Publications by authors named "Maha Al Sendi"

Leadership as a key building block of a health system plays a crucial role in achieving high performance and helps deliver change and shape the policy agenda and its implementation. Echoing the emerging need for effective leaders in Oncology, the "Improving Cancer Outcomes and Leadership Course" was developed jointly by the European School of Oncology (ESO), the European Cancer Organization (ECO) and Sharing Progress in Cancer Care (SPCC). The course was offered as a hybrid event online and in Warsaw in June 2022.

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Background: Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is recommended by international guidelines prior to initiation of systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT). In practice, CGA is limited by time constraints, lack of resources and expert interpretation.

Aims: The primary objective of this pilot study was to establish the prevalence of frailty (assessed by G8), cognitive impairment (assessed by Mini-Cog), and risk of chemotherapy toxicity (assessed by CARG Chemo-Toxicity Calculator) among patients (pts) ≥65 years commencing SACT.

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Patients with metastatic breast cancer are usually considered incurable. Recent advances have resulted in significant improvements in survival for patients with metastatic breast cancer. Due to the lack of randomised trials and heterogeneous disease biology, treatment decisions for patients with oligometastatic breast cancer vary widely.

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Article Synopsis
  • Metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is aggressive and typically impacts vital organs, with current chemotherapy regimens mostly effective in early treatment stages.
  • Recent studies have highlighted the mixed effectiveness of combinations like atezolizumab/pembrolizumab with chemotherapy and raised concerns over a recent trial showing no benefits for atezolizumab with paclitaxel, prompting FDA warnings.
  • Ongoing research is focusing on the potential of PARP inhibitors, platinum-based treatments, and targeted therapies to improve progression-free survival, but there remain gaps in understanding optimal treatment sequences and quality of life impacts.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in radical changes in the delivery of healthcare worldwide. Our oncology service (at an Irish national cancer centre) rapidly transitioned to the use of telemedicine or virtual clinics (VC) to minimise potential risk of exposure to COVID-19 amongst an immunosuppressed, high-risk population. Our study aimed to evaluate the use of VC in this setting.

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Synopsis of recent research by authors named "Maha Al Sendi"

  • - Maha Al Sendi's research primarily focuses on the assessment and management of cancer in older adults, addressing issues like frailty and cognitive impairment in the context of systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT) through a pilot study involving the G8 screening tool and other assessment tools.
  • - In her work on metastatic breast cancer, she explores the complexities of treatment decisions in oligometastatic cases and recent advances in therapies for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), highlighting improved outcomes with specific drug combinations.
  • - Al Sendi also investigated the shift to virtual oncology clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating how telemedicine has transformed cancer care delivery while maintaining safety for high-risk patients.