A Nordic-Baltic perspective on indications for proton therapy with strategies for identification of proper patients.

The beneficial effects of protons are primarily based on reduction of low to intermediate radiation dose bath to normal tissue surrounding the radiotherapy target volume. Despite promise for reduced long-term toxicity, the percentage of cancer patients treated with proton therapy remains low. This is probably caused by technical improvements in planning and delivery of photon therapy, and by high cost, low availability and lack of high-level evidence on proton therapy.

A randomized phase III trial in patients with recurrent platinum sensitive ovarian cancer comparing efficacy and safety of paclitaxel micellar and Cremophor EL-paclitaxel.

Objective: Paclitaxel micellar was developed to avoid Cremophor-EL (Cr-EL) associated dose limiting toxicity and to allow a shorter infusion time. The efficacy and safety of paclitaxel micellar (+carboplatin) was compared to Cr-EL paclitaxel (+carboplatin) in recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian, fallopian tube or peritoneal carcinoma.

Methods: This was a multicentre, open-label, randomized phase III trial.

Initial experience with introducing national guidelines for CT- and MRI-based delineation of organs at risk in radiotherapy.

A fundamental problem in radiotherapy is the variation of organ at risk (OAR) volumes. Here we present our initial experience in engaging a large Radiation Oncology (RO) community to agree on national guidelines for OAR delineations. Our project builds on associated standardization initiatives and invites professionals from all radiotherapy departments nationwide.

Real-World Use and Outcomes of Olaparib: a Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background: Although olaparib, the first poly (adenosine diphosphate [ADP]-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor approved, has been used in routine clinical practice for over three years, little has been published on its uptake, utilization patterns, and clinical outcomes.

Objective: To examine real-world use and outcomes of olaparib treatment in Swedish patients during the first three years following regulatory approval.

Patients And Methods: This is a population-based cohort study using data from the Swedish national registers.

[Survival increases for all cancer diagnoses - but inequality persists].

New data show a continuously increased five-year survival for almost all analyzed cancer diagnoses since 1990. It has to be emphasized that the figures are uncertain due to the limited number of patients. The variation is huge and the greatest improvements are seen not least among the three major tumor diseases (breast, colorectal and prostate cancer), where the society, industry and research bodies made the biggest investments over the years.

Long-term survival in women with borderline ovarian tumors: a population-based survey of borderline ovarian tumors in Sweden 1960-2007.

Introduction: We conducted an evaluation of incidence and survival of women with borderline ovarian tumors in Sweden.

Material And Methods: All women diagnosed with borderline ovarian tumor in the Swedish Cancer Register 1960-2007 (n = 6252) combined with follow up in the Swedish Death Registry to 1 July 2009 were included. Estimation of age-standardized relative survival rate according to time periods for diagnosis.

[Hope for improvement of survival in ovarian cancer].

Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of death from a gynecologic cancer. Every year around 700 women contracts ovarian cancer in Sweden. The overall survival is among the highest in Europe, but still long term relative survival is only 46%.

Panitumumab and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer with KRAS wild-type: the PaLiDo study, a phase II nonrandomized multicenter study.

Objective: The increasing number of negative trials for ovarian cancer treatment has prompted an evaluation of new biologic agents, which in combination with chemotherapy may improve survival. The aim of this study was to investigate the response rate in platinum-resistant, KRAS wild-type ovarian cancer patients treated with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) supplemented with panitumumab.

Patients And Methods: Major eligibility criteria were relapsed ovarian/fallopian/peritoneal cancer patients with platinum-resistant disease, measurable disease by GCIG CA125 criteria and KRAS wild-type.

Correlation of HLA-A02* genotype and HLA class I antigen down-regulation with the prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Background: In recent years, evidence is accumulating that cancer cells develop strategies to escape immune recognition. HLA class I HC down-regulation is one of the most investigated. In addition, different HLA haplotypes are known to correlate to both risk of acquiring diseases and also prognosis in survival of disease or cancer.

The common Scandinavian human leucocyte antigen ancestral haplotype 62.1 as prognostic factor in patients with advanced malignant melanoma.

Purpose: We have previously demonstrated an association of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA), HLA-A2 allele with ovarian and prostate cancer mortality as well as a segregation of the ancestral HLA haplotype (AHH) 62.1 [(A2) B15 Cw3 DRB1*04] in patients with stage III-IV serous ovarian cancer. The objective of the present study was to determine the role of the HLA phenotype on the prognosis in stage III-IV malignant melanoma patients.

Predictors of ovarian cancer survival: a population-based prospective study in Sweden.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancies among women worldwide. Little is known about reproductive factors or lifestyle determinants and ovarian cancer prognosis. The objective of this study was to examine whether ovarian cancer survival is influenced by reproductive history, anthropometric characteristics, prediagnostic life-style factors and family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

Ovarian epithelial neoplasia after hormonal infertility treatment: long-term follow-up of a historical cohort in Sweden.

Objective: To study the association between hormonal infertility treatment and ovarian neoplasia.

Design: Historical cohort study.

Setting: Three university hospitals in Sweden.

Analysis of HLA class I-II haplotype frequency and segregation in a cohort of patients with advanced stage ovarian cancer.

In solid tumors, human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-A2 has been suggested to be a risk factor and a negative prognostic factor. The HLA-A2 allele in Scandinavia has a high prevalence; it decreases with latitude and also with ovarian cancer mortality in Europe. Furthermore, an association of the HLA-A2 allele with severe prognosis in serous adenocarcinoma of the ovary in stages III-IV was found.

Use of hormone replacement therapy before and after ovarian cancer diagnosis and ovarian cancer survival.

Use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been hypothesized to affect survival of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). We studied 5-year survival in patients with invasive EOC and borderline ovarian tumors (BOT) according to HRT use before and after diagnosis in a prospective nation-wide cohort study of 799 women diagnosed with EOC (n = 649) and BOT (n = 150) aged 50-74 years in 1993-1995 in Sweden. Cox regression was used to obtain multivariate age-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Human leucocyte antigen (HLA) A2 as a negative clinical prognostic factor in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

Objectives: Major histocompatibility complex antigens are mandatory for the immune response, and a genetic imbalance may be linked to tumor escape. We have previously characterized a cluster of ovarian cancer patients with high incidence of HLA-A2. To find a prognostic relevance, the presence of HLA-A2 was correlated to defined clinical parameters.

Correlation between HLA-A2 gene frequency, latitude, ovarian and prostate cancer mortality rates.

Molecular-target therapies are novel approaches to the treatment of prostate and ovarian cancer, but to ensure the best response, a very careful selection of patients, based on immunological characteristics, must be performed. We screened for HLA type, 24 patients with advanced ovarian cancer and 26 patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer, in order to be recruited to vaccine protocols. HLA typing was performed with PCR in ovarian cancer patients and with serological assay in prostate cancer patients.

Risk of ovarian cancer in breast-cancer patients with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Patients with breast cancer who have mutations in the high penetrance genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, have an increased risk of ovarian cancer. Because these mutations are rare, easily obtained information such as age and family history of breast or ovarian cancer might be preferable for assessment of ovarian cancer risk in clinical practice.

Methods: We linked data from the Swedish Cancer Register to the Swedish Generation Register and generated a cohort of 30552 breast-cancer patients born after 1931, with information on breast and ovarian cancer diagnosis from 146117 first-degree relatives.

p53 mutations in leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome after ovarian cancer.

Purpose: Although p53 mutations occur in alkylating agent-related leukemias, their frequency and spectrum in leukemias after ovarian cancer have not been addressed. The purpose of this study was to examine p53 mutations in leukemias after ovarian cancer, for which treatment with platinum analogues was widely used.

Experimental Design: Adequate leukemic or dysplastic cells were available in 17 of 82 cases of leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome that occurred in a multicenter, population-based cohort of 23,170 women with ovarian cancer.

Breast cancer risk in women with a primary ovarian cancer--a case-control study.

Register-based studies show that women with ovarian cancer are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. Primary suggested explanations are heredity factors and a common hormonal aetiology. However, clinical surveillance that is provided for cancer patients during, and after, treatment of their primary malignancies together with possible mistakes in the registering procedures could affect the risk estimates.

Treatment-associated leukemia following testicular cancer.

Background: Men with testicular cancer are at an increased risk of leukemia, but the relationship to prior treatments is not well characterized. The purpose of our study was to describe the risk of leukemia following radiotherapy and chemotherapy for testicular cancer.

Methods: Within a population-based cohort of 18 567 patients diagnosed with testicular cancer (from 1970 through 1993), a case-control study of leukemia was undertaken.

Overestimated risk of second primary malignancies in ovarian cancer patients.

Registry-based cohort studies have established an increased risk of developing second primary malignancies (SPM) in patients with a primary ovarian cancer. In order to examine the accuracy of cancer registration with emphasis on registration of SPM, 344 women with ovarian cancer and 379 subsequent SPM, registered between 1958 and 1992 in the Stockholm-Gotland Cancer Registry (SGCR), a division of the Swedish Cancer Registry (SCR), were investigated. Complete records including pathology reports were examined and an additional histopathological evaluation was conducted for a sample of the group.

Risk of leukemia after platinum-based chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.

Background: Platinum-based chemotherapy is the cornerstone of modern treatment for ovarian, testicular, and other cancers, but few investigations have quantified the late sequelae of such treatment.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study of secondary leukemia in a population-based cohort of 28,971 women in North America and Europe who had received a diagnosis of invasive ovarian cancer between 1980 and 1993. Leukemia developed after the administration of platinum-based therapy in 96 women.