Consensus statement for metastatic surveillance of uveal melanoma in Scotland.

Ophthalmic treatments are successful in managing uveal melanomas achieving good local control. However, a large number still metastasise, primarily to the liver, resulting in mortality. There is no consensus across the world on the mode, frequency, duration or utility of regular liver surveillance for metastasis and there are no published protocols.

Outcomes following Notched Ruthenium-106 Plaque Brachytherapy for Juxtapapillary Choroidal Melanomas.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of juxtapapillary choroidal melanomas treated with notched ruthenium-106 plaques.

Methods: Juxtapapillary choroidal melanomas (tumours within 2 disc diameters from the optic disc) treated with notched ruthenium-106 plaques (Eckert & Ziegler, BEBIG, Berlin, Germany) at the Scottish Ocular Oncology Service between 2009 and 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. The data were analysed with respect to various outcome measures including recurrence, complications, vision, and eye preservation.

Synchronous versus sequential chemo-radiotherapy in patients with early stage breast cancer (SECRAB): A randomised, phase III, trial.

Background: The optimal sequence of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy for breast cancer is unknown. SECRAB assesses whether local control can be improved without increased toxicity.

Methods: SECRAB was a prospective, open-label, multi-centre, phase III trial comparing synchronous to sequential chemo-radiotherapy, conducted in 48 UK centres.

Effect of Adjuvant Trastuzumab for a Duration of 9 Weeks vs 1 Year With Concomitant Chemotherapy for Early Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Breast Cancer: The SOLD Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Trastuzumab plus chemotherapy is the standard adjuvant treatment for patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive early breast cancer. While the standard duration of trastuzumab treatment is 12 months, the benefits and harms of trastuzumab continued beyond the chemotherapy are unclear.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant trastuzumab continued beyond chemotherapy in women treated with up-front chemotherapy containing a taxane and trastuzumab.

Combined immunosuppression and radiotherapy in thyroid eye disease (CIRTED): a multicentre, 2 × 2 factorial, double-blind, randomised controlled trial.

Background: Standard treatment for thyroid eye disease is with systemic corticosteroids. We aimed to establish whether orbital radiotherapy or antiproliferative immunosuppression would confer any additional benefit.

Methods: CIRTED was a multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial with a 2 × 2 factorial design done at six centres in the UK.

Use of Ruthenium-106 Brachytherapy for Iris Melanoma: The Scottish Experience.

Purpose: To analyse long-term outcomes of ruthenium-106 (Ru) plaque brachytherapy for the treatment of iris melanoma.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 19 consecutive patients with pure iris melanoma treated with Ru plaque brachytherapy between 1998 and 2016 at the Scottish Ophthalmic Oncology Service, Glasgow. The iris melanoma was treated with a ruthenium plaque placed on the corneal surface to deliver a surface dose of 555 Gy.

Addition of gemcitabine to paclitaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide adjuvant chemotherapy for women with early-stage breast cancer (tAnGo): final 10-year follow-up of an open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: The tAnGo trial was designed to investigate the potential role of gemcitabine when added to anthracycline and taxane-containing adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer. When this study was developed, gemcitabine had shown significant activity in metastatic breast cancer, and there was evidence of a favourable interaction with paclitaxel.

Methods: tAnGo was an international, open-label, randomised, phase 3 superiority trial that enrolled women aged 18 years or older with newly diagnosed, early-stage breast cancer who had a definite indication for chemotherapy, any nodal status, any hormone receptor status, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-1, and adequate bone marrow, hepatic, and renal function.

A phase III study of lenalidomide maintenance after debulking therapy in patients with advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphoma - EORTC 21081 (NCT01098656): results and lessons learned for future trial designs.

EORTC 21081 was a randomized phase III study of observation alone versus lenalidomide maintenance (25 mg po for 21 days) after debulking therapy in patients with advanced-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCLs). The aim was to investigate whether maintenance treatment with lenalidomide prolonged response after debulking in patients who had not been previously treated with intravenous chemotherapy. A total of 26 centres from 10 different European countries registered 30 patients with advanced CTCL.

Loading dose ibandronate versus standard oral ibandronate in patients with bone metastases from breast cancer.

Introduction: In this phase II trial, the efficacy and safety of loading-dose I.V. ibandronate in patients with breast cancer with bone metastases were evaluated.

Adjuvant zoledronic acid in patients with early breast cancer: final efficacy analysis of the AZURE (BIG 01/04) randomised open-label phase 3 trial.

Background: The role of adjuvant bisphosphonates in early breast cancer is uncertain. We therefore did a large randomised trial to investigate the effect of the adjuvant use of zoledronic acid on disease-free survival (DFS) in high-risk patients with early breast cancer.

Methods: In the AZURE trial, an open-label, international, multicentre, randomised, controlled, parallel-group phase 3 trial, women (age ≥18 years) with stage II or III breast cancer were randomly assigned (1:1) by a central automated 24-h computer-generated telephone minimisation system (balanced for number of involved axillary lymph nodes, tumour stage, oestrogen receptor status, type and timing of systemic therapy, menopausal status, statin use, and treatment centre) to receive standard adjuvant systemic treatment alone (control group) or with 4 mg intravenous zoledronic acid every 3-4 weeks for six doses, then every 3 months for eight doses, followed by every 6 months for five doses, for a total of 5 years of treatment.

Effects of the addition of gemcitabine, and paclitaxel-first sequencing, in neoadjuvant sequential epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, and paclitaxel for women with high-risk early breast cancer (Neo-tAnGo): an open-label, 2×2 factorial randomised phase 3 trial.

Background: Anthracyclines and taxanes have been the standard neoadjuvant chemotherapies for breast cancer in the past decade. We aimed to assess safety and efficacy of the addition of gemcitabine to accelerated paclitaxel with epirubicin and cyclophosphamide, and also the effect of sequencing the blocks of epirubicin and cyclophosphamide and paclitaxel (with or without gemcitabine).

Methods: In our randomised, open-label, 2×2 factorial phase 3 trial (Neo-tAnGo), we enrolled women (aged >18 years) with newly diagnosed breast cancer (tumour size >20 mm) at 57 centres in the UK.

Bone-related complications and quality of life in advanced breast cancer: results from a randomized phase III trial of denosumab versus zoledronic acid.

Purpose: Denosumab was shown to be superior to zoledronic acid in preventing skeletal related events (SRE) in patients with breast cancer and bone metastases in a randomized, double-blind phase III study. We evaluated further results from this study related to skeletal complications and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Experimental Design: Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive subcutaneous denosumab 120 mg (n = 1,026) and intravenous placebo, or intravenous zoledronic acid 4 mg (n = 1,020) and subcutaneous placebo every 4 weeks.

Five-year follow-up of participants in a randomised controlled trial showing benefits from exercise for breast cancer survivors during adjuvant treatment. Are there lasting effects?

Purpose: In an earlier randomised controlled trial, we showed that early stage breast cancer patients who received a supervised exercise programme, with discussion of behaviour change techniques, had psychological and functional benefits 6 months after the intervention. The purpose of this study was to determine if benefits observed at 6 months persisted 18 and 60 months later.

Methods: Women who were in the original trial were contacted at 18 and 60 months after intervention.

Low dose orbital radiotherapy for thyroid eye disease.

Purpose: The use of low dose orbital radiotherapy for thyroid eye disease (TED) remains controversial. This is a review of patients with TED treated with radiotherapy in our department over the last twelve years.

Methods And Materials: Fifty-nine consecutive patients received low dose orbital radiotherapy of 20 Gray (Gy) for active TED at the Beatson Oncology Centre.

Breast-cancer adjuvant therapy with zoledronic acid.

Background: Data suggest that the adjuvant use of bisphosphonates reduces rates of recurrence and death in patients with early-stage breast cancer. We conducted a study to determine whether treatment with zoledronic acid, in addition to standard adjuvant therapy, would improve disease outcomes in such patients.

Methods: In this open-label phase 3 study, we randomly assigned 3360 patients to receive standard adjuvant systemic therapy either with or without zoledronic acid.

Treatment review of sight threatening circumscribed choroidal haemangioma.

Aim: To describe our clinical experience in treating circumscribed choroidal haemangioma (CCH) in a tertiary referral centre over a fifteen year period prior to photodynamic therapy.

Methods: The departmental database and photographic records of a tertiary referral center were used to identify patients who were treated for CCH between 1992 and 2007. Their case records were reviewed.

Benefits of supervised group exercise programme for women being treated for early stage breast cancer: pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To determine functional and psychological benefits of a 12 week supervised group exercise programme during treatment for early stage breast cancer, with six month follow-up.

Design: Pragmatic randomised controlled prospective open trial.

Setting: Three National Health Service oncology clinics in Scotland and community exercise facilities.

'I wouldn't have been interested in just sitting round a table talking about cancer'; exploring the experiences of women with breast cancer in a group exercise trial.

There is evidence that physical activity improves the psychological and physical health of patients with cancer. However, relatively little attention has been paid to understanding their experiences of exercise. This focus group study explored the experiences of women undergoing treatment for breast cancer who had taken part in a supervised group exercise trial.

Locally advanced breast cancer in octogenarian women.

Elderly patients are more likely to present with locally advanced breast cancer than younger patients. Furthermore, due to the accelerated aging of the western population, the incidence of breast cancer in this population is expected to steadily rise in the coming decades. So far, no guidelines are available for the management of octogenarian patients presenting with inoperable disease, what frequently results in a dilemma for the treating physician.