Comparing Combination vs Monochemotherapy in Late-Elderly Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: Insights From a Single-Center Study.

Objectives: The incidence of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) increases with age and is frequently diagnosed at an inoperable stage, which limits treatment options. There is limited evidence concerning patients over 75 years old, and clinical practice often lacks clear guidance regarding the choice of first-line therapy. The primary objective of this retrospective study was to assess overall survival (OS) in elderly patients receiving first-line monochemotherapy vs combination therapy.

COVID-19 Vaccination in Cancer Patients Older Than 70 Years Undergoing Active Treatment. Seroconversion Rate and Safety.

Patients with cancer have a high risk of intubation, intensive care unit admission, or death from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19); age and comorbidities are additional risk factors. Vaccination is effective against COVID-19; however, patients with cancer have been excluded from pivotal clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines. Data on COVID-19 vaccination in cancer patients who are older are lacking.

[Territorial-based management of patients with cancer on active treatment following the Piacenza (north Italy) Model. Results of 4 consecutive years.].

Introduction: The natural history of cancer has radically changed in the last decade. The burden of travel from patient's residence to health care providers is an important issue that can influence access to diagnosis and treatment of cancer; however this issue is quite neglect by the medical community and by the national health system. In addition, community care in the oncology field is actually debated.

A Rare Case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Survival in an Elderly Patient With Atheroembolic Renal Disease.

Atheroembolic renal disease (AERD) is a life-threatening illness. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a high mortality rate in older patients with comorbidities. We report the case of severe-type COVID-19 in an 82-year-old female with AERD.

Coronavirus disease-2019 in cancer patients. A report of the first 25 cancer patients in a western country (Italy).

We describe cancer patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection treated at the Piacenza's general hospital (north Italy). 25 cancer patients infected by COVID-19 admitted at the Piacenza's general hospital from 21 February to 18 March 2020. Outcome from the infection were compared with infected noncancer patients.

Human herpesvirus 6 encephalitis simulating brain metastases in a patient with advanced small-cell lung cancer.

Background: The brain is a frequent site of metastases in small-cell lung cancer. Symptoms of cerebral involvement are headache, disorientation, nausea/vomiting and seizures.

Case: A man with small-cell lung cancer developed a human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) meningoencephalitis with neurological symptoms that simulated brain involvement from the lung cancer.

Ultrasound-guided Central Venous Catheterization for Home Parenteral Nutrition and Hydratation in Advanced Incurable Cancer Patients: Results of A Prospective Observational Study.

Background: Most patients with advanced cancer are frequently malnourished and frequently they develop decreased oral fluid intake and dehidratation. Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is an increasingly used therapy for patients with advanced cancer. A central venous access device is often an essential component allowing parenteral nutrition and hidratation.

Ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization in cancer patients improves the success rate of cannulation and reduces mechanical complications: a prospective observational study of 1,978 consecutive catheterizations.

Background: A central venous catheter (CVC) currently represents the most frequently adopted intravenous line for patients undergoing infusional chemotherapy and/or high-dose chemotherapy with hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation and parenteral nutrition. CVC insertion represents a risk for pneumothorax, nerve or arterial punctures. The aim of this prospective observational study was to explore the safety and efficacy of CVC insertion under ultrasound (US) guidance and to confirm its utility in clinical practice in cancer patients.

Soft tissue sarcomas of childhood and adolescence: the prognostic role of tumor size in relation to patient body size.

Purpose: Tumor size is a key prognostic variable for soft tissue sarcomas (STS), and a tumor diameter of 5 cm is generally used as a cutoff for risk grouping purposes. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic effect of tumor size on overall survival and whether such an effect was influenced by the patient's size, expressed as body-surface area (BSA), in a series of 553 pediatric patients with localized STS.

Patients And Methods: Multivariable Cox models were used in which the effect of tumor size was adjusted for patients age, tumor site, histologic subtype, and Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study grouping, and the interaction between size and BSA was included.

An adolescent with rhabdomyosarcoma during pregnancy.

We report the case of a 15-year-old girl with a large gluteal and perineal rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosed at 24 weeks of pregnancy, whose management posed a great clinical dilemma for us. The patient refused to consider a therapeutic abortion, so we opted for a customized treatment with mild doses of chemotherapy administered weekly to control tumor growth while minimizing fetal and perinatal complications. After the delivery of a healthy female, we adopted a more intensive chemotherapy regimen plus irradiation.

Angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma in an HIV-positive child.

Children with human immunodeficiency virus are at higher risk of developing tumor than the general population, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Kaposi sarcoma being the most frequent malignant tumor in these patients. The report describes the case of a human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive girl who developed an angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma of the soft part of the right knee.

A case of congenital peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor presenting with multiple metastases.

The report describes a case of a newborn with a huge congenital abdominal peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor, with peritoneal dissemination and cutaneous involvement, and discusses literature data. Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor is an exceedingly uncommon tumor in this age group and is characterized by very aggressive behavior and poor prognosis.

Adult-type soft tissue sarcomas in paediatric age: a nomogram-based prognostic comparison with adult sarcoma.

Introduction: The study compares the outcome of paediatric patients with adult-type soft tissue sarcomas with that reported for adults, taking into account the effect of established prognostic factors.

Methods: The actual mortality of our series was compared with that predicted by the nomogram developed for adults at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. From a previously-published series of 182 patients <18 years, 112 cases fulfilling the criteria for the nomogram application were selected.

Soft-tissue sarcomas of the extremities in patients of pediatric age.

Purpose: The extremity site is a peculiar location for soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) of children and adolescents. Here we report the experience of the Pediatric Oncology Unit of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan, Italy, concerning 204 patients with STS of the limbs treated between 1977 and 2006.

Methods: The study series included 52 patients with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS)(65% of which were of the alveolar subtype), nine with extraosseous Ewing sarcoma and 143 with non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft-tissue sarcomas (NRSTS), 38% of which were synovial sarcoma.

Colorectal carcinoma in children and adolescents: the experience of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan, Italy.

Background: Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is one of the most common tumors in adults, but extremely rare in young age. This study retrospectively reports on a group of 27 patients <30 years of age, and particularly on 7 cases <18 years old, treated at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy, between 1985 and 2005.

Patients And Methods: Among the children/adolescents (age 9-18, median 12 years), 5/7 had unfavorable CRC histotypes (poorly differentiated or mucinous adenocarcinoma) and all but one had advanced disease at onset.

Response to vinorelbine and low-dose cyclophosphamide chemotherapy in two patients with desmoplastic small round cell tumor.

We report two cases of abdominal desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) that showed a clinical response to the vinorelbine/low-dose cyclophosphamide combination that has been claimed to be effective for rhabdomyosarcoma. This observation may prompt further investigation into the activity of such a regimen in DSRCT patients with recurrent or refractory disease, with a view to a possible future role as maintenance therapy in controlling minimal residual disease in patients who achieve complete remission with intensive induction multimodality therapy.