Sacituzumab govitecan vs. chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer: a meta-analysis on safety outcomes.

There is limited data available regarding the comparison of Sacituzumab govitecan (SG) vs. chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer patients. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the safety profile of SG vs.

Explainable 3D CNN based on baseline breast DCE-MRI to give an early prediction of pathological complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Background: So far, baseline Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) has played a key role for the application of sophisticated artificial intelligence-based models using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to extract quantitative imaging information as earlier indicators of pathological Complete Response (pCR) achievement in breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). However, these models did not exploit the DCE-MRI exams in their full geometry as 3D volume but analysed only few individual slices independently, thus neglecting the depth information.

Method: This study aimed to develop an explainable 3D CNN, which fulfilled the task of pCR prediction before the beginning of NAC, by leveraging the 3D information of post-contrast baseline breast DCE-MRI exams.

Prognostic power assessment of clinical parameters to predict neoadjuvant response therapy in HER2-positive breast cancer patients: A machine learning approach.

Background: About 15%-20% of breast cancer (BC) cases is classified as Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor type 2 (HER2) positive. The Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) was initially introduced for locally advanced and inflammatory BC patients to allow a less extensive surgical resection, whereas now it represents the current standard for early-stage and operable BC. However, only 20%-40% of patients achieve pathologic complete response (pCR).

Adjuvant capecitabine in triple negative breast cancer patients with residual disease after neoadjuvant treatment: real-world evidence from , a multicentric, observational study.

Background: In triple negative breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, residual disease at surgery is the most relevant unfavorable prognostic factor. Current guidelines consider the use of adjuvant capecitabine, based on the results of the randomized study, carried out in Asian patients and including a small subset of triple negative tumors. Thus far, evidence on Caucasian patients is limited, and no real-world data are available.

Machine learning survival models trained on clinical data to identify high risk patients with hormone responsive HER2 negative breast cancer.

For endocrine-positive Her2 negative breast cancer patients at an early stage, the benefit of adding chemotherapy to adjuvant endocrine therapy is not still confirmed. Several genomic tests are available on the market but are very expensive. Therefore, there is the urgent need to explore novel reliable and less expensive prognostic tools in this setting.

Robustness Evaluation of a Deep Learning Model on Sagittal and Axial Breast DCE-MRIs to Predict Pathological Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

To date, some artificial intelligence (AI) methods have exploited Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) to identify finer tumor properties as potential earlier indicators of pathological Complete Response (pCR) in breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). However, they work either for sagittal or axial MRI protocols. More flexible AI tools, to be used easily in clinical practice across various institutions in accordance with its own imaging acquisition protocol, are required.

Pathological Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoimmunotherapy for Early Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: An Updated Meta-Analysis.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have made a breakthrough in the systemic treatment for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. However, results of phase II and III clinical trials assessing ICIs plus chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment were controversial and conflicting. We performed a meta-analysis aimed at assessing the Odds Ratio (OR) of the pathological complete response (pCR) rate in trials assessing neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in TNBC.

Adenosine pathway inhibitors: novel investigational agents for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Introduction: The adenosine pathway has been suggested to play a key role in several carcinogenetic processes, with the metabolism of adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) and its derivatives reported to be dysregulated in breast cancer. Preclinical evidence has supported the role of adenosine in the pathogenesis of this malignancy as well as the development of selective adenosine pathway inhibitors.

Areas Covered: The paper overviews the evidence regarding the use of adenosine pathway inhibitors in breast cancer; a literature search was conducted in January 2022 of Pubmed/Medline, Cochrane library, and Scopus databases.

An Invasive Disease Event-Free Survival Analysis to Investigate Ki67 Role with Respect to Breast Cancer Patients' Age: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Characterization of breast cancer into intrinsic molecular profiles has allowed women to live longer, undergoing personalized treatments. With the aim of investigating the relation between different values of ki67 and the predisposition to develop a breast cancer-related IDE at different ages, we enrolled 900 patients with a first diagnosis of invasive breast cancer, and we partitioned the dataset into two sub-samples with respect to an age value equal to 50 years. For each sample, we performed a Kaplan−Meier analysis to compare the IDE-free survival curves obtained with reference to different ki67 values.

A ultrasound-based radiomic approach to predict the nodal status in clinically negative breast cancer patients.

In breast cancer patients, an accurate detection of the axillary lymph node metastasis status is essential for reducing distant metastasis occurrence probabilities. In case of patients resulted negative at both clinical and instrumental examination, the nodal status is commonly evaluated performing the sentinel lymph-node biopsy, that is a time-consuming and expensive intraoperative procedure for the sentinel lymph-node (SLN) status assessment. The aim of this study was to predict the nodal status of 142 clinically negative breast cancer patients by means of both clinical and radiomic features extracted from primary breast tumor ultrasound images acquired at diagnosis.

KEYNOTE-522, IMpassion031 and GeparNUEVO: changing the paradigm of neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors in early triple-negative breast cancer.

Stage I-III triple-negative breast cancer accounts for approximately 15-20% of new diagnoses of early breast cancer. Novel systemic treatment options have recently been assessed as part of the neoadjuvant approach, such as the addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors to cytotoxic chemotherapy. However, several questions remain unanswered, including the identification of predictors of response to immunotherapy in this setting, and further efforts aimed at identifying reliable predictors and clarifying the effective role of PD-L1 status, tumor mutational burden, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and other biomarkers are warranted.

Impact of Proton Pump Inhibitors and Histamine-2-Receptor Antagonists on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Immunotherapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

(1) Background: In recent years, immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment landscape of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), representing a therapeutic breakthrough in this field. Antacid agents such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and histamine-2-receptor antagonists (H2RAs) are commonly prescribed for extended periods in NSCLC patients, and these drugs have the potential to modify the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). (2) Materials and Methods: Herein, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the impact of PPIs and H2RAs on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) among patients receiving immunotherapy for metastatic NSCLC.

Fluoropyrimidine-based doublet chemotherapy as second-line treatment for advanced biliary tract cancer: a meta-analysis of ABC-06 and NIFTY.

Background: The 2021 has seen the publication of two practice-changing trials on second-line fluoropyrimidine-based doublet chemotherapy for advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC) patients. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis aimed at assessing the overall survival (OS), disease control rate (DCR), and overall response rate (ORR) in ABC-06 and NIFTY trials.

Methods: We retrieved all the relevant trials through PubMed/Medline, Cochrane library, and EMBASE; additionally, proceedings of the main international oncological meetings were also searched for relevant abstracts.

Response Predictivity to Neoadjuvant Therapies in Breast Cancer: A Qualitative Analysis of Background Parenchymal Enhancement in DCE-MRI.

Background: For assessing the predictability of oncology neoadjuvant therapy results, the background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) parameter in breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has acquired increased interest. This work aims to qualitatively evaluate the BPE parameter as a potential predictive marker for neoadjuvant therapy.

Method: Three radiologists examined, in triple-blind modality, the MRIs of 80 patients performed before the start of chemotherapy, after three months from the start of treatment, and after surgery.

A Clinical Decision Support System for Predicting Invasive Breast Cancer Recurrence: Preliminary Results.

The mortality associated to breast cancer is in many cases related to metastasization and recurrence. Personalized treatment strategies are critical for the outcomes improvement of BC patients and the Clinical Decision Support Systems can have an important role in medical practice. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of a prediction model of the Breast Cancer Recurrence (BCR) within five and ten years after diagnosis.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: a dose-dense schedule in real life and putative role of mutations.

Background: Dose-dense chemotherapy is one of the treatments of choice for neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer (BC). Activating mutations in gene predict worse response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-positive patients, while their role is less clearly defined for HER2-negative tumors.

Methods: We conducted a phase I/II study of neoadjuvant, sequential, dose-dense anthracycline/taxane chemotherapy, plus trastuzumab in HER2-positive patients and investigated the correlation of pre-treatment mutation status with pathologic complete response (pCR) and long-term outcome in a real-life setting.

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios predict efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer.

Platinum salts are active against metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC), and biomarkers to predict their effectiveness are urgently needed. In recent years, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have emerged as prognostic biomarkers in many malignancies, but their predictive role in platinum-treated mTNBC patients remains unexplored. We performed a retrospective, single centre study to evaluate the association between baseline NLR or PLR and progression free survival (PFS) of mTNBC patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

The Efficacy of an Anatase-Coated Collar Surface in Inhibiting the Bacterial Colonization of Oral Implants: A Pilot Prospective Study in Humans.

Purpose: The primary prevention of peri-implantitis onset is a key factor in long-term implant success, and the evaluation of the antibacterial efficacy of different implant surfaces is fundamental in this way. The aim of this study was to assess if implants with collars coated with anatase were less subjected to bacterial colonization than implants with noncoated collars, and to investigate how implant bacterial colonization varies over time.

Materials And Methods: Eighteen patients in need of implant-supported rehabilitation were selected to have two adjacent implants placed, one with an anatase-coated collar and one with the collar uncoated.

Antitumor activity and safety profile of weekly carboplatin plus paclitaxel in metastatic breast cancer: a ten-year, monocentric, retrospective study.

Background: Taxanes are a mainstay in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Combination chemotherapy, including platinum-taxens doublets, can improve tumor responses and progression-free survival (PFS), but is associated with more toxicities and an uncertain benefit in terms of overall survival (OS).

Methods: We performed a retrospective study on 274 consecutive patients with mBC treated at the Division of Medical Oncology of Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy, during the decade 2007-2016 with the combination of carboplatin AUC 2 plus paclitaxel 80 mg/m, both given on days 1 and 8 in every 21-day cycle.

New schedule of bevacizumab/paclitaxel as first-line therapy for metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer in a real-life setting.

Angiogenesis plays an essential role in the growth and progression of breast cancer. This observational single center study evaluated the efficacy and safety of a new weekly schedule of bevacizumab/paclitaxel combination in the first-line treatment of unselected, HER2-negative, metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients, in a real-life setting. Thirty-five patients (median age 56 years, range 40-81) with HER2-negative MBC were treated with paclitaxel (70 mg/m(2) ) dd 1,8,15 q21 (60 mg/m(2) if ≥65 years or secondary Cumulative Illness Rating Scale) plus bevacizumab (10 mg/kg) every 2 weeks.

[Beekeeping: study of organization, general hazards assessment, pre-assessment of risk for mechanical overload using a new tool for easy application].

Background: Beekeeping is common activity in the two regions in this study, Marche and Tuscany: in both regions the numbers of beekeepers, both amateur and professional, and honey production are high.

Objectives: The aim was to study, through the application of simple tools, the organization of beekeeping activity so as to identify hazardous situations in the work process.

Methods: We followed the production cycle of two businesses that differed in size and work organization for a period of twelve months.

Prostacyclin improves transcoronary myocardial delivery of adipose tissue-derived stromal cells.

Aims: Heart transplantation of adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs) is under evaluation as a therapy for cardiac repair. Prostacyclin (PGI2), a vasodilator with additional effects on platelet aggregation and blood cell adhesion, exerts cardioprotection and might favour the myocardial delivery of ADSCs. We investigated the engraftment and influence on cardiac function of the transcoronary delivery of ADSCs and the effects of PGI2 compared with nitroglycerin (NTG) and adenosine (Ado) in isolated-perfused mouse hearts.

Ultrasound screening for congenital pyelectasis in term pregnancies.

The purpose of this study was to compare the role of antenatal ultrasound screening for congenital pyelectasis at term with postnatal screening. An ultrasonographic prospective study of 231 fetuses of low-risk pregnancies was performed, evaluating the renal pelvis at term (38 to 42 weeks gestation) and after birth (first and third months of life). Cut-off points used were 9 mm antenatally, and 10 and 12 mm, respectively postnatally, all in an anteroposterior view.