Quality of bladder cancer treatment information on YouTube: May the user's profile affect the quality of results?

BACKGROUND: Social media are widely used information tools, including the medical/health field. Unfortunately, the levels of misinformation on these platforms seem to be high, with a medium-low quality of the proposed content, as evidenced by previous studies. You Tube is one of the most important platforms for audio/video content. It shows content to users through a recommendation algorithm system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have classified in two cohorts the first results obtained by researching "bladder tumor treatment" on You Tube through two different user profiles: "Cohort A" with a not logged-in session in incognito mode (46 videos enrolled) and "Cohort B" with a logged-in session with a physician profile (50 videos enrolled). The videos were evaluated using validated instruments such as DISCERN and PEMAT-AV Furthermore, we used a Likert's scale for the evaluation of levels of misinformation. RESULTS: Overall quality of information was moderate to poor (DISCERN 3) in 54% of Cohort A and 24% of Cohort B. Moreover, a high degree of misinformation (Likert score 3) was found in 52% of Cohort A cases and 32% of Cohort B. CONCLUSIONS: Levels of misinformation in both cohorts are positively correlated to the number of views per month. Globally, the levels of information quality, understandability and actionability are lower for the results obtained from searches performed with anonymous user profile (Cohort A).

Cytomegalovirus gastritis as a rare adverse event during combined ipilimumab and nivolumab in a patient with melanoma.

Immunotherapy has improved survival outcomes of patients with advanced melanoma. Lower gastrointestinal tract immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are common during treatment; however, gastritis is not frequently observed. Herein, we report a case of severe cytomegalovirus (CMV)-related gastritis in a patient treated with ipilimumab and nivolumab for metastatic melanoma. This report presents a 60-year-old woman with stage IV BRAF wild-type melanoma. After the second course of ipilimumab-nivolumab, the patient reported epigastric discomfort after meals, anorexia, and subsequent nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, and weight loss. Disease staging with PET/CT scan showed very good partial response and diffuse gastroduodenitis. The patient underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy, showing severe esophageal candidiasis and diffuse hemorrhagic, edematous, and ulcerative mucosa in the whole gastric wall. Biopsies of the gastric wall were obtained. Before receipt of the final pathology report, the patient was empirically started on corticosteroids based on the clinical suspicion of immune-related gastritis, without improvement of symptoms. The hematoxylin-eosin staining demonstrated active gastritis with diffuse nuclear cytopathic viral inclusions in epithelial and interstitial cells; CMV infection was confirmed with immunohistochemical staining. The patient started ganciclovir and fluconazole, with rapid improvement of symptoms. This case presents a rare instance of CMV gastritis in a patient receiving combined anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA4 , in the absence of immune-suppression to manage an irAE. In the case of suggestive symptoms of irAEs, a high index of clinical suspicion is required to rule out concomitant or isolated infective disease. Guidelines for prophylaxis and treatment of these patients are needed, to optimize treatment results.

Multidisciplinary management of immunotherapy-related adverse events in solid tumors: An inter-institutional and telemedicine-based working team.

BACKGROUND: Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) show a more favorable toxicity profile than classical cytotoxic drugs, their mechanism of action is responsible for peculiar new toxicities. There is an urgent need for a multidisciplinary approach to advice on how to manage organ-specific toxicities. METHODS: Our project aims to integrate the practices of two different hospitals into a single Italian regional collaborative model to treat immune-related adverse events (irAEs). The team structure is a multi-professional and multidisciplinary cooperative network that consists of different medical specialists. The team referrer is the medical oncologist and an existing telematic platform is used for specialists' cooperation. The leading oncologist first evaluates patients' clinical condition, therefore team intervention and teleconsultation are planned to activate proper management. After a first phase structured for general setting, outcomes analysis, data collection, and identification of critical issues, it is planned to define appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) in quality, structure, process, and outcome settings. Therefore, a second phase would serve to implement KPIs. In the third phase, the proposal for the enlargement of the network with the extension to more centers in the context of the Regional Health Service will be performed. DISCUSSION: The multidisciplinary management of irAEs based on telemedicine fits into the debate on the renewal of healthcare systems and the push for change toward multidisciplinary with the rising use of telemedicine. To our knowledge, this is the first project reporting a multi-institutional experience for change of service in irAEs management.

Extracellular vesicles miR-574-5p and miR-181a-5p as prognostic markers in NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the management of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), although patient survival is still unsatisfactory. Accurate predictive markers capable of personalizing the treatment of patients with NSCLC are still lacking. Circulating extracellular vesicles involved in cell-to-cell communications through miRNAs (EV-miRs) transfer are promising markers. Plasma from 245 patients with advanced NSCLC who received nivolumab as second-line therapy was collected and analyzed. EV-miRnome was profiled on 174/245 patients by microarray platform, and selected EV-miRs were validated by qPCR. A prognostic model combining EV-miR and clinical variables was built using stepwise Cox regression analysis and tested on an independent patient cohort (71/245). EV-PD-L1 gene copy number was assessed by digital PCR. For 54 patients with disease control, EV-miR changes at best response versus baseline were investigated by microarray and validated by qPCR. EV-miRNome profiling at baseline identified two EV-miRs (miR-181a-5p and miR-574-5p) that, combined with performance status, are capable of discriminating patients unlikely from those that are likely to benefit from immunotherapy (median overall survival of 4 months or higher than 9 months, respectively). EV-PD-L1 digital evaluation reported higher baseline copy number in patients at increased risk of mortality, without improving the prognostic score. Best response EV-miRNome profiling selected six deregulated EV-miRs (miR19a-3p, miR-20a-5p, miR-142-3p, miR-1260a, miR-1260b, and miR-5100) in responding patients. Their longitudinal monitoring highlighted a significant downmodulation already in the first treatment cycles, which lasted more than 6 months. Our results demonstrate that EV-miRs are promising prognostic markers for NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab.