No abstract

No abstract

BackgroundPancreatic cancer is among the top 5 most common cancers worldwide, but is particularly devastating due to its insidious nature. Complete surgical resection remains the only potential curative treatment, although only 20 % of patients present with a resectable tumor. Patients may alternatively present with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer or locally advanced pancreatic cancer and can be offered treatment with neoadjuvant intent. The effectiveness of these treatments is unclear and there is a paucity of data to suggest one optimal treatment approach.Case presentationWe describe a 61-year-old female who presented with a two-week history of obstructive jaundice in the context of vague abdominal pain that had been ongoing for years prior to her visit. CT scan of the abdomen confirmed a hypovascular mass in the uncinate process consistent with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma was confirmed with endoscopic ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration cytology. Following multidisciplinary discussion, it was recommended that she undergo treatment with FOLFIRINOX. After a total of 13 cycles, follow up CT revealed that the lesion had decreased in size and she was offered resection as a potentially curative treatment. She underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy. Final pathology report revealed no evidence of residual adenocarcinoma (ypT0 ypN0 (0/23)). The patient remains disease-free 15 months following surgery.ConclusionTo date, there have been very few reports of a complete pathological response following neoadjuvant therapy in borderline resectable or locally advanced pancreatic cancer. This report describes a unique case of a complete pathological remission in a patient with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer following FOLFIRINOX therapy alone and adds to the growing base of evidence meriting the initiation of clinical trials to assess the efficacy of FOLFIRINOX in these subsets of pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: Various factors help minimize pain during the injection of local anesthetic. The majority of current evidence involves nonspecific injection sites. The objective of this review was to provide a comprehensive summary of all existing evidence for methods used to reduce injection pain specifically in the context of periocular procedures. Methods: A literature search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus databases was conducted to identify all relevant experimental and observational studies from 1946 to 2018. Studies were included of patients undergoing periocular surgery under subcutaneous local anesthesia whereby outcomes were reported following a specific intervention intended to help reduce pain. Risk of bias was assessed using recognized tools. A subgroup meta-analysis was performed to indirectly compare pooled intervention-versus-control differences for various pain reduction interventions. Results: Following the review of 2089 search results, 23 articles representing 1135 patients were included. The methods assessed in the studies included choice of anesthetic agent, buffering, warming, dilution, needle type, administration of an inhalational anesthetic, application of topical anesthetics, iontophoresis, skin cooling with ice, tactile distraction with vibration, and decreasing the rate of injection. Conclusions: Methods demonstrating best efficacy included solution modification (buffering, dilution, warming), skin cooling with ice, vibration, transconjunctival topical anesthetic before injection, and decreased rate of injection. Further study is warranted for modification of equipment factors, topical anesthetics, and strategies to reduce pain because of anesthetic infiltration.