South Asian Journal of Cancer最新文献

Shailesh KanvindeBackground  To enable outpatient department (OPD) management of febrile neutropenia (FN), we used once-a-day (OD) ceftriaxone-amikacin (CFT-AMK) as empiric antibiotic therapy. Our experience over 16-year period is presented. Methods  This was a retrospective study conducted from January2002 to December2017. Inclusion criteria were <18 years of age, undergoing cancer chemotherapy, and having FN. Exclusion criteria were FN after palliative chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, or at diagnosis of malignancy. Empiric CFT-AMK was used in all, except those having respiratory distress, hypotension, altered sensorium, paralytic ileus, or clinical evidence of peritonitis. Admission criteria were age <1 year, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) chemotherapy, poor performance status, need for blood transfusions, convenience, insurance, or persistent fever >48 to 72 hours after CFT-AMK. Outcomes analyzed were response (defervescence within 48-72 hours), OPD management, antibiotic upgrade, and mortality. AML diagnosis, >7 days to absolute neutrophil count >0.5 × 10 ⁹ /L, poor performance status, and malignancy not in remission were considered high-risk FN criteria. Results  CFT-AMK was given in 877/952 (92.2%) FN episodes. Seventy-six percent had hematolymphoid malignancies. Response, antibiotic upgrade, and mortality were seen in 85.7 and 65.5% ( p  < 0.0001), 15 and 45.5% ( p  < 0.0001), and 0 and 2% ( p  = 0.003) of low- and high-risk patients, respectively. Treatment was started in OPD in 52%, of which 21.6% required subsequent admission. Of those initially admitted, early discharge (hospital stay < 5 days) was possible in 24.6%. Forty-one percent episodes were managed entirely on OPD. Overall, 80% of low-risk and 42% of high-risk episodes received treatment wholly or partially on OPD. Conclusion  Our results show empiric OD CFT-AMK allows OPD management for most of the low-risk and a proportion of high-risk FN following chemotherapy in children, without compromising clinical outcomes.

Francis. V. JamesObjective  The study aimed to see the clinical outcome and to identify prognostic factors for survival in patients with carcinoma endometrium. Methods  Patients registered at Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, with carcinoma endometrium from January 2009 to December 2013 were identified from hospital registry. Data regarding patient demographics, tumor characteristics, treatment schedules, and follow-up were collected using a structured proforma. Survival estimates were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis was done using chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model was performed to determine the impact of prognostic factors on outcome. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 11. Results  The median follow-up of the 686 patients was 95 months (range 3-178 months).There were 432 stage 1 (63%), 100 stage II (14.6%), 108 stage III (15.7%), and 46 stage IV patients (6.7%). The 5-year overall survival was 89.2%. Prognostic factors for survival on univariate analysis were age 60 years or older, nonendometrioid histology, high-grade tumor, cervical stromal involvement, para-aortic node involvement, negative progesterone receptor expression, deep myometrial invasion advanced stage, surgery versus no surgery, serosal involvement, and ovarian and fallopian tube involvement. However, on multivariate analysis, age over 60 years, higher histological grade, advanced stage, and deep myometrial and parametrial invasion were associated with significantly poorer survival. Conclusion  We found that age over 60 years at presentation, higher grade, advanced stage, deep myometrial invasion, and parametrial invasion were associated with poorer survival.

Background  Olfactory neuroblastoma is a rare epithelial malignancy arising from the odorant receptors in the nasal mucosa or along the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone. Clinical presentation includes nasal stuffiness, local pain, epistaxis, anosmia, visual impairment, proptosis, headache, and seizures. Radiologic imaging with CT or MRI, an ophthalmic evaluation, and histopathologic confirmation with immunohistochemistry are parts of the initial diagnostic workup. Although surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation have an equally important role in the management, earlier stages may preferably be treated with surgery or radiotherapy and the later stages with a multimodality approach. Materials and Methods  We conducted a retrospective review of 13 patients diagnosed with olfactory neuroblastoma, registered at Mehdi Nawaz Jung Regional Cancer Center over a decade (2010-2019). We analyzed the age and sex distribution, performance status at presentation, clinical symptomatology, and the Kadish stage. In addition, the therapeutic aspects of patients were studied. Results  The most common presentation noted was nasal stuffiness, followed by epistaxis and proptosis. The majority of patients had good performance status at presentation. Ten patients presented with a Kadish stage C, while the remaining patients presented with Kadish stage B. Cervical nodal metastasis was seen in three patients, four patients received multimodality treatment with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery, two patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiation, two patients received only surgery, and one patient received surgery followed by adjuvant radiation. Conformal radiation techniques were used to deliver doses as high as 50 to 66 Gy in 2 Gy per fraction. Two patients presented with distant metastasis during follow-up, one with bone metastasis, and the other with retroperitoneal nodal metastasis; they received palliative chemotherapy and conformal radiation to the primary site. Conclusion  This study concludes that neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiation gives the best outcomes. It has been observed that in multi-modality treatment, radiotherapy played a significant role in improving overall survival and better outcomes. Multidisciplinary discussions provide a better sequencing of management.

Nitin KhuntetaObjectives  The aim is to study the patterns of lymph node metastasis from various sites in oral cavity cancer and determine the risk factors for metastasis. Materials and Methods  It is a prospective observational study. The inclusion criteria were-245 patients of carcinoma buccal mucosa, anterior two-thirds of tongue, hard palate, oral surface of soft palate, floor of mouth, vestibule, and alveolus. The exclusion criteria were-patients who had received preoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy and patients with recurrent disease. Statistical Methods  All data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and Graphpad prism 7 software for statistical analysis. Count data have been expressed as percentages (%). The χ ² test was used for univariate analysis of the risk factors of cervical lymph node metastasis. The odds ratio value (with 95% confidence interval) was used to express the risk of cervical lymph node metastasis. p -Value of <0.05 was considered as the difference with statistical significance. Results  The most common site involved was buccal mucosa. Patterned lymph node metastasis was seen in 93.5% cases. Skip metastasis was seen in 4.31% cases. Level I b was the most common site of nodal involvement for all primary subsites of oral cavity cancer. The incidence of positive nodes on histopathological analysis was highest in cases of lower alveolus (63.15%), followed by tongue. Conclusion  In our study, patterns of lymph node metastasis for oral cavity cancer were comparable to other studies with large number of subjects. The incidence of skip metastasis or aberrant status was low. On multivariate analysis, depth of invasion of tumor, pathologic grade, pathologic T stage, and morphologic type of growth were found to be independent predictors of risk for metastasis.

Anant RamaswamyIntroduction  The overall survival (OS) of metastatic colorectal cancers (mCRCs) in clinical practice and resource-constrained low- and middle-income countries (LMICS) like India is not known. Materials and Methods  Data of patients with mCRC treated between January 2013 and August 2017 were accessed from a prospectively maintained database. Demographics, disease characteristics, chemotherapeutic regimens, use of monoclonal antibodies, and survival outcomes in treated patients were collected and analyzed. Costs of treatment options as off 2017 were also interpreted. Results  The data of 403 patients satisfied prespecified inclusion criteria and were included for analysis. The median age of the cohort was 48 years (range: 17-86) with a predominance of rectal cancers (63.3%), liver alone metastases (47.1%), and resected primary (69.7%). Signet ring histology was present in 82 patients (20.3%). The most commonly used first-line regimen (CT1) was modified capecitabine-oxaliplatin (53.3%). Two hundred and nineteen patients (54.3%) received second-line systemic therapy (CT2). Patients received a median of two lines of therapy (range: 1-6). MoAbs were used by 48 patients (13.4%) with CT1 and 34 patients (15.5%) with CT2. Median OS of the entire cohort was 17.61 months (95% confidence interval: 15.48-19.74), which was within the predicted range, as per investigator hypothesis. The presence of signet ring histology ( p <0.001), raised carcinoembryonic antigen at baseline ( p =0.017), and the absence of a resected primary ( p <0.001) predicted inferior median OS. Conclusions  Survival of patients with mCRC in a resource-constrained LMIC scenario like India is approximately 12 to 15 months lower than published trial data. Limited access to targeted therapy and newer expensive treatment options due to financial constraints may contribute to this disparity.

Negine PaulIntroduction  Traditionally, the concept of complete omentectomy during gastric resection for cancer was based on lymphatic drainage and the occurrence of occult omental metastasis (OM). However, recent emerging evidence has challenged this concept of complete omentectomy. We, therefore, aim to find the incidence and risk factors of occult OM and also evaluate the outcome of patients with and without such metastasis. Methods  This is a single institutional, retrospective study of patients with gastric cancer who underwent curative radical gastrectomy for a period of 3 years (April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2019). A complete omentectomy was performed in all patients and the omentum and nodal stations were dissected in the resected specimen and sent for pathological analysis. Clinical and epidemiological data were collected from the hospital patient database and analysis was done. Results  A total of 185 patients have been included in the study, with a mean age of 53.84 years. Twenty of the 185 patients had OM (10.8%). Age, sex, location of the tumor, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy were not statistically significant in predicting OM. However, tumor size and tumor depth were found to have a significant association with OM. The occurrence of OM was more likely to be associated with disease recurrence, especially in the peritoneum. The mean overall survival was 38.15 months (±3.33 SD), whereas patients with OM had lower survival, 23.31 months (±7.79 SD), with a p -value of 0.012. Conclusion  OM was not encountered in T1 and T2 gastric cancers and the incidence of OM in T3 and T4 tumors was approximately 12.7%. Therefore, complete omentectomy may be omitted in early T1/T2 tumors. OM was associated with poor prognosis, increased peritoneal recurrence, and decreased overall survival, in spite of a complete omentectomy, and may serve as a prognostic indicator for disease recurrence and overall survival.

Supriya MallickIntroduction  Malignant gliomas are the most common primary malignant brain tumors and are typically treated with maximal safe surgical resection followed by chemoradiation. One of the unintended effects of radiation is depletion of circulating lymphocyte pool, which has been correlated with inferior overall survival outcomes. Methods  A comprehensive and systematic searches of the PubMed, Cochrane Central, and Embase databases were done to assess the studies that have reported radiation-related lymphopenia in high-grade gliomas. Hazard ratios (HRs), odds ratios (OR), and mean differences were represented with Forest plots comparing patients with severe lymphopenia and no severe lymphopenia. Review Manager Version 5.3 (The Nordic Cochrane Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark) was used for the analysis. Results  Nineteen studies were included in the final systematic review and 12 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The odds of developing severe lymphopenia were 0.39 (95% CI:0.19, 0.81, I ²  = 94%, p  = 0.01). Patients with severe lymphopenia were at increased risk of death with a pooled HR = 2.19 (95% CI: 1.70, 2.83, I ²  = 0%, p <0.00001) compared to patients with no severe lymphopenia. The mean difference in survival between patients with severe lymphopenia and no severe lymphopenia was -6.72 months (95% CI: -8.95, -4.49, I ²  = 99%, p <0.00001), with a better mean survival in the no severe lymphopenia group. Conclusion  Radiation-induced severe lymphopenia was associated with poor overall survival and increased risk of death. Photon therapy, larger planning target volume, higher brain dose, higher hypothalamus dose, and female gender were associated with increased risk of severe lymphopenia.

Kumar PrabhashBackground  The development of immune-related adverse effects (irAEs) can corroborate with the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), including programmed cell death 1 (PD1) inhibitors. However, there is extremely limited data on the association of irAEs with survival in patients who have shown a response to ICIs. Patients and Methods  This study is a retrospective audit of the prospectively collected database of patients who received PD1 inhibitors for advanced solid tumors. Responders were defined as patients who attained the best response of either complete response or partial response. Time-to-event analysis was done using the Kaplan-Meier estimator, and the hazard ratio (HR) was calculated by using Cox proportional model. A point-biserial correlation was used to find out the potential influence of irAEs on overall survival (OS). Results  A total of 155 patients (49% lung cancer, 31% head and neck cancer) who received ICI during the specified period were evaluated for this study. The overall response rate was 19.4% and disease control rate was 43.2%. The median (OS) for patients who developed irAE was 12.3 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.9-15.6), while it was not reached for patients without irAE (HR: 10.5, 95% CI: 1.2-NR, p  = 0.007). One-year OS for the corresponding group of patients was 53.6% (standard deviation [SD]: 15.6) versus 92.9% (SD: 6.9), respectively. Among responders, 12 (40%) developed at least grade 1 irAE, while among nonresponders, 38 (30.4%) developed irAE ( p  = 0.312). Conclusions  In our study, we found significant improvement in survival of solid tumor patients treated with ICIs who developed irAEs on treatment as compared with those who did not. On specifically analyzing patients who responded to ICIs, there was no difference in OS who developed irAEs versus those who did not. However, this needs to be studied in a larger sample to reach a definite conclusion.

Elham JamaliObjectives  Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a blood malignancy characterized by the proliferation of aberrant cells in the bone marrow and blood that interfere with normal blood cells. We have investigated whether changes in the level of micro-ribonucleic acid (miR)-19b, miR-17, and miR-25, Wilms' tumor (WT1), and CCAAT enhancer-binding protein α (CEBPA) genes expression affect disease prognosis and clinical outcome in AML patients. Materials and Methods  The expression level of miR-19-b, miR-17, and miR-25, as well as WT1 and CEBPA genes in a group of patients and controls as well as different risk groups (high, intermediate, and favorite risk), M3 versus non-M3, and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) versus non-GvHD patients were assessed using a quantitative SYBR Green real-time polymerase chain reaction method. Results  When compared with the baseline level at the period of diagnosis before chemotherapy, the expression of miR-19b and miR-17 in AML patients increased significantly after chemotherapy. The level of miR-19b and miR-25 expression in AML patients with M3 and non-M3 French-American-British subgroups differ significantly. MiR-19b and miR-25 expression was elevated in GvHD patients, while miR-19b and miR-25 expression was somewhat decreased in GvHD patients compared with non-GvHD patients, albeit the difference was not statistically significant. Also, patients with different cytogenetic aberrations had similar levels of miR-19-b and miR-25 expression. Conclusion  MiR-19b, miR-17, and miR-25 are aberrantly expressed in AML patients' peripheral blood leukocytes, which may play a role in the development of acute GvHD following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.