In this retrospective study, the safety and complication rates of port implantations via the internal jugular vein under ultrasound and fluoroscopy guidance in adult oncology patients were analyzed. Eight hundred seven ports implanted in 799 adult oncology patients at a tertiary Oncology-Anticancer Hospital during a 36-month period from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Data acquisition was obtained until December 31, 2020. All procedures were performed by two specialized interventional radiologists under ultrasound and fluoroscopy guidance. The vein access was via the internal jugular vein. Catheter days (the total number of days of maintenance of the port by all of the patients until removal, death, or December 31, 2020), technical success rates, and complication rates were evaluated based on the interventional radiological reports and patient medical records. Multivariate analysis regarding patients such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), marital status, educational level, cancer type, side of insertion, diameter of internal jugular vein, diabetes, anticoagulants/antiplatelets, purpose of implantation, and catheter material as to the risk of complications was conducted. A total of 369,329 catheter maintenance days were observed (457.7±345.0). The technical success rate was 99.9%, and a total of 85 (10.5%) complications occurred, of which 24 (28.2%) occurred early (30 days) complications. Specifically, 28 (3.5%) were catheter-related thrombosis (CRT), 27 (3.4%) related to infection, 17 (2.1%) were mechanical complications (16 fibrin sheath formation and one catheter occlusion), six (0.7%) related to catheter migration, four (0.5%) related to incision healing problems, and the remaining three (0.4%) related to ischemic skin necrosis. Forty-seven (5.8%) ports were removed due to complications. On multivariate analysis, cancer type was found as a risk factor for the development of a complication. Additionally, there was an indication that hematologic malignancy is related to infection. Placement of ports via the internal jugular vein under ultrasound and fluoroscopy guidance is a safe procedure, with low rates of early and late complications.

Ectopic thyroid gland is rarely seen in the submandibular region, thereby posing difficult diagnostic and management problems. Two Caucasian women presented with painful swelling in the submandibular region, which increased in size considerably during the preceding months. Ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy (Ug-FNB) revealed ectopic thyroid tissue. In conclusion, ectopic thyroid gland with or without pathology should be included in the differential diagnosis of submandibular swelling and Ug-FNB should be one of the first diagnostic tools utilized for this rare clinical entity. (J Oral Sci 53, 249-252, 2011)

Background/Objectives: Structural incomplete response (SIR) (persistence/recurrence) may occur in 2–6% of low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC)-cases and in 67–75% of high risk. Regarding locoregional disease, surgery is the optimal therapeutic modality if the smallest dimension of the targeted node is ≥8 mm or ≥10 mm (central or lateral compartment). In the presence of smaller nodes, contraindications or the patient’s unwillingness for reoperation, active surveillance (AS) or minimally invasive treatments (MITs) may be considered. Methods: We retrospectively studied eight DTC patients with SIR confirmed by ultrasound (U/S)-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and the measurement of Thyroglobulin (Tg) in the washout fluid. Fourteen malignant lesions were ablated by radiofrequency (RF). We assessed prior to RF ablation (RFA) and consecutively at one month, three months and, then, every three months the volume of each lesion, serum Tg and Anti-Tg antibodies and calculated the volume reduction ratio (VRR). Results: Patients were followed for a mean period of 13.25 months (range: 4–24) after RFA was performed. The targeted lesions reduced significantly from a median volume of 0.24 mL (range: 0.09–0.9) to 0.02 mL (range: 0–0.03) (p < 0.05), with a median VRR of 94.5% (range: 78–100%) and concomitant significant biochemical remission (decrease in serum Tg from a median of 1.05 ng/mL to 0.2 ng/mL, p < 0.05). In one patient with an aggressive radioiodine (RAI)-refractory histological variant, re-recurrence was documented, which was successfully re-ablated by RF. In two patients, Horner syndrome was diagnosed as an RFA complication, which was totally resolved within six months. Conclusions: RFA may be considered as an effective and safe MIT in selective DTC patients with SIR, especially in cases of smaller lesions. Additional prospective studies are needed, including aggressive DTC histological variants towards a tailored therapeutic approach.

Background/Objectives: Structural incomplete response (SIR) (persistence/recurrence) may occur in 2-6% of low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC)-cases and in 67-75% of high-risk. Regarding locoregional disease, surgery is the optimal therapeutic modality if, the smallest dimension of the targeted node is ≥8mm or ≥10mm (central or lateral compartment). In the presence of smaller nodes, contraindications or, patient’s unwillingness for reoperation, active surveillance (AS) or minimally invasive treatments (MIT), may be considered. Methods: We retrospectively studied eight DTC patients with SIR confirmed by ultrasound (U/S)-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and measurement of Thyroglobulin (Tg) in the washout fluid. 14 malignant lesions were ablated by radiofrequency (RF). We assessed prior to RF ablation (RFA) and consecutively at one month, three months and then every three months the volume of each lesion, serum Tg and AntiTg antibodies and calculated the volume reduction ratio (VRR). Results: Patients were followed for a mean period of 13.25 months (range: 4-24) after RFA was performed. The targeted lesions reduced significantly from a median volume of 0.24 mL (range: 0.09-0.9) to 0.02 mL (range: 0-0.03) (p<0.05), with a median VRR of 94.5% (range: 78-100%) and concomitant significant biochemical remission (decrease of serum Tg from a median of 1.05 ng/mL to 0.2 ng/mL, p<0.05). In one patient with an aggressive RAI-refractory histological variant re-recurrence was documented which was successfully re-ablated by RF. In two patients Horner syndrome was diagnosed as an RFA complication which was totally resolved within six months. Conclusions: RFA may be considered as an effective and safe MIT in selective DTC patients with SIR, especially in cases of smaller lesions. Additional prospective studies are needed including aggressive DTC histological variants towards a tailored therapeutic approach.