Clinical management of spinal metastases-The Dutch national guideline.

This article is a summary of the revised Dutch multidisciplinary evidence-based guideline 'Spinal metastases' (English translation available at: https://www.oncoline.nl/spinal-metastases) that was published at the end of 2015.

A systematic review of prognostic factors predicting survival in patients with spinal bone metastases.

Purpose: For the selection of treatment in patients with spinal bone metastases (SBM), survival estimation plays a crucial role to avoid over- and under-treatment. To aid clinicians in this difficult task, several prediction models have been developed, consisting of many different risk factors. The aim of this systematic review was to identify prognostic factors that are associated with survival in patients with SBM to support development of predictive models.

Thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor in human abdominal aortic aneurysm disease.

Unlabelled: Essentials Patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) develop dense clots that are resistant to lysis. This study explores the role of thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) in human AAA. There is evidence of chronically increased TAFI activation in patients with AAA.

Clinical Evaluation of the Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score in Patients Treated With Radiotherapy for Symptomatic Spinal Bone Metastases.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To determine the predictive value of the Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score (SINS) in a cohort of patients treated with radiotherapy for spinal bone metastases.

Summary Of Background Data: Assessment of spinal stability in metastatic disease is challenging and is mostly done by relying on clinical experience, in the absence of validated guidelines or an established predetermined set of risk factors.

Epidermal growth factor receptor mutations should be considered as a prognostic factor for survival of patients with pathological fractures or painful bone metastases from non-small cell lung cancer.

Aims: This study aims to assess first, whether mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Kirsten rat sarcoma (kRAS) genes are associated with overall survival (OS) in patients who present with symptomatic bone metastases from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and secondly, whether mutation status should be incorporated into prognostic models that are used when deciding on the appropriate palliative treatment for symptomatic bone metastases.

Patients And Methods: We studied 139 patients with NSCLC treated between 2007 and 2014 for symptomatic bone metastases and whose mutation status was known. The association between mutation status and overall survival was analysed and the results applied to a recently published prognostic model to determine whether including the mutation status would improve its discriminatory power.