ALK Positive Lung Cancer: Clinical Profile, Practice and Outcomes in a Developing Country.

Objectives: To evaluate the performance and treatment profile of advanced EML4-ALK positive Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in a developing country with potentially restricted access to Crizotinib.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective analysis of advanced ALK positive NSCLC patients who were treated from June 2012 to September 2015 was conducted. The primary goal was to evaluate outcomes of advanced ALK positive NSCLC in our practice and examine the logistic constraints in procuring Crizotinib.

Lung cancer in the Indian subcontinent.

Smoking tobacco, both cigarettes and beedis, is the principal risk factor for causation of lung cancer in Indian men; however, among Indian women, the association with smoking is not strong, suggesting that there could be other risk factors besides smoking. Despite numerous advances in recent years in terms of diagnostic methods, molecular changes, and therapeutic interventions, the outcomes of the lung cancer patients remain poor; hence, a better understanding of the risk factors may impact the preventive measures to be implemented at the community level. There is a lack of comprehensive data on lung cancer in India.

Preoperative Chemotherapy and Metronomic Scheduling of Chemotherapy in Locally Advanced Oral Cancers.

Locally advanced oral cavity cancers are treated with a multi-modality approach. Surgery is the most efficient local modality in comparison to chemoradiation in oral cancers. Preoperative chemotherapy has failed its expectations to improve disease-free survival or overall survival in resectable oral cancers.

Weekly paclitaxel as metronomic palliative chemotherapy in small cell lung cancer.

Background: Topotecan is the standard second line agent used in relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC). However, the erratic availability and the cost of the drug has been a prohibitive factor for its use in second-line setting in India. Paclitaxel has shown antitumor activity in heavily pretreated patients with SCLC.

Efficacy and Safety of Induction Chemotherapy in Esophageal Cancer with Airway Involvement.

Purpose: Esophageal cancer with tracheobronchial involvement (TBI) has a poor prognosis. Radical therapy carries the risk of inducing tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) and treatment-related mortality. Induction chemotherapy followed by reassessment for radical therapy may decrease morbidity and improve outcome.

A cross-sectional observation study regarding patients and their physician willingness to wait for driver mutation report in nonsmall-cell lung cancer.

Background: Palliative chemotherapy +/- targeted therapy in accordance with mutation profile is the norm in nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The objective of this audit was to determine the proportion of patients and physicians, who are unwilling to wait for the mutation report and the reasons thereof.

Materials And Methods: All newly diagnosed NSCLC patients, post biopsy, seen at our center between November 2014 and January 2015 were included.

Sunitinib-induced thrombotic microangiopathy.

Sunitinib-induced thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is a secondary TMA caused by sunitinib. Despite the extensive use of sunitinib in patients with renal cell carcinoma and other malignancies, little is known about this complication of sunitinib. No clinical trials of sunitinib have studied this complication in any group of patients.

Clinical Outcome in Definitive Concurrent Chemoradiation With Weekly Paclitaxel and Carboplatin for Locally Advanced Esophageal and Junctional Cancer.

There are little data on the efficacy and safety of taxane/platinum with definitive radiotherapy (RT) for esophageal/GEJ cancer. This article is a retrospective analysis of patients who received weekly paclitaxel 50 mg/m(2) and carboplatin AUC 2 with radical definitive RT for locally advanced esophageal/GEJ cancer. Between February 2011 and July 2014, 179 patients were included.

Curative intent therapy in oligometastatic lung cancer with an unresectable primary with N3 nodes: case report and review of the literature.

Untreated NSCLC patients with brain metastases have a median survival of approximately 2 months; locally advanced stage III NSCLC patients treated with chemoradiation have a median survival of 16-19 months. Select patients with oligometastatic disease may have a prolonged survival if managed aggressively. We present the case of a 47-year-old woman with lung adenocarcinoma, cT2aN3M1a, (supraclavicular lymph node, solitary brain metastasis).

Chicken pox infection in patients undergoing chemotherapy: A retrospective analysis from a tertiary care center in India.

There is paucity of data on the incidence, severity and management of chicken pox in patients receiving active chemotherapy for cancer. From October 2010 to October 2011, patients were included in this study if they developed a chicken pox infection during their chemotherapy. The details of patients' cancer diagnosis and treatment along with clinical and epidemiological data of the chicken pox infections were assessed from a prospectively maintained database.

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Locally Advanced and Borderline Resectable Nonsquamous Sinonasal Tumors (Esthesioneuroblastoma and Sinonasal Tumor with Neuroendocrine Differentiation).

Introduction: Sinonasal tumors are chemotherapy responsive which frequently present in advanced stages making NACT a promising option for improving resection and local control in borderline resectable and locally advanced tumours. Here we reviewed the results of 25 such cases treated with NACT.

Materials And Methods: Sinonasal tumor patients treated with NACT were selected for this analysis.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma with intracranial extension: Report of two cases with literature review.

Sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma (SNTCS) is a highly aggressive rare tumor of the nasal cavity. Surgery followed by concurrent chemoradiation is the mainstay of treatment in SNTCS. However, intracranial extension may complicate surgical resection, with difficulty in achieving R0 resection.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in technically unresectable carcinoma of external auditory canal.

Background: Carcinoma of external auditory canal (EAC) is a very rare malignancy with surgical resection as the main modality of treatment. The outcomes with nonsurgical modalities are very dismal. We present a retrospective analysis of 4 patients evaluating the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in technically unresectable cancers.

Metronomic chemotherapy in platinum-insensitive failures and/or early failures postmultimodality management in oral cancers.

Purpose: Oral cancer patients with platinum-resistant disease and or early failures have limited treatment options. This analysis was planned to study the efficacy of metronomic chemotherapy in this group of patients.

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of oral cancer patients who had squamous cell carcinoma and had an early failure and/or platinum-insensitive failure.

Comparison of postoperative complications in advanced head and neck cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery versus surgery alone.

Background: Head and neck cancer is the third most common cancer in India with 60% presenting in advanced stages. There is the emerging role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in the management of these advanced cancers. There is a general perception that complication rates are higher with the use of NACT.

Maintenance pemetrexed in nonsmall cell lung carcinoma: Outcome analysis from a tertiary care center.

Background: Maintenance pemetrexed is a standard treatment option for selected non squamous nonsmall cell lung carcinoma patients having a response to platin based doublet. We conducted a clinical audit of such selected patients and report the outcome among the Indian population.

Aim: To evaluate the outcomes with maintenance pemetrexed in the patients with locally advanced and metastatic adenocarcinoma lung.

Extra-lymphatic filariasis at reconstructive surgery flap site recurrence of head and neck cancer.

Filarial infection is commonly encountered in the Indian subcontinent. Here we present a clinical image of filarial infestation at the site of recurrence of head and neck cancer.

Compliance With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in T4 Oral Cancers: Place, Person, Socioeconomic Status, or Assistance.

Purpose: Approximately 15% to 20% of our patients with head and neck cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) discontinue therapy because of various nonmedical reasons. We sought to analyze the factors associated with treatment default and noncompliance among these patients.

Patients And Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with T4 oral cancer treated with NACT between January 2011 and December 2012.

Health-related quality of life in patients with metastatic, relapsed, or inoperable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in India.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in health related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with metastatic head and neck (H&N) cancer randomized to receive metronomic (methotrexate and celecoxib) or cisplatin chemotherapy.

Methods: Patients older than 18 years, with a Karnofsky Performance score of ≥70, and diagnosed with metastatic, locally advanced inoperable or recurrent head and neck (H&N) cancer not amenable to surgery or radiation were randomized (1:1) to receive metronomic or cisplatin chemotherapy. All patients were recruited from the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India.

A prospective randomized phase II study comparing metronomic chemotherapy with chemotherapy (single agent cisplatin), in patients with metastatic, relapsed or inoperable squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck.

Background: Cetuximab based treatment is the recommended chemotherapy for head and neck squamous cell cancers in the palliative setting. However, due to financial constraints, intravenous (IV) chemotherapy without cetuximab is commonly used in lesser developed countries. We believe that oral metronomic chemotherapy may be safer and more effective in this setting.

The Importance of Brain Metastasis in EGFR Mutation Positive NSCLC Patients.

Introduction. Brain metastasis is a poor prognostic marker in lung cancer. However it is not known whether amongst patients with EGFR mutation those with brain metastases have a worse outcome.