Publications by authors named "Karolina Sikorska"

Article Synopsis
  • The study examines how sex affects outcomes in patients with resectable gastric cancer, focusing on histological subtype differences.
  • It analyzes data from the CRITICS-trial, comparing survival rates, toxicity, and compliance between male and female patients.
  • Results show that females have higher rates of positive tumor margins in diffuse gastric cancer and experience more treatment-related toxicity, but this does not significantly impact their treatment effectiveness.
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Background: The optimal follow-up strategy to detect recurrence after fertility-sparing surgery for early stage cervical cancer is unknown. Tailored surveillance based on individual risks could contribute to improved efficiency and, subsequently, reduce costs in health care. The aim of this study was to establish the predictive value of cervical cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) testing to detect recurrent cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+; including recurrent cervical cancer) after fertility-sparing surgery.

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Introduction: Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is increasingly being used in patients with stage III ovarian cancer undergoing interval cytoreductive surgery (CRS). It is uncertain whether routine postoperative admission to a critical care setting after CRS-HIPEC is necessary. This study aims to estimate the incidence of patients requiring critical care, and to create a prediction model to identify patients who may forego admission to a critical care setting.

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Background: Continuous combination of MAPK pathway inhibition (MAPKi) and anti-programmed death-(ligand) 1 (PD-(L)1) showed high response rates, but only limited improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) at the cost of a high frequency of treatment-related adverse events (TRAE) in patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma. Short-term MAPKi induces T-cell infiltration in patients and is synergistic with anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) in a preclinical melanoma mouse model. The aim of this phase 2b trial was to identify an optimal regimen of short-term MAPKi with dabrafenib plus trametinib in combination with pembrolizumab.

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Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the exposure to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Intima-media complex thickness (IMT), selected metabolic parameters and health behaviors were assessed in the course of the study.

Methods: The study included study group, which consisted of 45 patients with JIA and 37 healthy age- and sex-matched children in the control group.

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Invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) is the second most common histological breast cancer subtype, but ILC-specific trials are lacking. Translational research revealed an immune-related ILC subset, and in mouse ILC models, synergy between immune checkpoint blockade and platinum was observed. In the phase II GELATO trial ( NCT03147040 ), patients with metastatic ILC were treated with weekly carboplatin (area under the curve 1.

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Background And Purpose: We aimed to assess if radiation dose escalation to either the whole primary tumour, or to an F-FDG-PET defined subvolume within the primary tumour known to be at high risk of local relapse, could improve local control in patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Materials And Methods: Patients with inoperable, stage II-III NSCLC were randomised (1:1) to receive dose-escalated radiotherapy to the whole primary tumour or a PET-defined subvolume, in 24 fractions. The primary endpoint was freedom from local failure (FFLF), assessed by central review of CT-imaging.

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Article Synopsis
  • The OVHIPEC-1 trial found that combining interval cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy improved survival for patients with stage III ovarian cancer compared to surgery alone.
  • Researchers compared the trial's control group to a real-world group of patients in the Netherlands to assess the generalizability of the trial results.
  • Despite some differences in patient characteristics, the overall survival rates were similar between the trial participants and the real-world patients, suggesting that trial outcomes apply to broader patient populations.
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Background: Neoadjuvant treatment with either chemotherapy or immunotherapy is gaining momentum in colon cancers (CC). To reduce over-treatment, increasing staging accuracy using computed tomography (CT) is of high importance.

Purpose: To assess and compare CT imaging features of CC between mismatch repair-proficient (pMMR) and MMR-deficient (dMMR) tumours and identify CT features that can distinguish high-risk (pT3-4, N+) CC according to MMR status.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates differences in cancer characteristics and survival rates between males and females in gastric cancer, particularly focusing on microsatellite instability (MSI) status.
  • Analysis of 1,307 tumors revealed that males with MSI-high gastric cancer had significantly poorer overall survival rates compared to females, highlighting a disparity in treatment outcomes based on sex.
  • The findings suggest that the favorable prognostic implications of MSI are predominantly seen in females, indicating the importance of considering sex differences in cancer prognosis and treatment strategies.
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Article Synopsis
  • Perioperative chemotherapy is the standard treatment for resectable gastric cancer, with oxaliplatin gaining preference over cisplatin, though evidence for its superiority is lacking.
  • The CRITICS trial compared outcomes between patients using cisplatin (632) and oxaliplatin (149) and examined their effects on patient health and tumor response.
  • While both drugs led to severe toxicity rates (67% for cisplatin vs. 60% for oxaliplatin), the overall survival and tumor response outcomes showed no significant differences, indicating both are viable treatment options.
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Neoadjuvant ipilimumab and nivolumab induces high pathologic response rates (pRRs) in clinical stage III nodal melanoma, and pathologic response is strongly associated with prolonged relapse-free survival (RFS). The PRADO extension cohort of the OpACIN-neo trial ( NCT02977052 ) addressed the feasibility and effect on clinical outcome of using pathologic response after neoadjuvant ipilimumab and nivolumab as a criterion for further treatment personalization. In total, 99 patients with clinical stage IIIb-d nodal melanoma were included and treated with 6 weeks of neoadjuvant ipilimumab 1 mg kg and nivolumab 3 mg kg.

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The addition of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) with cisplatin to interval cytoreductive surgery improves recurrence-free (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with stage III ovarian cancer. Homologous recombination deficient (HRD) ovarian tumors are usually more platinum sensitive. Since hyperthermia impairs BRCA1/2 protein function, we hypothesized that HRD tumors respond best to treatment with HIPEC.

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Background: The evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in clinical trials has become increasingly important because it addresses the impact of treatment from the patient's perspective. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of postoperative chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy (CRT) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery with extended (D2) lymphadenectomy on HRQoL in the CRITICS trial. Second, we investigated the potential prognostic value of pretreatment HRQoL on event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS).

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Objective: To determine the incidence and types of complications after dynamic sentinel node biopsy (DSNB) in patients with penile cancer (PeCa) and identify risk factors for the occurrence of postoperative complications.

Patients And Methods: We evaluated 644 patients with PeCa (1284 DSNB procedures) with at least one clinically node negative (cN0) groin who underwent DSNB between 2011 and 2020 at a single high-volume centre. The 30- and 30-90-day postoperative complications were collected according to the modified Clavien-Dindo classification and the standardised methodology proposed by the European Association of Urology panel.

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Background: Epstein-Barr virus positivity (EBV+) and microsatellite instability (MSI-high) are positive prognostic factors for survival in resectable gastric cancer (GC). However, benefit of perioperative treatment in patients with MSI-high tumors remains topic of discussion. Here, we present the clinicopathological outcomes of patients with EBV+, MSI-high, and EBV-/MSS GCs who received either surgery only or perioperative treatment.

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Aim: To evaluate the prognostic value of tumor markers in a European cohort of patients with resectable gastric cancer.

Methods: We performed a post hoc analysis of the CRITICS trial, in which 788 patients received perioperative therapy. Association between survival and pretreatment CEA, CA 19-9, alkaline phosphatase, neutrophils, hemoglobin and lactate dehydrogenase were explored in uni- and multivariable Cox regression analyses.

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Gastric cancer (GC) patients at high risk of developing peritoneal metastasis (PM) as a single site of metastasis after curative treatment may be candidates for adjuvant prophylactic strategies. Here we investigated risk factors for metachronous isolated PM in patients who were treated in the CRITICS trial (NCT00407186). Univariable and multivariable analyses on both metachronous isolated PM and 'other events', i.

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Purpose: Daily quantitative MR imaging during radiotherapy of cancer patients has become feasible with MRI systems integrated with linear accelerators (MR-linacs). Quantitative images could be used for treatment response monitoring. With intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) MRI, it is possible to acquire perfusion information without the use of contrast agents.

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Objective: To evaluate the potency of short-term neoadjuvant cytoreductive therapy with dabrafenib plus trametinib (BRAF and MEK inhibitor) to allow for radical surgical resection in patients with unresectable locally advanced melanoma.

Summary Background Data: Approximately 5% of stage III melanoma patients presents with unresectable locally advanced disease, making standard of care with resection followed by adjuvant systemic therapy impossible. Although neoadjuvant targeted therapy has shown promising results in resectable stage III melanoma, its potency to enable surgical resection in patients with primarily unresectable locally advanced stage III melanoma is still unclear.

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Introduction: To compare neurocognitive functioning in patients with SCLC who received prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) with or without hippocampus avoidance (HA).

Methods: In a multicenter, randomized phase 3 trial (NCT01780675), patients with SCLC were randomized to standard PCI or HA-PCI of 25 Gy in 10 fractions. Neuropsychological tests were performed at baseline and 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months after PCI.

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Introduction: The PERISCOPE I (Treatment of PERItoneal dissemination in Stomach Cancer patients with cytOreductive surgery and hyPErthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy) study was conducted to investigate the safety and feasibility of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in gastric cancer patients with limited peritoneal dissemination. In this study, tumor characteristics and clinical outcome of the patients treated in the PERISCOPE I trial were investigated.

Methods: Patients who had undergone the full study protocol were selected; that is, preoperative systemic chemotherapy, followed by a surgical procedure consisting of a (sub)total gastrectomy, cytoreductive surgery, and HIPEC with oxaliplatin (460 mg/m ) and docetaxel (in escalating doses).

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Preoperative immunotherapy with anti-PD1 plus anti-CTLA4 antibodies has shown remarkable pathological responses in melanoma and colorectal cancer. In NABUCCO (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03387761 ), a single-arm feasibility trial, 24 patients with stage III urothelial cancer (UC) received two doses of ipilimumab and two doses of nivolumab, followed by resection.

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