Survey of Implementation of Antiemetic Prescription Standards in Indian Oncology Practices and Its Adherence to the American Society of Clinical Oncology Antiemetic Clinical Guideline.

PURPOSE: Adherence to international antiemetic prophylaxis guidelines like those of ASCO can result in better control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting; however, the extent of implementation of such guidelines in India is unknown. Therefore, this survey was planned. METHODS: This study was an anonymized cross-sectional survey approved by the ethics committee. Survey items were generated from the clinical questions given in the ASCO guidelines. The survey was disseminated through personal contacts at an oncology conference and via e-mail to various community oncology centers across India. The B1, B2, and B3 domains included questions regarding the optimal antiemetic prophylaxis for high, moderate, and low-minimal emetogenic regimens. RESULTS: Sixty-six (62.9%) of 105 responded and 65 centers (98.5%) were aware of the published guidelines. The partial, full, and no implementation scores were 92.5%, 4.5%, and 3.0%, respectively. Full implementation was better for the low-minimal emetogenic regimens (34.8%) than the highly emetogenic regimens (6.1%). The three most frequent reasons for hampered implementation of ASCO guidelines in routine chemotherapy practice cited by centers were a lack of sensitization (26 centers; 39.4%), lack of national guidelines (12 centers; 18.2%), and lack of administrative support (10 centers; 15.2%). CONCLUSION: Awareness regarding ASCO antiemetic guidelines is satisfactory in Indian oncology practices; however, there is a need for sensitization of oncologists toward complete implementation of these guidelines in their clinical practice.

Nontrial, real-world outcomes in unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer: Chemotherapy and chemoradiation is the standard while surgery is uncommon.

BACKGROUND: Outcomes and survival of truly unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancers (LAPC) is often reported along with borderline resectable pancreatic cancers especially from a real world cohort. METHODS: The audit of LAPC patients, diagnosed based on the NCCN criteria between February 2013 and January 2016 was used to identify patients starting and continuing treatment in our institution. Practice patterns, outcomes and prognostic factors for overall survival were evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 83 patients, 52 were available for inclusion in the analysis. Median age was 56 years (range 30- 77), with males constituting 75% of patients. Baseline comorbidities seen were diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cardiac dysfunction in 46.1%, 69.1% and 52% of patients respectively. 84.6% of patients had arterial vascular involvement as criteria for unresectable LAPC. 50% of patients received chemotherapy only, while the remainder received chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiation. One patient was able to undergo curative R0 resection. FOLFIRINOX was the most commonly used chemotherapy regimen (53.8%). With a median follow up of 15.9 months, median progression free survival (mPFS) was 7.26 months (95% CI: 5.75-8.76) and median OS was 11.8 months (95% CI: 9.96 - 13.61). None of the potential prognostic factors evaluated, i.e., age, gender, nodal status, pre-treatment CA 19.9 levels, showed correlation with OS. CONCLUSION: This analysis shows outcomes in unresectable LAPC comparable to existing literature. Surgery in unresectable LAPC patients is less common than seen in previously published studies, more likely due to this cohort being truly 'unresectable' in terms of major arterial involvement.

Second-Line Palliative Chemotherapy in Advanced Gall Bladder Cancer, CAP-IRI: Safe and Effective Option.

INTRODUCTION: Gall bladder cancer (GBC) has high prevalence in the Indo-Gangetic belt in India. While the first-line chemotherapy (CT1) has been established as gemcitabine-platinum doublet in advanced GBC, there is no standard recommendation or guidelines regarding feasibility of second-line therapy. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients who received second-line of chemotherapy (CT2) at our institution from July 2012 to December 2014. Patient records were examined for efficacy and toxicity of administered CT2, along with response rates (RR) and survival. Potential prognostic factors were also evaluated. RESULTS: Eighty-seven patients received CT2 in the predefined period. Ninety-nine percent of patients had received a gemcitabine-based regimen as CT1 with a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 5 months before CT2. 51.7 % patients had undergone surgery prior with 5.7 % patients having received radiotherapy previously. Prior to beginning CT2, PS was 0/1 in 67.8 % patients, albumin was >4 g% in 40.2 % and CA 19.9 was raised in a majority (66.7 %) patients, respectively. As per institution protocol, a majority of patients (89.6 %) were administered CAP-IRI regimen. Overall RR and disease control rates (DCR) were 21.8 % and 41.3 %, respectively. Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 6 and 8 months, with no significant differences between CAP-IRI and other regimens. Adverse effects were tolerable, with dose reduced upfront in 23 % patients and 11.5 % patients during subsequent cycles of CT. ECOG Performance Status (PS) of 0/1 was a significant prognostic variable for OS on multivariate analysis (p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: CAP-IRI is a well-tolerated second-line chemotherapeutic regimen in patients with advanced GBC. Careful selection of patients is required when administering second-line chemotherapy to advanced GBC patients, with particular emphasis on ECOG PS.

Curative intent therapy in oligometastatic lung cancer with an unresectable primary with N3 nodes: case report and review of the literature.

Untreated NSCLC patients with brain metastases have a median survival of approximately 2 months; locally advanced stage III NSCLC patients treated with chemoradiation have a median survival of 16-19 months. Select patients with oligometastatic disease may have a prolonged survival if managed aggressively. We present the case of a 47-year-old woman with lung adenocarcinoma, cT2aN3M1a, (supraclavicular lymph node, solitary brain metastasis). She underwent brain metastasectomy, whole brain radiation, induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiotherapy. She relapsed in the brain and locoregionally and was treated with brain re-irradiation, and systemic chemotherapy. Her progression-free survival was 32 months and she is alive with recurrent disease 63 months after diagnosis. Systemic therapy is an important tool in the multimodality management of patients with oligometastatic disease.

High pathologic complete remission rate from induction docetaxel, platinum and fluorouracil (DCF) combination chemotherapy for locally advanced esophageal and junctional cancer.

Adding docetaxel to the cisplatin/5-fluorouracil induction regimen for locally advanced esophageal and GEJ cancer may increase the pathologic complete remission (pCR) rate, leading to an improved outcome. Institutional ethics committee approved the protocol of retrospective analysis of patients with locally advanced esophageal and GEJ carcinoma, who received 2-3 cycles of docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) induction chemotherapy with primary growth factors and prophylactic antibiotics. Following chemotherapy, a restaging scan was performed. If disease was deemed resectable, surgery was performed. Between February 2010 and October 2013, 31 patients received induction DCF. Ninety-four percent patients had squamous histology. Response rate was 81 %: complete remission (CR)-23 % and partial remission-58 %. Eighty-seven percent patients underwent surgery; R0 resection rate was 67 %. pCR occurred in 26 %. Common grade 3/4 toxicities included anemia-23 %, neutropenia-42 %, febrile neutropenia-39 %, diarrhea-39 %, hyponatremia-55 % and hypokalemia-39 %. There were no toxic deaths. At a median follow-up of 34 months (95 % CI 31.3-36.6), estimated median progression-free survival (PFS) was 27 months (95 % CI 11-39) and the overall survival (OS) at 1 year, 2 years and 3 years was 80, 68 and 55 %, respectively. Patients who attained pCR had a significant longer PFS and OS; median PFS and OS were not reached in patients with pCR and were 15 months (95 %CI 8.4-21.5 months), P = 0.012 and 25 months (95 %CI 10.3-39.7), P = 0.023, respectively, in patients who did not attain a pCR. DCF induction chemotherapy leads to pCR of 26 %, which rivals that obtained from chemoradiotherapy. Toxicity is substantial but manageable with adequate supportive care.