First study examining mental illness and self-harm events across 26 cancer types

 Recently published findings in Nature Medicine studied risk of unnatural death following self-harm amongst 459,542 cancer patients diagnosed with 26 different types of cancer.  Due to psychological distress and depression experienced by cancer patients, the study authors concluded that the self-harm "prevalence ratio is higher among younger individuals, as they are more likely to be referred for specialized psychosocial cancer care."  In particular, the study further revealed the patients with co-occurring were mostly likely to cause self-harm to themselves during the first 12 months of a cancer diagnosis. 

To read more about this study, click here.  

Source mentioned: Chang WH, Lai AG. Cumulative burden of psychiatric disorders and self-harm across 26 adult cancers. Nature Medicine; Published online 28 March 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01740-3

NGS is effective in identifying actionable genetic alterations for investigational targeted therapies in paediatric and young adult patients with refractory cancers

A recent study published by the Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center recently published findings regarding "the feasibility of a nationwide screening and centralized testing Protocol to select patients with tumours harbouring actionable alterations for enrolment in clinical studies of molecularly targeted therapies."   Following completed testing for 94.7% of tumours, actionable alternations were detected in 31.5% of the first 1,000 tumours screened, with "treatment arm assignment and enrolment occurring in 28.4% and 13.1% of patients." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Parsons DW, Janeway KA, Patton DR, et al. Actionable Tumor Alterations and Treatment Protocol Enrollment of Pediatric and Young Adult Patients With Refractory Cancers in the National Cancer Institute–Children's Oncology Group Pediatric MATCH Trial. JCO; Published online 30 March 2022. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02838

Children of patients with cancer more likely to experience medical financial hardship and emotional and educational challenges following parental diagnosis

 A new study conducted by researchers at the American Cancer Society indicates that children "living in families with a history of parental cancer were more likely to face financial, emotional, and educational challenges."  According to Dr. Zhiyuan Zheng, lead author of the study, 3.4% of children between 5-17 are living in families with a parental history of cancer.  As a result, these children may miss school and may be less likely to receive medical care due to lack of family financial resources.  Further, the study states that these children "were particularly vulnerable and began to experience psychosocial and behavioral challenges that often went unaddressed." 

To read more about this study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Zheng Z, Zhao J, Nogueira L, Han X, Fan Q, Yabroff KR. Associations of Parental Cancer With School Absenteeism, Medical Care Unaffordability, Health Care Use, and Mental Health Among Children. JAMA Pediatr. Published online April 11, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.0494

 

Benefit of adjuvant capecitabine after curative resection of biliary tract cancer maintained with a long-term analysis

Results from BILAP, a 5-year study on survival data conducted at the UCL Cancer Institute in London, U.L. confirmed "the benefit of capecitabine as adjuvant therapy after surgical resection of biliary tract cancer...and should be considered as the standard of care."   Conducted between March 15 2006 - December 4, 2014 on 447 patients (of whom 223 were assigned to the capecitabine group for curative intent), indicated a period of 24.3 months for median recurrence-free survival for patients prescribed capecitabine compared to 17.4 months for those in the observation group.  

To read more about the BILAP study, click here. 

Source mentioned: Bridgewater J, Fletcher P, Palmer DH, et al. Long-Term Outcomes and Exploratory Analyses of the Randomized Phase III BILCAP Study. Journal of Clinical Oncology; Published online 22 March 2022. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.21.02568