The tumors of 29% of patients with borderline resectable or locally advanced cancer were downstaged after preoperative therapy. Radiographic downstaging was more common with chemotherapy than with (chemo)radiation (24% vs. 6%; p = 0.04), and the median tumor volume loss after chemotherapy was significantly greater than that after (chemo)radiation (28% vs. 17%; p  less then  0.01). CONCLUSIONS Less than one-third of patients treated with FOLFIRINOX or GA with or without (chemo)radiation experienced either RECIST partial response or radiographic downstaging prior to surgery. The incidence of tumor downstaging was higher and the magnitude of tumor volume loss was greater following chemotherapy than after (chemo)radiation.BACKGROUND Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is the standard care for early detection and staging of lymph node metastasis in melanomas. Radiocolloids (RC) and blue dyes are used for SLN detection. Recently, near infrared (NIR) fluorescence tracing using indocyanine green has been developed as an alternative method for SLN detection. The relatively high tissue penetration depth of several millimeters and the ability to detect low concentrations of tracer both suggest that NIR may have significant advantages over RC and the blue dye methods. The objective of this study was to prospectively compare the performance of all three SLN detection techniques using them sequentially to evaluate the same group of patients. METHODS One hundred twenty-one primary cutaneous melanoma patients with an indication for SLN biopsy were assigned to the procedure following NIR, blue dye, and RC detection techniques. RESULTS No adverse event was reported. SLN was not detected in only 4.1% of cases. In 90.9%, an SLN was identified with NIR, but without any auxiliary technique in only 70.2% of cases. RC detected the SLN in 92.6% of cases. Patent blue was found in the sentinel node in 76.9%. The combination of all three techniques detected an SLN in 95.9% of cases. Metastases were present in 26.7%. The false-negative rate was 8.8%, with a negative predictive value of 91.2%. CONCLUSIONS RC was the only technique with high SLN detection. Both the blue dye and NIR methods added sensitivity to the detection rate but should not be a substitute for RC.BACKGROUND In 1972, Beger et al.1 first described duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection (DPPHR) for patients with severe chronic pancreatitis. Then DPPHR also was proved capable of providing comparable long-term oncologic outcomes in the setting of benign or low-grade malignant tumors.2 As an organ-preserving procedure, DPPHR preserves the integrity of the digestive tract and improves the patient's quality of life compared with pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD),3 although DPPHR is more technically challenging, especially in protecting the bile duct and the pancreaticoduodenal vascular arch.4,5 The indocyanine green (ICG)-enhanced fluorescence imaging system in laparoscopic surgery can identify the biliary and vascular anatomy clearly to ensure a safe cholecystectomy and an adequate vascular supply for colectomy or nephrectomy.6 Nevertheless, to date, no report has described ICG-enhanced fluorescence in laparoscopic duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection (LDPPHR). This article describes the techniqueRESULTS The operation time was 251 min, and the estimated blood loss was 150 ml. The postoperative course was uneventful, with a hospital stay of 13 days. From February 2019 to November 2019, LDPPHR was used by the authors to manage 24 cases, including chronic pancreatitis (6 cases), pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous tumors (6 cases), pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (4 cases), pancreatic solid pseudopapillary tumors (4 cases), serous cystadenoma (3 cases), and mucinous cystadenoma (1 case). CONCLUSIONS Indocyanine green-enhanced fluorescence in laparoscopic duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection was safe and may offer a benefit for maintaining the integrity of the biliary system.To retrospectively assess the predictive value of the CT performed at 24 h, compared with the CT performed at 1 month, in the evaluation of the technical success of microwave (MW) ablation of hepatic lesions.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sn-001.html  In a single center, 50 patients with HCC underwent percutaneous MW ablation between November 2016 and March 2019. Each patient underwent a contrast-enhanced CT exam at 24 h and at 1 month after the procedure. For each patient, was assessed the presence or absence of residual disease, the appearance of a new lesion, complications, and the involvement of the hepatic capsule, both at 24-h and at 1 month. Overall correlation between residual disease, appearance of a new nodule and complications was also assessed. A total of 50 hepatic lesions were treated with US-guided MW ablation. Patients' mean age was 70.9 years (range 28-87 years). Mean nodule diameter was 17.6 mm (range 7-35 mm). Contingency tables and the χ2 test showed a strong association when looking at capsule involvement (accuracy 100%), residual disease (accuracy 90%; p-value 0.003), and the appearance of a new HCC nodule (accuracy 88%; p-value 0.007); regarding complications, the accuracy was 78% (p-value 0.014). Optimal correlation was reached in 62% of cases, moderate correlation in 26%, minimum correlation in 10% of cases; no cases of zero correlation were recorded. CT at 24 h and 1 month showed comparable efficacy in evaluating residual disease after MW thermal ablation of liver lesions. However, further studies are needed to assess which factors may cause false-negative results at the 24-h CT.PURPOSE The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of Dentoxol mouthrinse in reducing the severity of oral mucositis (OM) secondary to radiation therapy (RT) for head and neck cancer. METHODS A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter phase II clinical trial was conducted. Subjects were asked to use Dentoxol (n = 55) or control (n = 53) mouthrinse 5 times/day during RT. Twice a week, OM was assessed clinically using the WHO scale and the Oral Mucositis Daily Questionnaire (OMDQ) was completed. RESULTS The incidence of severe OM was 40.7% in the Dentoxol group and 51% in the control group (p = 0.265). Comparing all recorded clinical assessments, severe OM was seen in 13.3% of all assessments in the Dentoxol group vs. 21.8% in the control group (p = 0.000). There was a statistically significant lower proportion of assessments showing severe OM in the Dentoxol group at weeks 4, 5, and 6 of RT. The mean duration of severe OM was 11.95 days in the Dentoxol group vs. 14.59 days in the control group (p = 0.