed time and case number to reach a consistent competency with regards to excision margins. Materials/Methods Skin pathology data sets were collected retrospectively from 2014 to 2018 The data collected involved a single surgeon operating in multiple hospitals and settings. Information regarding patient demographics, histological features of NMHNSC and excision margins were collected from pathology reports for each operation.

Results/Statistics The results showed from January 2014 to April 2014 there was a 6.8% involved margin rate and a 11.4% close margin rate. This improved with further case volume over the five years. By September2018 to December 2018it was noted that the involved margin rate had reduced to 3.8% and the close margin rate had increased slightly to 13.4%. We present the longitudinal statistics.

​Conclusions/Clinical relevance This study has shown that there appears to be improvement in performance of excisions of NMHNSC as the surgeon gains experience over time to reach a consistent performance. There was a clear initial learning curve to achieve this which took several cases. This likely differs from numbers presented in the literature believed to achieve competency in other bodily surgical procedures.Copyright © 2019

Author(s) Ryan N.A.J.; Crosbie E.J.; Evans D.G.; Glaire M.A.; Blake D. et al.
Source Genetics in Medicine; Oct 2019; vol. 21 (no. 10); p. 2167-2180
Purpose: Endometrial cancer (EC) is often the sentinel cancer in women with Lynch syndrome (LS). However, efforts to implement universal LS screening in EC patients have been hampered by a lack of evidence detailing the proportion of EC patients that would be expected to screen positive for LS.

Method(s): Studies were identified by electronic searches of Medline, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL and Web of Science. Proportions of test positivity were calculated by random and fixed-effects meta-analysis models. I2 score was used to assess heterogeneity across studies.

​Result(s): Fifty-three studies, including 12,633 EC patients, met the inclusion criteria. The overall proportion of endometrial tumors with microsatellite instability or mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency by immunohistochemistry (IHC) was 0.27 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25-0.28, I2: 71%) and 0.26 (95% CI 0.25-0.27, I2: 88%), respectively. Of those women with abnormal tumor testing, 0.29 (95% CI 0.25-0.33, I2: 83%) had LS-associated pathogenic variants on germline testing; therefore around 3% of ECs can be attributed to LS. Preselection of EC cases did increase the proportion of germline LS diagnoses.

Conclusion(s): The current study suggests that prevalence of LS in EC patients is approximately 3%, similar to that of colorectal cancer patients; therefore our data support the implementation of universal EC screening for LS.Copyright © 2019, The Author(s).