Author: Ana Maria Oproiu

Melanoma: A Historical Walk-through from Palliative Treatment to Modern-day Practice

Melanoma is one of the most common types of malignancy in the world, and one known to carry a very poor prognosis until recent years. This review aims to outline the events in the history of the disease and the impact made by the discoveries along the way, as well as the modern-day consensus by referencing the updated literature regarding the present approach and future directions. In the last two decades, several studies and research have brought significant improvement in the diagnosis and clinical management of melanomas. The development of sentinel lymph node biopsy has brought major changes to the surgical approach to the disease, and modern therapies based on recently developed knowledge changed the death sentence this diagnosis once meant to a manageable condition despite its aggressiveness, keeping in mind that early diagnosis and safe margin excision remain the best and most optimistic course of treatment.

Basosquamous carcinoma: an overview of actual protocol and the importance of basal and squamoid components

Due to its scarcity, the basosquamous carcinoma represents a challenging pathology both as a result of its aggressiveness and potential of relapse and metastases, and also due to unclear management guides. Encountered under the name of basal cell carcinoma or metatypical carcinoma, the pathophysiology of such tumors is still unclear and it is not known yet if it either derives from a basal cell carcinoma or it could be a variant of transition to a squamous cell carcinoma. Due to low incidence, unclear treatment protocols and not enough research regarding squamous component in the aggressivity of basosquamous carcinoma, the aim of this paper is to analyze histopathological features of 5 cases of basosquamous carcinoma from Plastic Surgery Department of Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest, and correlate them with current literature.

Anatomic-surgical study on the interparietoperitoneal space from a laparo-endoscopic perspective

The interparietoperitoneal (IPP) space, by a broad definition, is the space between the musculo-fascial walls of the abdomen and the parietal peritoneum. A review of the literature on this subject has been performed through a search in the databases according to the following

Facial skin cancer: our surgical experience

Skin cancer represents an important part of the reconstruction is the most frequently used procedure. The main objective of this paper is to report and evaluate our experience in the treatment of facial nonmelanoma skin cancer. Method. The study is based on 303 patients who were diagnosed with facial malignant tumors, between 2004 and 2015, in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic, Emergency University Hospital Bucharest Romania. We statistically analyzed the distribution by age, gender, facial location, the time from onset until the presentation, the type of tumor, the size of the tumor, the margin status, and the recurrence. Results were as follows: median age at 70 years, with an even gender distribution. The most affected areas were the cheek, followed by the nose, forehead, and eyelids. We calculated the dimensions of the tumors between 1.57 mm2 and 1,846 mm2, with a median value at 235 mm2, and a mean value at 421.23 mm2. Patients in whom safe margins were not obtained had a 4.15 times higher relapse rate versus the ones with safe margins at the first intervention, with a high statistical significance p=0.002 (15% recurrence rate if safe margins were not obtained, versus 4.1% if margins were safe). Conclusion. When discussing tumor excisions, one of the most controversial topics is that of safety edges. Currently, even if there are recommendations, a unified protocol is not formulated, which is why we found it useful to research this topic with extensive medical associations.