Disparities in time to start of definitive radiation treatment for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.

Background: Chemoradiation or radiation therapy alone are curative standards for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.

Objective: To investigate factors that influence time to initiation of chemoradiation or radiation and the subsequent impact of time to treatment on recurrence and survival outcomes.

Methods: Patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated with definitive chemoradiation or radiation at our institution between November 2015 and August 2020 were retrospectively identified.

The targeted SMAC mimetic SW IV-134 augments platinum-based chemotherapy in pre-clinical models of ovarian cancer.

Background: Ovarian cancer is initially responsive to frontline chemotherapy. Unfortunately, it often recurs and becomes resistant to available therapies and the survival rate for advanced and recurrent ovarian cancer is unacceptably low. We thus hypothesized that it would be possible to achieve more durable treatment responses by combining cisplatin chemotherapy with SW IV-134, a cancer-targeted peptide mimetic and inducer of cell death.

Placenta Accreta Spectrum Treatment With Intraoperative Multivessel Embolization: the PASTIME protocol.

Background: Multidisciplinary care of placenta accreta spectrum cases improves pregnancy outcomes, but the specific components of such a multidisciplinary collaboration varies between institutions. As experience with placenta accreta spectrum increases, it is crucial to assess new surgical techniques and protocols to help improve maternal outcomes and to advocate for hospital resources.

Objective: This study aimed to assess a novel multidisciplinary protocol for the treatment of placenta accreta spectrum that comprises cesarean delivery, multivessel uterine embolization, and hysterectomy in a single procedure within a hybrid operative suite.

Benefit of combination chemotherapy and radiation stratified by grade of stage IIIC endometrial cancer.

Objective: The optimal strategy for adjuvant therapy in stage IIIC endometrial cancer has not been determined. Our aim was to evaluate survival benefit of different treatments and to investigate if benefit varied by histologic grade.

Methods: We identified 199 patients with stage IIIC endometrial cancer from 2000 to 2012 through the Siteman Cancer Center registry.

The Targeted SMAC Mimetic SW IV-134 is a strong enhancer of standard chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer.

Background: Pancreatic cancer is a lethal malignancy that frequently acquires resistance to conventional chemotherapies often associated with overexpression of inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAPs). We have recently described a novel means to deliver second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases (SMAC) mimetics selectively to cancer cells employing the sigma-2 ligand/receptor interaction. The intrinsic death pathway agonist SMAC offers an excellent opportunity to counteract the anti-apoptotic activity of IAPs.

Adult Comorbidity Evaluation 27 score as a predictor of survival in endometrial cancer patients.

Background: The incidence of endometrial cancer increases with age and is associated with medical comorbidities such as obesity and diabetes. Although a few cohort studies of <500 patients showed an association between comorbidity and survival in patients with endometrial cancer, the degree of association must be better described. The Adult Comorbidity Evaluation 27 is a validated comorbidity instrument that provides a score of 0-3 based on the number of and severity of medical comorbidities.

Molecular staging of gynecological cancer: What is the future?

The purpose of cancer staging is to classify cancers into prognostic groups and to allow for comparison of treatment results and survival between patients and institutions. Staging for gynecologic cancers is based on extent of disease and metastasis, which was historically determined by physical examination and is now based on surgical and histologic examination of tumor specimens. Although the extent of disease is currently considered the most important predictor of recurrence and survival, current staging does not include molecular features that are associated with tumor aggressiveness, response to therapy, and prognosis.

Update on prognostic markers for endometrial cancer.

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the USA and the second most common worldwide after cervical cancer. While common symptomatology of endometrial cancer leads to early diagnosis and favorable 5-year survival in most cases, there is a subset of cancers that have a poorer prognosis. The clinical and pathologic prognostic factors for endometrial cancer are well known and instrumental in determining the need for adjuvant therapy.