Point of Care Liquid Biopsy for Cancer Treatment-Early Experience from a Community Center.

Liquid biopsy is rapidly becoming an indispensable tool in the oncologist's arsenal; however, this technique remains elusive in a publicly funded healthcare system, and real-world evidence is needed to demonstrate utility and feasibility. Here, we describe the first experience of an in-house point of care liquid biopsy program at a Canadian community hospital. A retrospective review of consecutive cases that underwent plasma-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) was conducted.

Regionalization and Outcomes of Lung Cancer Surgery in Ontario, Canada.

Purpose Regionalization of complex surgery to high-volume hospitals has been advocated based on cross-sectional volume-outcome studies. In April 2007, the agency overseeing cancer care in Ontario, Canada, implemented a policy to regionalize lung cancer surgery at 14 designated hospitals, enforced by economic incentives and penalties. We studied the effects of implementation of this policy.

Invasive Mediastinal Staging Guideline Concordance.

Background: Despite guidelines for preoperative invasive mediastinal staging (IMS) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), concordance with guidelines and whether the use of these guidelines results in expected frequency of lymph node metastases has not been evaluated. Our objectives were to determine guideline concordance, reasons for nonconcordance, and, in patients who did not receive IMS, to determine the use of operative nodal sampling and final pathologic staging.

Methods: Patients who had a resection for NSCLC between 2010 and 2012 were identified from the Institutional Cancer Registry.

Evaluation of the Mediastinum: Differentiating Between Stations 4L, 5, and 6 Using EBUS and EUS.

Correct identification of mediastinal lymph node stations with endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) requires knowledge of their ultrasonic anatomical positions and relations. The ultrasonic positions of the lymph node stations located in and around the aortopulmonary window (stations 4L, 5, and 6) can be more challenging to understand. The aim of this report is to describe the endosonographic anatomic positions of stations 4L, 5, and 6 and to demonstrate their locations using EUS and EBUS.

Surgery and Surgical Consult Rates for Early Stage Lung Cancer in Ontario: A Population-Based Study.

Background: Surgery offers the best chance for survival for early (stage I and II) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but worldwide resection rates range from 49% to 77%. We investigated factors that may play a role in resection rates.

Methods: Using administrative data, new diagnoses of NSCLC from 2010 through 2012 were captured.

Overview of lung cancer surgery in Ontario.

Background: Surgery is the primary curative treatment for lung cancer and thus appropriate surgical resource allocation is critical. This study describes the distribution of lung cancer incidence and surgical care in Ontario, a Canadian province with universal health care, for the fiscal year of 2004.

Methods: All new lung cancer cases in Ontario between April 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004 were identified in the Ontario Cancer Registry.

The effect of regionalization on outcome in pulmonary lobectomy: a Canadian national study.

Objective: To examine the effect of regionalization of thoracic surgery services in Canada by evaluating change over time in hospital volumes of pulmonary lobectomy and its impact on length of stay and in-hospital mortality.

Methods: Data on pulmonary lobectomy between 1999 and 2007 were abstracted from the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database. In-hospital mortality was analyzed by logistic regression, and log-transformed length of stay was analyzed by linear regression.