A comparative analysis of IDH-mutant glioma in pediatric, young adult, and older adult patients.

Background: The frequency and significance of IDH mutations in glioma across age groups are incompletely understood. We performed a multi-center retrospective age-stratified comparison of patients with IDH-mutant gliomas to identify age-specific differences in clinico-genomic features, treatments, and outcomes.

Methods: Clinical, histologic, and sequencing data from patients with IDH-mutant, grades 2-4 gliomas, were collected from collaborating institutions between 2013 and 2019.

Two-stage subgroup-specific time-to-event (2S-Sub-TITE): An adaptive two-stage time-to-toxicity design for subgroup-specific dose finding in phase I oncology trials.

For phase I trials, the subgroup-specific time-to-event (Sub-TITE) design identifies the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) separately in 2+ heterogeneous patient subgroups. Sub-TITE allows borrowing strength and dynamic clustering across subgroups from the trial's start, but delaying the initiation of borrowing and clustering may improve trial accuracy. We propose the 2-stage Sub-TITE (2S-Sub-TITE) design in which the trial starts by estimating separate models per subgroup, and then initiates the Sub-TITE design at some pre-specified point of patient accrual.

Early parental knowledge of late effect risks in children with cancer.

Background/objectives: Despite the pervasiveness of late effects in childhood cancer survivors, many parents feel inadequately informed about their child's risks. We assessed early parental knowledge of risks of late effects and predictors of increased knowledge.

Design/methods: Parents of children receiving cancer treatment at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center were surveyed about their knowledge of their child's likelihood of eight late effects.

Race, ethnicity, and goal-concordance of end-of-life palliative care in pediatric oncology.

Background: Racial and ethnic minority children with cancer disproportionately receive intensive care at the end of life (EOL). It is not known whether these differences are goal-concordant or disparities. The authors sought to explore patterns of pediatric palliative care (PPC) and health care utilization in pediatric oncology patients receiving subspecialty palliative care at the end-of-life (last 6 months) and to examine goal-concordance of location of death in a subset of these patients.