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To analyze the clinical and pathological features of uterine sarcomas treated at our referral medical center. The aim of the study is also to analyze their prognosis factors. We performed a retrospective analysis of 40 women with uterine sarcoma treated at the Obstetrics and Gynecology department - Sousse - Tunisia between 1997 and 2010. Tumor stage was assessed according to the FIGO 1988 classification. Patient's outcomes were recorded and analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. Forty patients were included in the study. Leiomyosarcoma represents 65% of cases (n=26) and carcinosarcoma 20 % (n=8). Mean age at the time of diagnosis was 53 years (range: 35-82 years). The most common symptoms were vaginal bleeding and pelvic pain (respectively 72.5% and 45%). Mean interval time from onset of symptoms and pathological diagnosis of sarcoma was 16 weeks (range: 0 to 96 weeks). Definitive diagnosis of sarcoma was achieved after pathological analysis in 62.5%. Most common histological type was leiomyosarcoma in 65 % of cases. A total of 36 patients underwent total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectmy. In four cases pelvic lymphadenectomy was also performed. 75% (n=30) were in FIGO stage I. Eleven patients underwent external pelvic radiotherapy and chemotherapy was administrated in three cases. At the time of study, mean follow up was 30.9 months (range: 0 to 120 months). The 5-year global survival and free survival were 17.5% and 15%, respectively. In multivariate analysis tumor stage was found to be the strongest prognostic factor. Mean survival was 71 months in FIGO stage I, 13.4 months in FIGO stage II, 10 months in FIGO stage III and 4,8 months in FIGO stage IV(p<0,001). Uterine sarcomas are rare. Leiomyosarcoma is the most common histological type. Pathological diagnosis is usually achieved after radical surgery. Prognosis is poor and is correlated with tumor stage.

Introduction: In approximately half of patients with breast cancer and lymph node metastases, the sentinel node (SN) is the only involved axillary node. Scoring systems have been developed to predict probability of non-SN metastases among those with a positive SN. The goal of the present study was to determine whether the five models (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), Stanford, Tenon, Cambridge and the Turkish model) accurately predicted non-SN involvement in a North African Tunisian population., Methods: During a five years period, we identified 87 cases of invasive breast cancer which had a positive SN biopsy and complete axillary lymph node dissection (CALND). The MSKCC, Stanford, Tenon, Cambridge and Turkish models were tested. Results were compared using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics for each model. False negative and false positive rates were also calculated., Results: The AUC of the MSKCC, Stanford, Tenon, Cambridge and Turkish models was respectively 0.73 (95% CI 0.6-0.86), 0.76 (95% CI 0.65-0.87), 0.75 (95% CI 0.63-0.87), 0.67 (95% CI 0.53-0.82) and 0.75 (95% CI 0.63-0.88). The threshold for a 10% false negative of non-SN involvement was obtained with a cut off value of 10% for MSKCC, 25% for Stanford, a score of 3 for Tenon, 6% for Cambridge and 15% for the Turkish nomogram., Conclusions: Meaningfully applied to our population, although AUC values had overlapping of 95% confidence intervals but combined our data suggest that the Stanford nomogram may be the most accurate. Before prospective trials validate these nomograms, CALND remains the standard for patients who have SN metastases., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a simple and relatively safe technique that emerged as a standard in the management of early breast cancer. Indications are becoming larger and because this particular node provides significant epidemiological, clinical, pathological, educational and prognostic information efforts must be done to identify it even when a a complete axillary clearance is planned., (Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)