Exploring the added value of hospital-registry data for showing local service outcomes: cancers of the ovary, fallopian tube and peritoneum.

Objectives: To explore the added value of hospital-registry data on invasive epithelial ovarian, tubal and peritoneal cancers.

Design: Historic cohort analyses.

Methods: Unadjusted and adjusted regression.

Using hospital registries in Australia to extend data availability on vulval cancer treatment and survival.

Background: The value of hospital registries for describing treatment and survival outcomes for vulval cancer was investigated. Hospital registry data from four major public hospitals in 1984-2016 were used because population-based data lacked required treatment and outcomes data. Unlike population registries, the hospital registries had recorded FIGO stage, grade and treatment.

Female breast cancer management and survival: The experience of major public hospitals in South Australia over 3 decades-trends by age and in the elderly.

Background: Clinical registry data from major South Australian public hospitals were used to investigate trends in invasive breast-cancer treatment and survival by age.

Methods: Disease-specific survival was calculated for the 1980 to 2013 diagnostic period using Kaplan-Meier product-limit estimates, with a censoring of live cases on December 31, 2014. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine differences in survival by age and tumour characteristic.

Breast cancer screening-opportunistic use of registry and linked screening data for local evaluation.

Rationale: Screening has been found to reduce breast cancer mortality at a population level in Australia, but these studies did not address local settings where numbers of deaths would generally have been too low for evaluation. Clinicians, administrators, and consumer groups are also interested in local service outcomes. We therefore use more common prognostic and treatment measures and survivals to gain evidence of screening effects among patients attending 4 local hospitals for treatment.

Sociodemographic disparities in survival from colorectal cancer in South Australia: a population-wide data linkage study.

Background: Inequalities in survival from colorectal cancer (CRC) across socioeconomic groups and by area of residence have been described in various health care settings. Few population-wide datasets which include clinical and treatment information are available in Australia to investigate disparities. This study examines socio-demographic differences in survival for CRC patients in South Australia (SA), using a population-wide database derived via linkage of administrative and surveillance datasets.

Dose-intense capecitabine, oxaliplatin and bevacizumab as first line treatment for metastatic, unresectable colorectal cancer: a multi-centre phase II study.

Background: Dose intense chemotherapy may improve efficacy with acceptable toxicity. A phase II study was conducted to determine the feasibility of a dose-intense two weekly schedule of capecitabine, oxaliplatin, and bevacizumab in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Methods: 49 patients with previously untreated mCRC were recruited.

Systematic application of multiplex PCR enhances the detection of bacteria, parasites, and viruses in stool samples.

Objectives: To determine whether systematic testing of faecal samples with a broad range multiplex PCR increases the diagnostic yield in patients with diarrhoea compared with conventional methods and a clinician initiated testing strategy.

Methods: 1758 faecal samples from 1516 patients with diarrhoea submitted to two diagnostic laboratories were tested for viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens by Fast-Track Diagnostics multiplex real-time PCR kits and conventional diagnostic tests.

Results: Multiplex PCR detected pathogens in 530 samples (30%): adenovirus (51, 3%), astrovirus (95, 5%), norovirus (172, 10%), rotavirus (3, 0.

Patient experiences of continuity of cancer care: development of a new medical care questionnaire (MCQ) for oncology outpatients.

Objectives: To adapt the Components of Primary Care Index (CPCI) to be applicable to oncology outpatients and to assess the reliability and validity of the adapted instrument (renamed the Medical Care Questionnaire [MCQ]).

Methods: The development and validation of the MCQ took place in four phases. Phase 1 reviewed the literature and examined existing measures.

Chemotherapy prescription patterns in colon cancer: a patterns-of-care survey in New Zealand.

Colorectal cancer is the second most common site of cancer for both men and women in New Zealand (NZ). Survival, especially with metastatic disease, has improved considerably over the last decade with the introduction of new chemotherapeutic agents. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to document variations in chemotherapy prescription patterns throughout NZ.

Assessment by M-FISH of karyotypic complexity and cytogenetic evolution in bladder cancer in vitro.

We carried out multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization (M-FISH) and follow-up FISH studies on a large series of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) cell lines and 2 normal urothelium-derived cell lines, several of which have not had karyotypes reported previously. M-FISH analysis, with appropriate follow-up, complements conventional cytogenetic analysis and array CGH studies, allowing a more accurate definition of karyotype. The detailed karyotypic data obtained will assist in choosing suitable cell lines for functional studies and identifies common losses, gains, breakpoints and potential fusion gene sites in TCC.

Infrequent mutation of TRAIL receptor 2 (TRAIL-R2/DR5) in transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder with 8p21 loss of heterozygosity.

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on 8p is a frequent event in many cancers and is often associated with more aggressive disease. Tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptor 2 (TRAIL-R2) also known as TNFRSF10B (tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) super family 10b) or KILLER/DR5, a member of the TNFR family, is a promising candidate tumour suppressor gene at 8p21-22. Mutations in this gene have been identified in non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, breast cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Loss of heterozygosity analysis and DNA copy number measurement on 8p in bladder cancer reveals two mechanisms of allelic loss.

Many epithelial tumors show deletion of the short arm of chromosome 8 that is related to aggressive disease or adverse prognosis. In undissected samples of urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder, at least two regions of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) were identified previously within a small region of 8p11-p12. LOH analysis on a panel of pure tumor DNA samples confirmed this and identified tumors with allelic imbalance, some with clear breakpoints in 8p12.