bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Prospective comparative effectiveness trial of multidisciplinary lung cancer (LC) care.
Authors: Osarogiagbon Raymond U. , Faris Nicholas Ryan , Smeltzer Matthew , Ray Meredith , Ward Kenneth Daniel , Rugless Fedoria , Jackson Bianca Michelle , Meadows Meghan Brooke , Berryman Courtney , Fehnel Carrie , Houston-Harris Cheryl , McHugh Laura , Klesges Lisa , Robbins Edward T 
Published: May 2019

6549 Background: LC is common and lethal; care-delivery is complex, varies in quality and outcomes, stimulating calls for multidisciplinary treatment planning (MTP) involving key specialists. This much-advocated model lacks rigorous evaluation. We conducted a prospective cohort study of MTP v Serial Care (SC) in a community healthcare system. Methods: Newly-diagnosed LC patients with performance status (PS) 0-2, and their caregivers, were enrolled from a LC multispecialty group clinic (MGC) or single-specialty general oncology clinics. A subset of general oncology clinic patients were discussed in a Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Conference (MTOC), others were not (Serial Care [SC]). In this analysis, we compare MGC and MTOC patients (MTP recipients) to SC patients. Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS); secondary endpoints were measures of quality: staging practices, guideline-concordant treatment, timeliness of care, patient and caregiver satisfaction. We adjusted proportional hazards and logistic models for age, sex, histology, stage, PS, insurance, and race. Results: 254 patients received MTP v 272 SC. After a median 30 months’ follow up, there was no difference in OS (adjusted hazard ratio 1.10 [CI 0.87-1.40], p = .43). Stage-confirmatory biopsy was done in 61% MTP v 45% SC patients (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.59, CI 1.74-3.86, p < .0001); 81% MTP v 68% SC patients received guideline-concordant treatment (aOR 2.04, CI 1.31-3.19, p < .002). Although the time from lesion detection to diagnostic biopsy (25 v 15 days, p = .004) or staging biopsy (29 v 20 days, p = .007) was higher with MTP, there was no difference in time to definitive treatment (60 v 57 days, p = .06). MTP patients and their caregivers reported greater satisfaction with the combined quality of care received from all team members (p < .0001) at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Conclusions: MTP for LC significantly improved the quality of care including the thoroughness of staging, use of guideline-concordant care, and patient satisfaction. Contrary to reports from retrospective analyses, timeliness of care was worse with MTP. Patient and caregiver satisfaction was superior with MTP. Despite improved quality, MTP was not associated with improved LC survival. Clinical trial information: NCT02123797.
Minimizing drug wastage (DW) and cost of cabazitaxel used to treat metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).
Authors: Jiang Di Maria , Fallah-Rad Nazanin , Lee Roy , Ng Pamela , Smith Alan D. , Hansen Aaron Richard , Joshua Anthony M. , Sridhar Srikala S. 
Published: May 2019

6550 Background: Cabazitaxel is indicated for mCRPC, but is associated with substantial DW and financial strain on hospital budgets. It is only available in single-dose 60mg vials and has short reconstituted drug stability of < 24 hours. We aimed to determine feasibility and cost savings of an aggressive batching strategy to facilitate vial sharing of Cabazitaxel. Methods: Our mitigation strategy was to administer Cabazitaxel 20mg/m2 q3-weekly (without prophylactic G-CSF) on a single weekday whenever possible. Drug was prepared after patient (pt) arrival. Remaining amount from each vial was saved for subsequent pts on the same day. Amount administered, discarded and number of (#) vials used were obtained from pharmacy records. We estimated drug cost without batching by assigning 1 vial/treatment, and drug cost with batching from the actual # vials used. Cost of DW was determined from the amount discarded. All cost calculations were based on market price ($96.7CAD/mg) accounting for Sanofi’s discount incentive (5 vials for the price of 4), allowing a real-world cost assessment. Results: Between 09/2015 and 09/2018, 74 pts received 404 Cabazitaxel treatments on 164 days using 319 vials. Multiple pts were batched on 68% treatment days. Every 3 pts batched saved 1 vial. Average dose/treatment was 37mg (20-45mg). Among 10 treatment cancellations, prepared drug was administered for subsequent pts in 9 cases. Drug and DW costs over the 3-year period with and without batching are shown in Table. Conclusions: Batching ≥3 pts on a single weekday was feasible and significantly lowered drug cost of Cabazitaxel by reducing wastage. This strategy could help mitigate costs associated with wastage for other oncology drugs. [Table: see text]
Trends in the use of proton beam therapy among newly diagnosed cancer patients in the United States.
Authors: Nogueira Leticia Maciel , Efstathiou Jason A. , Sineshaw Helmneh M. , Yabroff K Robin , Jemal Ahmedin 
Published: May 2019

6551 Background: Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) is a potentially superior radiotherapy technology for tumors with complex anatomy surrounded by sensitive tissues and for childhood cancers where sparing surrounding normal tissue is better achieved than with photon radiotherapy. The first conditions for payment of PBT claims went into effect in 2009. In 2014, the American Society of Radiation Oncology categorized PBT clinical indications into Group 1, for which health insurance coverage is recommended, and Group 2, for which coverage is recommended only if additional requirements are met. Methods: We evaluated 21,920 newly diagnosed patients in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) who received PBT between 2004 and 2016. Joinpoint analyses were used to evaluate the Annual Percent Change (APC) in the number and characteristics of patients treated with PBT. Results: The number of patients treated with PBT in NCDB facilities increased from 1,114 in 2004 to 3,173 in 2016 (APC = 8.78, p < .001), due mainly to increases in Group 1 cancers after 2010 (from 271 patients in 2010 to 1,124 in 2016, APC = 26.4, p < .001). The number of Group 2 patients treated with PBT increased slower (from 937 in 2004 to 2,049 in 2016, APC = 6.1, p < .05). Breast and prostate cancers were most common, although trends varied substantially by cancer site. Between 2010 and 2016, receipt of PBT increased for breast cancer patients from 40 in 2010 to 405 in 2016 (APC = 48.5, p < .001), but decreased for prostate cancer patients from 1,205 in 2011 to 680 in 2016 (APC = -14.06, p < .001). While most of Group 1 patients had private insurance coverage (59.3% of patients treated in 2016), Medicare was the most common primary insurance type among Group 2 patients (50% of patients treated in 2016). Conclusions: The number of newly diagnosed cancer patients treated with PBT has increased between 2004 to 2016 in the US, with a sharp increase for cancers with clinical indications for health insurance coverage since 2010. While most of these patients have private insurance coverage, the steady increase in the number of patients being treated with PBT for cancers with additional requirements for health insurance coverage is primarily in those with Medicare coverage.
Development of an artificial intelligence model to predict survival at specific time intervals for lung cancer patients.
Authors: Agrawal Smita , Vaidya Vivek , Chandrashekaraiah Prajwal , Kulkarni Hemant , Chen Li , Rudeen Karl , Narayanan Babu , Inbar Orr , Hyde Brigham 
Published: May 2019

6556 Background: Survival prediction models for lung cancer patients could help guide their care and therapy decisions. The objectives of this study were to predict probability of survival beyond 90, 180 and 360 days from any point in a lung cancer patient’s journey. Methods: We developed a Gradient Boosting model (XGBoost) using data from 55k lung cancer patients in the ASCO CancerLinQ database that used 3958 unique variables including Dx and Rx codes, biomarkers, surgeries and lab tests from ≤1 year prior to the prediction point, which was chosen at random for each patient. We used 40% data for training, 25% for hyper-parameter tuning, 20% for testing and 15% for holdout validation. Death date available in the Electronic Health Record was cross checked by linkage to death registries. Results: The model was validated on the holdout set of 8,468 patients. The Area Under the Curve (AUC) for the model was 0.79. The precision and recall for predicting survival beyond the three time points were between 0.7-0.8 and 0.8-0.9 respectively (see table). This compares favourably to other lung cancer survival models created using different machine learning techniques (Jochems 2017, Dekker 2009). A Cox-PH model created using the top 20 variables also had a significantly lower performance (see table). Analysis of input variables yielded distinctive patterns for patient subgroups and time points. Tumor status, medications, lab values and functional status were found to be significant in patient sub cohorts. Conclusions: An AI model to predict survival of lung cancer patients built using a large real world dataset yielded high accuracy. This general model can further be used to predict survival of sub cohorts stratified by variables such as stage or various treatment effects. Such a model could be useful for assessing patient risk and treatment options, evaluating cost and quality of care or determining clinical trial eligibility. [Table: see text]
Access to care and financial burden for patients with breast cancer in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.
Authors: Twahir Majid , Oyesegun Rasaaq Adisa , Yarney Joel , Gachii Andrew , Edusa Clement , Nwogu Chukwumere , Mangutha Gitangu , Anderson Philip , Benjamin Emmanuel , Müller Borna , Ngoh Charles 
Published: May 2019

6562 Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the most common cause of cancer-related death in women in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. We evaluated healthcare resource use and financial burden for patients treated at tertiary cancer centers in these countries. Methods: Records of breast cancer patients treated at the following government/private tertiary centers were included – Ghana: Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Sweden Ghana Medical Centre; Kenya: Kenyatta National Hospital and Aga Khan University Hospital; Nigeria: National Hospital Abuja and Lakeshore Cancer Center. Patients presenting within a prespecified 2-year period were followed until death or loss to follow-up. Results: The study included 299 patient records from Ghana, 314 from Kenya, and 249 from Nigeria. The use of common screening modalities (eg, mammogram, breast ultrasound) was < 45% in all 3 countries. Use of core needle biopsy was 76% in Kenya and Nigeria, but only 50% in Ghana. Across the 3 countries, 91-98% of patients completed blood count/chemistry, whereas only 78-88% completed tests for hormone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Most patients underwent surgery: mastectomy (64-67%) or breast-conserving Most patients in Ghana and Nigeria (87-93%) paid for their diagnostic tests entirely out of pocket (OOP) compared with 30-32% in Kenya. Similar to diagnostic testing, the proportion of patients paying OOP only for treatments was high: 72-89% in Nigeria, 45-79% in Ghana, and 8-20% in Kenya. Among those receiving HER2-targeted therapy, average number of cycles was 5 for patients paying OOP only vs 14 for patients with some level of insurance coverage. Conclusions: Patients treated in tertiary facilities in sub-Saharan African countries lack access to common imaging modalities and systemic therapies. Most patients in Ghana and Nigeria bore the full cost of their breast cancer care, suggestive of privileged financial status. Access to screening/diagnosis and appropriate care is likely to be substantively lower for the general population.
Effectiveness of mobile computerized tomographic (CT) lung scanning unit for early diagnosis of lung cancer in under-served populations.
Authors: Raghavan Derek , Doege Darcy L , Wheeler Mellisa S , Doty John D , Oliver James , Kim Edward S. , Mileham Kathryn Finch , Carrizosa Daniel R. 
Published: May 2019

6567 Background: The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) demonstrated that screening high-risk patients with low-dose CT (LDCT) of the chest reduces lung cancer mortality compared to screening with chest x-ray. Uninsured and Medicaid patients lack access to this hospital-based screening test due to geographic isolation/socio-economic factors. We hypothesized that a mobile screening unit would improve access and confer benefits demonstrated by the NLST to this under-served group, which is most at risk of lung cancer deaths. Methods: In collaboration with Samsung Inc, we inserted a BodyTom portable 32 slide low-dose CT scanner into a 35-foot coach, reinforced to avoid equipment damage, to function as a mobile lung scanning unit. The unit includes a waiting area, high speed wireless internet connection for rapid image transfer, and electronic tablets to deliver smoking cessation and health education programs and shared decision-making video aids. It has been certified as a lung cancer screening Center of Excellence by Lung Cancer Alliance. We employed the LUNG RADS approach to lesion classification, yielding high sensitivity and specificity in assessment. All films were reviewed by a central panel of oncologists, pulmonologists and radiologists. The protocol was approved by Chesapeake IRB, which oversees all LCI cancer trials. Interim analysis at this time was approved by the Oversight Committee. Results: We screened 470 under-served smokers between 4/2017-1/2019; M:F 1.1:1, mean age 61 years (range 55-64), with average pack year history of 45.7 (30-150) (25% African-American; 3% Hispanic; 65% rural; 100% uninsured, under-insured or Medicaid - NC Medicaid does not cover lung cancer screening). Patients over the age of 64 years were excluded as they are covered by Medicare for lung cancer screening. We found at initial screen 35 subjects with LUNG RADS 4 lesions, 49 subjects with LUNG RADS 3 lesions, 10 lung cancers (2.1%), including 4 at stage I-II. 4 non-lung cancers were identified and treated. Other incidental non-oncologic findings are the subject of another presentation. Conclusions: In this small sample using the first mobile low dose CT lung screening unit in the United States, the initial cancer detection rate is comparable to that reported in the NLST but with marked improvement of screening rates in underserved groups and with better anticipated outcomes at lower cost than if they had first presented with metastatic disease.
Clinical impact of the Mexican healthcare system "Seguro Popular" on breast cancer survival.
Authors: Cancel Luis Antonio , Salazar-Mejía Carlos Eduardo , Vera Badillo Francisco Emilio , Gonzalez Guerrero Juan Francisco , Lara-Campos Jackeline Grace , González-Palau Lorena Itzel , Wimer-Castillo Blanca Otilia , Vidal-Gutiérrez Oscar , Gonzalez Vela Jose Luis , Jaime-Villalon Diego A 
Published: May 2019

6569 Background: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading issues in public health in low and middle-income countries. In Mexico, access to healthcare is fragmented according to the patient´s employment and not by its needs; IMSS and ISSTE (Social Security) provide access to prepaid medicine to those under the formal sector of the economy, leaving up to 50 million Mexicans without access to a prepaid scheme. In 2003, the Seguro Popular (SP) was created in order to bring universal access to prepaid medicine in Mexico, and in 2007 expanded its coverage for BC. Methods: Retrospective and comparative study. The primary endpoint was to determine the impact on survival of SP on BC. Records were obtained from the electronic database of the Hospital Universitario “Dr. José Eleuterio González”. We included patients with invasive BC stage I-IV. Patients with any other kind of healthcare schemes other than SP, patients who underwent treatment outside our institution, and those with a follow up no greater than 3 months were excluded. 104 patients from the period prior the implementation of the SP (2000-2007) met the criteria for evaluation; thereafter we randomly selected a second cohort with the same size from the period after the implementation of the SP (2008-2013). Results: Median age at diagnosis was 48 and 51 years, respectively, for the periods before and after the implementation of SP. Distribution by clinical stage (Non-SP vs SP): CS I, 4.8 vs 10%, CS II, 31 vs 44%, CS III, 52 vs 38%, and CS IV, 10 vs 6.7%. Molecular subtypes distribution (Non-SP vs SP): Luminal, 61 vs 62%, HER2 Positive (IHC+++/FISH+) 17 vs 22%, TNBC, 21 vs 18%, unknown 6.7 vs 5.7%. Regarding survival, we observed a statistically significant difference on progression-free survival and overall survival favoring the SP cohort; PFS at 5 years, 54 vs 81% (p = < 0.0001) and OS at 5-year, 72 vs 86% (p = 0.01). Conclusions: We present evidence that the Mexican healthcare scheme SP, created to bring medical access to those patients without prepaid health protection, provides a significant clinical benefit on survival (PFS and OS) in women with breast cancer.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and risk of distant recurrence in newly diagnosed ER+, node-negative (N-) breast-cancer (BC) patients: A retrospective population-based matched-cohort study.
Authors: Hammerman Ariel , Feldhamer Ilan , Greenberg-Dotan Sari , Liebermann Nicky , Yerushalmi Rinat 
Published: May 2019

6591 Background: Observational studies have shown an increased risk of BC with use of HRT. However, data on the prognosis of BC that develop in HRT users are inconsistent. The association between HRT use and results of the 21-gene Recurrence Score (RS) assay (Oncotype DX, Genomic Health Inc.) has not been investigated. We aimed to analyze this association, and examine the actual rate of distant recurrence or death in this population. Methods: Clalit Health Services (CHS) is the largest health maintenance organization (HMO) in Israel. We identified all CHS newly diagnosed ER+, N- breast-cancer patients, aged 45-60 that performed a RS assay between 01/2006-12/2012 and that were treated for at least three months with HRT during the eight years before BC diagnosis. A 1:4 matched-cohort analysis was performed, with matching made according to age and year of BC diagnosis. Clinical and demographic data were extracted from the CHS centralized registry for all patients. RS assay scores was grouped according to the TAILORX categorization and distribution was compared using Chi-square test. Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test was performed in order to compare time to a combined outcome of distant-recurrence and mortality. Results: A cohort of 259 HRT-treated patients was identified and matched with 1001 controls, not treated with HRT. The proportions of low-risk patients (RS 0-25) and high-risk patients (RS 26-100) were 76.8% and 23.2%, respectively, within HRT-treated patients, and 80.4% and 19.6% within controls. Chi square test was not found significant (χ2= 1.634, p = 0.201). The mean follow-up time was 148.4 months for the cases and 146.9 months for controls, with log-rank test not showing a significant difference between groups. Conclusions: These data did not show significant association between HRT use and higher RS assay scores, and also did not find an association between HRT use and actual distant recurrence or death. Although the proportion of patients with high risk RS appeared to be slightly higher within HRT treated patients, this difference had not reached significance and further studies are required.
Association of sex, age and ECOG performance status with cancer immunotherapy efficacy in randomized controlled trials.
Authors: Yang Fang , Wang Yucai , Nowakowski Grzegorz S. , Wang Michael , Chintakuntlawar Ashish V. , Halfdanarson Thorvardur Ragnar , Pagliaro Lance C. , Wei Jia , Liu Baorui , Molina Julian R. , Markovic Svetomir 
Published: May 2019

6592 Background: Sex, age and ECOG performance status (PS) may affect immune response and the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). We did a meta-analysis to assess the potential sex, age and ECOG PS differences of immunotherapy efficacy in advanced cancer. Methods: PubMed was searched up to January 15, 2019 for randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced cancer treated with ICI immunotherapy vs control therapy (without ICI). For sex difference analysis, pooled hazard ratio (HR) of death for men and women was calculated separately, and the heterogeneity between the two estimates was assessed using an interaction test by pooling study-specific interaction HR. Age ( < 65 vs ≥65) and ECOG PS (0 vs ≥1) difference was analyzed similarly. Subgroup analysis by cancer type and line of therapy (frontline vs subsequent) was explored. All analyses were done in Comprehensive Meta Analysis (v2) with random effects models. Results: Thirty phase 2/3 RCTs involving 17,728 patients were included. An OS benefit of immunotherapy was found for both men (HR 0.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.81, P < 0.01) and women (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.69-0.90, P < 0.01); for both younger ( < 65; HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.68-0.83, P < 0.01) and older (≥65; HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.69-0.83, P < 0.01) patients; and for both ECOG PS 0 (HR 0.78, 95% CI 0.69-0.89, P < 0.01) and PS ≥1 (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.71-0.84, P < 0.01) patients. No significant difference of relative benefit from immunotherapy over control therapy was found in patients with different sex ( P = 0.283), age ( P = 0.906) or ECOG PS ( P = 0.783). In melanoma RCTs, compared with women (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.64-0.94, P < 0.01), men (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.42-0.76, P < 0.01) had more OS benefit from immunotherapy ( P = 0.037). No significant difference was found in other subgroup analyses by cancer types or line of therapy. Conclusions: Overall we found no evidence of association of sex, age, or ECOG PS with cancer immunotherapy efficacy. However, in melanoma, men might benefit more from immunotherapy than women.