The psychological impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on cancer patients, a population at higher risk of fatal consequences if infected, has been only rarely evaluated. This study was conducted at the Departments of Oncology of four hospitals located in the Verona area in Italy to investigate the psychological consequences of the pandemic on cancer patients under active anticancer treatments. A 13-item ad hoc questionnaire to evaluate the psychological status of patients before and during the pandemic was administered to 474 consecutive subjects in the time frame between April 27th and June 7th 2020. Among the 13 questions, 7 were considered appropriate to elaborate an Emotional Vulnerability Index (EVI) that allows to separate the population in two groups (low versus high emotional vulnerability) according to observed median values. During the emergency period, the feeling of high vulnerability was found in 246 patients (53%) and was significantly associated with the following clinical variables: female gender, being under chemotherapy treatment, age ≤ 65 years. Compared to the pre-pandemic phase, the feeling of vulnerability was increased in 41 patients (9%), remained stably high in 196 (42%) and, surprisingly, was reduced in 10 patients (2%). Overall, in a population characterized by an high level of emotional vulnerability the pandemic had a marginal impact and only a small proportion of patients reported an increase of their emotional vulnerability.

Background/Aim: Immune check point inhibitors (ICIs) are changing cancer treatment in several malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The introduction of these active new agents is associated with a relevant increase of costs and it is, therefore, important to create a balance between the costs of treatment and the added value represented by the improvement of the clinical parameters of interest such as overall survival (OS). This analysis was conducted to assess the pharmacological costs of first-and second-line treatments with ICIs (pembrolizumab, nivolumab and atezolizumab) for metastatic NSCLC. Materials and Methods: The present evaluation was restricted to phase III randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We calculated the pharmacological costs necessary to get the benefit in OS. Results: Six phase III RCTs were evaluated. Concerning firstline, the lowest cost per month of OS-gain was associated with the use of pembrolizumab at 2,734 €. Concerning second-line, the lowest cost per month of OS-gain was associated with the use of atezolizumab at 3,724 €. Conclusion: Pembrolizumab and atezolizumab are cost-effective in both first and secondline treatment for metastatic NSCLC, respectively.

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Introduction The treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) is one of the most difficult problems in clinical oncology. Clinical trial results suggest that novel therapies may be having a favorable impact on the survival of mBC patients, but the real impact of new therapies on OS rates has yet to be established. The aim of this outcome study was to evaluate the most reliable parameters to define the long-term result in terms of OS of different treatment strategies for mBC patients in a real-world clinical practice. Materials and Methods A retrospective analysis of consecutive patients diagnosed with mBC between February 2001 and December 2008 and treated at our medical oncology unit was performed. Results We evaluated 70 female patients. At the last follow-up all patients had died. Median OS was 31.55 months (range, 2.33-100.13). There was no statistically significant difference in OS (p = 0.284) between the period 2001-2004 and the period 2005-2008. We did not find any statistically significant difference in OS even in the transition from one year to the next (p = 0.154). Conclusions The results of the current analysis suggest that the OS of women with mBC has not improved in the last years. However, these results should be interpreted with caution, considering the difficulty of determining changes in survival over time. Larger studies are needed to corroborate our findings.

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