Management of Cancer Cachexia and Guidelines Implementation in a Comprehensive Cancer Center: A Physician-Led Cancer Nutrition Program Adapted to the Practices of a Country.

CONTEXT: Cancer-associated cachexia is correlated with survival, side-effects, and alteration of the patients' well-being. OBJECTIVES: We implemented an institution-wide multidisciplinary supportive care team, a Cancer Nutrition Program (CNP), to screen and manage cachexia in accordance with the guidelines and evaluated the impact of this new organization on nutritional care and funding. METHODS: We estimated the workload associated with nutrition assessment and cachexia-related interventions and audited our clinical practice. We then planned, implemented, and evaluated the CNP, focusing on cachexia. RESULTS: The audit showed a 70% prevalence of unscreened cachexia. Parenteral nutrition was prescribed to patients who did not meet the guideline criteria in 65% cases. From January 2009 to December 2011, the CNP team screened 3078 inpatients. The screened/total inpatient visits ratio was 87%, 80%, and 77% in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. Cachexia was reported in 74.5% (n = 2253) patients, of which 94.4% (n = 1891) required dietary counseling. Over three years, the number of patients with artificial nutrition significantly decreased by 57.3% (P < 0.001), and the qualitative inpatients enteral/parenteral ratio significantly increased: 0.41 in 2009, 0.74 in 2010, and 1.52 in 2011. Between 2009 and 2011, the CNP costs decreased significantly for inpatients nutritional care from 528,895€ to 242,272€, thus financing the nutritional team (182,520€ per year). CONCLUSION: Our results highlight the great benefits of implementing nutritional guidelines through a physician-led multidisciplinary team in charge of nutritional care in a comprehensive cancer center.

Role of the radiotherapy boost on local control in ductal carcinoma in situ.

Ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast is associated with low mortality rates, but local relapse is a matter of concern in this disease. Risk factors for local relapse include young age, close or positive margins, and tumor necrosis. Whole breast irradiation following breast-conserving surgery for ductal carcinoma in situ significantly reduces the risk of local relapse as compared to breast-conserving surgery alone. Studies point to similar outcomes between breast-conserving surgery plus radiotherapy and mastectomy, in the absence of extensive disease. A complementary boost to the surgical bed improves outcomes for patients with invasive breast cancer. However, the effect of this strategy has never been prospectively reported for ductal carcinoma in situ. Two randomized controlled trials assessing this issue are ongoing. This paper represents an update on available literature about radiotherapy for DCIS with a special focus on the role of a radiotherapy boost to the tumor bed.

Second-line therapy for gemcitabine-pretreated advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

AIM: To investigate second-line chemotherapy in gemcitabine-pretreated patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer [(frequency, response, outcome, course of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9)]. METHODS: This retrospective study included all patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer (adenocarcinoma or carcinoma) treated with second-line chemotherapy in our center between 2000 and 2008. All patients received first-line chemotherapy with gemcitabine, and prior surgery or radiotherapy was permitted. We analyzed each chemotherapy protocol for second-line treatment, the number of cycles and the type of combination used. The primary endpoint was overall survival. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival, response rate, grade 3-4 toxicity, dosage modifications and CA 19-9 course. RESULTS: A total of eighty patients (38%) underwent a second-line therapy among 206 patients who had initially received first-line treatment with a gemcitabine-based regimen. Median number of cycles was 4 (range: 1-12) and the median duration of treatment was 2.6 mo (range: 0.3-7.4). The overall disease control rate was 40.0%. The median overall survival and progression-free survival from the start of second-line therapy were 5.8 (95% CI: 4.1-6.6) and 3.4 mo (95% CI: 2.4-4.2), respectively. Toxicity was generally acceptable. Median overall survival of patients with a CA 19-9 level declining by more than 20% was 10.3 mo (95% CI: 4.5-11.6) vs 5.2 mo (95% CI: 4.0-6.4) for others (P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: A large proportion of patients could benefit from second-line therapy, and CA 19-9 allows efficient treatment monitoring both in first and second-line chemotherapy.