Comparing PSA Screening Patterns and Their Role as Predictor of Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: Analysis of a Contemporary North American Cohort.

Introduction: PSA screening remains a pivotal tool for early prostate cancer (PCa) detection. International guidelines rely on evidence from three major randomized clinical trials: ERSPC, PLCO, and CAP. We aim to examine the percentage of patients in real-world practice who get PSA screening as defined by each of the aforementioned trials.

The Role of the Microbiome in Cancer Therapies: Current Evidence and Future Directions.

The microbiome is essential for maintaining human health and is also a key factor in the development and progression of various diseases, including cancer. Growing evidence has highlighted the microbiome's significant impact on cancer development, progression, and treatment outcomes. As research continues to unfold, the microbiome and its modulation stand out as a promising frontier in cancer research and therapy.

Risk Factors for Delayed (>30 Days) Readmission Following Rectal Cancer Surgery.

Introduction: Unplanned, delayed readmissions (>30 ds) following oncologic surgeries can increase mortality and care costs and affect hospital quality indices. However, there is a dearth of literature on rectal cancer surgery. Hence, we aimed to assess the risk factors associated with delayed readmissions following rectal cancer surgery to improve targeted interventions, patient outcomes, and quality indices.

Long term outcomes associated with the use of perioperative systemic chemotherapy on low grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasms with pseudomyxoma peritonei treated with cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

Introduction: Low grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasms (LAMN) are indolent tumors that lack invasive potential but may present as pseudomyxoma peritonei. Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) significantly improves both overall and recurrence free survival. While systemic chemotherapy is generally considered ineffective for LAMN, little literature is available to support this notion.

Textbook Outcomes Among Patients Undergoing CRS+HIPEC for Peritoneal Surface Malignancies in an Eastern European Population.

Background: The preferred treatment option for patients with limited peritoneal metastasis (PM) is cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS+HIPEC).While the textbook outcome (TO) concept has been applied to other complex surgeries, its prevalence, determinants, and impact in patients with PM remain unclear. This study sought to identify factors influencing TO among individuals with PM undergoing CRS+HIPEC in an Eastern European population.

Pembrolizumab in microsatellite instability-high/mismatch repair deficient (MSI-H/dMMR) and non-MSI-H/non-dMMR advanced endometrial cancer: Phase 2 KEYNOTE-158 study results.

Objective: We report updated results with longer follow-up in patients with MSI-H/dMMR endometrial cancer (EC) in cohort D (advanced EC of any MSI/dMMR status) and cohort K (any MSI-H/dMMR advanced solid tumor, except colorectal) of the phase 2 KEYNOTE-158 study (NCT02628067) and the first results from patients with non-MSI-H/non-dMMR advanced EC (cohort D).

Methods: Patients received pembrolizumab 200 mg Q3W for ≥35 cycles. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) per RECIST v1.

Up-front resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: Assessing futility in the preoperative setting.

Objective: We sought to develop a predictive model to preoperatively identify patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at risk of undergoing futile upfront liver resection (LR).

Methods: Patients undergoing curative-intent LR for HCC were identified from a large multi-institutional database. Futile LR was defined by death or disease recurrence within six months postoperatively.

Tucatinib and trastuzumab in HER2-mutated metastatic breast cancer: a phase 2 basket trial.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2, also known as ERBB2) signaling promotes cell growth and differentiation, and is overexpressed in several tumor types, including breast, gastric and colorectal cancer. HER2-targeted therapies have shown clinical activity against these tumor types, resulting in regulatory approvals. However, the efficacy of HER2 therapies in tumors with HER2 mutations has not been widely investigated.

Impact of Disability on Postoperative Outcomes After Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgery.

Introduction: Approximately 61 million individuals in the United States have a disability and face unique challenges, resulting in healthcare disparities.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the impact of disability on postoperative outcomes and number of healthy days at home (HDAH).

Methods: Patients who underwent surgery for gastrointestinal (GI) cancer between 2017 and 2020 were identified using the Medicare database.

Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans, Version 1.2025, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines In Oncology.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare cutaneous soft tissue sarcoma and affects an estimated 1,500 people annually in the United States. DFSP frequently exhibits extensive local infiltration. Initial treatment is through surgical excision, and care should be taken to ensure that negative margins are achieved to minimize recurrence.

NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Lung Cancer Screening, Version 1.2025.

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Lung Cancer Screening provide criteria for selecting individuals for screening and offer recommendations for evaluating and managing lung nodules detected during initial and subsequent annual screening. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening.

Real-world outcomes of first-line maintenance niraparib monotherapy in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

Aims: To assess real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS) and time to next treatment (rwTTNT) among patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who received first-line maintenance (1LM) niraparib monotherapy.

Patients & Methods: In this US-nationwide, electronic health record-derived, deidentified database study, eligible patients with EOC initiated 1LM niraparib monotherapy (1 January 2017-1 December 2022) following first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Median rwPFS and rwTTNT were estimated with Kaplan-Meier methodology overall and in a homologous recombination-deficient (HRd) subgroup (further stratified as wild-type [wt] or -mutated [m]).

Optimizing the NGS-based discrimination of multiple lung cancers from the perspective of evolution.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers a promising approach for differentiating multiple primary lung cancers (MPLC) from intrapulmonary metastasis (IPM), though panel selection and clonal interpretation remain challenging. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) data from 80 lung cancer samples were utilized to simulate MPLC and IPM, with various sequenced panels constructed through gene subsampling. Two clonal interpretation approaches primarily applied in clinical practice, MoleA (based on shared mutation comparison) and MoleB (based on probability calculation), were subsequently evaluated.

Prognostic, biological, and structural implications of FLT3-JMD point mutations in acute myeloid leukemia: an analysis of Alliance studies.

The FLT3 gene frequently undergoes mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), with internal tandem duplications (ITD) and tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) point mutations (PMs) being most common. Recently, PMs and deletions in the FLT3 juxtamembrane domain (JMD) have been identified, but their biological and clinical significance remains poorly understood. We analyzed 1660 patients with de novo AML and found FLT3-JMD mutations, mostly PMs, in 2% of the patients.

Impact of Academic Medical Centers on Surgical Outcomes of Neighboring Non-Academic Medical Centers.

Introduction: We aimed to investigate the geographic variation of Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) across different healthcare markets and the impact on surgical outcomes in nearby non-AMCs.

Methods: Patients who underwent major surgery between 2016 and 2021 were identified from the Medicare Standard Analytic Files. Healthcare markets were delineated using Dartmouth Atlas hospital referral regions.

Genomic Profiling of Biliary Tract Cancers: Comprehensive Assessment of Anatomic and Geographic Heterogeneity, Co-Alterations and Outcomes.

Background: Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) represent distinct biological and genomic entities. Anatomic and geographic heterogeneity in genomic profiling of BTC subtypes, genomic co-alterations, and their impact on long-term outcomes are not well defined.

Methods: Genomic data to characterize alterations among patients with BTCs were derived from the AACR GENIE registry (v15.

Risk Factors Predicting Outcomes in Advanced Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have moved to the frontline in recent years to manage upper gastrointestinal (UGI) tumors, such as esophageal and gastric cancers. This retrospective review sheds light on real-world data on ICI-treated UGI tumors to identify risk factors (clinical and pathological) impacting the outcome other than traditional biomarkers (programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) or microsatellite instability status).

Methods: Patients with UGI tumors who received at least one dose of ICI for stage IV or recurrent disease between January 1, 2015, and July 31, 2021, at The Ohio State University were included in the study.

Histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) as a potential auxiliary biomarker for predicting adaptability to anti-HER2 drug treatment in breast cancer patients.

Background: Up to 23% of breast cancer patients recurred within a decade after trastuzumab treatment. Conversely, one trial found that patients with low HER2 expression and metastatic breast cancer had a positive response to trastuzumab-deruxtecan (T-Dxd). This indicates that relying solely on HER2 as a single diagnostic marker to predict the efficacy of anti-HER2 drugs is insufficient.

Oncogenic Functions of Alternatively Spliced Isoform in Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma.

Retroperitoneal liposarcoma (RPLPS) is one of the most common histologic subtypes of soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Complete surgical resection remains the mainstay treatment, while the high rate of locoregional recurrence constitutes the predominant cause of mortality. Well-differentiated (WDLPS) and dedifferentiated (DDLPS) liposarcoma are the most frequent subtypes of RPLPS and present amplified MDM2 gene as a hallmark.

Textbook outcome in liver surgery for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: defining predictors of an optimal postoperative course using machine learning.

Background: We sought to define textbook outcome in liver surgery (TOLS) for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) by considering the implications of perioperative outcomes on overall survival (OS).

Methods: Using a multi-institutional database, TOLS for ICC was defined by employing novel machine learning (ML) models to identify perioperative factors most strongly predictive of OS ≥ 12 months. Subsequently, clinicopathologic factors associated with achieving TOLS were investigated.

Next-generation sequencing demonstrates racial and sex differences in genomic profiling of hepatocellular carcinoma patients: an AACR GENIE project analysis.

Background: Genomic variations related to racial and sex differences among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been investigated. We sought to characterize the mutational landscape of patients with HCC relative to race and sex.

Methods: The American Association for Cancer Research GENIE project (v16.

Hypoxia promotes tumor immune evasion by suppressing MHC-I expression and antigen presentation.

Hypoxia is a common feature of solid tumors that has previously been linked to resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and more recently to immunotherapy. In particular, hypoxic tumors exclude T cells and inhibit their activity, suggesting that tumor cells acquire a mechanism to evade T-cell recognition and killing. Our analysis of hypoxic tumors indicates that hypoxia downregulates the expression of MHC class I and its bound peptides (i.

Machine learning based prediction model for bile leak following hepatectomy for liver cancer.

Objective: We sought to develop a machine learning (ML) preoperative model to predict bile leak following hepatectomy for primary and secondary liver cancer.

Methods: An eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model was developed to predict post-hepatectomy bile leak using data from the ACS-NSQIP database. The model was externally validated using data from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) multi-institutional databases.