Breast Medical Oncologists' Perspectives of Telemedicine for Breast Cancer Care: A Survey Study.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic forced rapid adoption of telemedicine (TM) for breast oncology visits in the United States, but the appropriate role of postpandemic TM is uncertain. We sought to understand physician and advance practice practitioner perspectives on the use of TM for outpatient breast cancer care through an electronically administered survey. METHODS: Breast medical oncology clinicians at two academic cancer centers and five satellite locations affiliated with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Cancer Center were invited to respond to a 21-question survey administered in September 2021 about clinicians' perceptions and attitudes toward TM during the previous 12 months. RESULTS: Of the 71 survey invitations, 51 clinicians (36 physicians and 15 advance practice practitioners) provided survey responses (response rate = 72%). Ninety-two percent of respondents (n = 47) agreed that TM visits enhance patient care. Ninety-two percent of respondents (n = 46) also agreed that TM is valuable for early-stage breast cancer follow-up visits. Most respondents felt that there was no difference between TM and face-to-face (F2F) visits when it came to patient adherence, ease of ordering tests, ease of accessing patient records, and workflow outside of the visit (82%, 82%, 78%, and 53%, respectively). Fifty-one percent of respondents (n = 26) said that TM was better for timely access to follow-up appointments. Most respondents said that F2F visits were better for seeing physical problems, personal connection with patients, overall quality of visits, and patient-physician communication (100%, 75%, 65%, and 63%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Breast clinicians believe that TM is a valuable tool to enhance outpatient breast cancer care. TM was felt to be appropriate for routine follow-up visits and second opinion consultations and is as good as or better than F2F visits for several routine aspects of breast cancer care.

Increased FDG uptake in association with reduced extremity fat in HIV patients.

BACKGROUND: HIV lipodystrophy - characterized by peripheral lipoatrophy, with or without central fat accumulation - confers increased metabolic risk. However, the functional activity of HIV lipodystrophic tissue in relation to metabolic risk has yet to be fully explored in vivo through the use of non-invasive imaging techniques. This study assesses the relationship between FDG uptake in various fat depots and metabolic/immune parameters among subjects with HIV lipodystrophy. METHODS: Lipodystrophic men on antiretroviral therapy underwent whole-body (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)/computed tomography scans and detailed metabolic/immune phenotyping. RESULTS: FDG uptake in the subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of the extremities (mean standardized uptake value [SUV] of the arm and leg SAT) was found to correlate with the degree of peripheral lipoatrophy (r=0.7; P=0.01). Extremity SAT FDG uptake was positively associated with homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; r=0.6; P=0.02) and fasting hyperinsulinaemia (r=0.7; P=0.01), while fat percentage of extremities was not. Furthermore, extremity SAT FDG uptake was significantly associated with CD4(+) T-cell count (r=0.6; P=0.05). In multivariate modelling for HOMA-IR, extremity SAT FDG uptake remained significant after controlling for body mass index and tumour necrosis factor-α (R(2) for model =0.71, P=0.02; SUV in the extremity SAT ß-estimate 12.3, P=0.009). CONCLUSIONS: In HIV lipodystrophic patients, extremity SAT FDG uptake is increased in association with reduced extremity fat and may contribute to insulin resistance. Non-invasive assessments of in situ inflammation using FDG-PET may usefully complement histological and gene expression analyses of metabolic dysregulation in peripheral fat among HIV-positive patients.

Effects of lifestyle modification and metformin on atherosclerotic indices among HIV-infected patients with the metabolic syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: Metabolic abnormalities including diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and abdominal obesity occur commonly in HIV patients, are associated with increased coronary artery calcification (CAC), and contribute to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) in this population. We hypothesized that lifestyle modification (LSM) and metformin would improve CVD indices in HIV patients with metabolic syndrome. DESIGN: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial to investigate LSM and metformin, alone and in combination, over 1 year, among 50 HIV-infected patients with metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We assessed CAC, cardiovascular and metabolic indices. RESULTS: Among the participants, duration of HIV-infection was 14 ± 1 year and duration of antiretroviral therapy was 6 ± 1 year. Metformin-treated patients demonstrated significantly less progression of CAC (-1 ± 2 vs. 33 ± 17, P = 0.004, metformin vs. placebo), whereas the effect of LSM on CAC progression was not significant (8 ± 6 vs. 21 ± 14, P =  0.82, LSM vs. no-LSM). Metformin had a significantly greater effect on CAC than LSM (P = 0.01). Metformin-treated patients also demonstrated less progression in calcified plaque volume (-0.4 ± 1.9 vs. 27.6 ± 13.8 µl, P = 0.008) and improved homeostatic model of assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (P = 0.05) compared with placebo. Participants randomized to LSM vs. no-LSM showed significant improvement in HDL (P = 0.03), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) (P = 0.05), and cardiorespiratory fitness. Changes in CAC among the four groups--no-LSM-placebo (43 ± 30); LSM-placebo (19 ± 7); no-LSM-metformin (1 ± 1) and LSM-metformin (-4 ± 6)--were different (P = 0.03 for ANOVA and linear trend across groups), and the majority of this effect was mediated by metformin. Results are mean ± SEM. CONCLUSION: Metformin prevents plaque progression in HIV-infected patients with the metabolic syndrome.

Deiodinase 2 expression is increased in dorsocervical fat of patients with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy syndrome.

CONTEXT: The pathogenesis and function of dorsocervical sc adipose tissue (DSAT) accumulation in HIV-infected patients is not known. Previous investigations using either UCP-1 expression or positron emission tomography have been inconclusive as to whether this depot represents brown adipose tissue (BAT). We investigated DSAT gene expression, including DIO2, a deiodinase that contributes to increased thermogenesis in brown fat, and simultaneously determined [¹8F]fluorodeoxyglucose ([¹8F]FDG) uptake in lipodystrophic HIV and healthy control subjects. DESIGN: Thirteen HIV-infected and three non-HIV-infected men were recruited. HIV-infected subjects had evidence of significant lipodystrophy, including fat atrophy of the face, arms, and legs, and/or fat accumulation of the neck and abdomen. Subjects were cooled, followed by [¹8F]FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography, fat biopsy of DSAT, and measurement of resting energy expenditure (REE). HIV-infected subjects were characterized as lipohypertrophic and lipoatrophic and compared. RESULTS: Mean standardized uptake value of [¹8F]FDG and UCP-1 expression were not significantly different in DSAT among the groups. However, lipohypertrophic subjects demonstrated increased expression of DIO2 in DSAT compared with lipoatrophic subjects (P = 0.03). Among HIV-infected patients, DIO2 expression was strongly related to REE (r = 0.78, P = 0.002) and was a predictor of REE in multivariate modeling controlling for age, TSH, and lean body mass (r² = 0.79, P = 0.008). One control subject demonstrated typical BAT in the supraclavicular area. CONCLUSIONS: Adipose tissue accumulating in the dorsocervical area in HIV lipodystrophy does not appear to be classical BAT. However, DIO2 expression is increased in DSAT among patients with HIV lipodystrophy, particularly those with increased visceral adiposity, and is positively associated with energy expenditure.

Associations of cardiovascular risk factors with two surrogate markers of subclinical atherosclerosis: endothelial function and carotid intima media thickness.

OBJECTIVE: Endothelial function and carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) were investigated in a cohort of 54 healthy adults without known cardiovascular disease. METHODS: Pulse wave amplitude was determined with peripheral arterial tonometry (PAT) to obtain the reactive hyperemia (RH)-PAT ratio. Ultrasound was used to determine cIMT. RESULTS: cIMT and RH-PAT were significantly associated (rho=-0.35, P=0.02) in univariate analysis. RH-PAT was significantly associated with age, triglycerides, fasting glucose, HDL, WHR, waist circumference and VAT. cIMT was associated with age, smoking history, fasting glucose, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and LDL. In multivariate regression analyses, triglyceride level (P=0.04) remained a significant determinant of RH-PAT whereas systolic blood pressure (P=0.02) and smoking pack-year history (P=0.046) were significant determinants of cIMT. CONCLUSION: Determinants of cIMT and RH-PAT were different, dominated by triglyceride and abdominal adiposity measures for RH-PAT but traditional risk factors including blood pressure, glucose, smoking and LDL for cIMT.