Oncology Commons^™

Caring For Aml Patients During The Covid-19 Crisis: An American And Italian Experience., Lindsay Wilde, Md, Alessandro Isidori, Gina Keiffer, Md, Neil D. Palmisiano, Md, Margaret Kasner

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the subsequent pandemic have impacted every aspect of oncology care worldwide. Healthcare systems have been forced to rapidly change practices in order to maximize the safety of patients and healthcare providers and preserve scare resources. Patients with acute myeloid leukemia are at increased risk of complications from SARS-CoV-2 not only due to immune compromise related to the malignancy but also due to the acuity of the disease and intensity of treatment. These issues have created unique challenges during this difficult time. In this article, we present the approaches taken …

Musculoskeletal Tumours Throughout History And Beyond: Clinical Features, Imaging, Staging And Biopsy, Akbar Jaleel Zubairi, Obada Hussein Hasan, Mohammad Mustafa, Masood Umer

Section of Orthopaedic Surgery

Background: Over the last century, there has been a remarkable development in the study of bone and soft tissue sarcomas. This is primarily due to the improved knowledge of the nature of these lesions and the improved imaging technology. In literature there are many protocols that are being used and all of them have reported various advantages and disadvantages of each technique used. However, there is no set guideline and whatever has been proposed has been developed on the basis of the experience of different centres and different surgeons.
Objective: The current systematic review was planned to thoroughly evaluate the …

Cerebellar Mutism Syndrome After Surgical Resection Of Posterior Fossa Neoplastic Lesions, Saqib Kamran Bakhshi, Rida Mitha, Naureen Mushtaq, Muhammad Shahzad Shamim

Section of Neurosurgery

Cerebellar Mutism Syndrome (CMS) is a well-described clinical entity that complicates surgeries for posterior fossa tumours; more so in children than adults. This review focuses on the current understanding of CMS, its incidence and risk factors. Incidence showed a variable range in retrospective studies due to variety of definitions. Risk factors can be classified as either modifiable including surgical technique, or non-modifiable which include tumour related factors. A positive correlation has been associated between tumour pathology, brain stem invasion and size of tumour at time of presentation with development of CMS.

Neoantigen-Specific Cd4(+) T-Cell Response Is Critical For The Therapeutic Efficacy Of Cryo-Thermal Therapy, Peng Peng, Hong-Ming Hu, Ping Liu, Lisa X Xu

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Background: Traditional tumor thermal ablations, such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and cryoablation, can result in good local control of tumor, but traditional tumor thermal ablations are limited by poor long-term survival due to the failure of control of distal metastasis. Our previous studies developed a novel cryo-thermal therapy to treat the B16F10 melanoma mouse model. Long-term survival and T-cell-mediated durable antitumor immunity were achieved after cryo-thermal therapy, but whether tumor antigen-specific T-cells were augmented by cryo-thermal therapy was not determined.

Methods: The long-term antitumor therapeutic efficacy of cryo-thermal therapy was performed in B16F10 murine melanoma models. Splenocytes derived from mice …

Acute Toxicity And Local Response Using Three Fractions Of High Dose Rate (Hdr) Brachytherapy For Curative Treatment Of Carcinoma Cervix, Nasir Ali, Bilal Mazhar Qureshi, Ahmed Nadeem Abbasi, Asim Hafiz, Benazir Mir, Abdul Qadir Jangda

Department of Radiation Oncology

To determine the acute vaginal mucosal toxicity and clinical response of cervical cancer after definitive treatment with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and three fractions each of 8 Fray (Gy) high dose rate intracavitary brachytherapy (HDR-BT).
Study design: Descriptive study.
Place and duration: Radiation Oncology Section, Department of Oncology, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan from January 2008 till December 2015.
Methodology: Protocol was formulated for carcinoma cervix to complete treatment in 7 weeks. Patients were treated with chemotherapy and pelvic EBRT to a total dose of 45 Gy/25 fractions, followed by three intracavitary HDR brachytherapy fractions of 8 Gy …

Follow-Up Care For Breast And Colorectal Cancer Across The Globe: Survey Findings From 27 Countries, Michelle A. Mollica, Deborah K. Mayer, Kevin C. Oeffinger, Youngmee Kim, Susan S. Buckenmaier, Sudha Sivaram, Catherine Muha, Nur Aishah Taib, Elisabeth Andritsch, Asim Jamal

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe follow-up care for breast and colorectal cancer survivors in countries with varying levels of resources and highlight challenges regarding posttreatment survivorship care.

Methods: We surveyed one key stakeholder from each of 27 countries with expertise in survivorship care on questions including the components/structure of follow-up care, delivery of treatment summaries and survivorship care plans, and involvement of primary care in survivorship. Descriptive analyses were performed to characterize results across countries and variations between the WHO income categories (low, middle, high). We also performed a qualitative content analysis of narratives related to …

Challenges For Cancer Care During Covid-19 Pandemic In Kenya: Policy Implications, Diana Kassaman, Rachel Kimani, Adelaide Lusambili

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Cancer accounts for roughly 7 percent of Kenyan mortality, making it the country's third leading cause of death [1]. Available statistics indicate that 70–80 percent of cancer cases in Kenya are first diagnosed only in later stages [2]. Despite its high prevalence and the care needed to treat late-stage cancer, Kenya has few facilities and qualified healthcare workers (HCWs) that are dedicated to cancer treatment. In periods of a pandemic like COVID-19, both patients and HCWs may be at an additional risk of contracting the disease if tailored measures and strategies are not implemented for continuity of services.

Complementary And Alternative Medicine Attitudes And Use In Caregivers Of Patients With Lung Cancer, Trisha Saul, Lorraine Evangelista, Jung-Ah Lee, Sangyhuk Shin, Michelle Fortier

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No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Music Medicine On Reducing Distress, Anxiety, And Pain During Bone Marrow Biopsy Procedures, Betsy Hartman, Sharon Mast, Judy Delismon

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No abstract provided.

Empowering Clinical Nurses: Decreasing Clostridium Difficile, Danielle N. Sloane, Michelle Mcsherry

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No abstract provided.

Efficacy And Safety Of First-Line Avelumab In Patients With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Results From A Phase Ib Cohort Of The Javelin Solid Tumor Study., Claire F Verschraegen, Guy Jerusalem, Edward F Mcclay, Nicholas Iannotti, Charles H Redfern, Jaafar Bennouna, Franklin L Chen, Karen Kelly, Janice Mehnert, John C Morris, Matthew H Taylor, David Spigel, Ding Wang, Hans Juergen Grote, Dongli Zhou, Neru Munshi, Marcis Bajars, James L Gulley

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

INTRODUCTION: Avelumab, an antiprogrammed death ligand-1 antibody, is approved as a monotherapy for treatment of metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma and advanced urothelial carcinoma, and in combination with axitinib for advanced renal cell carcinoma. We report the efficacy and safety of first-line avelumab in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS: In a phase I expansion cohort of the JAVELIN Solid Tumor trial, patients with treatment-naive, metastatic, or recurrent NSCLC received 10 mg/kg avelumab intravenously every 2 weeks. Endpoints included best overall response, duration of response (DOR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety.

RESULTS: Overall, 156 patients were enrolled …

Investigation Of A Peculiar Case Of Childhood Lymphadenopathy, Chade Aribo, Alonso Al, Allison Woodall, Tommy Y. Kim

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Introduction: Lymphadenopathy is a common physical finding often associated with an infectious etiology. We present a case of a patient with generalized cervical and supraclavicular lymphadenopathy diagnosed with a rare malignancy. Health care providers should be aware of some uncommon historical or physical examination findings that warrant further investigation.

Clinical Findings: A 16-year-old female presented to the emergency department with 3 days of a fever, congestion and sore throat with swelling around the jaw. Her physical examination findings included bilateral mandibular swelling and generalized cervical lymphadenopathy with palpable supraclavicular lymph nodes.

Outcomes: Complete blood count showed pancytopenia with a white …

Critical And Creative Thinking Practices And Principles To Improve Audiovisual Production, Paula Andrea Avila Jimenez

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The purpose of capstone is to address the application of Critical and Creative Thinking practices and principles to improve audiovisual production that intends to communicate complicated health information. This paper synthetized the application of the principles of the Habits of Mind (HOM) as Critical and Creative Thinking tool to improve audio-visual (AV) production. The project that spurred this specific question was my experience working as a Research Assistant (RA) at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DF) where I developed videos and booklets to help Latino patients to understand the purposes of chemotherapy in advanced cancer. Five principles of Habits of …

The Impact Of Myeloid-Mediated Co-Stimulation And Immunosuppression On The Anti-Tumor Efficacy Of Adoptive T Cell Therapy, Pasquale Patrick Innamarato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) in combination with lymphodepleting chemotherapy is an effective strategy to induce the eradication of tumors, providing long-term regression in cancer patients. However, only a minority of patients that receive ACT with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) exhibit durable benefit. Thus, there is an urgent need to define strategies that potentiate anti-tumor activity conducted by adoptively transferred T cells. In these studies, we aimed to identify novel strategies to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of ACT. Accordingly, we describe the disparate roles of myeloid cells in the context of ACT characterized by the augmentation of TIL proliferation in …

Igf-1r Inhibition Induces Mek Phosphorylation To Promote Survival In Colon Carcinomas, Qing Wang, Yan Zhang, Jiang Zhu, Honggang Zheng, Shuntai Chen, Li Chen, Hsin-Sheng Yang

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

The insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) governs several signaling pathways for cell proliferation, survival, and anti-apoptosis. Thus, targeting IGF-1R appears as a reasonable rationale for tumor treatment. However, clinical studies showed that inhibition of IGF-1R has very limited efficacy due to the development of resistance to IGF-1R blockade in tumor cells. Here, we discovered that prolonged treatment of colon cancer cells with IGF-1R inhibitors (BMS-754807 and GSK1838705A) stimulates p70 KDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 (p70S6K1) activation, a well-known kinase signaling for cell survival. We also found that p70S6K1 activation by IGF-1R inhibition is independent of K-Ras and PIK3CA …

Dosimetric Differences Between Cesium-131 And Iodine-125 Brachytherapy For The Treatment Of Resected Brain Metastases, Menachem Yondorf, Shahdabul Faraz, Andrew Smith, Albert Sabbas, Bhupesh Parashar, Theodore Schwartz, Gabriella Wernicke

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Purpose: To compare treatment plans and evaluate dosimetric characteristics of permanent cesium-131 (131Cs) vs. iodine-125 (125I) implants used in brain brachytherapy. Material and methods: Twenty-four patients with 131Cs implants from a prospective phase I/II trial were re-planned with 125I implants. In order to evaluate the volume of brain tissue exposed to radiation therapy (RT), the dose volume histogram was generated for both radioisotopes. To evaluate the dosimetric differences of the two radioisotopes we compared homogeneity (HI) and conformity indices (CI), and dose covering 100% (D100), 90% (D90), 80% (D80), and 50% (D50) of the clinical target volume (CTV). Results: At …

Long Term Survival And Local Control Outcomes From Single Dose Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy During Lumpectomy (Targit-Iort) For Early Breast Cancer: Targit-A Randomised Clinical Trial., Jayant S Vaidya, Max Bulsara, Michael Baum, Frederik Wenz, Samuele Massarut, Steffi Pigorsch, Michael Alvarado, Michael Douek, Christobel Saunders, Henrik L Flyger, Wolfgang Eiermann, Chris Brew-Graves, Norman R Williams, Ingrid Potyka, Nicholas Roberts, Marcelle Bernstein, Douglas Brown, Elena Sperk, Siobhan Laws, Marc Sütterlin, Tammy Corica, Steinar Lundgren, Dennis R Holmes, Lorenzo Vinante, Fernando Bozza, Montserrat Pazos, Magali Le Blanc-Onfroy, Günther Gruber, Wojciech Polkowski, Konstantin J Dedes, Marcus Niewald, Jens Blohmer, David Mccready, Richard Hoefer, Pond Kelemen, Gloria Petralia, Mary Falzon, David J Joseph, Jeffrey S Tobias

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether risk adapted intraoperative radiotherapy, delivered as a single dose during lumpectomy, can effectively replace postoperative whole breast external beam radiotherapy for early breast cancer.

DESIGN: Prospective, open label, randomised controlled clinical trial.

SETTING: 32 centres in 10 countries in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, the United States, and Canada.

PARTICIPANTS: 2298 women aged 45 years and older with invasive ductal carcinoma up to 3.5 cm in size, cN0-N1, eligible for breast conservation and randomised before lumpectomy (1:1 ratio, blocks stratified by centre) to either risk adapted targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT) or external beam radiotherapy (EBRT).

INTERVENTIONS: …

Is Host Metabolism The Missing Link To Improving Cancer Outcomes?, Christopher M Wright, Anuradha A. Shastri, Emily K Bongiorno, Ajay Palagani, Ulrich Rodeck, Nicole L Simone

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

For the past 100 years, oncologists have relentlessly pursued the destruction of tumor cells by surgical, chemotherapeutic or radiation oncological means. Consistent with this focus, treatment plans are typically based on key characteristics of the tumor itself such as disease site, histology and staging based on local, regional and systemic dissemination. Precision medicine is similarly built on the premise that detailed knowledge of molecular alterations of tumor cells themselves enables better and more effective tumor cell destruction. Recently, host factors within the tumor microenvironment including the vasculature and immune systems have been recognized as modifiers of disease progression and are …

Egfr Testing And Erlotinib Use In Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients In Kentucky, Kara L. Larson, Bin Huang, Quan Chen, Thomas C. Tucker, Marissa Schuh, Susanne M. Arnold, Jill M. Kolesar

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

This study determined the frequency and factors associated with EGFR testing rates and erlotinib treatment as well as associated survival outcomes in patients with non small cell lung cancer in Kentucky. Data from the Kentucky Cancer Registry (KCR) linked with health claims from Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance groups were evaluated. EGFR testing and erlotinib prescribing were identified using ICD-9 procedure codes and national drug codes in claims, respectively. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with EGFR testing and erlotinib prescribing. Cox-regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with survival. EGFR mutation testing rates rose from …

Molecular Profiling Of Melanoma Brain Metastases Compared To Primary Cutaneous Melanoma And To Extracranial Metastases., Gino K In, Kelsey Poorman, Michelle Saul, Steven O'Day, Jeffrey M Farma, Anthony J Olszanski, Michael S Gordon, Jacob S Thomas, Burton Eisenberg, Lawrence Flaherty, Amy Weise, Steven Daveluy, Geoffrey Gibney, Michael B Atkins, Ari Vanderwalde

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Brain metastases are a significant cause of mortality and morbidity for patients with melanoma. We hypothesize that the development of brain metastases may be explained by molecular heterogeneity between primary cutaneous melanoma (PCM) or extracranial (ECM) and brain (MBM) melanoma metastases.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared next-generation sequencing, tumor mutational burden (TMB), and immunohistochemical staining for PD-L1 expression, among 132 MBM, 745 PCM, and 1190 ECM.

RESULTS: The most common genetic alterations among MBM included: BRAF (52.4%), NRAS (26.6%), CDKN2A (23.3%), NF1 (18.9%), TP53 (18%), ARID2 (13.8%), SETD2 (11.9%), and PBRM1 (7.5%). Four genes were found with higher frequency …