BackgroundThere is a lack of evidence-based data on aged patients with newer direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) and with shorter duration of treatment regimens involving DAAs with or without ribavirin (RBV) and pegylated interferon (Peg IFN).Patients and methodsMedical records of 240 patients treated with DAAs with or without Peg IFN and RBV between January 2013 and July 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups: patients aged 65 years and older (N=84) and patients aged younger than 65 years (N=156). Pretreatment baseline patient characteristics, treatment efficacy, factors affecting sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after treatment, and adverse reactions were compared between the groups.ResultsNo statistically significant difference was observed with end of treatment response (98.8 vs. 98%, P=0.667) and sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after treatment (93.1 vs. 94.1%, P=0.767) between patients aged 65 and older and those younger than 65 years of age. Fatigue was the most common adverse event recorded (32.5%), followed by anemia (19.6%), leukopenia (11.7%), thrombocytopenia (10%), skin rash (8.3%), and headache (7.9%). The RBV dose was reduced in eight (8%) patients and four patients discontinued the RBV treatment because of severe anemia. RBV dose reduction or discontinuation did not reach statistical significance (P=0.913). Increased fibrosis, cirrhosis, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, hemoglobin, and platelet levels seem to affect the sustained virologic response in the elderly. Twelve (6.28%) patients failed to respond to treatment and the failure rate was not significant (P=0.767) between the groups.ConclusionDAAs with or without IFN and RBV in the standard recommended 12 or 24-week treatment regimens are effective, well tolerated, and may be safely extended to elderly patients infected with chronic hepatitis C.
Objective:We present a rare case of pernicious anemia presented as multi-organ dysfunction syndrome, later found to have pseudo-thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.Methods:An 86-year-old female presented with respiratory distress, altered mental status, acute renal failure and was intubated in emergency room. She was found to have severe anemia, thrombocytopenia, high lactate, high lactate dehydrogenase and low haptoglobin. Peripheral smear revealed multilobulated neutrophils with schistocytes, poikilocytes and anisocytes.Results:She was admitted to intensive care unit for altered mental status, multi-organ dysfunction syndrome with severe metabolic acidosis in setting of hemolysis. She was intubated and managed with intravenous antibiotics and blood transfusion. Patient improved significantly after blood transfusion. Lactic acid normalized, acute kidney injury resolved and mentation improved after transfusion. Laboratory investigation revealed low vitamin B12, high methylmalonic acid, high homocysteine, high lactate dehydrogenase, low haptoglobin, high anti-parietal antibody and high anti-intrinsic factor antibody. Patient was diagnosed with pernicious anemia and pseudo-thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura with concomitant intramedullary hemolysis. Her hematological parameters and her clinical condition improved significantly after starting therapy with cyanocobalamin.Conclusion:Pernicious anemia is a chronic disease with subtle presentation but may present as life-threatening complications. Hemolysis and pseudo-thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura may present as multi-organ dysfunction syndrome which has dramatic response to appropriate therapy.
Leptomeningeal metastasis is an uncommon but serious complication in patients with advanced cancers. Leptomeningeal metastasis is diagnosed in approximately 5% of the patients, most commonly among patients with cancers of breast and lung, melanoma, and gastrointestinal malignancies. Treatment goal is to improve survival and quality of the patients. Use of targeted therapies and immunotherapy has led to improved survival of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this article, we review emerging data on use of mutation-specific agents and immunotherapy in the treatment of leptomeningeal metastasis among patients with NSCLC.
e15643 Background: Sorafinib was approved for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in 2007. This study was conducted to study relative survival in elderly patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in presorafinib and sorafinib era. Methods: We selected elderly patients (age ≥ 65 years) with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (distant metastasis based on SEER’s LRD staging) from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database diagnosed during January 2000 to December 2013. We calculated one year and five year relative survival rates in pre- (2000-2006) and post- sorafinib (2008-2013) era by sex and ethnicity (Caucasians, African-Americans (AA) & Other) using SEER*Stat software. Results: There were total of 1533 patients in presorafinib era and 1694 patients in postsorafinib era. Of the total population, 71.30% were male and 28.70% female, 71% were Caucasian, 10% African-American and 19% were other race. Median age of patients was 73 years (65-99 years) and medial follow up period was 3 months (0-167 months) Survival rates improved significantly from pre- to post- sorafenib era (1 year RS: 10.60% ±0.80% vs 12.10±0.90%, p value = 0.001; 5 year RS: 1.10%±0.30% vs 1.8%±0.6%, p value = 0.001 ). The survival rate improved significantly for male (1 year RS: 11.60%±1.00% vs 12.30%±1.00%, p value = 0.006; 5 year RS: 1.00%±0.40% vs 1.3%± 0.6% , p value = 0.007) and Caucasian (1 year RS: 10.60%±1.00% vs 12.60%±1.10%, p value = 0.0008; 5 year RS: RS = 1.20%±0.40% vs 1.4%±0.7%, P value = 0.001) patients in post sorafenib era. There was no significant difference in the survival rates among any other cohorts examined.However in black (N = 153 vs 158 , RS = 6.80%±2.10% vs 7.80%±2.40% , p value = 0.77) or other races (N = 311 vs 311, RS = 12.20%±1.90% vs 12.80%±2.10%, p value = 0.30 ) , no significant improvement in survival was noted. Conclusions: Our study showed that relative survival rates of elderly patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with distant metastasis has improved in the post-sorafenib compared to pre-sorafenib era. The improvement in survival is limited to male and Caucasian patients.
1513 Background: In high-risk estrogen-receptor positive, HER2 positive, or triple negative breast cancer (BC), chemotherapy can increase cure rates in early-stage disease and prolong survival in setting of advanced disease. Real world data specific to BC is needed to counsel patients (pts) with BC on their risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Methods: In this retrospective study, we abstracted clinical data including demographics, tumor histology, cancer treatment, and COVID-19 testing results status from the electronic medical record of 3778 BC patients who received cancer care from 02/01/2020 – 05/01/2020 in New York City at our cancer center. The primary endpoint of the study was incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection by treatment type (cytotoxic chemotherapy (CT) vs non-cytotoxic therapies (endocrine and/or HER2 directed therapy (E/H)) diagnosed by either serology, RT-PCR, or documented clinical diagnosis. Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW) and Mann-Whitney Test were used to assess risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection by treatment and assess outcomes based on oncologic and non-oncologic risk factors respectively. Results: 3062 patients met inclusion criteria with 379 pts in CT, 2343 pts in E/H and 340 in NT groups. During study period 641 patients (20.9%) were tested by either PCR or serology with 64 patients (2.1%) diagnosed with COVID-19. All pts who tested positive by PCR and subsequently had serology testing were positive for IgG. The weighted risk of SARS-COV-2 infection was 3.5% in CT vs. 2.7% in E/H (p=0.523). 27 patients (0.9%) expired over follow up, with 10 deaths attributed to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The weighted risk for death was 0.7% with CT vs. 0.1% with E/H, p=0.24 (Table A). Age, BMI,CCI and advanced cancer stage were associated with increased mortality following SARS-CoV-2 infection (Table). Conclusions: CT was not associated with increased risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 infection or death following infection. BC cancer treatment, including CT, can be safely administered with enhanced infectious precautions and should not be withheld particularly when given for curative intent.[Table: see text]
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