Cancer
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Comparative Study
Improved survival for BRCA2-associated serous ovarian cancer compared with both BRCA-negative and BRCA1-associated serous ovarian cancer.
Multiple observational studies have suggested that breast cancer gene (BRCA)-associated ovarian cancers have improved survival compared with BRCA-negative ovarian cancers. However, most of those studies combined BRCA1 and BRCA2 patients or evaluated only BRCA1 patients. The objective of the current study was to examine whether BRCA1-associated and BRCA2-associated ovarian cancers were associated with different outcomes. ⋯ The current data suggests that BRCA2 mutations confer an overall survival advantage compared with either being BRCA-negative or having a BRCA1 mutation in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. This finding may have important implications for clinical trial design.
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Cancer pain initiatives recommend using the personalized pain goal to tailor pain management. This study was conducted to examine the feasibility and stability of personalized pain goal, and how it compares to the clinical pain response criteria. ⋯ Personalized pain goal is a simple patient-reported outcome for pain goals. The majority of patients were capable of stating their desired level for pain relief. The median personalized pain goal was 3, and it was highly stable at follow-up assessment.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Long-term follow-up of patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy for large, extremity soft tissue sarcomas.
Patients with large, high-grade, extremity soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are at significant risk for distant recurrence and death. A regimen of preoperative chemotherapy consisting of mesna, Adriamycin (doxorubicin), ifosfamide, and dacarbazine (MAID), interdigitated with radiotherapy (RT) and followed by resection and postoperative chemotherapy with or without RT, has demonstrated high rates of local and distant control. We report the long-term follow-up data on 48 patients treated with this regimen compared to an historical matched-control patient population. ⋯ For patients with high-risk, extremity STS, the significant survival benefits conferred by an intense regimen of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and surgery are sustained even with long-term follow-up.