Diagnosis of epithelioid hemangioendothelioma eight days postpartum: Is there a link with pregnancy? A case report and review of the literature.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is a rare and heterogeneous malignant vascular tumor. Decision making on a treatment strategy is difficult and a standard of care does not exist. EHE shows a wide age distribution but is rare in children.

The effect of early and systematic integration of palliative care in oncology on quality of life and health care use near the end of life: A randomised controlled trial.

Purpose: This study evaluated the effect of early integrated palliative care (PC) in oncology on quality of life (QOL) near the end of life and use of health care resources near the end of life.

Method: Patients with advanced cancer and a life expectancy of approximately 1 year were randomly assigned to either early and systematic integration of PC into oncological care (intervention) or standard oncological care alone (control). QOL was assessed with the EORTC QLQ-C30 global health status/QOL scale and McGill Quality of Life (MQOL) Single Item Scale and Summary Scale at baseline, 12 weeks and 6 weekly thereafter until death.

Early Integrated Palliative Home Care and Standard Care for End-Stage COPD (EPIC): A Phase II Pilot RCT Testing Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness.

Context: Although early integrated palliative home care (PHC) is believed to be beneficial for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), trials testing this hypothesis are rare and show inconclusive results.

Objectives: To test feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of early integrated PHC for end-stage COPD.

Methods: Testing a six-month early integrated PHC pilot randomized controlled trial given by palliative home care nurses (PHCNs) for end-stage COPD with five components: 1) preinclusion COPD support training for PHCNs; 2) monthly PHC visits; 3) leaflets on coping mechanisms; 4) a protocol on symptom management and support, a care plan and an action plan; and 5) integration of PHC and usual care through reporting and communication mechanisms.

Quality of life and symptom intensity over time in people with cancer receiving palliative care: Results from the international European Palliative Care Cancer Symptom study.

Background: People with advanced cancer experience multiple symptoms during their illness trajectory, which can fluctuate in intensity.

Aim: To describe the course of self-reported quality of life, emotional functioning, physical functioning and symptom intensity over time in cancer patients receiving palliative care.

Design: Longitudinal study with monthly assessments, using the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL.

Phase 0-1 early palliative home care cancer treatment intervention study.

Objectives: Recent studies have shown that the early provision of palliative care (PC) integrated into oncology in the hospital has beneficial effects on the quality of life of people who are dying and their family caregivers. However, a model to integrate palliative home care (PHC) early in oncology care is lacking. Therefore, our aim is to develop the Early Palliative Home care Embedded in Cancer Treatment (EPHECT) intervention.

How multidisciplinary are multidisciplinary team meetings in cancer care? An observational study in oncology departments in Flanders, Belgium.

Background: In current cancer care, multidisciplinary team meetings (MDTMs) aim at uniting care professionals from different disciplines to decide upon the best possible treatment plan for the patients based on the available scientific evidence. In Belgium, the multidisciplinary approach is mandatory and formally regulated since 2003. Current research indicates that MDTMs are not always truly multidisciplinary, ie, with a mix of medical as well as paramedical disciplines, and that the medical profession (physicians and medical specialists) tends to dominate the interaction in MDTMs.

Barriers to the early integration of palliative home care into the disease trajectory of advanced cancer patients: A focus group study with palliative home care teams.

Objectives: Palliative care is still often involved late in the disease trajectory. Recently, some studies have explored the barriers to early integration of PC in the hospital setting. Because palliative care home care (PHC) is organised differently compared with PC in a hospital setting, the identification of barriers to the early integration of PHC is needed.

Development of a complex intervention for early integration of palliative home care into standard care for end-stage COPD patients: A Phase 0-I study.

Background: Research suggests that palliative home care should be integrated early into standard care for end-stage COPD patients. Patients also express the wish to be cared for and to die at home. However, a practice model for early integration of palliative home care (PHC) into standard care for end-stage COPD has not been fully developed.

Real-world use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in ambulatory breast cancer patients: a cross-sectional study.

Purpose: To prevent febrile neutropenia (FN), European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) guidelines recommend primary prophylaxis with granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (PPG) for patients at high risk (≥ 20%) of FN. In Belgium, the use of PPG is restricted by specific reimbursement criteria. The impact of these criteria on PPG use and adherence to guidelines is unknown.

"A palliative end-stage COPD patient does not exist": a qualitative study of barriers to and facilitators for early integration of palliative home care for end-stage COPD.

Early integration of palliative home care (PHC) might positively affect people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, PHC as a holistic approach is not well integrated in clinical practice at the end-stage COPD. General practitioners (GPs) and community nurses (CNs) are highly involved in primary and home care and could provide valuable perspectives about barriers to and facilitators for early integrated PHC in end-stage COPD.

Differences between early and late involvement of palliative home care in oncology care: A focus group study with palliative home care teams.

Background: To date, no randomised controlled trials on the integration of specialised palliative home care into oncology care have been identified. Information on whether existing models of integrated care are applicable to the home care system and how working procedures and skills of the palliative care teams might require adaptation is missing.

Aim: To gain insight into differences between early and late involvement and the effect on existing working procedures and skills as perceived by palliative home care teams.

Input of Psychosocial Information During Multidisciplinary Team Meetings at Medical Oncology Departments: Protocol for an Observational Study.

Background: Multidisciplinary team meetings (MDTMs) have become standard practice in oncology and gained the status of the key decision-making forum for cancer patient management. The current literature provides evidence that MDTMs are achieving their intended objectives but there are also indications to question the positive impact of MDTMs in oncology settings. For cancer management to be patient-centered, it is crucial that medical information as well as psychosocial aspects-such as the patients' living situation, possible family problems, patients' mental state, and patients' perceptions and values or preferences towards treatment or care-are considered and discussed during MDTMs.

Effect of early and systematic integration of palliative care in patients with advanced cancer: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: The benefit of early integration of palliative care into oncological care is suggested to be due to increased psychosocial support. In Belgium, psychosocial care is part of standard oncological care. The aim of this randomised controlled trial is to examine whether early and systematic integration of palliative care alongside standard psychosocial oncological care provides added benefit compared with usual care.

Treatment of anemia in patients with solid tumors receiving chemotherapy in palliative setting: usual practice versus guidelines.

Background Anemia is frequent in patients with cancer and is often multifactorial. Treatment depends on etiology and can consist of transfusions, intravenous iron (IV Fe), and/or erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA). Several studies have shown that cancer-related anemia is undertreated.

Changes in medication use in a cohort of patients with advanced cancer: The international multicentre prospective European Palliative Care Cancer Symptom study.

Background: Information on medication use in the last months of life is limited.

Aim: To describe which medications are prescribed and deprescribed in advanced cancer patients receiving palliative care in relation to time before death and to explore associations with demographic variables.

Design: Prospective study, using case report forms for monthly data collection.

Information needs about palliative care and euthanasia: A survey of patients in different phases of their cancer trajectory.

Objective: We assessed information provision and information needs about illness course, treatments, palliative care and euthanasia in cancer patients.

Methods: Cancer patients consulting a university hospital (N=620) filled out a questionnaire. Their cancer related data were collected through the treating oncologist.

Release of urinary extracellular vesicles in prostate cancer is associated with altered urinary N-glycosylation profile.

Aim: Nowadays, extracellular vesicles are of great interest in prostate cancer (PCa) research. Asparagine (N)-linked glycosylation could play a significant role in the pathological mechanism of these vesicles. We investigated if prostatic protein N-glycosylation profiles were related to urinary vesicle-associated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) extractability and if this parameter showed diagnostic potential for PCa.

Bilateral Choroidal Metastases from Endobronchial Carcinoid Treated with Somatostatin Analogues.

Objective: To describe a patient with bilateral multifocal choroidal metastases from an endobronchial carcinoid treated with a somatostatin analogue.

Method: A 60-year-old woman presenting with photopsia in the left eye underwent an extensive ophthalmic examination, including fluorescein angiography, OCT and ultrasound.

Results: Fundoscopy revealed a small retinal tear in the left eye, for which she received laser treatment.

Rapidly growing gastric metastasis of Merkel cell carcinoma, an unusual cause of melena.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an uncommon, highly aggressive neuroendocrine skin carcinoma that has a tendency for local recurrence and metastatic disease. We report a rare case of recurrent melena in a 77-year-old Caucasian male. Three years earlier, the patient had undergone a radical resection of a para-umbilical MCC.

The systematic early integration of palliative care into multidisciplinary oncology care in the hospital setting (IPAC), a randomized controlled trial: the study protocol.

Background: Previous studies in the US and Canada, have shown the positive impact of early palliative care programs for advanced cancer patients on quality of life (QoL) and even survival time. There has been a lack of similar research in Europe. In order to generalize the findings from the US and Canada research on a larger scale, similar studies are needed in different countries with different care settings.

Diagnostic accuracy of urinary prostate protein glycosylation profiling in prostatitis diagnosis.

Introduction: Although prostatitis is a common male urinary tract infection, clinical diagnosis of prostatitis is difficult. The developmental mechanism of prostatitis is not yet unraveled which led to the elaboration of various biomarkers. As changes in asparagine-linked-(N-)-glycosylation were observed between healthy volunteers (HV), patients with benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate cancer patients, a difference could exist in biochemical parameters and urinary N-glycosylation between HV and prostatitis patients.

Resection of single metachronous liver metastases from breast cancer stage I-II yield excellent overall and disease-free survival. Single center experience and review of the literature.

Purpose: Improved survival after liver resection for breast cancer liver metastases (BCLM) has been proven; however, there is still controversy on predictive factors influencing outcomes. The analysis of factors related to primary and metastatic cancer eventually influencing long-term outcomes and a review of the literature are presented in this report.

Methods: Twenty-seven patients diagnosed with metachronous BCLM between 1996 and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed.

Urinary prostate protein glycosylation profiling as a diagnostic biomarker for prostate cancer.

Background: Serum prostate-specific antigen (sPSA) measurement is widely used as opportunistic screening tool for prostate cancer (PCa). sPSA suffers from considerable sensitivity and specificity problems, particularly in the diagnostic gray zone (sPSA 4-10 µg/L). Furthermore, sPSA is not able to discriminate between poorly-, moderately-, and well-differentiated PCa.

Stable metabolic disease on FDG-PET provides information on response to endocrine therapy for breast cancer.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess whether outcome in advanced breast cancer patients is related to metabolic response to endocrine therapy determined by fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET).

Methods: We retrospectively identified 21 consecutive breast cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy for metastatic disease (mean number of previous therapies 3.6±3.