Alexandria University

The involvement of cervical lymph nodes in lung cancer occurs frequently. Despite the involvement of this group of lymph nodes reflecting either stage N3 or M1b in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, they do not receive the same amount of attention as mediastinal lymph nodes. Furthermore, these lymph nodes are more accessible for histology samples compared to other group of lymph nodes. Critically, cervical lymph nodes are often missed on CT scans. Neck US and US-guided biopsy of cervical lymph nodes have more established roles in other primary malignancies (e.g. thyroid cancer) and non-malignant diseases. This scoping review explores existing literature on neck US and cervical lymph node biopsy in patients with suspected lung cancer. The role and potentials benefits of neck US and cervical lymph node biopsy in this group of patients is examined. We also explored whether the procedure is being performed routinely by respiratory physicians as part of their lung cancer algorithm.

BackgroundWomen diagnosed with gynecol. cancer often suffer from phys., psychol., and social challenges as well as sexuality-related concerns and hence poor life quality.This study attempted to evaluate the effect of psychoeducational intervention program on quality of life among patients with gynecol. cancers.MethodsA randomized controlled trial design was used where the eligible gynecol. cancer women (n = 100) were allocated randomly into the intervention group receiving a four-session, 8-wk-long psychoeducational program (n = 50) or the control group receiving routine care (n = 50).Allocation concealment was used to avoid selection bias.A structured interview questionnaire was used at baseline assessment to obtain data regarding the socio-demographics as well as clin. traits of studied women.Addnl., data on quality of life at baseline and after implementation of the program were collected using the Arabic version of Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General version 4 (FACT-G).ResultsThe study revealed that gynecol. cancer women receiving psychoeducational intervention program experienced a significantly greater improvement in their total life quality in addition to significant improvements across different domains as measured by FACT-G.ConclusionThe psychoeducational intervention program contributed pos. in improving the life quality among patients with gynecol. cancers.

In lung cancer diagnosis tissue should be adequate for identification of tumour type, and for testing for molecular alterations including multi-target next generation sequencing (NGS) where resources allow. This study aimed to examine the sufficiency of percutaneous ultrasound (US) guided samples obtained via the 2 main sampling methods; fine needle aspiration (FNA) and core biopsy (CB) for different levels of lung cancer testing.

Details of US-guided procedures carried out for lung cancer diagnosis were retrospectively collected. FNA and/or CBs were carried out according to feasibility and on-site cytology was not available. Diagnostic yields for histological diagnosis, limited molecular panel and multi-target NGS panel were calculated for each procedure.

Out of 66 samples, the yield for identifying tissue type was 95.4 % with no difference in yield between FNA and CBs (92.7 % and 93.6 % respectively). 32 samples were sent for multi-target NGS, with a success rate of 71.9 %. This was improved from 66.7 % to 76.5 % when both sampling methods were done as opposed to either method alone.

US-guided biopsies have high yield for tissue diagnosis in lung cancer and reasonable adequacy for extended genomic profiling. The results suggest that carrying out both FNA and CB improves the overall yield. Further prospective studies with standardized protocols are needed to confirm these findings.