The relevance of a geriatric assessment for elderly patients with a haematological malignancy – A systematic review

Background

Geriatric assessment is increasingly used to assess the health status of older cancer patients. We set out to assemble all available evidence on the relevance of a geriatric assessment in the treatment of older patients with haematological malignancies.

Methods

A systematic Medline and Embase search for studies in which a geriatric assessment was used to detect health issues or to address the association between baseline geriatric assessment and outcome.

Results

18 publications from 15 studies were included. The median age of patients was 73 years (range 58–86). Despite generally good performance status, the prevalence of geriatric impairments was high.Geriatric impairments were associated with a shorter overall survival in a relevant proportion of studies (instrumental activities 55%, nutritional status 67%, cognitive capacities 83%, objectively measured physical capacity 100%). Comorbidity, physical capacity and nutritional status retained their significance even in multivariate analyses in 50%, 75%, and 67% of analyses respectively, whereas age and performance status lost their predictive value in most studies. One study found an association between comorbidity and chemotherapy-related non-haematological toxicity. In another study a pronounced association between summarised outcome of geriatric assessment and chemotherapy-related toxicity as well as response to treatment was described.

Conclusion

This review demonstrates that a geriatric assessment can detect multiple health issues, even in patients with good performance status. Impairments in geriatric domains have predictive value for mortality and also appear to be associated with toxicity and other outcome measures and should thus be integrated in individualised treatment algorithms.     

Radiotherapy fractionation for the palliation of uncomplicated painful bone metastases – an evidence-based practice guideline

Background  

This practice guideline was developed to provide recommendations to clinicians in Ontario on the preferred standard radiotherapy fractionation schedule for the treatment of painful bone metastases.     

Uptake and predictors of post-mastectomy reconstruction in women with breast malignancy – Systematic review

Purpose

There is enormous range in the reported rates of breast reconstruction. This study explored reasons for this variation by reviewing the published literature to examine rates of reconstruction, factors associated with uptake, and possible barriers.

Methods

A systematic review of the literature was performed. Eligible studies reported rates of breast reconstruction and variables associated with uptake in women undergoing mastectomy for early invasive or in situ breast malignancy.

Results

Twenty-eight eligible studies were included, reporting 159,305 cases of breast reconstruction in 940,678 women. In these studies 16·9% of women underwent immediate or delayed reconstruction (range 4·9–81·2%, median 23·3%). Variables associated with reconstruction were: patient/tumour factors (early stage, no adjuvant therapy, young age, white race, private insurance, higher education/income), surgeon/hospital factors and psychological/other factors (including patient choice).

Conclusion

Rates of breast reconstruction were highly variable. Reconstruction appeared to be offered to a minority of women; around half took up the offer. The main reasons reported for no reconstruction included patient-related and adjuvant therapy-related factors. Clinicians' beliefs about reconstruction may be an important factor. Rates of reconstruction could be increased with early discussion of the options when mastectomy is chosen or required.     

Evaluation of Intraoperative Radiotherapy for Gastric Carcinoma

OBJECTIVE To study the proper sites and doses of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) for gastric carcinoma and the effects of this treatment.METHODS A total of 106 cases of stage Ⅰ- Ⅳ gastric carcinoma who received a D2 or D3 radical resection operation combined with IORT were analyzed. Sixty-seven patients with gastric cancer of the antrum and body received distal gastrectomy. The sites of irradiation were at the celiac artery and hepatoduodenal ligament area. Another 39 patients with carcinoma of the cardia and upper part of the gastric body and whole stomach received proximal gastrectomy or total gastrectomy. The sites of irradiation for this group were the upper margin of the pancreas and the regional paraaorta.The therapeutic effects (including survival and complications) of these 106cases who received a combined operation IORT (IORT group) were compared with 441 cases treated during the same time period by a radical resection operation alone (operation group).RESULTS The radiation dose below 30 Gy was safe. The therapeutic method of the operation combined with IORT did not prolong the survival time of patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅳ gastric cancer, but the 5-year survival rates of patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ gastric cancers were significantly improved.While the 5-year survival rates of the stage Ⅲ cancer patients receiving D2 resection combined with IORT had marked improvement, for those receiving a D3 radical resection, only the postoperative survival rates at 3 and 4 years of those cases in stages Ⅲ cancers were improved (P＜0.005-0.001). The 5-year survival rate for those patients was raised only 4.7%(P＞0.05).CONCLUSION The 5-year survival rates of patients with stages Ⅱ and Ⅲ gastric carcinoma who received a D2 lymphadenectomy combined with IORT were improved and had no influence on the postoperative complications and mortality.     

Emergency surgery for perforated gastric malignancy: An institution’s experience and review of the literature

Objectives

The aim was to evaluate the outcome of patients who underwent surgery for perforated gastric malignancies.

Methods

A review of all patients who underwent surgery for perforated gastric malignancy was performed.

Results

Twelve patients (nine gastric adenocarcinoma and three B-cell lymphoma) formed the study group. Ten (83.3%) had subtotal gastrectomy performed, while two (16.7%) underwent total gastrectomy. All eight patients with adenocarcinoma who survived the initial operation fared poorly. The two patients with lymphoma who survived the surgery underwent subsequent chemotherapy has no disease recurrence currently.

Conclusion

Surgery in perforated gastric malignancy is fraught with numerous challenges.     

Efficacy and Toxicity of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Early to Advanced Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma – Initial Experience From an Australian Liver Cancer Service

AimsIntrahepatic progression remains the predominant mode of cancer-related death in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) underscoring the need for effective local therapies. We report our initial experience with liver stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in the management of early to advanced stage HCC at an Australian tertiary liver cancer service.Materials and methodsPatients with liver-confined HCC unsuitable for surgical resection or thermal ablation treated with SBRT between October 2013 and December 2018 were retrospectively evaluated. The primary end point was freedom from local progression. Secondary end points were progression-free survival, disease-specific survival, overall survival and toxicity.ResultsNinety-six patients were treated for 112 lesions (median size 3.8 cm, range 1.5–17 cm). The median follow-up was 13 months (range 3–65). Forty-six patients had received prior local therapies (median 1, range 1–5), 83 (86%) patients had cirrhosis with baseline Child–Pugh scores of A (88%) and B7–8 (12%). Fifty-nine (61%) patients had Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage 0/A disease and 37 (39%) had stage B/C. Macrovascular invasion was present in 20 (21%). The median biologically effective dose (BED₁₀) was 86 and 60 Gy for the BCLC 0/A and B/C cohorts, respectively. Freedom from local progression at 18 months was 94% for BCLC 0/A and 74% for BCLC B/C. Progression-free survival and overall survival at 12 months were 80 and 95% for BCLC 0/A and 40 and 71% for BCLC B/C, respectively. Five patients (7%) with cirrhosis and without disease progression had an increase in Child–Pugh score >1 within 3 months of SBRT, four of whom had intercurrent infections. Clinical toxicities grade ≥2 were reported in 20% of patients.ConclusionSBRT is an effective ablative modality for early stage HCC with low rates of significant toxicity. Lower dose SBRT can provide durable local control for advanced stage HCC. However, out-of-field relapse remains common, providing a rationale to investigate SBRT in combination with other therapies.     

Evolution of treatment strategies for oligometastatic NSCLC patients – A systematic review of the literature

BackgroundThe concept of oligometastatic disease (OMD) has expanded the scope of potentially curative therapy for metastatic NSCLC. However, large uncertainties remain regarding its definition and optimal management strategies. We therefore conducted a systematic review to investigate the value of various multimodality treatment concepts.MethodsWe searched the available literature in Pubmed, Medline and EMBASE using the terms “oligomet*”, “synchron*”, “oligorec*”, “metachr*” “NSCLC”, “lung cancer” and “stage IV” and included studies reporting treatment regimens and outcomes on radically treated patients with either “synchronous”, “metachronous” or “mixed” OMD. Only de-novo diagnosis of OMD was considered. The impact of patient and treatment characteristics on overall survival (OS) and time trends in patterns of care were investigated.Results54 studies published between 1987 and 2018 were included. Despite a wide range of OMD definitions, 90.1% of patients were treated for a single metastasis. Systemic therapy was used as backbone treatment for most patients. Although surgery was the preferred local treatment in earlier studies, the use of stereotactic radiotherapy increased rapidly after 2011. No OS difference was observed between surgery or radiotherapy as the treatment of primary tumor or metastases, respectively. A time trend towards improved OS after 2011 could be detected.ConclusionsWhile evidence in favor of radical treatment is emerging, most studies remain retrospective and mainly evaluate patients with singular metastases. While surgery, stereotactic radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the cornerstones of current treatment strategies, future clinical trials need to address the high risk of distant metastases by integrating targeted or immunotherapy.     

Complications of sentinel lymph node biopsy for melanoma – A systematic review of the literature

Purpose

The complications reported after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for melanoma is highly variable in the worldwide literature; the overall complication rate varies between 1.8% and 29.9%. With heterogeneous reporting of morbidity data, no ‘average’ complication rates of this procedure have been reported. This systematic review aims to determine the complications rates associated with SLNB.

Deep Learning for Radiotherapy Outcome Prediction Using Dose Data – A Review

Artificial intelligence, and in particular deep learning using convolutional neural networks, has been used extensively for image classification and segmentation, including on medical images for diagnosis and prognosis prediction. Use in radiotherapy prognostic modelling is still limited, however, especially as applied to toxicity and tumour response prediction from radiation dose distributions. We review and summarise studies that applied deep learning to radiotherapy dose data, in particular studies that utilised full three-dimensional dose distributions. Ten papers have reported on deep learning models for outcome prediction utilising spatial dose information, whereas four studies used reduced dimensionality (dose volume histogram) information for prediction. Many of these studies suffer from the same issues that plagued early normal tissue complication probability modelling, including small, single-institutional patient cohorts, lack of external validation, poor data and model reporting, use of late toxicity data without taking time-to-event into account, and nearly exclusive focus on clinician-reported complications. They demonstrate, however, how radiation dose, imaging and clinical data may be technically integrated in convolutional neural networks-based models; and some studies explore how deep learning may help better understand spatial variation in radiosensitivity. In general, there are a number of issues specific to the intersection of radiotherapy outcome modelling and deep learning, for example translation of model developments into treatment plan optimisation, which will require further combined effort from the radiation oncology and artificial intelligence communities.     

Re-irradiation for painful bone metastases – A systematic review

The purpose of this review was to determine the efficacy of re-irradiation in patients with bone metastases. A literature search was conducted in Ovid Medline, OldMedline, Embase, Embase Classic, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials using relevant subject headings and keywords such as bone metastases, radiotherapy and palliative care. The resulting articles were sorted for inclusion for palliative external beam radiation retreatment response rate data. The literature search produced 2164 references and 15 articles were included in the final selection. Complete, partial and overall response rates were calculated to be 20%, 50% and 68%, respectively. Information on treatment toxicities was scarce. The efficacy of re-irradiation is comparable to initial radiation treatment. However, aspects of re-irradiation treatment including dose fractionation, related adverse events and toxicities require further corroboration.     

Patterns of Practice in Palliative Radiotherapy in Africa – Case Revisited

AimsTo investigate patterns of practice in palliative radiotherapy in Africa.Materials and methodsFifteen centres in Africa provided detailed information about radiotherapy in both metastatic and locally advanced disease via a questionnaire. Information included general information (institution status, equipment, staff, patient number), radiotherapy and other treatment characteristics in bone metastasis, brain metastasis, metastatic spinal cord compression, lung and liver metastasis, as well as locally advanced tumours.ResultsThe number of patients annually seen/treated ranged from 285 to 5000. Breast, cervix, head and neck, gastrointestinal and prostate cancer were the top five cancers overall. Eight (53%) institutions were without linear accelerators, four (27%) had a single one, whereas one institution each had two, three and four linear accelerators. The number of cobalt machines ranged from 0 to 2 (median 1). Most centres still prefer to use fractionated radiotherapy regimens over single-fraction regimens in bone metastasis, although most centres are now using single-fraction radiotherapy in retreatments. Radiotherapy in brain metastasis and metastatic spinal cord compression mostly conform to worldwide standards. Lung and liver metastases are rarely irradiated, largely as a consequence of the lack of modern radiotherapy technology. Locally advanced disease in various tumour sites was mostly palliated, in agreement with current evidence-based practices.ConclusionsAfrican countries still lack adequate staffing and equipment to adequately address their clinical burden, being palliative in most cases. Emphasis should also be made on more rationally using existing capacities by using more of the single-fraction radiotherapy regimens, especially in bone metastasis.     

Radiotherapy in Malignant Myoepithelioma of the Soft Palate – Case Report

Myoepithelioma is a very rare neoplasm that accounts only for about 1% of all salivary gland tumours. As the lesion is so rare, there are no specific recommendations or guidelines for its treatment. In the literature, there have been only a few cases reported without any existing data concerning radiotherapy. We present a very good palliative effect of radiotherapy in a very old man.Key Words: Malignant myoepithelioma, Soft palate, Radiotherapy