Rucaparib versus standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients with relapsed ovarian cancer and a deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation (ARIEL4): an international, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: Few prospective studies have compared poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors to chemotherapy for the treatment of BRCA1-mutated or BRCA2-mutated ovarian carcinoma. We aimed to assess rucaparib versus platinum-based and non-platinum-based chemotherapy in this setting.

Methods: In this open-label, randomised, controlled, phase 3 study (ARIEL4), conducted in 64 hospitals and cancer centres across 12 countries (Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, the UK, and the USA), we recruited patients aged 18 years and older with BRCA1-mutated or BRCA2-mutated ovarian carcinoma, with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1, and who had received two or more previous chemotherapy regimens.

[A systemic dynamic modeling for prognosis of the quantity of the cancer patients in various clinical categories and for the assessment of the needs in resources].

The prognostication of a number of oncology patients and an evaluation of the resources' needs for the oncology service are in the focus of attention. A systemic dynamic model, based on a differential equations' system, is suggested to cope with the changing status of oncology patients. There is an example of using the model to forecast the number of patients with breast cancer for further calculation of resources needed by the palliative care service to render assistance to such patients and to evaluate the influence of preventive measures produced on the needs in resources by the mentioned service.