Publications by authors named "B S Sheffield"

Gastric cancer is common globally and has a generally poor prognosis with a low 5-year survival rate. Targeted therapies and immunotherapies have improved the treatment landscape, providing more options for efficacious treatment. The use of these therapies requires predictive biomarker testing to identify patients who can benefit from their use.

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Therapeutic strategies for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are advancing, with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and targeted therapies making their way into neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings. With recent advances, there was a need for multidisciplinary lung cancer healthcare providers from across Ontario to convene and review recent data from practical and implementation standpoints. The focus was on the following questions: (1) To what extent do patient (e.

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Treatment options for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are evolving, given recent and expected approvals of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed cell death-(ligand) 1 (PD-1/PD-L1). We retrospectively evaluated outcomes among patients with resected stage IB-IIIA NSCLC tumors expressing PD-L1 using PALEOS (Pan-cAnadian Lung cancEr Observational Study) data (2016-2019). Key outcomes included PD-L1 expression rate and treatment patterns, recurrence, and median overall (mOS) and disease-free survival (mDFS) among PD-L1+ patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • Lung cancer is the top cause of cancer deaths in Canada, with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) being the most common type.
  • Timely molecular profiling using tissue biopsies is crucial for choosing effective targeted therapies, but challenges often lead to delays in testing and treatment.
  • A multidisciplinary team in Ontario has proposed criteria for reimbursing liquid biopsies, which analyze tumor DNA in blood and could provide a quicker, less invasive alternative to tissue biopsies, aiming to improve treatment access and outcomes.
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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.

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