Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is used to treat stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in nonsurgical candidates, although guidelines specify that inoperability be determined in ...multidisciplinary fashion. We characterized NSCLC patients treated with SBRT undergoing thoracic surgical evaluation (TSUe) and quantified TSUe's impact on time to treatment, receipt of diagnostic staging procedures, and health care costs.
Adults with newly diagnosed NSCLC undergoing SBRT were identified in the MarketScan all-payer claims database (2014-2018). TSUe was defined as an outpatient encounter with a thoracic surgeon or multispecialty group. Time to treatment and total costs in the 6 months preceding treatment were examined using multivariable regression by receipt of TSUe, adjusting for demographic and clinical factors.
Of 1894 patients, 36.3% (n = 687) underwent TSUe. Compared with patients without TSUe, these patients were younger (mean age, 73.6 vs 76.3 years) and more likely to undergo invasive biopsy/staging procedures (90% vs 82%) or pulmonary function testing (80.6% vs 69.5%). Patients undergoing TSUe had a median time to treatment of 64 days (interquartile range, 43-98 days), compared with 44 days (interquartile range, 29-70 days) for no TSUe. Adjusted time to treatment was 43% longer (incident rate ratio, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.32-1.54; P < .001) with TSUe. Patients undergoing TSUe also incurred 30% higher costs (adjusted cost ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.20-1.41; P < .001).
Among patients with early-stage NSCLC undergoing SBRT as primary treatment, a minority are evaluated by a thoracic surgeon. Because they have a longer time to treatment, more invasive diagnostic procedures, and higher costs, this represents a targetable gap to make workup protocols more efficient.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common cause of preventable harm in hospitalized patients. While numerous successful interventions have been implemented to improve prescription of VTE prophylaxis, ...a substantial proportion of doses of prescribed preventive medications are not administered to hospitalized patients. The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of nurse education on medication administration practice.
This was a double-blinded, cluster randomized trial in 21 medical or surgical floors of 933 nurses at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, an academic medical center, from April 1, 2014 -March 31, 2015. Nurses were cluster-randomized by hospital floor to receive either a linear static education (Static) module with voiceover or an interactive learner-centric dynamic scenario-based education (Dynamic) module. The primary and secondary outcomes were non-administration of prescribed VTE prophylaxis medication and nurse-reported satisfaction with education modules, respectively.
Overall, non-administration improved significantly following education (12.4% vs. 11.1%, conditional OR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.80-0.95, p = 0.002) achieving our primary objective. The reduction in non-administration was greater for those randomized to the Dynamic arm (10.8% vs. 9.2%, conditional OR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.72-0.95) versus the Static arm (14.5% vs. 13.5%, conditional OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.81-1.03), although the difference between arms was not statistically significant (p = 0.26). Satisfaction scores were significantly higher (p<0.05) for all survey items for nurses in the Dynamic arm.
Education for nurses significantly improves medication administration practice. Dynamic learner-centered education is more effective at engaging nurses. These findings suggest that education should be tailored to the learner.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02301793.
Adjuvant chemotherapy after resection is the standard of care for stage III colon cancer, yet many patients omit chemotherapy. We aimed to describe the impact of delayed chemotherapy on overall ...survival across multiple time points.
The 2006 to 2014 National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) was queried for patients with single primary stage III adenocarcinoma of the colon. Patients were grouped by receipt and timing of chemotherapy from resection date: chemotherapy omitted, <6 weeks, 6 to 8 weeks, 8 to 12 weeks, 12 to 24 weeks, and >24 weeks. Subgroup analyses were performed for those with comorbidities and those who had postoperative complications. Overall survival was compared using Cox proportional hazard modeling, adjusting for patient, tumor, and facility characteristics.
In total, 72,057 patients were included; 20,807 omitted chemotherapy, 22,705 received it at <6 weeks, 15,412 between 6 and 8 weeks, 9,049 between 8 and 12 weeks, 3,595 between 12 and 24 weeks, and 489 at >24 weeks after resection. Compared with patients who omitted chemotherapy, patients who received chemotherapy at <6 weeks (hazard ratio HR 0.44), 6 to 8 weeks (HR 0.45), 8 to 12 weeks (HR 0.52), 12 to 24 weeks (HR 0.61), and >24 weeks (HR 0.68) had superior overall survival (p < 0.001). This survival benefit was preserved across subgroups (p < 0.001).
After resection of stage III colon cancer, patients should receive adjuvant chemotherapy within 6 to 8 weeks for maximal benefit. However, chemotherapy should be offered to patients who are outside the optimal window, who have significant comorbidities, or who have had a complication more than 24 weeks from resection to improve the overall survival compared with omitting chemotherapy.
Background
Multiple adjuvant therapies for melanoma have been approved since 2015 based on randomized trials demonstrating improvements in recurrence-free survival (RFS) with adjuvant therapy after ...surgical resection of high-risk disease. Inclusion criteria for these trials required performance of a completion lymph node dissection (CLND) for positive sentinel lymph node (pSLN) disease.
Objective
We aimed to describe current practice for adjuvant therapies in patients with pSLN without CLND (active surveillance AS), and to evaluate recurrence in these patients.
Methods
Melanoma patients with pSLN between 2016 and 2019 were identified at two institutions. Demographic information, disease and treatment characteristics, and recurrence details were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were stratified by recurrence and patient-, treatment- and tumor-related characteristics were compared using Fisher’s exact test and
t
test for categorical and continuous variables, respectively.
Results
Overall, 245 SLN biopsies were performed, of which 36 (14.7%) were pSLN. Of 36 pSLN, 4 underwent CLND and 32 underwent AS, of whom 22 (68.8%) received adjuvant therapy with the anti-programmed death-1 (PD1) inhibitor nivolumab (16/22), anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor ipilimumab (3/22), or BRAF/MEK inhibitors (3/22). At a median follow up of 13.3 months, 7/32 (21.9%) patients on AS recurred, including 4/22 (18.2%) who received adjuvant therapy and 3/10 (30.0%) who did not. Tumor ulceration was significantly associated with recurrence. While not significant, acral lentiginous subtype appeared more common among those with recurrence.
Conclusion
The majority (68.8%) of patients with pSLN managed without CLND were treated with adjuvant therapy. The 1-year RFS for patients managed with adjuvant therapy without CLND was 82%, which is similar to modern adjuvant therapy trials requiring CLND.
Updates in adjuvant systemic therapy for melanoma Kwak, Minyoung; Farrow, Norma E.; Salama, April K. S. ...
Journal of surgical oncology,
February 1, 2019, Letnik:
119, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
There has been a rapid increase in adjuvant therapies approved for treatment following surgical resection of stages III/IV melanoma. We review current indications for adjuvant therapy, which ...currently includes a heterogenous group of stages III and IV patients with melanoma. We describe several pivotal clinical trials of systemic immune therapies, targeted immune therapies, and adjuvant vaccine strategies. Finally, we discuss the evidence for selecting the most appropriate treatment regimen(s) for the individual patient.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients and is largely preventable. Strategies to decrease the burden of VTE have focused on improving ...clinicians' prescribing of prophylaxis with relatively less emphasis on patient education.
To develop a patient-centered approach to education of patients and their families on VTE: including importance, risk factors, and benefit/harm of VTE prophylaxis in hospital settings.
The objective of this study was to develop a patient-centered approach to education of patients and their families on VTE: including importance, risk factors, and benefit/harm of VTE prophylaxis in hospital settings. We implemented a three-phase, web-based survey (SurveyMonkey) between March 2014 and September 2014 and analyzed survey data using descriptive statistics. Four hundred twenty one members of several national stakeholder organizations and a single local patient and family advisory board were invited to participate via email. We assessed participants' preferences for VTE education topics and methods of delivery. Participants wanted to learn about VTE symptoms, risk factors, prevention, and complications in a context that emphasized harm. Although participants were willing to learn using a variety of methods, most preferred to receive education in the context of a doctor-patient encounter. The next most common preferences were for video and paper educational materials.
Patients want to learn about the harm associated with VTE through a variety of methods. Efforts to improve VTE prophylaxis and decrease preventable harm from VTE should target the entire continuum of care and a variety of stakeholders including patients and their families.
To examine guideline concordance across a national sample and determine the relationship between socioeconomic factors, use of recommended postoperative adjuvant therapy, and outcomes for patients ...with resected pN1 or pN2 non–small cell lung cancer.
All margin-negative pT1-3 N1-2 M0 non–small cell lung cancers treated with lobectomy or pneumonectomy without induction therapy in the National Cancer Database between 2006 and 2013 were included. Use of guideline-concordant adjuvant treatment, defined as chemotherapy for pN1 disease and chemotherapy with or without radiation for pN2 disease, was examined. Multivariable regression models were developed to determine associations of clinical factors with guideline adherence. Survival was estimated using Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazard analyses.
Of 13,462 patients, 10,113 had pN1 disease and 3349 had pN2 disease. Guideline-concordant adjuvant therapy was used in 6844 (67.7%) patients with pN1 disease and 2622 (78.3%) patients with pN2 disease. After multivariable adjustment, insurance status, older age, pneumonectomy, readmission, and longer postoperative stays were associated with lower likelihood of guideline concordance. Conversely, increased education level, later year of diagnosis, and greater nodal stage were associated with greater concordance. Overall, patients treated with guideline-concordant therapy had superior survival (5-year survival: 51.6 vs 36.0%; hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.62-0.70, P < .001).
Socioeconomic factors, including insurance status and geographic region, are associated with disparities in use of adjuvant therapy as recommended by National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. These disparities significantly impact patient survival. Future work should focus on improving access to appropriate adjuvant therapies among the under insured and socioeconomically disadvantaged.
This study identified patients with resected T1-3 N1-2 M0 non–small cell lung cancer in the National Cancer Database between 2006 and 2013, and evaluated guideline-concordance with adjuvant therapy to determine the relationship between socioeconomic factors, use of recommended postoperative adjuvant therapy, and outcomes. Among patients with pN1 disease (n = 10,113) and pN2 disease (n = 3349), guideline-concordant adjuvant therapy was used in 6844 (67.7%) pN1 patients and 2622 (78.3%) pN2 patients. After multivariable adjustment, insurance status, older age, pneumonectomy, readmission, and longer postoperative stays were associated with lower likelihood of guideline concordance, whereas increased education level, later year of diagnosis, and greater nodal stage were associated with greater concordance. Overall, patients treated with guideline-concordant therapy had superior survival (5-year survival: 51.6 vs 36.0%; hazard ratio HR, 0.66; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.62-0.70, P < .001). Socioeconomic factors, including insurance status and geographic region, are associated with disparities in use of adjuvant therapy as recommended by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, which significantly impact patient survival. Display omitted
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