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Marson I et al i . showed a 43% decrease in melanoma diagnosis in the COVID period and estimated that 19 600 melanomas would be delayed in initial diagnosis/treatment in the United States. Early detection of melanoma is an important intervention to reduce morbidity and mortality.1,2 The COVID-19 pandemic has affected timely access to health care, potentially affecting patient outcomes. Reduction in the number of early melanomas diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic: a single-centre cohort study. [Extracted from the article]

Molecular testing contributes to improving the diagnosis of indeterminate thyroid nodules (ITNs). ThyroidPrint® is a ten-gene classifier aimed to rule out malignancy in ITN. Post-validation studies are necessary to determine the real-world clinical benefit of ThyroidPrint® in patients with ITN. A single-center, prospective, noninterventional clinical utility study was performed, analyzing the impact of ThyroidPrint® in the physicians' clinical decisions for ITN. Demographics, nodule characteristics, benign call rates (BCRs), and surgical outcomes were measured. Histopathological data were collected from surgical biopsies of resected nodules. Of 1272 fine-needle aspirations, 109 (8.6%) were Bethesda III and 135 (10.6%) were Bethesda IV. Molecular testing was performed in 155 of 244 ITN (63.5%), of which 104 were classified as benign (BCR of 67.1%). After a median follow-up of 15 months, 103 of 104 (99.0%) patients with a benign ThyroidPrint® remained under surveillance and one patient underwent surgery which was a follicular adenoma. Surgery was performed in all 51 patients with a suspicious for malignancy as per ThyroidPrint® result and in 56 patients who did not undergo testing, with a rate of malignancy of 70.6% and 32.1%, respectively. A higher BCR was observed in follicular lesion of undetermined significance (87%) compared to atypia of undetermined significance (58%) (P < 0.05). False-positive cases included four benign follicular nodules and six follicular and four oncocytic adenomas. Our results show that, physicians chose active surveillance instead of diagnostic surgery in all patients with a benign ThyroidPrint® result, reducing the need for diagnostic surgery in 67% of patients with preoperative diagnosis of ITN.

Objective: Warthin-like papillary thyroid cancer (WL-PTC) is an uncommon variant of PTC, usually associated with lymphocytic thyroiditis. Scarce evidence suggests that WL-PTC has similar clinical presentation to classic PTC (C-PTC), with no studies comparing risks of recurrence and response to treatment between both variants. Our objective was to describe the clinical presentation and prognosis of WL-PTC and compare it to C-PTC., Methods: Retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort, including 370 (96%) patients with C-PTC and 17 (4%) with WL-PTC, consecutively treated with total thyroidectomy with or without RAI, followed for at least 6 months. We compared clinical presentation, risk of mortality and recurrence, as well as response to treatment between both variants., Results: Of the total cohort: 317 (82%) female, 38 ± 13.5 years, median follow-up 4 years (0.5-28.5); most of them stage I and low/intermediate risk of recurrence. We found no differences regarding clinical-pathological data and risk of recurrence. WL-PTC was associated with a higher rate of anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) (65% vs. 36%, p = 0.016) and lymphocytic thyroiditis (59% vs. 34%, p = 0.03). The rates of biochemical and structural incomplete responses were similar in both variants. WL-PTC had a lower rate of excellent response (23% vs. 54%, p = 0.01), which became non-significant when performing analysis by TgAb presence (50% vs. 67%, p = NS)., Conclusion: WL-CPT and C-CPT have similar clinical presentation and rate of recurrence. The lower rate of excellent response to treatment in WL-PTC is due to a higher frequency of TgAb. WL-PCT should not be considered an aggressive variant of PTC.

The use of BRAFV600E and RET/PTC1 as biomarkers to guide the extent of surgery in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) remains controversial. We assessed the combined use of demographic data (sex and age) with mRNA expression levels and/or mutational status (BRAFV600E and RET/PTC1) to identify potential subsets of patients with aggressive histopathological features (lymph node metastases and extrathyroidal extension). In a cohort of 126 consecutive patients, BRAFV600E and RET/PTC1 mutations were found in 52 and 18%, respectively. By conditional bivariate analysis (CBVA), a 'high activity' profile of BRAF (BRAFV600E positive or high expression) and 'low activity' profile of RET (RET/PTC1 negative or low expression) was associated with extrathyroidal extension (ETE) (OR 4.48). Alternatively, a 'high activity' profile of RET (RET/PTC1 positive or high expression) and 'low activity' profile of BRAF (BRAFV600E negative or low expression) were associated with lymph node metastasis (LNM) (OR 12.80). Furthermore, in patients younger than 55 years, a low expression of BRAF was associated with LNM (OR 17.65) and the presence of BRAFV600E mutation was associated with ETE (OR 2.76). Our results suggest that the analysis of demographic and molecular variables by CBVA could contribute to identify subsets of patients with aggressive histopathologic features, providing a potential guide to personalised surgical management of PTC.

Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the trend of antithyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) during follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) treated without RAI, as well as their role in the risk of recurrence., Subjects and Methods: This was a prospective, descriptive study. A total of 152 consecutive patients with DTC treated in a single institution undergoing total thyroidectomy without RAI and followed for a median of 2.3 years (0.5-10.3) were divided in two groups: TgAb(-) (n = 111) and TgAb(+) (n = 41). Patients were classified according to AJCC 7th and 8th editions, as well as to their risk of recurrence and response to treatment categories., Results: Both groups, TgAb(-) and TgAb(+), were similar regarding patient and tumor characteristics. At the end of follow-up, 90 (59.2%), 57 (37.5%), 3 (2%) and 2 (1.3%) patients achieved excellent, indeterminate, biochemically incomplete and structurally incomplete response, respectively. The risk of structural recurrence was similar in both groups (TgAb[-] 0.9% vs. TgAb[+] 2.4%, p = 0.46). In the TgAb(+) group, TgAb became negative in 10 (24.4%), decreased ≥ 50% without negativization in 25 (60.9%), decreased < 50% in 4 (9.8%) and remained stable or increased in 2 (4.9%) cases. The only incomplete structural response had increasing TgAb during follow-up., Conclusions: In properly selected patients with DTC, TgAb concentration immediately after total thyroidectomy should not mandate RAI ablation, and their trend during follow-up may impact the risk of recurrence.

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the second most common skin cancer and is usually associated with a favorable prognosis in most patients. However, a small minority of patients will be diagnosed with a high-risk cSCC (HRcSCC) and a proportion will have a poor outcome, in some cases causing death. HRcSCC is characterized by an increase in aggressiveness manifested as local recurrence, the development of lymph node metastases, and occasionally death. The utility of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in this group of patients is unclear without high-level evidence or clear-cut recommendations. If clinicians accept as a cut-off threshold of a >10% of risk of harboring occult nodal metastasis, then selected HRcSCC patients may benefit from SLNB and/or additional investigations. Herein, we performed a review of the current evidence regarding SLNB in HRcSCC. We believe that SLNB may be considered in selected HRcSCC patients to potentially better predict prognosis and influence management. However larger prospective studies are needed to better define the subset of patients that may benefit from SLNB and if early detection of occult nodal metastases is associated with an improved outcome.

Background: Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is generally associated with a favorable prognosis. Its treatment requires surgery, selective use of radioiodine and levothyroxine, and its intensity must be adjusted to the initial risks of mortality and recurrence., Aim: To validate the risk of recurrence classification developed by the Chilean Ministry of Health in 2013 (MINSAL 2013), and compare it with the American Thyroid Association (ATA) 2009 and 2015 classifications., Material and Methods: Retrospective study of 362 patients with DTC aged 44.3 ± 13.4 years (84% women), treated with total thyroidectomy, selective radioiodine ablation and levothyroxine and followed for a median of 4.2 years (range 2.0-7.8). Risk of recurrence was estimated with MINSAL 2013, ATA 2009 and ATA 2015 classifications, and risk of mortality with 7th and 8th American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/TNM systems. Clinical data obtained during follow-up were used to detect structural and biochemical persistence/recurrence., Results: A mean dose of 104 ± 48 mCi radioiodine was received by 91% of patients. MINSAL 2013 classified 148 (41%), 144 (40%), 67 (19%) and 3 (1%) patients as very low, low, intermediate and high risk of recurrence, respectively. Forty-five (12.4%) patients had persistence or recurrence during follow-up: 33 structural and 12 biochemical. Rates of persistence/recurrence on each category of MINSAL 2013 were 4.1%, 7.6%, 37.3% and 100%, respectively (p < 0.01). Areas under Receiver Operating Characteristic curves for persistence or recurrence of MINSAL 2013, ATA 2009 and ATA 2015 were 0.77 vs 0.73 vs 0.72, respectively., Conclusions: MINSAL 2013 classifies appropriately DTC patients and estimates correctly their risk of persistence or recurrence.

Objective We aimed to describe the presentation of papillary microcarcinoma (PTMC) and identify the clinical and histological features associated with persistence/recurrence in a Latin American cohort. Subjects and methods Retrospective study of PTMC patients who underwent total thyroidectomy, with or without radioactive iodine (RAI), and who were followed for at least 2 years. Risk of recurrence was estimated with ATA 2009 and 2015 classifications, and risk of mortality with 7th and 8th AJCC/TNM systems. Clinical data obtained during follow-up were used to detect structural and biochemical persistence/recurrence. Results We included 209 patients, predominantly female (90%), 44.5 ± 12.6 years old, 183 (88%) received RAI (90.4 ± 44.2 mCi), followed-up for a median of 4.4 years (range 2.0-7.8). The 7th and 8th AJCC/TNM system classified 89% and 95.2% of the patients as stage I, respectively. ATA 2009 and ATA 2015 classified 70.8% and 78.5% of the patients as low risk, respectively. Fifteen (7%) patients had persistence/recurrence during follow-up. In multivariate analysis, only lymph node metastasis was associated with persistence/recurrence (coefficient beta 4.0, p = 0.016; 95% CI 1.3-12.9). There were no PTMC related deaths. Conclusions Our series found no mortality and low rate of persistence/recurrence associated with PTMC. Lymph node metastasis was the only feature associated with recurrence in multivariate analysis. The updated ATA 2015 and 8th AJCC/TNM systems classified more PTMCs than previous classifications as low risk of recurrence and mortality, respectively.

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most prevalent endocrine neoplasia. The increased incidence of PTC in patients with thyroiditis and the frequent immune infiltrate found in PTC suggest that inflammation might be a risk factor for PTC development. The CXCR3-ligand system is involved in thyroid inflammation and CXCR3 has been found upregulated in many tumors, suggesting its pro-tumorigenic role under the inflammatory microenvironment. CXCR3 ligands (CXCL4, CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11) trigger antagonistic responses partly due to the presence of two splice variants, CXCR3A and CXCR3B. Whereas CXCR3A promotes cell proliferation, CXCR3B induces apoptosis. However, the relation between CXCR3 variant expression with chronic inflammation and PTC development remains unknown. Here, we characterized the expression pattern of CXCR3 variants and their ligands in benign tumors and PTC. We found that CXCR3A and CXCL10 mRNA levels were increased in non-metastatic PTC when compared to non-neoplastic tissue. This increment was also observed in a PTC epithelial cell line (TPC-1). Although elevated protein levels of both isoforms were detected in benign and malignant tumors, the CXCR3A expression remained greater than CXCR3B and promoted proliferation in Nthy-ori-3-1 cells. In non-metastatic PTC, inflammation was conditioning for the CXCR3 ligands increased availability. Consistently, CXCL10 was strongly induced by interferon gamma in normal and tumor thyrocytes. Our results suggest that persistent inflammation upregulates CXCL10 expression favoring tumor development via enhanced CXCR3A-CXCL10 signaling. These findings may help to further understand the contribution of inflammation as a risk factor in PTC development and set the basis for potential therapeutic studies., Competing Interests: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors don't have any duality of interests to declare.

Objectives: Follow-up of patients with low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer treated with total thyroidectomy and radioiodine requires neck sonography and thyroglobulin (Tg). The need to stimulate Tg is controversial. The goal of this study was to compare the diagnostic performances of sonography plus suppressed or stimulated Tg in low-risk thyroid cancer., Methods: After total thyroidectomy and radioiodine, patients with low-risk thyroid cancer were retrospectively identified as having structural or biochemical persistence/recurrence. We compared the diagnostic performance of suppressed and stimulated Tg to detect persistence/recurrence., Results: We included 148 patients with low-risk thyroid cancer who were followed for a median of 3.7 years. Persistence/recurrence was found in 8 patients (5.4%; 5 structural disease and 3 biochemical disease). Thyroglobulin was not stimulated in 72 patients (group 1) and stimulated in 76 (group 2). In group 1, 5 patients (6.9%) had structural neck persistence/recurrence (3 with suppressed Tg ≥ 1 ng/mL and 2 with suppressed Tg < 1 ng/mL). Four patients underwent surgery, and 1 was surveilled. All 5 patients had suppressed Tg lower than 1 ng/mL at the end of follow-up. In group 2, stimulated Tg did not identify additional cases of structural persistence/recurrence but classified 3 patients (3.9%) as having biochemical persistence/recurrence. One patient received a second dose of radioiodine, and the other 2 were surveilled; all were without disease at the end of follow-up. Suppressed and stimulated Tg had negative predictive values for persistence/recurrence of 97% and 100%, respectively., Conclusions: In low-risk thyroid cancer treated with total thyroidectomy and radioiodine, sonography and suppressed or stimulated Tg have similar negative predictive values for persistence/recurrence. Importantly, the coexistence of negative sonographic findings and suppressed Tg lower than 1 ng/mL makes the addition of stimulated Tg unlikely to identify clinically important disease., (© 2017 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.)

Purpose: Pathologic stage II melanoma patients have variable outcomes when divided by substage. We hypothesized that an understanding of the patterns of initial relapse by substage will better inform follow-up guidelines., Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 738 adult patients with pathologic stage II cutaneous melanoma treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center between 1993 and 2013. Clinical records were reviewed to determine time, location, and method of detection of initial relapse., Results: At a median follow-up of 52 months, 219 patients relapsed. Relapses were detected more frequently in higher substages. Initial relapses were most commonly local/in-transit for IIA and IIB and systemic for IIC. Lung and brain were the most frequent sites of systemic relapse. Patient-detection was the most common method of relapse detection (59%) in all substages. The 5-year cumulative incidence for patient-detected relapse was 13.6% for IIA, 18.9% for IIB, and 23.3% for IIC and for image-detected relapse was 3.4, 7.9, and 16.6%, respectively. The 5-year cumulative incidence for physician-detected relapse was less than 10% across all substages and leveled off at 3 years for stage IIA and IIB and 2 years for stage IIC., Conclusions: Relapses were most frequently patient-detected in all stage II substages, highlighting the importance of patient education and self-examination. The highest yield for routine imaging is in stage IIC patients during the first 4 years. Physician examination is unlikely to detect relapses beyond 3 years for stage IIA and IIB and beyond 2 years for stage IIC patients.

Cutaneous melanoma is a highly aggressive tumor developing from melanocytes, its incidence is increasing, and prognosis in advanced stages is daunting. New therapies have been approved during the recent years with unprecedented results, including inhibitors of MAPK/ERK pathway and immune checkpoint blockade (anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) as ipilimumab, anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-L1) as pembrolizumab and anti-programmed cell death protein 1 ligand (PD-L1), among many others). The aim of this paper is to review currently available metastatic melanoma therapies focusing mainly on new therapies that have demonstrated effectiveness, after several decades of little progress in the treatment of this disease.

Context . Radioiodine (RAI) administration has adverse effects in patients treated for thyroid cancer (DTC), but there is scarce information regarding their intensity and duration. Objective . To evaluate frequency and intensity of early and late RAI-related symptoms in patients with DTC. Design . Observational prospective study. Patients . DTC patients who underwent thyroidectomy, with or without RAI. Measurements . Patients answered 2 surveys: (1) from 0 to 6 months and (2) between 6 and 18 months after initial treatment. Results . 110 patients answered the first survey and 61 both. Nearly 80 percent received RAI. Among early symptoms, periorbital edema, excessive tearing, salivary gland disturbances, dry mouth, taste disorders, and nausea were more frequent and intense among RAI patients. Regarding late symptoms, periorbital edema, salivary gland pain and swelling, and dry mouth were more frequent and intense in RAI patients. Frequency and intensity of adverse effects were not different between low and high RAI doses (50 versus ≥100 mCi). Conclusion . RAI-related symptoms are frequent and usually persist after 6 months of administration, even when low doses are given. This finding must be considered when deciding RAI administration, especially in low risk patients, among whom RAI benefit is controversial.

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the second most common skin cancer in the world. A minority of patients will be given a diagnosis of a high-risk cSCC (HRcSCC) and a proportion of these will have a poor outcome. HRcSCC is characterized by an increase in aggressiveness manifested as locoregional recurrence, and occasionally death. The utility of sentinel lymph node biopsy in this group of patients is unclear without high-level evidence or clear-cut recommendations. If clinicians accept a cutoff threshold of 10% risk of harboring occult nodal metastasis, then a selected group of patients with HRcSCC may benefit from sentinel lymph node biopsy. We performed a review of the currently available evidence, in the form of systematic reviews, meta-analysis, trials, and case series and analyzed the features that define a HRcSCC and the feasibility of performing sentinel lymph node biopsy in this group of patients., (Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)