Objectives
Examine the understanding of terminologies and management patterns of bacillus Calmette‐Guérin (BCG)‐unresponsive nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) in six territories in ...Asia‐Pacific.
Methods
This study involved two phases: (1) a survey with 32 urologists and 7 medical oncologists (MOs) and (2) a factorial experiment and in‐depth interviews with 23 urologists and 2 MOs. All clinicians had ≥8 years' experience managing NMIBC patients in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Data from Phase 1 were summarized using descriptive statistics; content and thematic analyses applied in Phase 2.
Results
In phase 1, 35% of clinicians defined BCG‐unresponsive as BCG‐refractory, ‐relapse and ‐resistant, 6% defined it as BCG‐refractory and ‐relapse; 22% classified BCG‐failure as BCG‐refractory, ‐relapse, ‐resistant, and when muscle‐invasive bladder cancer is detected. If eligible and willing, 50% (interquartile range IQR, 50%–80%) of BCG‐unresponsive patients would undergo radical cystectomy (RC), and 50% (IQR 20%–50%) of RC‐eligible patients would receive bladder‐sparing treatment or surveillance. In phase 2, we found that 32%, 88%, and 48% of clinicians, respectively, used “BCG‐unresponsive,” “BCG‐refractory,” and “BCG‐relapse” in clinical practice but with no consistent interpretation of the terms. Compared with EAU definitions, 8%–60% of clinicians appropriately classified 9 tumor types that are persistent or recurrent after adequate BCG. Fifty percent of clinicians mentioned a lack of bladder‐preserving treatment that outperforms RC in quality of life as a reason to retreat BCG‐unresponsive patients with BCG.
Conclusions
Our study revealed varied understanding and application of BCG‐unresponsive terminologies in practice. There is a need for a uniform and simple definition of BCG‐unresponsive disease in Asia‐Pacific.
Background:
The benefit of specialist palliative care for cancer inpatients is established, but the best method to deliver specialist palliative care is unknown.
Aim:
To compare a consult model ...versus a co-rounding model; both provide the same content of specialist palliative care to individual patients but differ in the level of integration between palliative care and oncology clinicians.
Design:
An open-label, cluster-randomized trial with stepped-wedge design. The primary outcome was hospital length of stay; secondary outcomes were 30-day readmissions and access to specialist palliative care. ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT03330509.
Setting/participants:
Cancer patients admitted to the oncology inpatient service of an acute hospital in Singapore.
Results:
A total of 5681 admissions from December 2017 to July 2019 were included, of which 5295 involved stage 3-4 cancer and 1221 received specialist palliative care review. Admissions in the co-rounding model had a shorter hospital length of stay than those in the consult model by 0.70 days (95%CI −0.04 to 1.45, p = 0.065) for all admissions. In the sub-group of stage 3-4 cancer patients, the length of stay was 0.85 days shorter (95%CI 0.05–1.65, p = 0.038). In the sub-group of admissions that received specialist palliative care review, the length of stay was 2.62 days shorter (95%CI 0.63–4.61, p = 0.010). Hospital readmission within 30 days (OR1.03, 95%CI 0.79–1.35, p = 0.822) and access to specialist palliative care (OR1.19, 95%CI 0.90–1.58, p = 0.215) were similar between the consult and co-rounding models.
Conclusions:
The co-rounding model was associated with a shorter hospital length of stay. Readmissions within 30 days and access to specialist palliative care were similar.
Elderly cancer patients are at increased risk for malnutrition. We aim to identify comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) based clinical factors associated with increased nutritional risk and ...develop a clinical scoring system to identify nutritional risk in elderly cancer patients.
CGA data was collected from 249 Asian patients aged 70 years or older. Nutritional risk was assessed based on the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to assess the association between patient clinical factors together with domains within the CGA and moderate to high nutritional risk. Goodness of fit was assessed using Hosmer-Lemeshow test. Discrimination ability was assessed based on the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC). Internal validation was performed using simulated datasets via bootstrapping.
Among the 249 patients, 184 (74%) had moderate to high nutritional risk. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified stage 3-4 disease (Odds Ratio OR 2.54; 95% CI, 1.14-5.69), ECOG performance status of 2-4 (OR 3.04; 95% CI, 1.57-5.88), presence of depression (OR 5.99; 95% CI, 1.99-18.02) and haemoglobin levels <12 g/dL (OR 3.00; 95% CI 1.54-5.84) as significant independent factors associated with moderate to high nutritional risk. The model achieved good calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow test's p = 0.17) and discrimination (AUC = 0.80). It retained good calibration and discrimination (bias-corrected AUC = 0.79) under internal validation.
Having advanced stage of cancer, poor performance status, depression and anaemia were found to be predictors of moderate to high nutritional risk. Early identification of patients with these risk factors will allow for nutritional interventions that may improve treatment tolerance, quality of life and survival outcomes.
Treatment intensification with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPi) have led to improved survival in advanced prostate cancer. However, ADT is linked to ...significant cardiovascular toxicity, and ARPi also negatively impacts cardiovascular health. Together with a higher prevalence of baseline cardiovascular risk factors reported among prostate cancer survivors at diagnosis, there is a pressing need to prioritise and optimise cardiovascular health in this population. Firstly, While no dedicated cardiovascular toxicity risk calculators are available, other tools such as SCORE2 can be used for baseline cardiovascular risk assessment. Next, selected patients on combination therapy may benefit from de-escalation of ADT to minimise its toxicities while maintaining cancer control. These patients can be characterised by an exceptional PSA response to hormonal treatment, favourable disease characteristics and competing comorbidities that warrant a less aggressive treatment regime. In addition, emerging molecular and genomic biomarkers hold the potential to identify patients who are suited for a de-escalated treatment approach either with ADT or with ARPi. One such biomarker is AR-V7 splice variant that predicts resistance to ARPi. Lastly, optimization of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors for patients through a coherent framework (ABCDE) and exercise therapy is equally important. This article aims to comprehensively review the cardiovascular impact of hormonal manipulation in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, propose overarching strategies to mitigate cardiovascular toxicity associated with hormonal treatment, and, most importantly, raise awareness about the detrimental cardiovascular effects inherent in our current management strategies involving hormonal agents.
Purpose
Patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers experience many negative emotions. Empathic responses from oncologists can help alleviate their distress. We aimed to assess expressions of ...negative emotions among patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers and oncologists’ empathic responses during consultations in an Asian setting. We also assessed the association between oncologists’ expression of empathy and patients’ and caregivers’ perception of communication quality.
Methods
We surveyed 100 patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers and audio recorded consultations with their oncologists. We coded expressions of negative emotions by patients and caregivers and oncologists’ empathic responses. We also surveyed participating oncologists (
n
= 30) about their confidence in expressing empathy and perceived communication behavior outcomes.
Results
About 52% of patients and 49% of caregivers expressed at least one negative emotion during the consultation, though 59% of patients and 48% of caregivers reported not wanting to discuss negative emotions. Oncologists responded empathically to 12% of patients’ negative emotions and 9% of caregivers’ negative emotions, despite 92% of them reporting confidence in expressing empathy. Oncologists’ expression of empathy did not vary significantly by patient, caregiver, or their own demographic characteristics. It also did not differ based on their confidence in expressing empathy and positive outcome expectations. When oncologists responded empathically just one time, patients perceived communication more favorably.
Conclusions
In this Asian setting, patients and caregivers commonly expressed negative emotions. Oncologists’ expressed empathy infrequently, although when they were empathic, it was related to improved patient perception of communication quality.
Afatinib is an oral irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI) indicated in first-line treatment of advanced EGFR-mutant (EGFRm+) non-small cell lung cancer ...(NSCLC). Dose dependent side effects can limit drug exposure, which may impact on extracranial and central nervous system (CNS) disease control.
We performed a retrospective study of 125 patients diagnosed with advanced EGFRm+ NSCLC treated with first-line afatinib at a tertiary Asian cancer center, exploring clinicopathological factors that may influence survival outcomes. Median progression free survival (PFS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparison of PFS between subgroups of patients was done using log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazards models.
Out of 125 patients, 62 (49.6%) started on 40 mg once daily (OD) afatinib, 61 (48.8%) on 30 mg OD and 1 (0.8%) on 20 mg OD. After median follow-up of 13.8 months from afatinib initiation, the observed response rate was 70.4% and median PFS 11.9 months (95% CI 10.3-19.3). 42 (33.6%) patients had baseline brain metastases (BM) and PFS of those who started on 40 mg OD (n = 17) vs. 30 mg OD (n = 25) was 13.3 months vs. 5.3 months (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.15-0.99). BM+ patients who started on 40 mg had similar PFS to patients with no BM (13.3 months vs. 15.0 months; HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.34-1.80).
In patients with advanced EGFRm+ NSCLC with BM+, initiating patients on afatinib 40 mg OD was associated with improved PFS compared to 30 mg OD, underscoring the potential importance of dose intensity in control of CNS disease.
The cardiotoxicity during immunotherapy administration leads to mortality by more than 42% and heart disease-related mortality among immunotherapy-linked cancers is still considered to be ...underestimated. In this study, the advanced stage of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with heart disease-related death was selected in accordance with immunotherapy approval time. NSCLC was searched on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. Results show that 538 advanced NSCLC cases, those dominated by men and elderly people aged more than 70 years, had a high percentage of heart disease-related death in both eras. The difference between contemporary groups was fairly nonsignificant (
= > 0.05). The overall survival (OS) of all-cause mortality difference showed improved survival in the immunotherapy group (
= 0.0001). In the study of heart disease-related death survival with adjusted data, the NSCLC patients show significant lower survival in the immunotherapy era compared with the nonimmunotherapy era (
= 0.003; hazard ratio HR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.099-1.57). In the multivariate analysis of NSCLC-related immunotherapy, histology revealed that the non-squamous cell type had an independent risk for lower OS than the squamous cell type (
= 0.04; HR= 0.74; CI = 0, 55- 0.99). The results demonstrate the survival benefits for NSCLC in immunotherapy; however, in heart disease-related death, immunotherapy in patients with NSCLC shows decreased OS. This study highlights that NSCLC patients should be highly monitored during immunotherapy administration, and further assessment is needed.
Introduction
A multi-disciplinary approach has often been advocated to improve the delivery of oncological care, as compared to a mono-disciplinary and linear approach. Our study elucidates the ...clinical and patient-reported outcomes from a urologic-oncology multi-disciplinary team (MDT) clinic in a regional general hospital.
Materials and Methods
Patients who attended a uro-oncology MDT clinic which was started in January 2019 were identified. This service was specifically catered to patients who were histologically diagnosed with urological cancers. The MDT service comprised a multi-disciplinary tumour board followed by outpatient clinical consults with representatives from urology, medical and radiation oncology. Demographic variables, disease characteristics and treatment rendered were analysed. A survey was administered to assess patient satisfaction.
Results
Fifty patients with a median age of 70 years with complete case records were identified. The cancer types included prostate cancers (46%), urothelial cancers (26%) and renal cell carcinoma (12%) as the most frequent urological cancers. The median time from MDT to therapy initiation was 8 days. Among those with prostate, urothelial, renal and testicular malignancies, 71% (32/45) of our patients received treatment that were in accordance to guideline recommendations. A post-clinic survey showed that patients were satisfied with the information provided during the clinic and this also facilitated decision and time to initiation of therapy.
Conclusion
A multi-disciplinary service comprising a tumour board followed by a one-stop clinic provides patients with multi-disciplinary care, improved access to subsequent therapy, better time efficiency and high patient satisfaction scores. More studies are warranted to demonstrate its oncological outcomes.
Recent studies have gone to great lengths to differentiate mentoring from teaching, tutoring, role modelling, coaching and supervision in efforts to better understand mentoring processes. This review ...seeks to evaluate the notion that teaching, tutoring, role modelling, coaching and supervision may in fact all be part of the mentoring process. To evaluate this theory, this review scrutinizes current literature on teaching, tutoring, role modelling, coaching and supervision to evaluate their commonalities with prevailing concepts of novice mentoring.
A three staged approach is adopted to evaluate this premise. Stage one involves four systematic reviews on one-to-one learning interactions in teaching, tutoring, role modelling, coaching and supervision within Internal Medicine, published between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2018. Braun and Clarke's (2006) approach to thematic analysis was used to identify key elements within these approaches and facilitate comparisons between them. Stage two provides an updated view of one-to-one mentoring between a senior physician and a medical student or junior doctor to contextualise the discussion. Stage three infuses mentoring into the findings delineated in stage one.
Seventeen thousand four hundred ninety-nine citations were reviewed, 235 full-text articles were reviewed, and 104 articles were thematically analysed. Four themes were identified - characteristics, processes, nature of relationship, and problems faced in each of the four educational roles.
Role modelling, teaching and tutoring, coaching and supervision lie within a mentoring spectrum of increasingly structured interactions, assisted by assessments, feedback and personalised support that culminate with a mentoring approach. Still requiring validation, these findings necessitate a reconceptualization of mentoring and changes to mentor training programs and how mentoring is assessed and supported.
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