BACKGROUND:Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are relatively uncommon tumors. Data regarding the patterns of care of patients with STS and its consistency with available guidelines are relatively sparse. The authors conducted a detailed analysis of STS patients diagnosed in 2002 and sampled from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries.METHODS:The authors sampled 1369 patients with invasive sarcomas. Hospital records were reabstracted, and treating physicians were contacted to verify the therapy provided to each patient.RESULTS:The median age of patients was 60 years. There was a slight male predominance among the patients with nongynecologic sarcomas. Fifty percent of the patients had localized stage sarcoma. Most patients received surgery, but negative margins were obtained in only 50% of patients. Complete resection was less frequent in patients ≥50 years old. Radiation therapy was used in 53% of patients with extremity sarcomas but in only 20% to 30% of the patients with sarcomas at other sites. About 27% of all patients received chemotherapy. Tumor grade was significantly associated with the use of radiation and chemotherapy. Surgical resection, tumor grade, tumor size, use of radiation therapy, and age significantly influenced survival.CONCLUSIONS:Patterns of care of STS differ based on the site of the tumor. The patterns of care for extremity sarcomas are fairly consistent with the available recommendations, but the patterns of care for other sites are less consistent. In addition to certain tumor characteristics, age of the patient was significantly associated with therapy and patient outcome. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.

Background Melphalan flufenamide (melflufen), an alkylating peptide-drug conjugate, plus dexamethasone showed clinical activity and manageable safety in the phase 2 HORIZON study. We aimed to determine whether melflufen plus dexamethasone would provide a progression-free survival benefit compared with pomalidomide plus dexamethasone in patients with previously treated multiple myeloma. MethodsIn this randomised, open-label, head-to-head, phase 3 study (OCEAN), adult patients (aged ≥18 years) were recruited from 108 university hospitals, specialist hospitals, and community-based centres in 21 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia. Eligible patients had an ECOG performance status of 0-2; must have had relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, refractory to lenalidomide (within 18 months of randomisation) and to the last line of therapy; and have received two to four previous lines of therapy (including lenalidomide and a proteasome inhibitor). Patients were randomly assigned (1:1), stratified by age, number of previous lines of therapy, and International Staging System score, to either 28-day cycles of melflufen and dexamethasone (melflufen group) or pomalidomide and dexamethasone (pomalidomide group). All patients received dexamethasone 40 mg orally on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of each cycle. In the melflufen group, patients received melflufen 40 mg intravenously over 30 min on day 1 of each cycle and in the pomalidomide group, patients received pomalidomide 4 mg orally daily on days 1 to 21 of each cycle. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival assessed by an independent review committee in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population. Safety was assessed in patients who received at least one dose of study medication. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03151811, and is ongoing. Findings Between June 12, 2017, and Sept 3, 2020, 246 patients were randomly assigned to the melflufen group (median age 68 years [IQR 60-72]; 107 [43%] were female) and 249 to the pomalidomide group (median age 68 years [IQR 61-72]; 109 [44%] were female). 474 patients received at least one dose of study drug (melflufen group n=228; pomalidomide group n=246; safety population). Data cutoff was Feb 3, 2021. Median progression-free survival was 6•8 months (95% CI 5•0-8•5; 165 [67%] of 246 patients had an event) in the melflufen group and 4•9 months (4•2-5•7; 190 [76%] of 249 patients had an event) in the pomalidomide group (hazard ratio [HR] 0•79, [95% CI 0•64-0•98]; p=0•032), at a median follow-up of 15•5 months (IQR 9•4-22•8) in the melflufen group and 16•3 months (10•1-23•2) in the pomalidomide group. Median overall survival was 19•8 months (95% CI 15•1-25•6) at a median follow-up of 19•8 months (IQR 12•0-25•0) in the melflufen group and 25•0 months (95% CI 18•1-31•9) in the pomalidomide group at a median follow-up of 18•6 months (IQR 11•8-23•7; HR 1•10 [95% CI 0•85-1•44]; p=0•47). The most common grade 3 or 4 treatment-emergent adverse events were thrombocytopenia (143 [63%] of 228 in the melflufen group vs...

A 34-year-old woman with a diagnosis of hemophagocytic lymphohistocytosis (HLH) received a double umbilical cord blood transplantation following a myeloablative chemotherapy preparative regimen with busulfan and cyclophosphamide. HLH is a rare, potentially fatal hematologic disorder characterized by the overactivation of histocytes and T lymphocytes, leading to organ infiltration and acute illness. On day 25 post-transplantation, the patient required a platelet transfusion for a platelet count of 6,000 per ml (normal range = 150,000-450,000 per ml). The patient's blood type prior to the cord blood transplantation was B positive and, although both umbilical cord blood donors were O positive, the patient was still B positive per blood bank testing on that day. Although the recipient of an allogenic stem cell transplantation will eventually become the blood type of the donor, the time for this process to occur varies for each person. That process must be monitored by the blood bank for the purpose of cross-matching blood products to decrease hemolysis as much as possible. The patient was premedicated with the facility's standard for platelet transfusions: acetaminophen 650 mg and diphenhydramine 25 mg about 30 minutes prior to the platelet transfusion.

Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy followed by radical prostatectomy is reasonable and appropriate for clinical stage T3 prostate cancer. A progression-free and overall 5-year survival of 70% and 90%, respectively, compares favorably to Radiation Therapy Oncology Group neoadjuvant trial outcomes for this stage of prostate cancer.