Project description:PurposeLong-term survivors of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are at risk for cardiopulmonary complications and CNS stroke, although neurocognitive function has not been previously examined. The aim of this study was to examine neurocognitive and brain imaging outcomes in adult survivors of childhood HL.Patients and methodsIn all, 62 adult survivors (mean age, 42.2 years; standard deviation [SD], 4.77; mean age at diagnosis, 15.1 years; SD, 3.30) were identified by stratified random selection from a large cohort treated with either high-dose (≥ 30 Gy) thoracic radiation (n = 38) or lower-dose (< 30 Gy) thoracic radiation combined with anthracycline (n = 24). Patients underwent neurocognitive evaluations, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), echocardiograms, pulmonary function tests, and physical examinations.ResultsCompared with national age-adjusted norms, HL survivors demonstrated lower performance on sustained attention (P = .004), short-term memory (P = .001), long-term memory (P = .006), working memory (P < .001), naming speed (P < .001), and cognitive fluency (P = .007). MRI revealed leukoencephalopathy in 53% of survivors, and 37% had evidence of cerebrovascular injury. Higher thoracic radiation dose was associated with impaired cardiac diastolic function (E/E'; ratio of peak mitral flow velocity of early rapid filling [E] to early diastolic velocity of the mitral annulus [E']; P = .003), impaired pulmonary function (diffusing capacity of lungs for carbon monoxide [DL(co)(corr); P = .04), and leukoencephalopathy (P = .02). Survivors with leukoencephalopathy demonstrated reduced cognitive fluency (P = .001). Working memory impairment was associated with E/E', although impaired sustained attention and naming speed were associated with DL(co)(corr). Neurocognitive performance was associated with academic and vocational functioning.ConclusionThese results suggest that adult long-term survivors of childhood HL are at risk for neurocognitive impairment, which is associated with radiologic indices suggestive of reduced brain integrity and which occurs in the presence of symptoms of cardiopulmonary dysfunction.
Project description:PurposePrevious studies have shown an increased risk of second primary malignancies (SPMs) in survivors of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Survivors live longer due to the intensification of and improvements in therapy; thus, we aimed to characterize SPM patterns in patients with DLBCL by treatment modality.Methods and materialsStandardized incidence ratio and absolute excess risk of SPMs were assessed in patients with primary DLBCL from 1975 to 2016 in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. A subgroup analyses based on, sex, race, age at the time of diagnosis, latency, and treatment modality were performed. Propensity score-adjusted cumulative incidence curves were generated, stratified by treatment and accounting for death as a competing risk.ResultsIn total, 45,946 patients with DLBCL were identified with a mean follow up of 70 months. Overall, 9.2% of patients developed an SPM with a standardized incidence ratio of 1.23 (95% confidence interval, 1.20-1.27). There was no difference in SPM risk between men and women or Black and White patients. Patients age <25 years were particularly susceptible to the development of SPMs, with a risk 2.5 times greater than patients aged 50 to 74 years. Temporal patterns showed increasing risk of solid malignancies and decreasing risk of hematologic malignancies over time, with bladder cancer posing the greatest absolute excess risk of any cancer type after 15 years. Patients treated with radiation therapy (RT), chemotherapy (CT), and chemoradiation therapy (CRT) all had an increased risk of SPM development compared with the general population. The cumulative incidence of SPMs was the lowest in patients treated with RT and the highest when treated with CRT. In the modern treatment era, the cumulative incidence of SPM for patients treated with CT versus CRT was not significantly different.ConclusionsIn this large population-based study, we demonstrate unique SPM risk patterns based on age, latency, and treatment modality that have important implications for the treatment and screening of patients diagnosed with DLBCL.
Project description:PURPOSE:Further research on patient experience and involvement is recommended in order to develop evidence-based and meaningful care pathways for lymphoma survivors. This study aims to explore the experience of a sample of lymphoma survivors participating in a home-based intervention following chemotherapy. METHODS:Eligible participants who completed a 12-week home-based intervention were invited to complete the End of Study Questionnaire designed to explore perceptions, preferences and barriers to participation. Content analysis was used to generate codes, describe frequencies and identify themes. RESULTS:Participating in a home-based intervention post-treatment was a positive experience overall, and aided recovery in this sample of lymphoma survivors (n?=?35). Participants felt the programme provided structure, motivation and liked contact with the researcher. Participants highlighted their need for advice on healthy lifestyle, diet in particular. CONCLUSIONS:Lymphoma survivors in this study reported participation in a home-based intervention following treatment beneficial and aided recovery. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS:A large proportion of lymphoma survivors would benefit from a rehabilitation intervention post-chemotherapy. Intervention programmes should include follow-ups to monitor progress and provide support and motivation. Health professionals should recommend healthy lifestyle guidelines to survivors on completion of treatment or refer patients to appropriate services for rehabilitation and advice.
Project description:Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the central nervous system is an aggressive malignancy that exhibits unique biological features and characteristic clinical behaviour, with overall long-term survival rates of around 20-40%. Clinical outcome has improved following the advent of chemoradiation protocols incorporating high-dose methotrexate in the mid-1980s, but disease relapse and adverse neurocognitive sequelae remain major clinical challenges. To address this, investigators have focused on improving drug therapy with novel cytotoxic combinations, monoclonal antibody therapy, and intensive chemotherapy consolidation approaches, in an attempt to improve disease control whilst reducing the requirement for whole-brain radiotherapy. Outcomes for patients that are older, immunocompromised, or have relapsed/refractory disease remain unsatisfactory and there is a paucity of clinical trial data to guide treatment of these groups. This review highlights recent advances in pathobiology, imaging, and clinical management of PCNSL and looks ahead to research priorities for this rare and challenging lymphoid malignancy.
Project description:Primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare form of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is typically confined to the brain, eyes, and cerebrospinal fluid without evidence of systemic spread. The prognosis of patients with PCNSL has improved during the last decades with the introduction of high-dose methotrexate. However, despite recent progress, results after treatment are durable in half of patients, and therapy can be associated with late neurotoxicity. PCNSL is an uncommon tumor, and only four randomized trials and one phase III trial have been completed so far, all in the first-line setting. To our knowledge, no randomized trial has been conducted for recurrent/refractory disease, leaving many questions unanswered about optimal first-line and salvage treatments. This review will give an overview of the presentation, evaluation, and treatment of immunocompetent patients with PCNSL.
Project description:To investigate immuno-chemotherapy for elderly immuno-competent patients (⩾65 years) with newly diagnosed primary central nervous system lymphoma, we conducted a multicentre single-arm trial. One cycle consisted of rituximab (375 mg/m2, days 1, 15, 29), high-dose methotrexate (3 g/m2 days 2, 16, 30), procarbazine (60 mg/m2 days 2-11) and lomustine (110 mg/m2, day 2)-R-MPL protocol. Owing to infectious complications, we omitted lomustine during the study and consecutive patients were treated with the R-MP protocol. Three cycles were scheduled and repeated on day 43. Subsequently, patients commenced 4 weekly maintenance treatment with procarbazine (100 mg for 5 days). Primary end point was complete remission (CR) after 3 cycles. We included 107 patients (69 treated with R-MPL and 38 with R-MP). In all, 38/107 patients achieved CR (35.5%) and 15 (14.0%) achieved partial remission. R-MP was associated with a lower CR rate (31.6%) compared with R-MPL (37.7%), but respective 2-year progression-free survival (All 37.3%; R-MP 34.9%; R-MPL 38.8%) and overall survival (All 47.0%; R-MP 47.7%; R-MPL 46.0%) rates were similar. R-MP was associated with less ⩾grade 3 toxicities compared with R-MPL (71.1% vs 87.0%). R-MP is more feasible while still associated with similar efficacy compared with R-MPL and warrants further improvement in future studies.
Project description:PurposeConcerns regarding neurocognitive toxicity of whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) have motivated development of alternative, dose-intensive chemotherapeutic strategies as consolidation in primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL). We performed a multicenter study of high-dose consolidation, without WBRT, in PCNSL. Objectives were to determine: one, rate of complete response (CR) after remission induction therapy with methotrexate, temozolomide, and rituximab (MT-R); two, feasibility of a two-step approach using high-dose consolidation with etoposide plus cytarabine (EA); three, progression-free survival (PFS); and four, correlation between clinical and molecular prognostic factors and outcome.Patients and methodsForty-four patients with newly diagnosed PCNSL were treated with induction MT-R, and patients who achieved CR received EA consolidation. We performed a prospective analysis of molecular prognostic biomarkers in PCNSL in the setting of a clinical trial.ResultsThe rate of CR to MT-R was 66%. The overall 2-year PFS was 0.57, with median follow-up of 4.9 years. The 2-year time to progression was 0.59, and for patients who completed consolidation, it was 0.77. Patients age > 60 years did as well as younger patients, and the most significant clinical prognostic variable was treatment delay. High BCL6 expression correlated with shorter survival.ConclusionCALGB 50202 demonstrates for the first time to our knowledge that dose-intensive consolidation for PCNSL is feasible in the multicenter setting and yields rates of PFS and OS at least comparable to those of regimens involving WBRT. On the basis of these encouraging results, an intergroup study has been activated comparing EA consolidation with myeloablative chemotherapy in this randomized trial in PCNSL, in which neither arm involves WBRT.
Project description:Cardiorespiratory fitness as measured by peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) is a strong predictor of longevity and may be compromised by anticancer therapy, inactivity, and smoking. We compared VO2peak among lymphoma survivors (LSs) with reference data from healthy sedentary subjects, after a 10.2-year (mean) follow-up post high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (HDT-ASCT). We further examined the association between VO2peak and treatment, physical activity, smoking, pulmonary, and cardiac function.Lymphoma survivors treated with HDT-ASCT in Norway 1987-2008 were eligible. VO2peak was assessed by cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Pulmonary function testing and echocardiography were also conducted. Data on treatment, physical activity, and smoking were collected from hospital records and questionnaires. VO2peak was compared with age-sex predicted reference data. Linear regression was used to associate clinical factors with VO2peak cross-sectionally.A total of 194 LSs without heart failure were studied. Mean VO2peak was 4.5% and 7.7% below norms in females and males, respectively. Twenty-two percent had impaired (<80% predicted) VO2peak. Decreasing VO2peak was associated with impaired diffusion capacity and current smoking, while physical activity level and VO2peak were positively associated.We suggest increased attention towards physical activity counseling and smoking cessation advice to preserve cardiorespiratory fitness in LSs after HDT-ASCT. Patients with impaired diffusion capacity may benefit from subsequent monitoring to detect pulmonary vascular diseases.
Project description:The use of focused ultrasound (FUS) with microbubbles has been proven to induce transient blood-brain barrier opening (BBB-opening). However, FUS-induced inertial cavitation of microbubbles can also result in erythrocyte extravasations. Here we investigated whether induction of submicron bubbles to oscillate at their resonant frequency would reduce inertial cavitation during BBB-opening and thereby eliminate erythrocyte extravasations in a rat brain model. FUS was delivered with acoustic pressures of 0.1-4.5 MPa using either in-house manufactured submicron bubbles or standard SonoVue microbubbles. Wideband and subharmonic emissions from bubbles were used to quantify inertial and stable cavitation, respectively. Erythrocyte extravasations were evaluated by in vivo post-treatment magnetic resonance susceptibility-weighted imaging, and finally by histological confirmation. We found that excitation of submicron bubbles with resonant frequency-matched FUS (10 MHz) can greatly limit inertial cavitation while enhancing stable cavitation. The BBB-opening was mainly caused by stable cavitation, whereas the erythrocyte extravasation was closely correlated with inertial cavitation. Our technique allows extensive reduction of inertial cavitation to induce safe BBB-opening. Furthermore, the safety issue of BBB-opening was not compromised by prolonging FUS exposure time, and the local drug concentrations in the brain tissues were significantly improved to 60 times (BCNU; 18.6 µg versus 0.3 µg) by using chemotherapeutic agent-loaded submicron bubbles with FUS. This study provides important information towards the goal of successfully translating FUS brain drug delivery into clinical use.
Project description:BACKGROUND:The National Comprehensive Cancer Network and American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend consideration of the use of echocardiography 6 to 12 months after completion of anthracycline-based chemotherapy in at-risk populations. Assessment of BNP (B-type natriuretic peptide) has also been suggested by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association/Heart Failure Society of America for the identification of Stage A (at risk) heart failure patients. The real-world frequency of the use of these tests in patients after receipt of anthracycline therapy, however, has not been studied previously. METHODS AND RESULTS:In this retrospective study, using administrative claims data from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse, we identified 31 447 breast cancer and lymphoma patients (age ?18 years) who were treated with an anthracycline in the United States between January 1, 2008 and January 31, 2018. Continuous medical and pharmacy coverage was required for at least 6 months before the initial anthracycline dose and 12 months after the final dose. Only 36.1% of patients had any type of cardiac surveillance (echocardiography, BNP, or cardiac imaging) in the year following completion of anthracycline therapy (29.7% echocardiography). Surveillance rate increased from 37.5% in 2008 to 42.7% in 2018 (25.6% in 2008 to 40.5% echocardiography in 2018). Lymphoma patients had a lower likelihood of any surveillance compared with patients with breast cancer (odds ratio, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.74-0.85]; P<0.001). Patients with preexisting diagnoses of coronary artery disease and arrhythmia had the highest likelihood of cardiac surveillance (odds ratio, 1.54 [95% CI, 1.39-1.69] and odds ratio, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.3-1.53]; P<0.001 for both), although no single comorbidity was associated with a >50% rate of surveillance. CONCLUSIONS:The majority of survivors of breast cancer and lymphoma who have received anthracycline-based chemotherapy do not undergo cardiac surveillance after treatment, including those with a history of cardiovascular comorbidities, such as heart failure.