Curr Oncol
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The emergence of covid-19 has the potential to change the way in which the health care system can accommodate various patient populations and might affect patients with non-covid-19 problems. The Quebec Lung Cancer Network, which oversees thoracic oncology services in the province of Quebec under the direction of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, convened to develop recommendations to deal with the potential disruption of services in thoracic oncology in the province of Quebec. The summary provided here has been adapted from the original document posted on the Programme québécois du cancer Web site at: https://www.msss.gouv.qc.ca/professionnels/documents/coronavirus-2019-ncov/PJ1_Recommandations_oncologie-thoracique-200415.pdf. ⋯ The effect of the covid-19 pandemic on the health care system remains unpredictable and requires that cancer teams unite and offer the most efficient and innovative therapies to all patients under the various conditions that might be forced upon them.
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To date, the role of adjuvant systemic therapy in stages ii and iii colon cancer remains a topic of interest and debate. The objective of the present review was to assess the most recent data, specifically addressing methods of risk stratification, duration of therapy, and future directions. ⋯ Locoregional disease, histopathology, age, laterality, and a number of other biologic and molecular markers appear to have a role in disease risk stratification. The duration of adjuvant therapy for stage iii disease can vary based on risk factors, but use of adjuvant therapy and duration of therapy in stage ii disease remain controversial. Future directions should include genomic assays and improved study design to provide concrete evidence about the duration of adjuvant folfox or capox and about other types of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
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Medullary thyroid carcinoma (mtc) is a rare malignancy of the thyroid gland, and raising awareness of the recommended diagnostic workup and pathologic characteristics of this malignancy is therefore important. ⋯ Although the initial diagnosis of a suspicious thyroid nodule is the same for differentiated thyroid carcinoma and mtc, the remainder of the workup and diagnosis for mtc is distinct.
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Paraneoplastic neurologic syndrome (pns) is a rare condition indirectly caused by an underlying malignancy. In many cases, the malignancy is occult at the time of the pns diagnosis, and the optimal diagnostic modality to detect the underlying tumour is unclear. In the present study, we aimed to assess the utility of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (fdg-pet) or pet integrated with computed tomography (pet/ct) in the investigation of these patients. ⋯ When investigating for underlying malignancy in patients with suspected pns and negative conventional imaging, pet has high sensitivity and specificity.
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Radiation oncology (ro) is one of several specialties identified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada with employment difficulties for graduating trainees. The purpose of the present study was to determine the employment status and location of recent Canadian ro trainees within 2 years after graduation, to monitor workforce recruitment trends over time, and to capture the opinions of program directors about employment difficulty for graduates and resident morale. Visa trainee graduates were excluded. ⋯ Employment challenges for newly certified Canadian-trained radiation oncologists continue. However, compared with the situation 2 years ago, trends in the Canadian ro job market suggest a modest improvement, with more staff employment in Canada and lower emigration rates for jobs abroad.