Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors including atezolizumab, pembrolizumab and nivolumab has become an essential pillar in the management of muscle invasive and metastatic urothelial carcinoma. The field has evolved quickly in the past few years and several early beliefs have recently been upended. One such belief relates to the predictive value of PD-L1 expression based on immunohistochemistry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrol Oncol
December 2024
Purpose: MiR-371a-3p represents a novel liquid biomarker that detects all histologies of germ-cell tumors (GCT) except teratoma. However, it is currently unclear whether miR-371a-3p results obtained directly from RT-PCR (raw Cq) or normalized for housekeeper genes and transformed into the relative quantity (RQ) value should be used and at what cut-off level. The purpose of this research was to evaluate, which values should be used, and a potential cut-off level for relapse-detection to inform subsequent studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdjuvant immunotherapy has been recently recommended for patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), but there are no tissue biomarkers to predict treatment response in ccRCC. Potential predictive biomarkers are mainly assessed in primary tumor tissue, whereas metastases (METs) remain understudied. To explore potential differences between genomic alterations and immune phenotypes in primary tumors and their matched METs, we analyzed primary tumors (PTs) of 47 ccRCC patients and their matched distant METs by comprehensive targeted parallel sequencing, whole-genome copy number variation analysis, determination of microsatellite instability, and tumor mutational burden.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCirculating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is emerging as a potential biomarker in early-stage urothelial cancer, but its utility in metastatic disease remains unknown. In the phase 3 KEYNOTE-361 study, pembrolizumab with and without chemotherapy was compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer. The study did not meet prespecified efficacy thresholds for statistical significance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: In end-of-life cancer care, 10-20% of bereaved family members experience adverse mental health effects, including prolonged grief disorder. Despite great efforts, evidence-based recommendations to support their grieving process and well-being are often not successfully adopted into routine clinical care. This study identified facilitators and barriers using implementation science methodology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To resolve the ongoing controversy surrounding the impact of teratoma (TER) in the primary among patients with metastatic testicular non-seminomatous germ-cell tumours (NSGCT).
Patients And Methods: Using the International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group (IGCCCG) Update Consortium database, we compared the survival probabilities of patients with metastatic testicular GCT with TER (TER) or without TER (NTER) in their primaries corrected for known prognostic factors. Progression-free survival (5y-PFS) and overall survival at 5 years (5y-OS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method.
Background: Losing a close other to cancer is an incisive experience that occurs after a long course of illness and intense family caregiving. Despite an evident need for family engagement and support and guidance on this, patients and family members may not receive the attention and support they need when a family unit is experiencing a disruption by death. A clear understanding of the quality of care that is currently provided and its ability to address family needs is necessary to improve end-of-life and bereavement support to families affected by cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To investigate the level of adoption of evidence-based family engagement and support during end-of-life cancer care and subsequent bereavement and its contextual facilitators and barriers from health professionals' perspectives, and to explore differences between professional groups.
Design: Contextual analysis using an online cross-sectional survey.
Methods: This study was conducted in four Swiss hospitals and three home care oncology and palliative care services.
Background: The role of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) maintenance therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) is undefined.
Objective: To determine whether switch maintenance therapy with nivolumab improves clinical outcomes in patients with mRCC with tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) sensitivity.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This open-label phase 2 trial randomized patients with a partial response or stable disease after 10-12-wk TKI induction therapy to either TKI or nivolumab maintenance.
Background: Two thirds of patients with germ-cell cancer (GCC) present as clinical stage I (CSI). Following orchiectomy, active surveillance (AS) has become their standard management. However, 15-50% of patients eventually relapse with metastatic disease after AS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe management of prostate cancer is undergoing rapid changes in all disease settings. Novel imaging tools for diagnosis have been introduced, and the treatment of high-risk localized, locally advanced and metastatic disease has changed considerably in recent years. From clinical and health-economic perspectives, a rational and optimal use of the available options is of the utmost importance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Germ-cell cancer (GCC) is curable in the majority of men. However, previous reports have described inferior outcomes in men living in rural as compared to urban residential areas.
Methods: We identified all GCC patients treated at two large university hospitals in Zürich and Bern, both in Switzerland, between 2010 and 2020 by retrospective chart review.
While implanted port catheters ("PORTs") have historically been the standard device for intravenous systemic anticancer therapy, the use of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) has increased continuously and reliable catheter selection guidelines are lacking. We compare complication rates of PORTs and PICCs in cancer treatment in a retrospective study of 3365 patients with both solid organ (n = 2612) and hematologic (n = 753) malignancies, between 2001 and 2021. 26.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patient preferences for treatment outcomes are important to guide decision-making in clinical practice, but little is known about the preferences of patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC).
Objective: To evaluate patient preferences regarding the attributed benefits and harms of systemic treatments for mHSPC and preference heterogeneity between individuals and specific subgroups.
Design Setting And Participants: We conducted an online discrete choice experiment (DCE) preference survey among 77 patients with metastatic prostate cancer (mPC) and 311 men from the general population in Switzerland between November 2021 and August 2022.
Background: Post-chemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (PC-RPLND) is an integral part of the management of patients with metastatic non-seminoma and residual masses >1 cm after chemotherapy.
Aims: To assess perioperative complications and oncological outcomes at two major referral centres in Switzerland.
Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of 136 patients with non-seminoma who underwent PC-RPLND between 2010 and 2020 at the university hospitals of Bern and Zürich.
Introduction: Current evidence shows that serum miR-371a-3p can identify disease recurrence in testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) patients and correlates with tumour load. Despite convincing evidence showing the advantages of including miR-371a-3p testing to complement and overcome the classical serum tumour markers limitations, the successful introduction of a serum miRNA based test into clinical practice has been impeded by a lack of consensus regarding optimal methodologies and lack of a universal protocol and thresholds. Herein, we investigate two quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) based pipelines in detecting disease recurrence in stage I TGCT patients under active surveillance, and compare the sensitivity and specificity for each method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Guidelines recommend primary retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) as a treatment option for tumour marker-negative stage II nonseminomatous germ cell tumour (NSGCT).
Objective: To review the literature on oncological outcomes for men with stage II NSGCT treated with RPLND.
Evidence Acquisition: A systematic review of studies describing clinicopathological outcomes following primary RPLND in stage II NSGCT was conducted in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews databases according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement.
Background: Primary retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) for clinical stage (CS) IIA/B seminoma without adjuvant treatment is an experimental treatment to avoid radiotherapy- or chemotherapy-related toxicity from standard treatment.
Objective: The PRIMETEST trial aimed to prospectively evaluate the oncological efficacy and surgical safety of primary RPLND.
Design, Setting, And Participants: PRIMETEST is a single-arm, single-center prospective phase 2 trial.
Background: Standard treatment options for patients with stage IIA or stage IIB seminoma include either para-aortic and pelvic radiotherapy or three to four cycles of cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy. These options result in 3-year progression free survival rates of at least 90%, but bear risks for acute and late toxic effects, including secondary malignancies. We tested a novel approach combining de-escalated chemotherapy with de-escalated involved node radiotherapy, with the aim of reducing toxicity while preserving efficacy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma is currently undergoing a rapid evolution.
Objective: This overview presents the updated European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines for metastatic urothelial carcinoma.
Evidence Acquisition: A comprehensive scoping exercise covering the topic of metastatic urothelial carcinoma is performed annually by the Guidelines Panel.
Approximately 420 men are diagnosed with germ-cell cancer (GCC) in Switzerland each year. Recent international guidelines outline management issues, but many aspects remain controversial in an area of highly individualised treatments. Even more than in other tumour types, in GCC the challenge is to choose exactly the correct treatment for an individual patient.
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