Breast Cancer Chemoprevention in an Integrated Health Care Setting.

Purpose: National guidelines encourage counseling high-risk women about pharmacologic breast cancer risk reduction. We evaluated the use of integrated health care data to identify and characterize breast cancer chemoprevention use. Chemoprevention included US Food and Drug Administration-approved use of tamoxifen and raloxifene and off-label use of aromatase inhibitors (AIs).

Analysis of ageing-associated grey matter volume in patients with multiple sclerosis shows excess atrophy in subcortical regions.

Age of onset in multiple sclerosis (MS) exerts an influence on the course of disease. This study examined whether global and regional brain volumes differed between "younger" and "older" onset MS subjects who were matched for short disease duration, mean 1.9 years and burden as measured by the MS Severity Score and relapses.

Extended Sedation With Continuous Midazolam or Dexmedetomidine Infusion for Young Children Receiving 131 I-MIBG Radiopharmaceutical Therapy for Advanced Neuroblastoma.

Background: (131) I-MIBG is increasingly used for treating neuroblastoma; however, administration requires careful adherence to radiation safety guidelines. We describe our experience using continuous sedation to facilitate safe (131) I-MIBG therapy for young children.

Procedure: Patients were included in this case series if they received continuous midazolam or dexmedetomidine infusion for sedation during (131) I-MIBG therapy from November 1, 2012, to October 1, 2014.

Increased risk of second malignant neoplasms in adolescents and young adults with cancer.

Background: The authors describe the incidence and characteristics of secondary malignant neoplasms (SMNs) in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors compared with those in younger and older cancer survivors.

Methods: Children aged ≤ 14 years, AYAs aged 15 to 39, and older adults aged ≥ 40 years at the time of primary diagnosis who were reported as cancer survivors in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program between 1973 and 2011 were compared in this population-based analysis. The primary analysis was the risk that an SMN would occur ≥ 5 years after the original diagnosis for patients who had the more common AYA cancers (leukemia, lymphoma, testicular malignancy, ovarian malignancy, melanoma, and cancers of the thyroid, breast, soft tissue, or bone).

Second malignant neoplasms among children, adolescents and young adults with Wilms tumor.

Background: The goal of this study was to describe the incidence, characteristics, and outcomes of secondary malignant neoplasms (SMN) in survivors of Wilms tumor.

Procedures: Patients who were 0-20 years of age at time of primary diagnosis with Wilms tumor and reported to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results [SEER] program between 1973 and 2011 were eligible for inclusion in the cohort. We used competing risks methods to estimate the cumulative incidence of SMNs and assess contributing factors for developing SMN.

Hematopoietic mobilization: Potential biomarker of response to natalizumab in multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To ascertain the mobilization from the bone marrow and the functional relevance of the increased number of circulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) induced by the anti-α-4 integrin antibody natalizumab in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: We evaluated CD45(low)CD34+ HSPC frequency by flow cytometry in blood from 45 natalizumab-treated patients (12 of whom were prospectively followed during the first year of treatment as part of a pilot cohort and 16 prospectively followed for validation), 10 untreated patients with MS, and 24 healthy donors. In the natalizumab-treated group, we also assessed sorted HSPC cell cycle status, T- and B-lymphocyte subpopulation frequencies (n = 29), and HSPC differentiation potential (n = 10).

Picture the future: emerging imaging modalities.

The past century has witnessed accelerated development in imaging modalities. Better anatomical visualisation and improved data analysis have improved survival rates. Through emerging functional, molecular and structural imaging modalities, better anatomical visualisation has been extended to cellular and molecular detail, improving diagnosis and management of diseases.

Secondary malignant neoplasms among children, adolescents, and young adults with osteosarcoma.

Background: As patients with osteosarcoma become long-term survivors, increasing attention has turned to the burden of late effects. The goal of the current study was to describe the incidence, characteristics, and outcomes of secondary malignant neoplasms (SMNs) in this population.

Methods: Patients aged birth to 40 years at time of primary diagnosis with osteosarcoma and reported to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program between 1973 and 2010 were eligible for inclusion in the cohort.

Impact of anti-angiogenic treatments on metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Patients with metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC) have traditionally had poor responses to systemic therapies. Recent developments in molecular biology have increased our understanding of the oncogenic processes and pathways in clear-cell mRCC. The development of drugs that target these pathways has expanded treatment options, improved prognosis and changed standard management of patients with clear-cell mRCC.