Introduction: Pregnancy-associated cancers are malignant neoplasms (MNs) diagnosed during pregnancy or within 12 months after delivery. The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of pregnancy-associated cancers at the population level.

Materials and methods: The population database was created from databases of two regional systems: the automated system Pregnancy Monitoring Program and the ONCOR system.

Results: Overall, 357 female patients with pregnancy-associated cancers were identified. The incidence rate was 1.659 per 1,000 pregnancies. The most common MN localizations were cervix, breast, thyroid, and ovary. Most female patients were between 45 and 49 years of age. Stage IV breast cancer was identified in a large proportion of women undergoing delivery. Conversely, cervical and ovarian cancers were commonly diagnosed at early stages. The 1-year survival rate of patients with pregnancy-associated cancers was higher than in the entire cancer population.

Conclusions: Pregnancy-associated cancers are still a complex and poorly understood issue that requires additional studies, disease-specific monitoring and treatment protocols.

Often, neoadjuvant treatment in patients with locally advanced breast cancer leads to complete clinical and pathomorphological regression of not only the primary tumor, but metastatic lymph nodes also. Currently, discussions are ongoing regarding the optimal volume of surgical intervention on regional lymph nodes in this category of patients. As a de-escalation of classical lymphadenectomy, a method of targeted axillary dissection (TAD) is used, which presumes a biopsy of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) with the removal of a previously marked metastatic lymph node. Our study is aimed at choosing the most optimal method for labeling a metastatic lymph node. The study included 63 patients diagnosed with stage T1–3N1M0 breast cancer, all divided into two comparison groups: 29 patients had a radiopaque label placed in the metastatic lymph node before neoadjuvant therapy, and 33 patients had a radioisotope label (with I125).

After the neoadjuvant treatment completion, all patients with complete clinical response in the lymph nodes underwent targeted axillary lymphadenectomy. We evaluated the time of the surgical intervention, the length of the skin incision, the presence of complications when using one or another type of marking. Based on the results of statistical analysis, we propose a variant with a radioisotope label for implementation into the clinical practice. This method, in our opinion, presented the best qualities, reliability and convenience for the surgeon, comfort for the patient.

Radical cystectomy is the gold standard treatment for aggressive bladder cancer. Pelvic lymphadenectomy is an important step. This procedure is crucial for the cancer staging, determination of further treatment strategy, and optimization of surgical outcomes. Currently, the sentinel lymph node concept is being actively developed, which allows to reduce the required extent of pelvic lymph node dissection. Decrease in number of removed pelvic lymph node improves surgical safety of the patient. Indocyanine green near-infrared fluorescence is the main approach to the intraoperative visualization of sentinel lymph nodes. The prospects of this diagnostic technique application in radical cystectomy performed for bladder cancer determine the vector of future scientific research in this area.

Immune-related adverse events (irAE) present a unique challenge in modern oncology. In patient treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (anti-PD-1, anti-CTLA-4, anti-PD-L1) for solid tumors irAEs rate ranges from 60 to 85 % [1]. irAEs lead to complete treatment discontinuation in approximately 40 % of patients [2]. The most common irAEs are endocrinopathies (up to 10 %), pneumonitis (5 to 10 %), autoimmune hepatitis (up to 20 %), colitis (up to 30 %), and skin toxicity (up to 50 %) [3]. Other forms of adverse events, such as hematologic and cardiovascular toxicities, are very rarely reported. We present a clinical case of two rare adverse events in a patient treated with pembrolizumab for PD-L1‑positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy for early stage non-small-cell lung cancer was, is, and will remain the key subject of discussions between radiation oncologists and surgeons. Despite the positive treatment outcomes reported in some large studies on efficacy of the stereotactic radiotherapy, its use instead of surgery may not always be an unconditional decision. However, stereotactic radiotherapy opens new treatment options in patients who are inoperable or refused surgery. This is possibly due to the high accuracy of modern linear accelerators, which allow to reduce the toxicity of radiotherapy and achieve an almost identical overall survival rate compared to surgery.