Erica Patocskai

• Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)

The management and survival outcomes of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) in Canada are currently unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the management and outcomes of patients diagnosed with MCC in Canada from 2000 to 2018. This retrospective cohort study evaluates management and temporal survival differences among patient...

The Canadian Undergraduate Surgical Education Committee (CUSEC) undertook a project to address variance in undergraduate surgical learning objectives among Canada’s medical schools. Its aim was to compile a reasonable set of national undergraduate surgical learning objectives (NUSLOs) for all medical undergraduates and map them to the Medical Counc...

This technical report explores the potential of including silicone bile duct simulators for the purpose of completing a bile duct anastomosis (BDA) in medical conferences. The purpose is to target the need for exposure to more surgical skills and to contribute to the Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists (CanMEDS) requirements, as p...

Prognostic Impact of Adjuvant Trastuzumab for the Treatment of Localized Stage I Breast Cancer – Single Tertiary Center Experience Sasha Sapon-Cousineau, Marie Florescu, Danielle Charpentier, Rami Younan, Erica Patocskai, Saima Hassan, Kerianne Boulva, Jean-Pierre Ayoub Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada The HE...

Importance Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma. Due to its relatively low incidence and limited prospective trials, current recommendations are guided by historical single-institution retrospective studies. Objective To evaluate the overall survival (OS) of patients in Canada with head and neck MCC (HNMC...

Background Progress in remote educational strategies was fueled by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. This pilot RCT explored the efficacy of a decentralized model of simulation based on principles of observational and peer-to-peer learning for the acquisition of surgical skills. Methods Sixty medical students from the University of Montreal lea...

Feedback is an essential component of medical education, especially during clinical rotations. There is growing interest in learner-related factors that can optimize feedback’s efficiency, including goal orientation, reflection, self-assessment, and emotional response. However, no mobile application or curriculum currently exists to specifically ad...

Introduction: Acquisition of technical skills remotely in a decentralized model requires an efficacious way of providing feedback. The primary objective was to test the efficacy of various forms of feedback on the acquisition of surgical skills by medical students. Methods: Forty volunteers were randomized to four experimental groups, differing...

Introduction: General surgery residents need to master the hand-sewn bowel anastomosis (HSBA) technique. However, practice opportunities outside of the operating room are rare, and commercial simulators are often costly. The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of a new, affordable silicone small bowel simulator, made with a three-dim...

Introduction Despite the development of breast-conserving surgery in breast cancer treatment, there still remain indications for total mastectomy. Since mastectomy has a significant negative impact on the patients’ quality of life, breast reconstruction is increasingly popular. However, for patients with large ptotic breasts who do not choose tissu...

Background: Although the role of the 21-gene Breast Recurrence Score® assay is well established to predict response to adjuvant chemotherapy in the setting of node-negative hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancers (BC), fewer studies have evaluated the assay in the neoadjuvant setting. Due to the correlation between a high Recur...

Suturing of different layers, such as deep lacerations, is a challenging clinical skill for residents. Currently, there is a lack of general suturing instructions and practice in undergraduate medicine curricula which would add to the education required during residency and could be impactful to patient safety. Therefore, in order to adequately pre...

Locally advanced breast cancer arising from ectopic axillary breast tissue is an unusual presentation of this malignancy. The work-up and treatment approach pose some unique challenges. We present the case of a 37-year-old female presenting with a left axillary lesion with skin involvement. Radiological studies and biopsy demonstrated an underlying...

Background Progress in remote educational strategies was fueled by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. This pilot RCT explored the efficacy of a decentralized model of simulation based on principles of observational and peer-to-peer learning for the acquisition of surgical skills. Methods Sixty medical students from the University of Montreal lear...

Background The 21-gene Breast Recurrence Score (RS) assay, “the assay”, has led to a paradigm shift for patients with hormone receptor-positive, node-negative early breast cancer and is emerging as an important tool to assist physician-patient decisions in foregoing chemotherapy in node-positive patients. We wanted to better understand the impact o...

Hand-sewn bowel anastomosis (HSBA) is an essential skill for surgical residents to learn, as it is used in numerous surgical procedures. However, the opportunities to practice this skill before attempting it on patients are limited. Practice on simulators can help improve this technique, but there is a paucity of realistic, cost-efficient simulator...

Background Oncoplastic breast surgery (OBS) is becoming an acceptable procedure for the surgical treatment of breast cancer; however, its safety and recurrence rate still need further clarification. This study evaluates the rate of local recurrence and its predictive factors after OBS in a large series of patients. Materials and methods This stud...

Introduction Targeted axillary dissection (TAD) is a novel technique in the field of surgical oncology. During TAD, patients with node-positive breast cancer who clinically responded to neoadjuvant chemotherapy undergo resection of a previously proven metastatic node together with sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND). We aimed to assess the succes...

Background: Locoregional lymph node involvement has historically been used as the most important deciding factor for the administration of chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting of breast cancer patients. The 21-gene Breast Recurrence Score® assay (the assay) is emerging as an important tool to assist with chemotherapy decisions amongst hormone recep...

Background Traditionally, medical students have learned surgical skills by observing a resident physician or surgeon who is performing the technique. Due to inconsistent practice opportunities in the clinical setting, a disparity of skill levels among students has been observed. In addition, the poor availability of faculty professors is a limiting...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented and potentially stressful event that inserted itself into the 2019–2020 Canadian medical curriculum. However, its impact on stress and subsequent professional pathways is not well understood. This study aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental well-being, training, a...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented and potentially stressful event that inserted itself into the 2019-2020 Canadian medical curriculum. However, its impact on stress and subsequent professional pathways is not well understood. This study aims to assess the impact the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental well-being, training, and...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented and potentially stressful event that inserted itself into the 2019-2020 Canadian medical curriculum. However, its impact on stress and subsequent professional pathways is not well understood. This study aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental well-being, training,...

BACKGROUND Traditionally, medical students learn surgical skills through the observation of a resident or a surgeon performing the technique. Due to inconsistent practice opportunities in the clinical setting, a disparity of skill levels among students has been observed. In addition, the poor availability of faculty professors is a limiting factor...

Background and Objectives Breast-conserving surgery, especially with Oncoplastic Breast Surgery (OBS), is becoming the standard of care in the surgical management of breast cancer. In the present study, we investigate the applied technique of OBS and oncologic outcomes in a large series of patients. Methods This study was conducted between January...

Background: Intimidation constitutes a learning barrier for undergraduates and its reporting rate to authorities remains suboptimal. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of three interventions designed to increase reporting by undergraduates during their surgical rotation. As adjuncts to a standardiz...

Background: There are several therapeutic options available for breast cancer treatment, now incorporating innovative targeted molecular therapies. Metastatic breast cancer is usually treated with chemotherapy and/or hormonotherapy. Surgery has not been shown to improve survival. Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) has been proven to be effective in the tre...

The localization of nonpalpable axillary metastatic lymph nodes has been achieved using several techniques in the past. Amongst these techniques, the use of radioactive iodine seeds is increasingly spread, and was initially reserved to breast-conserving surgery. Many studies have assessed the use of radioactive seed localization for the surgical ma...

Background: Locoregional recurrence of breast cancer has significantly decreased over the last decades, particularly due to effective systemic therapy. While there is little controversy regarding local management of locoregional recurrences, in light of previous systemic treatment, additional chemotherapy regimens and their benefit to the patient a...

We present a case of a 64-year-old man who presented with a rapidly growing tumor in the left buttock and intergluteal cleft area, which was affected by hidradenitis suppurativa. The patient was on tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors for hidradenitis suppurativa for 2 years prior to the development of the mass. Initial biopsy of the mass showed...

Background: Fibroadenoma is a common benign breast disorder in young women which has a low risk of malignant transformation. Most fibroadenomas present as a single mass, but the presence of multiple fibroadenomas can be seen in 15–20% of patients, with average number of 3–4 masses in one breast. In different studies and reports, various treatment m...

Targeted axillary dissection (TAD) with a radioactive seed is a new and promising technique to evaluate the axillary status in post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) node-positive breast cancer patients. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of TAD with a radioactive seed in a Canadian setting. We conducted a retrospective observational study o...

Purpose: Radioactive seed localization (RSL) uses a titanium seed labeled with iodine-125 energy for surgery of nonpalpable breast lesions. RSL facilitates radiology-surgery scheduling and allows for improved oncoplasty compared with wire localization (WL). The purpose of this work was to compare the 2 techniques. Methods: We performed a retrosp...

A 43-year-old premenopausal female presented with a multicentric infiltrating lobular carcinoma of the left breast with axillary nodes metastasis. She underwent modified radical mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection (level I and II) followed by a mixed autologous latissimus dorsi flap reconstruction with the addition of prosthesis. The fin...

Introduction: In the management of breast cancer radiation therapy plays a substantive role in decreasing local recurrence and increasing overall survival. Still, there exists controversy concerning compromised radiation delivery plans and suboptimal delivery after immediate autologous breast reconstruction. Our study aims to assess the oncologic...

Background: Indications for breast magnetic resonance imaging (mri), a very sensitive but less-specific tool for breast investigation, remain controversial, and accessibility is limited. The purposes of our study were to determine the proportion of breast mri exams performed for various clinical indications, to assess the wait times for breast mri...

Adjuvant systemic treatments reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence following the local treatment of primary stage I-III breast cancers. For patients with hormone-positive breast cancers receiving hormonal therapy, the risk of distant recurrence is under 20% and therefore, many patients may potentially be spared of chemotherapy. Consequently,...

Fear of high local recurrence rate associated with immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) following total mastectomy for breast cancer might be a contributing factor to the low rate of immediate reconstruction performed in Quebec. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the oncological safety of total mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction...

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the cardiac safety and clinical activity of trastuzumab and bevacizumab with docetaxel after epirubicin with cyclophosphamide (EC) in patients with HER2-positive locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) or pathologic stage 3 breast cancer (PS3BC). Patients and methods: Patients received every 3...

An increasing proportion of patients (> 30%) with node-positive breast cancer will obtain an axillary pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). If sentinel node (SN) biopsy (SNB) is accurate in this setting, completion node dissection (CND) morbidity could be avoided. In the prospective multicentric SN FNAC study, patients...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of BRCA mutations among early-onset and familial French-Canadian breast cancer patients in a single institution. METHODS: Study subjects were French-Canadian women with DCIS or invasive breast cancer (incident or prevalent) who were treated and followed at a single breast cancer clinic affiliated with the Resea...

Purpose: The aim of this study is to describe the clinical and radiological presentation of chronic granulomatous mastitis. Material and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and radiological data of 11 women with histologically proven chronic granulomatous mastitis (CGM) diagnosed between March 2008 and September 2011. Results: Th...

Standard of care is to perform a complete lymph node dissection (CLND) in melanoma patients with positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). However, less than 20% will have metastases in non-SLNs. The S classification was described to predict the non-SLN status, hoping to identify a subset of patients who can be spared the CLND. We tried to validate the...

Background: In an ethnically-homogeneous population, it is valuable to identify founder mutations in cancer-predisposing genes. Founder mutations have been found in four breast cancer predisposing genes in French-Canadian breast cancer families. The frequencies of the mutant alleles have not been measured in a large series of unselected breast canc...

580 Background: A previous phase II study evaluating the combination of trastuzumab (tras) and bevacizumab (bev) as first-line therapy in HER2 + MBC showed a response rate of 54%. The purpose of this trial is to determine the cardiac safety profile of these agents with docetaxel (T) following epirubicin plus cyclophosphamide (EC) in women with LABC...