Managing Necrotizing Soft-Tissue Infection in Breast Cancer: A Case of Emergency Toilet Mastectomy.

BACKGROUND This case report presents a rare instance of advanced breast cancer presenting with superimposed necrotizing soft-tissue infection (NSTI) and sepsis, uniquely managed with an emergency toilet mastectomy. Toilet mastectomies have become increasingly rare and controversial in modern surgical oncology and are generally limited to palliative indications. This report contributes to the limited literature on NSTI of the breast in the setting of malignancy and highlights the potential utility of toilet mastectomy as a palliative option for carefully selected patients with advanced breast cancer complicated by infection.

Interpectoral nerve blocks may lower postoperative narcotic use after mastectomy.

Background: Pain management following mastectomy is a significant challenge often requiring opioids. Nonopioid pain management utilizing nerve blocks has been shown in other fields to reduce postoperative opioid use and may be effective for postoperative pain in mastectomy patients. The primary purpose of this study was to compare postoperative opioid use, measured in morphine milligram equivalents (MME), between mastectomy patients who underwent interpectoral nerve block (IPNB) and a historical control group.

Savi-Scout Radar Localization: Transitioning From the Traditional Wire Localization to Wireless Technology for Surgical Guidance at Lumpectomies.

Breast-conserving surgery or lumpectomy requires localization of the lesion prior to surgery, which is traditionally accomplished by imaging-guided wire localization. Over the last decade, alternatives to wire localization have emerged. This work reviews the literature on one such wireless technology, SaviScout radar (SSR) system, and shares our experience with using this technology for presurgical tumor localization.

Post-operative Nausea and Analgesia Following Total Mastectomy is Improved After Implementation of an Enhanced Recovery Protocol.

Background: Enhanced Recovery Protocols (ERPs) provide a multimodal approach to perioperative care, with the aims of improving patient outcomes while decreasing perioperative antiemetic and narcotic requirements. With high rates of post-operative nausea or vomiting (PONV) following total mastectomy (TM), we hypothesized that our institutional designed ERP would reduce PONV while improving pain control and decrease opioid use.

Methods: An ERP was implemented at a single institution for patients undergoing TM with or without implant-based reconstruction.

Advantages of day-before lymphoscintigraphy and undiluted methylene blue dye injections for sentinel lymph node biopsies for melanoma.

Background And Objectives: Lymphatic mapping (LM) and blue dye injections are essential to identification of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) for melanoma. LM is performed the day before (DB) or the same day (SD) of surgery, but the optimal timing is unknown. Similarly, methylene blue (MB), used during SLN biopsy (SLNB), is administered diluted (dMB) or undiluted (uMB), but the relative efficacies are unknown.

Thirty-day outcomes underestimate endocrine and exocrine insufficiency after pancreatic resection.

Background: Long-term incidence of endocrine and exocrine insufficiency after pancreatectomy is poorly described. We analyze the long-term risks of pancreatic insufficiency after pancreatectomy.

Methods: Subjects who underwent pancreatectomy from 2002 to 2012 were identified from a prospective database (n = 227).

Mental health care use in relation to depressive symptoms among pregnant women in the USA.

We examined mental health care use in relation to depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) ≥ 10) among a nationally representative sample of pregnant women using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2012. Logistic regression models estimated crude and adjusted odds ratios for mental health care use in the past year in relation to depressive symptoms. While 8.