Systemic Therapy in Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer and the Role of Biomarkers in Selection of Treatment.

Increasingly, systemic treatment decisions in nonsmall cell lung cancer require the determination of predictive biomarkers on biopsy or surgical specimens. Although currently these have their major role in the advanced setting, these tumor-specific treatments are increasingly moving into earlier stage disease. As part of the multidisciplinary team managing those with nonsmall cell lung cancer, thoracic surgeons need to be aware of these biomarkers and in particular of the need for adequate biopsy specimens containing sufficient tissue to perform the necessary analyses that guide treatment selection.

The Impact of Chronic Kidney Disease in Patients With Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease are commonly excluded from clinical trials. The impact of chronic kidney disease on outcomes in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer has not been previously studied.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the impact of chronic kidney disease on outcomes in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

Management of Pyrexia Associated with the Combination of Dabrafenib and Trametinib: Canadian Consensus Statements.

The combination of dabrafenib and trametinib is a well-established treatment for BRAF-mutated melanoma. However, the effectiveness of this approach may be hindered by the development of treatment-related pyrexia syndrome, which occurs in at least 50% of treated patients. Without appropriate intervention, pyrexia syndrome has the potential to worsen and can result in hypotension secondary to dehydration and associated organ-related complications.

A Review on the Current Treatment Paradigm in High-Risk Prostate Cancer.

High-risk prostate cancer is traditionally treated with a combination of radiotherapy (RT) and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). However, recent advancements in systemic treatment and radiotherapy have widened the spectrum of treatment for this patient population. Use of image guidance and intensity modulation, as well as the incorporation of brachytherapy, has led to safe radiotherapy dose escalation with reduced risk of recurrence.

Full population results from the core phase of CompLEEment-1, a phase 3b study of ribociclib plus letrozole as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in an expanded population.

Purpose: CompLEEment-1 is a phase 3b trial in an expanded patient population with hormone receptor-positive (HR +), human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer (ABC), the largest current trial of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitors in ABC.

Methods: Patients treated with ≤ 1 line of prior chemotherapy and no prior endocrine therapy for ABC received ribociclib 600 mg/day (3-weeks-on/1-week-off) plus letrozole 2.5 mg/day and additionally monthly goserelin/leuprolide in men and pre-/perimenopausal women.

Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Oligoprogression in Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer Patients Receiving Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy: A Phase 2 Prospective Multicenter Study.

Background: Despite the paucity of prospective evidence, stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) is increasingly being considered in the setting of oligoprogression to delay the need to change systemic therapy.

Objective: To determine the local control (LC), progression-free survival (PFS), cumulative incidence of changing systemic therapy, and overall survival (OS) after SRT to oligoprogressive metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) lesions in patients who are on tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A prospective multicenter study was performed to evaluate the use of SRT in oligoprogressive mRCC patients.

The Impact of Foundation Medicine Testing on Cancer Patients: A Single Academic Centre Experience.

Background: The use of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) has recently allowed significant improvements in cancer treatment. Foundation Medicine (FM) provides a genomic profiling test based on NGS for a variety of cancers. However, it is unclear if the Foundation Medicine test would result in a better outcome than the standard on-site molecular testing.

How to Design and Foster Thoracic Oncology Multidisciplinary Cancer Conferences.

In this chapter, the authors review and discuss the literature on multidisciplinary cancer conferences (MCCs, aka tumor boards), clarifying the terminology, showing the evolution of the field, and providing an evidence-based perspective on positive outcomes, best practices, factors influencing the quality of MCCs, evaluation tools to assess the quality of MCCs, and quality improvement interventions for MCCs. The authors then discuss some perspectives from their MCC and initiatives that they undertook to improve the work of their team and the care that they provide to patients in the area of thoracic oncology.

Developing patient-centred strategies to optimize the management of vasomotor symptoms in breast cancer patients: a survey of health care providers.

Purpose: Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) such as hot flashes and night sweats are common in breast cancer patients and can affect both quality of life and treatment adherence. However, there is limited practical data to guide clinicians in the optimal selection of therapeutic strategies. A survey of health care providers was performed to better understand perspectives and prescribing practices for managing this problem.

Active Surveillance in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: Results From the Canadian Kidney Cancer Information System.

Background: Active surveillance (AS) is a commonly used strategy in patients with slow-growing disease. We aimed to assess the outcomes and safety of AS in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

Patients And Methods: We used the Canadian Kidney Cancer information system (CKCis) to identify patients with mRCC diagnosed between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2016.

Eastern Canadian Gastrointestinal Cancer Consensus Conference 2019.

The annual Eastern Canadian Gastrointestinal Cancer Consensus Conference 2019 was held in Morell, Prince Edward Island, 19-21 September 2019. Experts in medical oncology, radiation oncology, and surgical oncology who are involved in the management of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies participated in presentations and discussion sessions for the purpose of developing the recommendations presented here. This consensus statement addresses multiple topics in the management of anal, colorectal, biliary tract, and gastric cancers, including: radiotherapy and systemic therapy for localized and advanced anal cancer; watch and wait strategy for the management of rectal cancer; role of testing for dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency prior to commencement of fluoropyrimidine therapy; radiotherapy and systemic therapy in the adjuvant and unresectable settings for biliary tract cancer; and radiotherapy and systemic therapy in the perioperative setting for early-stage gastric cancer.

Feasibility of streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin angular stabilization of the linear Boltzmann transport equation with magnetic fields.

To accurately model dose in a magnetic field, the Lorentz force must be included in the traditional linear Boltzmann transport equation (LBTE). Both angular and spatial stabilization are required to deterministically solve this equation. In this work, a streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) method is applied to achieve angular stabilization of the LBTE with magnetic fields.

Stereotactic radiosurgery optimization with hippocampal-sparing in patients treated for brain metastases.

Background And Purpose: Cranial irradiation is associated with significant neurocognitive sequelae, secondary to radiation-induced damage to hippocampal cells. It has been shown that hippocampal-sparing (HS) leads to modest benefit in neurocognitive function in patients with brain metastases, but further improvement is possible. We hypothesized that improved benefits could be seen using HS in patients treated with stereotactic radiation (HS-SRS).

Three Decades of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: An Academic Center Experience.

Background: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) remains a challenging disease to manage. In the past few decades, extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), pemetrexed-based chemotherapy, and indwelling pleural catheters were introduced to MPM care with variable levels of efficacy and evidence.

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective review of patients diagnosed with MPM between January 1991 and March 2019.

Influence of the competing risk of death on estimates of disease recurrence in trials of adjuvant endocrine therapy for early-stage breast cancer: A secondary analysis of MA.27, MA.17 and MA.17R.

Background: Many women diagnosed with early-stage hormone-sensitive breast cancer die of causes other than their breast cancer. These competing risks can create challenges in analysing and clearly communicating data on risk of breast cancer recurrence or death. Here, we quantify the impact of competing risks on estimates of disease recurrence and benefit from therapy.

DUCHESS: an evaluation of the ductal carcinoma in situ score for decisions on radiotherapy in patients with low/intermediate-risk DCIS.

Background: Identification of women with DCIS who have a very low risk of local recurrence risk (LRR) after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is needed to de-escalate therapy. We evaluated the impact of 10-year LRR estimates after BCS, calculated by the integration of a 12-gene molecular expression assay (Oncotype Breast DCIS Score) and clinicopathological features (CPFs), on its ability to change radiation oncologists' recommendations for RT after BCS for DCIS.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of women with DCIS treated with BCS.

Long-term outcomes of prostate radiotherapy for newly-diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer.

Background: In patients presenting with metastatic prostate cancer, the role of local therapy is evolving. Two recently reported large-scale randomized trials suggest that radiotherapy (RT) directed at the prostate improves overall survival (OS) in patients with low metastatic burden. We reviewed the experience of prostate RT in this setting at our center.

The COVID-19 pandemic: An opportunity to rethink and harmonise the frequency of follow-up visits for patients with early stage breast cancer.

Purpose: While routine, in-person follow-up of early-stage breast cancer patients (EBC) after completion of initial treatment is common, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented changes in clinical practice. A systematic review was performed to evaluate the evidence supporting different frequencies of routine follow-up.

Methods: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Collaboration Library were searched from database inception to July 16, 2020 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective cohort studies (PCS) evaluating different frequencies of routine follow-up.

The Diminishing Importance of Primary Site Identification in Cancer of Unknown Primary: A Canadian Single-Center Experience.

Background: Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) describes patients with metastatic disease without an identified primary tumor site. Successful diagnosis and treatment of these patients remains difficult. Published guidelines on CUP have highlighted "favorable" subtype groups.

A prospective multi-centre, randomized study comparing the addition of tapering dexamethasone to other standard of care therapies for taxane-associated pain syndrome (TAPS) in breast cancer patients.

Purpose: Taxane-associated pain syndrome (TAPS) is common with docetaxel and is characterised by myalgias and arthralgias starting 2-3 days after treatment and can last for up to 7 days. Anecdotal evidence suggests that corticosteroids can reduce TAPS. This multicentre, randomized trial evaluated the effect of additional tapering dexamethasone on TAPS.