Publications by authors named "Donna Howe"
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to compare the effectiveness of 6 months versus 12 months of adjuvant trastuzumab in treating HER2-positive early breast cancer, with the main goal of determining if the shorter duration was as effective in preventing disease recurrence after 4 years.
- Conducted as a Phase III randomized controlled trial across 152 NHS hospitals, it involved 4,088 patients who were randomly assigned to receive either 6 or 12 months of trastuzumab treatment alongside chemotherapy.
- The primary outcome measured was disease-free survival, while secondary outcomes included overall survival, cost-effectiveness, and cardiac function, with an emphasis on showing that the shorter treatment duration remains within a non-inferiority
Article Synopsis
- A study investigated whether a shorter 6-month treatment of trastuzumab for HER2-positive early breast cancer is as effective as the standard 12-month treatment in improving disease-free survival.
- This was a large, randomized trial involving over 4,000 patients from 152 centers in the UK, comparing the two treatment durations.
- Results showed that the 4-year disease-free survival rates were similar for both groups, with 89.4% for the 6-month treatment and 89.8% for the 12-month treatment, indicating that shorter treatment could be a viable option.
Background: Twelve months treatment is the current standard of care for adjuvant trastuzumab in patients with HER2 positive early breast cancer however the optimal duration is not known. Persephone is a non-inferiority randomised controlled trial comparing 6- to 12-months of trastuzumab. In this trial there will be a trade-off between a possible small decrease in disease-free survival (DFS) with 6-months and reduced cardiotoxicity and cost.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Objective: We demonstrate the feasibility and utility of emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance using a regional emergency medicine Internet application to minimize impact on ED and public health staffing.
Methods: Regional (multi-ED) surveillance was established for 2 periods, one characterized by a high-profile national sports event and the other during an international disease outbreak. Counts of patient visits meeting syndrome criteria and total patient visits were reported daily on the secure regional emergency medicine Internet site and downloaded by public health staff.
The public health dashboard: a surveillance model for bioterrorism preparedness.
J Public Health Manag Pract
September 2004
The City of Milwaukee Health Department piloted a short-term, near real-time syndromic surveillance and communication tool by using an existing secure regional Internet infrastructure. Voluntary, active syndromic case reporting by hospital Emergency Departments was combined with other data streams, including clinical laboratory reports of communicable disease, hospital emergency room diversions, ambulance runs, medical examiner reports of unusual or suspicious deaths, poison control and nursing hotline call volumes, and pharmacy over-the-counter sales. These data were aggregated into a "Surveillance Dashboard" format that was used to communicate community syndromic health trends to hospitals, Emergency Departments, and other providers using a secure Internet technology.
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