European journal of cancer : official journal for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) [and] European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
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The clinical impact of the positivity of the Deauville scale (DS) of positron emission tomography (PET) performed at the end of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine (ABVD) in patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), in terms of providing rationale to shift poor responders onto a more intensive regimen, remain to be validated by histopathology. ⋯ DS positivity of end-of-ABVD PET in advanced HL carried a certain number of CNCB-proven non-malignant FDG-uptakes. The DS 4 scores which were found to have negative histology appeared to benefit from continuing the original non-intensive therapeutic plane as indicated by the successful outcome in more than 95% of them by obtaining similar 5-year PFS to the PET6-negative group. By contrast, the DS 5 score had consistently positive histology and was associated with unsuccessful conventional therapy, promptly requiring treatment intensification or innovative therapeutic approaches.
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Whether risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) in BRCA1/2 carriers reduces the breast cancer (BC) risk is conflicting, potentially due to methodological issues of prior analysis. We analysed the association between premenopausal RRSO and BC risk in BRCA1/2 carriers after adjusting for potential biases. ⋯ Premenopausal RRSO was associated with BC risk reduction in BRCA1 carriers, which can help guide cancer risk-reducing strategies in this population. Longer follow-up and larger sample size may be needed to estimate the potential benefit in BRCA2 carriers.
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The outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-related disease (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) has spread rapidly to a pandemic proportion, increasing the demands on health systems for the containment and management of COVID-19. Cancer has been reported as a major risk factor for adverse outcomes of and death from COVID-19. We extracted data from the World Health Organization's progress reports and from the Italian Council of Medicine. ⋯ None of the patients receiving immunotherapy experienced severe adverse outcomes, and four patients were discharged with complete reversal of the clinical syndrome and SARS-CoV-2 clearance. Learning from the experience of countries with a high burden, efforts must be made to assure the access of patients with cancer to treatments, prioritising the cancer health interventions based on their intrinsic value and limiting the exposure to an unacceptable risk of infection for both health providers and patients. Any significant work in the design and implementation of health system actions, including clinical care, must be framed as an initiative under the global response agenda and through a community approach, with the intention of pursuing common goals to tackle COVID-19 and cancer, as 'One Community' working for 'One Health's.
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Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, it is known that the severe course of the disease occurs mostly among the elderly, whereas it is rare among children and young adults. Comorbidities, in particular, diabetes and hypertension, clearly associated with age, besides obesity and smoke, are strongly associated with the need for intensive treatment and a dismal outcome. A weaker immunity of the elderly has been proposed as a possible explanation of this uneven age distribution. Thus, there is concern that children treated for cancer may allso be at risk for an unfavourable course of infection. Along the same line, anecdotal information from Wuhan, China, mentioned a severe course of COVID-19 in a child treated for leukaemia. ⋯ Thus, even children receiving anticancer chemotherapy may have a mild or asymptomatic course of COVID-19. While we should not underestimate the risk of developing a more severe course of COVID-19 than that observed here, the intensity of preventive measures should not cause delays or obstructions in oncological treatment.
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The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 pandemic is a global health problem, which started to affect China by the end of 2019. In Europe, Italy has faced this novel disease entity (named novel coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) first and severely. COVID-19 represents a significant hurdle for public health services and a potential harm for patients with cancer. ⋯ Results of this survey suggest that Italian oncology departments have promptly set a proactive approach to the actual emergency. Oncologists need to preserve the continuum of care of patients, as the benefit of ensuring a well-delivered anti-cancer treatment plan outweighs the risk of COVID-19 infection. International cooperation is an important starting point, as heavily affected nations can serve as an example to find out ways to safely preserve health activity during the pandemic.