Plasma HOTAIR might serve as a potential non-invasive biomarker for diagnosis of gastric cancer.

Round block technique (RBT) is an oncoplastic technique used in periareolar lesions, particularly in breasts with moderate ptosis or hypertrophy. However, it has some drawbacks including the possibility of late‐onset scar widening, change in areolar shape, and asymmetry of the breasts. Moreover, it is hard to be performed with tumors located in periphery of breast. Modified round block technique (MRBT) is a new technique described to overcome these problems. A circumferential periareolar incision was made around the areola followed by subcutaneous dissection to the entire breast. Wide local excision (WLE) could then easily be performed with a good field of view, the breast tumor was excised with an acceptable macroscopic safety margin, and specimens were marked with orienting sutures for intraoperative frozen section. Remodeling of the breast was done, a close suction drain was placed, and the wound was narrowed with a nonabsorbable purse‐string suture and attached to the NAC with continuous subcuticular absorbable suture. This study was conducted on 144 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The median size of the tumor was 2 cm, the majority of the patients (66.7%) had moderate breast size (cup B) and the median distance of the tumor from NAC was 7 cm. Patients' satisfaction was assessed according to Harvard scale and good to excellent results were found in 88.8% of the patients. There were no postoperative changes in areolar shape or position. Complications in the form of hematoma, wound dehiscence, and infection were encountered in 25% of the patients. Modified round block technique is an oncoplastic technique that permits excision of peripherally located breast cancer without excision of periareolar skin and it is suitable for all quadrant tumors. It also avoids the scar which occurs after ordinary breast‐conserving surgery.

Background: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) has become the gold standard for all cases with no axillary nodal metastasis. The combined radioisotope and blue dye technique is adopted in most centers. The lack of the technology for radioisotope in our institution encouraged us to study the feasibility of methylene blue (MB) for SLN detection in breast cancer patients admitted to Alexandria Surgical Oncology Unit. Methods: A total of 144 cases were subjected to SLN detection by injecting 2 ml of MB 1%. This was followed by standard axillary lymph node dissection. The safety and accuracy of MB as a tracer for detection of SLN were studied. Results: The identification rate was 93.15%. The number of SLN identified ranged from 1 to 8 nodes with a mean of 1.75 ± 1.17. The sensitivity of MB dye technique was 96.3%. The false negative rate was 3.7%. The negative predictive value was 97.6% and the accuracy was 98.5%. Conclusions: MB is a safe, reliable, cheap, and accurate alternative tracer for detection of SLN.

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