Cytoreductive surgery combined with HIPEC is a feasible technique that might increase patient survival. It represents a potential cure for selected patients who have no other alternatives.

Spontaneous regression of malignant tumors is a rare event. It is defined as partial or total disappearance of a proven malignant tumor without adequate medical treatment. The causes of this phenomenon are various. Nevertheless, malignant tumors do regress occasionally for no apparent reason, as evidenced by many clinical observations. We report a case of a 68-year-old woman, who was presented with a several-month history of a painless firm lump, initially of 1 cm in diameter and growing to a large solid regular tumor of 2.5 × 2.5 cm in size, in the upper outer quadrant of her right breast. Preoperative histopathological diagnosis revealed ductal invasive carcinoma. Later on, while awaiting surgical treatment, she suffered an arm injury requiring a 1-month delay of surgery. After recovery, on the date of surgery the tumor disappeared, and, in addition, it was not found in tissue specimens obtained from quadrantectomy. After 78 months of follow-up there was no evidence of relapse. In this report, we discuss clinical and histopathological findings, patient management and possible mechanisms of cancer regression.

Vulvar cancer (VC) is a specific form of malignancy accounting for 5–6% of all gynaecologic malignancies. Although VC occurs most commonly in women after 60 years of age, disease incidence has risen progressively in premenopausal women in recent decades. VC demonstrates particular features requiring well-adapted therapeutic approaches to avoid potential treatment-related complications. Significant improvements in disease-free survival and overall survival rates for patients diagnosed with post-stage I disease have been achieved by implementing a combination therapy consisting of radical surgical resection, systemic chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Achieving local control remains challenging. However, mostly due to specific anatomical conditions, the need for comprehensive surgical reconstruction and frequent post-operative healing complications. Novel therapeutic tools better adapted to VC particularities are essential for improving individual outcomes. To this end, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment is a promising option for VC, and is particularly appropriate for the local treatment of dysplastic lesions, early intraepithelial cancer, and invasive tumours. In addition, CAP also helps reduce inflammatory complications and improve wound healing. The application of CAP may realise either directly or indirectly utilising nanoparticle technologies. CAP has demonstrated remarkable treatment benefits for several malignant conditions, and has created new medical fields, such as “plasma medicine” and “plasma oncology”. This article highlights the benefits of CAP for the treatment of VC, VC pre-stages, and postsurgical wound complications. There has not yet been a published report of CAP on vulvar cancer cells, and so this review summarises the progress made in gynaecological oncology and in other cancers, and promotes an important, understudied area for future research. The paradigm shift from reactive to predictive, preventive and personalised medical approaches in overall VC management is also considered.

Studies on the association between the Ile to Val polymorphism at codon 655 of the human epithelial growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) gene and susceptibility to breast cancer have been reported for almost all ethnic populations, with both positive or negative conclusions. No study, however, has yet been focused on the possible association between this gene and its predisposition to benign breast lesions, especially on risk for fibroadenoma. We aimed to study the association of the single nucleotide polymorphism V655 HER-2 gene polymorphism with histologically verified breast fibroadenoma risk. We conducted a molecular epidemiological case-control study of 70 breast fibroadenoma cases without cellular atypia and 172 healthy female controls. We found that the Val variant allele and genotype frequency of this polymorphism is higher in cases with fibroadenoma; however, this difference was not significant (allele Val 655: 27.86 and 22.67% in fibroadenoma and controls, respectively; genotype Ile/Val: 35.71 and 38.37% and Val/Val: 10.0 and 3.49% in fibroadenoma and controls, respectively). Applying logistic regression analysis, we found an increased risk of fibroadenoma formation in carriers of the Val allele (odds ratio = 1.17; 95% confidence interval = 0.67-2.05), in which the highest risk was associated with homozygous genotype (odds ratio = 3.07; 95% confidence interval = 0.97-9.72), but this risk was not significant. Stratification by age (cut-off 45 years) revealed the highest risk of fibroadenoma among young women homozygous for the Val allele (odds ratio = 3.30). The risk, however, was slightly increased (odds ratio = 1.24) among older carriers of the aberrant allele in their genotype as well, but it was not significant. In spite of insignificant differences, our results indicate that HER-2 Ile655Val polymorphism, especially in a homozygous form might play some role in the etiology of breast fibroadenoma formation. The significance of this susceptibility, however, will have to be verified by larger studies.

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