Postings will resume week of August 4th

To all Grey Horizon readers,

Blog postings will resume the week of August 4th.

Thank you for your continued support.

Survivorship and immune checkpoint inhibitors

A U.S. investigative study team from Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, have unveiled a positive relationship between longer length of survival in melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, and non-small cell lung cancer patients treated by immune checkpoint inhibitors.  Following treatment with PD-1 and/or PD-L1 inhibitors, most of the 217 patients studied had a survival period of more than 2 years, and "no obvious long-term adverse cardiometabolic signals were noted.

To read more about this study, click here.

Study mentioned:  Patrinely JR Jr., Young AC, Quach H, et al. Survivorship in immune therapy: Assessing toxicities, body composition and health-related quality of life among long-term survivors treated with antibodies to programmed death-1 receptor and its ligand. European Journal of Cancer 2020; 135:211-220. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2020.05.005

Assessment of patients' perspectives on consequences of COVID-19 on cancer care

A team of oncologists from the Netherlands recently published what is believed to be the first study focusing on perspectives of cancer patients during COVID-19.  Developed by the Dutch Federation of Cancer Patients Organizations, together with oncologists and patient advocacy groups from the Dutch Multidisciplinary Oncology Foundation, an online survey was distributed to cancer patients across the Netherlands via direct mail, website announcements, and social media.  "The survey consisted of 20 question on four topics: patients' characteristics, contact with the hospital, consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and concerns about COVID-19". Of the 5302 completed survey responses received 30% of patents stated a number of consequences pertaining to their cancer treatments or subsequent follow-up visits, many of which were altered from in-person visits to phone or video consultations.

To read more about this study, click here.

Source mentioned: de Joode K, Dumoukin DW, Engelen V, et al. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer treatment the patients' perspective.  European Journal of Cancer; published online 4 July 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecja.2020.06.019

Artificial intelligence for earlier detection of pancreatic cancer

A recent presentation at the ESMO (European Society of Medical Oncology) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer, held in Lugano, Switzerland, July 1-4, 2020, indicates that artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining support for earlier detection of pancreatic cancer.  70-80% of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage where treatment may no longer be effective, resulting in only a 6% survival rate 5 years after diagnosis.  The study, conducted on 1,378 pancreatic cancer patients between 15-99 years of age shows that for those under 60, the AI model "could predict who was at higher risk of pancreatic cancer up to 20 months before diagnosis."

To read more about this study, click here

Patients with multiple myeloma and CHIP face works outcomes following autologous stem cell transplant

A recently published study from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has determined that patients with multiple myeloma treated with autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT), "the presence of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) was associated with worse outcomes compared to those without CHIP.  According to first study author Dr. Tarek H. Mouhieddine, the study results indicate that immunomodulatory therapy after transplant is a safe and viable option regardless of CHIP status.

To read more about the study, click here.