Quality of life and pain in patients with metastatic bone disease from solid tumors treated with bone-targeted agents- a real-world cross-sectional study from Switzerland (SAKK 95/16).

Background: Bone-targeted agents (BTAs) are widely used in the management of patients with bone metastases from solid tumors. Knowledge of the impact of their routine care use on patient-reported pain and bone pain-related quality of life (QoL) is limited.

Methods: This real world, cross-sectional study enrolled patients over a 3-month period through oncologists across Switzerland.

Impact of CT convolution kernel on robustness of radiomic features for different lung diseases and tissue types.

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to assess the impact of different CT reconstruction kernels on the stability of radiomic features and the transferability between different diseases and tissue types. Three lung diseases were evaluated, . non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) and interstitial lung disease related to systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD) as well as four different tissue types, .

PET-guided omission of radiotherapy in early-stage unfavourable Hodgkin lymphoma (GHSG HD17): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: Combined-modality treatment consisting of chemotherapy and consolidation radiotherapy is standard of care for patients with early-stage unfavourable Hodgkin lymphoma. However, the use of radiotherapy can have long-term sequelae, which is of particular concern, as Hodgkin lymphoma is frequently diagnosed in young adults with a median age of approximately 30 years. In the German Hodgkin Study Group HD17 trial, we investigated whether radiotherapy can be omitted without loss of efficacy in patients who have a complete metabolic response after receiving two cycles of escalated doses of etoposide, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin, and regular doses of bleomycin, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (eBEACOPP) plus two cycles of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy (2 + 2).

MATRix-RICE therapy and autologous haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with secondary CNS involvement (MARIETTA): an international, single-arm, phase 2 trial.

Background: Secondary CNS lymphoma is a rare but potentially lethal event in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. We aimed to assess the activity and safety of an intensive, CNS-directed chemoimmunotherapy consolidated by autologous haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) in patients with secondary CNS lymphoma.

Methods: This international, single-arm, phase 2 trial was done in 24 hospitals in Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Radiomics Feature Activation Maps as a New Tool for Signature Interpretability.

Introduction: In the field of personalized medicine, radiomics has shown its potential to support treatment decisions. However, the limited feature interpretability hampers its introduction into the clinics. Here, we propose a new methodology to create radiomics feature activation maps, which allows to identify the spatial-anatomical locations responsible for signature activation based on local radiomics.

Clinical behavior of recurrent hormone receptor-positive breast cancer by adjuvant endocrine therapy within the Breast International Group 1-98 clinical trial.

Background: Endocrine therapy resistance is a major cause of distant recurrence (DR) in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. This study evaluated differences in survival after DR in patients treated with different adjuvant endocrine therapy regimens in the Breast International Group (BIG) 1-98 trial.

Methods: BIG 1-98 compared 5 years of adjuvant treatment among 4 arms: tamoxifen (T), letrozole (L), tamoxifen followed by letrozole (TL), and letrozole followed by tamoxifen (LT).

Prolonged rituximab maintenance in follicular lymphoma patients: long-term results of the SAKK 35/03 randomized trial.

The Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) conducted the SAKK 35/03 randomized trial (NCT00227695) to investigate different rituximab monotherapy schedules in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). Here, we report their long-term treatment outcome. Two-hundred and seventy FL patients were treated with 4 weekly doses of rituximab monotherapy (375 mg/m2); 165 of them, achieving at least a partial response, were randomly assigned to maintenance rituximab (375 mg/m2 every 2 months) on a short-term (4 administrations; n = 82) or a long-term (up to a maximum of 5 years; n = 83) schedule.

Cumulative incidence of cardiovascular events under tamoxifen and letrozole alone and in sequence: a report from the BIG 1-98 trial.

Background: Compared to tamoxifen, adjuvant treatment with aromatase inhibitors improves disease outcomes of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer. In the international, randomized, double-blind BIG 1-98 trial, 8010 women were randomized to receive tamoxifen, letrozole, or sequential use of the agents for 5 years. With a focus on switching between agents, we investigated cardiovascular events over the entire 5-year treatment period.

Relapse After Early-Stage, Favorable Hodgkin Lymphoma: Disease Characteristics and Outcomes With Conventional or High-Dose Chemotherapy.

Purpose: We evaluated disease and treatment characteristics of patients with relapse after risk-adapted first-line treatment of early-stage, favorable, classic Hodgkin lymphoma (ES-HL). We compared second-line therapy with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) or conventional chemotherapy (CTx).

Methods: We analyzed patients with relapse after ES-HL treated within the German Hodgkin Study Group HD10+HD13 trials.

A multicentre randomised phase III trial comparing pembrolizumab versus single-agent chemotherapy for advanced pre-treated malignant pleural mesothelioma: the European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP 9-15) PROMISE-meso trial.

Background: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive malignancy characterised by limited treatment options and a poor prognosis. At relapse after platinum-based chemotherapy, single-agent chemotherapy is commonly used and single-arm trials of immune-checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated encouraging activity.

Patients And Methods: PROMISE-meso is an open-label 1:1 randomised phase III trial investigating the efficacy of pembrolizumab (200 mg/Q3W) versus institutional choice single-agent chemotherapy (gemcitabine or vinorelbine) in relapsed MPM patients with progression after/on previous platinum-based chemotherapy.

Prognostic models integrating quantitative parameters from baseline and interim positron emission computed tomography in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: post-hoc analysis from the SAKK38/07 clinical trial.

Positron emission computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) enrolled in a prospective clinical trial were reviewed to test the impact of quantitative parameters from interim PET/CT scans on overall (OS) and progression-free (PFS) survival. We centrally reviewed baseline and interim PET/CT scans of 138 patients treated with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone given every 14 days (R-CHOP14) in the SAKK38/07 trial (ClinicalTrial.gov identifier: NCT00544219).

Prospective long-term follow-up after first-line subcutaneous cladribine in hairy cell leukemia: a SAKK trial.

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) remains an incurable disease. However, first-line treatment with either intravenous or subcutaneous cladribine generally leads to long-lasting remissions. Although there are excellent long-term data for intravenous application, similar data regarding subcutaneous administration are lacking.

Chemotherapy negatively impacts the tumor immune microenvironment in NSCLC: an analysis of pre- and post-treatment biopsies in the multi-center SAKK19/09 study.

Background: Over the past few years, immune checkpoint inhibitors have changed the therapeutic landscape of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Response to immune checkpoint inhibitors correlates with a pre-existing anti-tumoral immune response. Checkpoint inhibitors have been introduced as second-line therapy and are only very recently used as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy as first-line treatment of NSCLC.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on treatment patterns in metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Background: The coronavirus pandemic has provoked discussions among healthcare providers how to manage cancer patients when faced with the threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) containing regimens are standard of care in the majority of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC) patients. It remains unclear whether therapies should be modified in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Identifying oncogenic drivers associated with increased risk of late distant recurrence in postmenopausal, estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer: results from the BIG 1-98 study.

Background: In postmenopausal, estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative early breast cancer, the risk for distant recurrence can extend beyond 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy. This study aims to identify genomic driver alterations associated with late distant recurrence.

Patients And Methods: Next generation sequencing was used to characterize driver alterations in primary tumors from a subset of 764 postmenopausal estrogen receptor-positive/HER2-negative patients from the BIG 1-98 randomized trial.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Longitudinal Analysis of the German Hodgkin Study Group.

Purpose: Many important details of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after diagnosis and treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are still unknown because large longitudinal studies of HRQoL are rare. Therefore, we analyzed a systematically assessed, comprehensive range of HRQoL domains in patients with HL of all stages from diagnosis up to 5 years of survivorship.

Patients And Methods: We included patients with HL age 18-60 years at diagnosis from the German Hodgkin Study Group trials HD13, HD14, and HD15.

A Randomized Open-Label Phase III Trial Evaluating the Addition of Denosumab to Standard First-Line Treatment in Advanced NSCLC: The European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP) and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) SPLENDOUR Trial.

Introduction: Receptor activator of NF-kB ligand stimulates NF-kB-dependent cell signaling and acts as the primary signal for bone resorption. Retrospective analysis of a large trial comparing denosumab versus zoledronic acid in bone metastatic solid tumors suggested significant overall survival (OS) advantage for patients with lung cancer with denosumab (p = 0.01).

Estimation of historical control rate for a single arm de-escalation study - Application to the POSITIVE trial.

Background: Although randomized controlled clinical trials are optimal to evaluate the effect of an experimental therapy, single-arm trials are required whenever randomization is unethical or not feasible, such as de-escalation studies. We propose using prospectively identified historical controls to place results of single-arm, de-escalation trials into context.

Methods: POSITIVE is a prospective, single-arm study in young women with hormone-receptor-positive early breast cancer to determine if temporarily interrupting adjuvant endocrine therapy in order to become pregnant increases the risk of a breast cancer event.

Cardiovascular safety of rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma B-type and/or mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitors: A mixed approach combining a meta-analysis and a pharmacovigilance disproportionality analysis.

Background: The risk of cardiovascular adverse events from rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma B-type (BRAF) and mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) inhibitors is not fully characterized.

Aim: To evaluate the cardiovascular adverse events risks related to BRAF and/or MEK inhibitors in randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials and in the real-life setting.

Methods: We used two approaches.

Comparison of robust to standardized CT radiomics models to predict overall survival for non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Background: Radiomics is a promising tool for the identification of new prognostic biomarkers. Radiomic features can be affected by different scanning protocols, often present in retrospective and prospective clinical data. We compared a computed tomography (CT) radiomics model based on a large but highly heterogeneous multicentric image dataset with robust feature pre-selection to a model based on a smaller but standardized image dataset without pre-selection.

Evaluation of surgical resection in advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer: laparoscopic assessment. A European Network of Gynaecological Oncology Trial (ENGOT) group survey.

Objective: Laparoscopy is one of the diagnostic tools available for the complex clinical decision-making process in advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal carcinoma. This article presents the results of a survey conducted within the European Network of Gynaecological Oncology Trial (ENGOT) group aimed at reviewing the current patterns of practice at gynecologic oncology centers with regard to the evaluation of resection in advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal carcinoma.

Methods: A 24-item questionnaire was sent to the chair of the 20 cooperative groups that are currently part of the ENGOT group, and forwarded to the members within each group.

Independent Validation of EarlyR Gene Signature in BIG 1-98: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase III Trial Comparing Letrozole and Tamoxifen as Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy for Postmenopausal Women With Hormone Receptor-Positive, Early Breast Cancer.

Background: EarlyR gene signature in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer is computed from the expression values of , , , , and . EarlyR has been validated in multiple cohorts profiled using microarrays. This study sought to verify the prognostic features of EarlyR in a case-cohort sample from BIG 1-98, a randomized clinical trial of ER+ postmenopausal breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy (letrozole or tamoxifen).

Recommendations for triage, prioritization and treatment of breast cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) associated disease (COVID-19) outbreak seriously challenges globally all health care systems and professionals. Expert projections estimate that despite social distancing and lockdown being practiced, we have yet to feel the full impact of COVID-19. In this manuscript we provide guidance to prepare for the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer patients and advise on how to triage, prioritize and organize diagnostic procedures, surgical, radiation and medical treatments.