Chest wall toxicity after stereotactic radiation in early lung cancer: a systematic review.

Background: Radiation-induced chest wall pain (cwp) and rib fracture (rf) are late adverse effects after stereotactic body radiation therapy (sbrt) for stage i non-small-cell lung cancer (nsclc); however, the literature about their incidence and risk factors shows variability. We performed a systematic review to determine the pooled incidence of cwp and rf in the relevant population.

Methods: A literature search using the prisma (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines considered English publications in medline and embase from January 1996 to August 2017.

Organizational guidance for the care of patients with head-and-neck cancer in Ontario.

Background: At the request of the Head and Neck Cancers Advisory Committee of Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), a working group and expert panel of clinicians with expertise in the management of head-and-neck cancer developed the present guideline. The purpose of the guideline is to provide advice about the organization and delivery of health care services for adult patients with head-and-neck cancer.

Methods: This document updates the recommendations published in the Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) 2009 organizational guideline .

Bone Health and Bone-Targeted Therapies for Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Bone health is a significant concern in men with prostate cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of drug, supplement, and lifestyle interventions aimed at preventing fracture, improving bone mineral density (BMD), or preventing or delaying osteoporosis in men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer.

Data Sources: Ovid MEDLINE (1946 to 19 January 2017), EMBASE (1980 to 18 January 2017), and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (19 January 2017).

Systematic review of patient reported quality of life following stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for primary and metastatic liver cancer.

Background: Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) is a safe and effective modality in patients with liver cancer who are ineligible for other local therapies. However SABR is not current standard of practice and requires further validation. Patient reported quality of life (QOL) is key to this validation, yet no systematic reviews to date have been performed to analyse QOL following liver SABR.

Ablative Therapies in Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: Patients with oligometastatic breast cancer are being increasingly offered ablative therapies, yet it is unclear which subpopulations may derive long-term benefit. This study sought to explore factors that could define a clinically relevant oligometastatic breast cancer population that benefits from ablative therapies.

Methods: A systematic review using MEDLINE for English language articles published between 1985 and April 2014 was undertaken.

Bone Health and Bone-targeted Therapies for Prostate Cancer: a Programme in Evidence-based Care - Cancer Care Ontario Clinical Practice Guideline.

Aims: To make recommendations with respect to bone health and bone-targeted therapies in men with prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: A systematic review was carried out by searching MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library from inception to January 2016. Systematic reviews and randomised-controlled trials were considered for inclusion if they involved therapies directed at improving bone health or outcomes such as skeletal-related events, pain and quality of life in patients with prostate cancer either with or without metastases to bone.

Approach to evaluation of fever in ambulatory cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: A systematic review.

Purpose: To define the optimal model of care for patients receiving outpatient chemotherapy who experience a fever. Fever is a common symptom in patients receiving chemotherapy, but the approach to evaluation of fever is not standardized.

Methods: We conducted a search for existing guidelines and a systematic review of the primary literature from database inception to November 2015.

Approach to fever assessment in ambulatory cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: a clinical practice guideline.

Background: This guideline was prepared by the Fever Assessment Guideline Development Group, a group organized by the Program in Evidence-Based Care at the request of the Cancer Care Ontario Systemic Treatment Program. The mandate was to develop a standardized approach (in terms of definitions, information, and education) for the assessment of fever in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Methods: The guideline development methods included a search for existing guidelines, literature searches in medline and embase for systematic reviews and primary studies, internal review by content and methodology experts, and external review by targeted experts and intended users.

Systemic therapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer:American Society of Clinical Oncology and Cancer Care Ontario clinical practice guideline.

Purpose: To provide treatment recommendations for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Methods: The American Society of Clinical Oncology and Cancer Care Ontario convened an expert panel to develop evidence-based recommendations informed by a systematic review of the literature.

Results: When added to androgen deprivation, therapies demonstrating improved survival, improved quality of life (QOL), and favorable benefit-harm balance include abiraterone acetate/prednisone, enzalutamide, and radium-223 ((223)Ra; for men with predominantly bone metastases).

Screening high-risk populations for lung cancer: guideline recommendations.

Introduction: The aim of this practice guideline was to develop evidence-based recommendations for screening high-risk populations for lung cancer.

Methods: The guideline was developed using the methods of Cancer Care Ontario's Program in Evidence-Based Care. The core methodology of the Program in Evidence-Based Care's guideline development process is systematic review.

Systemic therapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: a systematic review.

Aims: Since 2004, docetaxel-based chemotherapy has been the standard of care for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), but recently randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of novel agents have shown promise in extending overall survival. These trials have evaluated agents delivered before chemotherapy, to replace or supplement docetaxel, or addressed treatment options for men who have progressed on docetaxel therapy. This review was undertaken to determine which systemic therapies improve cancer- or patient-related outcomes in men with mCRPC.

Evidence-based guideline recommendations on the use of positron emission tomography imaging in head and neck cancer.

Aims: To provide evidence-based practice guideline recommendations on the use of fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (PET) for diagnosis, staging and assessing treatment response, restaging or recurrence of head and neck cancer.

Materials And Methods: A systematic review by Facey et al. (Health Technology Assessment 2007;11(44):iii-iv, xi-267) was used as the evidence base for recommendation development.

Evidence-based guideline recommendations on the use of positron emission tomography imaging in colorectal cancer.

Aims: To provide evidence-based practice guideline recommendations on the use of fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (PET) for diagnosis, staging, assessing treatment response, liver metastasis and restaging or recurrence of colorectal cancer.

Materials And Methods: A systematic review by Facey et al. (Health Technology Assessment 2007;11(44):iii-iv, xi-267) was used as the evidence base for recommendation development.

Evidence-based guideline recommendations on the use of positron emission tomography imaging in oesophageal cancer.

Aims: To provide evidence-based practice guideline recommendations on the use of fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) for diagnosis, staging, assessing treatment response, liver metastasis and restaging or recurrence of oesophageal cancer.

Materials And Methods: A systematic review by Facey et al. (Health Technology Assessment 2007;11(44):iii-iv, xi-267) was used as the evidence base for recommendation development.

Delivery of brachytherapy for cervical cancer: organisational and technical advice to facilitate high-quality care.

Aims: Brachytherapy is a standard therapy for cervical cancer; it allows for the delivery of a high dose of radiation to the tumour while sparing the surrounding healthy tissues. With this document, the Brachytherapy Cervical Cancer Expert Working Group (BCCEWG) aimed to provide advice on organisational and technical aspects of the delivery of brachytherapy services in Ontario, Canada.

Materials And Methods: We sought technical documents, practice guidelines and standards through an environmental scan of internet resources, an iterative search of the literature on MEDLINE and EMBASE, and a search of reference lists of included documents.

Intraspinal techniques for pain management in cancer patients: a systematic review.

Purpose: This systematic review outlines current evidence regarding the effectiveness of intraspinal techniques for cancer pain and addresses practical implementation issues.

Methods: A search of electronic databases identified systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of intraspinal techniques in the setting of cancer pain. An environmental scan was completed via the internet to identify practice guidelines and resource documents addressing organizational and implementation issues in the delivery of intraspinal analgesia.

Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature search strategies for identifying methodologically sound causation and prognosis studies.

We developed search strategies for detecting sound articles on causation and prognosis in Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) in the year 2000. An analytic survey was conducted, comparing hand searches of 75 journals with retrievals from CINAHL for 5,020 search terms and 11,784 combinations for causation and 9,946 combinations for prognosis. For detecting sound causation studies, a three-term strategy maximized sensitivity at 97.

Age-specific search strategies for Medline.

Background: Many clinicians and researchers are interested in patients of a specific age (childhood, geriatrics, and so on). Searching for age-specific publications in large bibliographic databases such as Medline is problematic because of inconsistencies in indexing, overlapping age categories, and the spread of the relevant literature over many journals. To our knowledge, no empirically tested age-specific search strategies exist for Medline.

Antimicrobial drugs for treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization.

Background: Eradication strategies for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are variable. We sought to summarize the evidence for use of antimicrobial agents to eradicate MRSA.

Objectives: To describe the effects of topical and systemic antimicrobial agents on nasal and extra-nasal MRSA carriage, adverse events, and incidence of subsequent MRSA infections.

Interventions to prevent aspiration pneumonia in older adults: a systematic review.

A systematic review was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the following interventions for prevention of aspiration pneumonia (AP) in older adults: compensatory strategy/positioning changes, dietary interventions, pharmacologic therapies, oral hygiene, and tube feeding. Data sources included a key word search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and HealthSTAR databases and hand searches of six journals. Reference lists of relevant primary and review articles were searched.