IntroductionSynovial sarcoma is a high-grade, soft-tissue sarcoma that most frequently is located in the vicinity of joints, tendons or bursae, although it can also be found in extra-articular locations. Most patients with synovial sarcoma of the hand are young and have a poor prognosis, as these tumors are locally aggressive and are associated with a relatively high metastasis rate. According to the literature, local recurrence and/or metastatic disease is found in nearly 80% of patients. Current therapy comprises surgery, systemic and limb perfusion chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. However, the 5-year survival rate is estimated to be only around 27% to 55%. Moreover, most authors agree that synovial sarcoma is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed malignancies of soft tissues because of their slow growing pattern, benign radiographic appearance, ability to change size, and the fact that they may elicit pain similar to that caused by common trauma.Case presentationWe describe an unusual case of a large synovial sarcoma of the hand in a 63-year-old Caucasian woman followed for 12 years by a multidisciplinary team. In addition, a literature review of the most pertinent aspects of the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of these patients is presented.ConclusionAwareness of this rare tumor by anyone dealing with hand pathology can hasten diagnosis, and this, in turn, can potentially increase survival. Therefore, a high index of suspicion for this disease should be kept in mind, particularly when evaluating young people, as they are the most commonly affected group.

Introduction: Innovations in 3D spatial technology and augmented reality imaging driven by digital high-tech industrial science have accelerated experimental advances in breast cancer imaging and the development of medical procedures aimed to reduce invasiveness. Presentation of case: A 57-year-old post-menopausal woman presented with screen-detected left-sided breast cancer. After undergoing all staging and pre-operative studies the patient was proposed for conservative breast surgery with tumor localization. During surgery, an experimental digital and non-invasive intra-operative localization method with augmented reality was compared with the standard pre-operative localization with carbon tattooing (institutional protocol). The breast surgeon wearing an augmented reality headset (Hololens) was able to visualize the tumor location projection inside the patient’s left breast in the usual supine position. Discussion: This work describes, to our knowledge, the first experimental test with a digital non-invasive method for intra-operative breast cancer localization using augmented reality to guide breast conservative surgery. In this case, a successful overlap of the previous standard pre-operative marks with carbon tattooing and tumor visualization inside the patient’s breast with augmented reality was obtained. Conclusion: Breast cancer conservative guided surgery with augmented reality can pave the way for a digital non-invasive method for intra-operative tumor localization.

a b s t r a c tThe deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) is the most commonly used free flap in mastectomy reconstruction.Preoperative imaging techniques are routinely used to detect location, diameter and course of perforators, with direct intervention from the imaging team, who subsequently draw a chart that will help surgeons choosing the best vascular support for the reconstruction.In this work, the feasibility of using a computer software to support the preoperative planning of 40 patients proposed for breast reconstruction with a DIEP flap is evaluated for the first time. Blood vessel centreline extraction and local characterization algorithms are applied to identify perforators and compared with the manual mapping, aiming to reduce the time spent by the imaging team, as well as the inherent subjectivity to the task.Comparing with the measures taken during surgery, the software calibre estimates were worse for vessels smaller than 1.5 mm (P ¼ 6e-4) but better for the remaining ones (P ¼ 2e-3). Regarding vessel location, the vertical component of the software output was significantly different from the manual measure (P ¼ 0.02), nonetheless that was irrelevant during surgery as errors in the order of 2e3 mm do not have impact in the dissection step.Our trials support that a reduction of the time spent is achievable using the automatic tool (about 2 h/ case).The introduction of artificial intelligence in clinical practice intends to simplify the work of health professionals and to provide better outcomes to patients. This pilot study paves the way for a success story.

The deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEAP) flap is the most common free flap used for breast reconstruction after a mastectomy. It makes use of the skin and fat of the lower abdomen to build a new breast mound either at the same time of the mastectomy or in a second surgery. This operation subcutaneous region of each perforator was extracted, by means of a tracking procedure, whereas the intramuscular portion was detected through a minimum cost approach. Both were subsequently compared with the radiologist manual annotation.Results showed that the semi-automatic procedure was able to correctly detect the course of the DIEAPs with a minimum error (average error of 0.64 mm and 0.50 mm regarding the extraction of subcutaneous and intramuscular paths, respectively). The objective methodology is a promising tool in the automatic detection of perforators in CTA and can contribute to spare human resources and reduce subjectivity in the aforementioned task.

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Axillary staging in patients with complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is still controversial. Our objective was to test tattoo alone and subsequentially tattoo plus clip as markers in the targeted axillary dissection of ycN0 patients. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Prospective cohort of cT1-T3, cN1 (proven histologically), M0 patients scheduled to receive NAC. Exclusion criteria were lobular histology, prior axillary surgery, and clinical N2/3. In cohort 1 this positive node (Neotarget node) was tattooed at diagnosis. If ycN0, a targeted axillary dissection was performed. After an interim analysis with negative results we changed the protocol in order to do a double marking procedure (Cohort 2): the positive node was clipped at diagnosis and after NAC a tattoo was done before surgery. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Thirteen patients in Cohort 1 and 18 patients in Cohort 2. Failure to identify the Neotarget node with multiple nodes retrieved in 9/13 (69%) of Cohort 1 patients. Also in 5/13 (38%) of Cohort 1 patients and 3/18 (17%) of Cohort 2 there was a failure to clearly identify tattooed nodes. In Cohort 2, clip identification by surgical specimen radiography allowed the identification of the tagged node in 17/18 (94,4%) of cases. The concordance between the clipped node and sentinel nodes was 16/18 (89%). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The introduction of double marking by clipping the metastatic node and verifying their removal by surgical specimen radiography, using carbon ink as a tracer, allowed the identification of the metastatic node in 94% of cases, with a simple, reproducible, and easy-to-implement targeted axillary dissection procedure.

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), Overlap Syndrome (OS) and Toxic Epidermal Necrosis (TEN) are rare medical emergencies associated with a high morbidity and mortality. The literature on the characteristics of these diseases in Portugal is scarce. A retrospective study was conducted based on the clinical notes of the 20 patients admitted to São José Burn Unit in the previous 15 years with the diagnosis of SJS, OS or TEN. Most patients had TEN (65%), followed by OS (25%) and SJS (10%). Average age was 57,1 ± 19,0 years. The mean duration of stay in the Burn Unit was 12,6 ± 7,8 days. Mortality was 50%, being significantly higher than the 16,4% overall mortality in the general Burn Unit population in the same period (p < 0,01). The mean surface area involved was 43,9 ± 28,6 %. Allopurinol was the causal agent most frequently implicated (35%) followed by UV light exposure (15%). Fourteen patients (70%) were treated with steroids in the first days, whereas six patients were treated conservatively (30%). Mortality was inferior in the patients treated with steroids (42,8 vs. 66,7%), even though this difference did not reach statistical significance. Infection rates were not significantly different between the two groups. SCORTEN score proved to be a good predictor of mortality. Further studies are needed to reduce mortality in these diseases.

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Introduction: Augmented Reality (AR) has demonstrated a potentially wide range of benefits and educational applications in the virtual health ecosystem. The concept of real-time data acquisition, machine learning aided processing, and visualization, is a foreseen ambition to leverage AR applications in the healthcare sector. This breakthrough with immersive technologies like AR, mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), or extended reality (XR) will hopefully initiate a new surgical era: that of the use of the so-called surgical metaverse. Main text: This paper focuses on the future use of AR in breast surgery education describing two potential applications (surgical remote telementoring and impalpable breast cancer localization using AR), along with the technical needs to make it possible. Conclusion: Surgical telementoring and impalpable tumors non-invasive localization are two examples that can have success in the future provided the improvements in both data transformation and infrastructures are capable to overcome the current challenges and limitations.