The prevalence of anaemia in patients undergoing long-course neoadjuvant radiotherapy was 35%. Anaemia during long-course neoadjuvant radiotherapy was associated with significant reductions in tumour downstaging and regression.

No abstract

Hypoplastic left heart (HLH) occurs in at least 1 in 10 000 live births but may be more common in utero. Its causes are poorly understood but a number of affected cases are associated with chromosomal abnormalities. We set out to localize the breakpoints in a patient with sporadic HLH and a de novo translocation. Initial studies showed that the apparently simple 1q41;3q27.1 translocation was actually combined with a 4-Mb inversion, also de novo, of material within 1q41. We therefore localized all four breakpoints and found that no known transcription units were disrupted. However we present a case, based on functional considerations, synteny and position of highly conserved non-coding sequence elements, and the heterozygous Prox1 þ /À mouse phenotype (ventricular hypoplasia), for the involvement of dysregulation of the PROX1 gene in the aetiology of HLH in this case. Accordingly, we show that the spatial expression pattern of PROX1 in the developing human heart is consistent with a role in cardiac development. We suggest that dysregulation of PROX1 gene expression due to separation from its conserved upstream elements is likely to have caused the heart defects observed in this patient, and that PROX1 should be considered as a potential candidate gene for other cases of HLH. The relevance of another breakpoint separating the cardiac gene ESRRG from a conserved downstream element is also discussed.

With an ever increasing demand for operative procedures within the NHS but little increase in capacity, waiting lists are lengthening, particularly for benign procedures. We sought to determine whether increasing time on a waiting list influences the outcome from a transurethral resection of prostate (TURP), with a primary outcome measure of success at inpatient trial without catheter (TWOC) and pre-operative, peri-operative and post-operative secondary outcome measures. Data was collected from four separate retrospective TURP audits performed between 2009-2015. A total of 379 TURP procedures were included with the time on the waiting list ranging from 8 to 384 days. In patients who were not catheterised pre-operatively success at in patient TWOC by 30 day intervals (in 30 day intervals from 1-30 days to over 151 days) was 79%, 83%, 88%, 87%, 100% and 83%; in those with a catheter, success was 46%, 71%, 75%, 100%, 50% and 86%. In conclusion waiting longer for a TURP does not adversely affect the outcome of inpatient TWOC. Level of evidence: Not applicable-this is a single centre audit over multiple time points.