COMPASS-CAT versus Khorana risk assessment model for predicting venous thromboembolic events in patients with non-small cell lung cancer on active treatment with chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy, the CK-RAM study.

Cancer patients are at higher risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Several risk assessment models (RAM), including the Khorana and COMPASS-CAT, were developed to help predict the occurrence of VTE in cancer patients on active anti-cancer therapy. We aim to study the prevalence and predictors of VTE among patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and compare both RAMs in predicting VTE in patients with NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. Variables known to increase the risk of VTE were collected and risk of VTE was assessed using both Khorana and COMPASS-CAT RAM. A total of 508 patients (mean age ± SD, 58.4 ± 12.2 years) were enrolled. Most (n = 357, 70.3%) patients had adenocarcinoma, and 333 (65.6%) patients had metastatic disease. VTE were confirmed in 76 (15.0%) patients. Rates were higher among patients with metastatic disease (19.8%, p < 0.001), adenocarcinoma (17.4%, p = 0.01) and those treated with immunotherapy (23.5%, p = 0.014). VTE rates were 21.2%, 14.1% and 13.9% among those with high (n = 66), intermediate (n = 341) and low (n = 101) Khorana risk scores, respectively (p = 0.126). On the other hand, 190 (37.4%) were classified as high risk by the COMPASS-CAT RAM; 52 (27.4%) of them had VTE compared to 24 (7.5%) of the remaining 318 (62.6%) classified as Low/Intermediate risk level, p < 0.001. In conclusion, patients with NSCLC are at high risk for VTE, especially those with adenocarcinoma, metastatic disease and when treated with immunotherapy. Compared to Khorana RAM, COMPASS-CAT RAM was better in identifying more patients in high-risk group, with higher VTE rate.

Cetuximab plus XELOX show efficacy against brain metastasis from colorectal cancer: a case report.

Brain metastasis (BM) from colorectal cancer (CRC) is rare and associated with poor prognosis. The mainstay of treatment for BM from CRC is radiotherapy, systemic treatment options for CRC can include novel targeted agents, conventional chemotherapy or a combination of both. Nevertheless, the efficacy of these systemic treatment options against BM from CRC is not yet fully established. Cetuximab, a monoclonal antibody, has been shown to be effective in patients with KRAS wild-type metastatic CRC. The combination of cetuximab with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is commonly utilized as a systemic treatment for metastatic CRC. Hereby, we report a case of BM from CRC with significant response after capecitabine and oxaliplatin (XELOX) combined with cetuximab.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) with spread to the brain (brain metastasis) is uncommon and often has a bad outcome. The main modality of treatment is usually radiotherapy. Other treatment options for CRC that has spread to the body can include new agents, classical chemotherapy drugs or both. But we do not know for sure if these agents are effective in treating spread to the brain from CRC. Cetuximab, is one of the relatively new drugs that is being used to treat certain genetic types of CRC with spread to the body, particularly when given together with other chemotherapy drugs known as XELOX. Here, we report a case of a brain mass that has spread from CRC. This brain mass showed a significant response to the regimen of cetuximab with XELOX. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient whose brain metastasis from CRC has responded well to this drug treatment alone before any radiation therapy.

The Prognostic and Diagnostic Value of [18F]FDG PET/CT in Untreated Laryngeal Carcinoma.

This study aims to determine the diagnostic accuracy of staging PET/CT and neck MRI in patients with laryngeal carcinoma and to assess the value of PET/CT in predicting progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Sixty-eight patients who had both modalities performed before treatment between 2014 and 2021 were included in this study. The sensitivity and specificity of PET/CT and MRI were evaluated. PET/CT had 93.8% sensitivity, 58.3% specificity, and 75% accuracy for nodal metastasis, whereas MRI had 68.8%, 61.1%, and 64.7% accuracy, respectively. At a median follow-up of 51 months, 23 patients had developed disease progression and 17 patients had died. Univariate-survival analysis revealed all utilized PET parameters as significant prognostic factors for OS and PFS (p-value < 0.03 each). In multivariate analysis, metabolic-tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) predicted better PFS (p-value < 0.05 each). In conclusion, PET/CT improves the accuracy of nodal staging in laryngeal carcinoma over neck MRI and adds to the prognostication of survival outcomes through the use of several PET metrics.

Concordance between head and neck MRI and histopathology in detecting laryngeal subsite invasion among patients with laryngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Accuracy of head and neck MRI (HN-MRI) in predicting tumor invasion of laryngeal site/subsites in patients with laryngeal cancer prior to laryngectomy is poorly evaluated in the literature. Therefore, we aim to evaluate the diagnostic value of HN-MRI in accurate pre-operative estimation of tumor invasion to laryngeal subsites in patients with laryngeal cancer. METHODS: Patients with laryngeal cancer who underwent HN-MRI for cancer staging and underwent total laryngectomy between 2008 and 2021 were included. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy of HN-MRI in predicting tumor invasion of laryngeal subsites were calculated based on concordance between the HN-MRI and histopathological results. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-seven patients underwent total laryngectomy [primary: 82/137(60%), salvage 55/137(40%)]. The utilization of HN-MRI resulted in the downstaging of 16/137 (11.6%) patients and the upstaging of 8/137 (5.8%) patients. For the whole cohort, there was a significant discordance between HN-MRI and histopathology for T-category; out of 116 cT4a disease, 102(87.9%) were confirmed to have pT4a disease, and out of 17 cT3 disease, 9(52.9%) were confirmed to have pT3 disease, p < 0.001. The MRI overall diagnostic accuracy of predicting tumor invasion was 91%, 92%, 82%, 87%, 72%, 76%, 65% and 68% for base of tongue, arytenoid, vocal cord, posterior commissure, pre-epiglottic space, cricoid cartilage, inner thyroid cortex, and subglottis, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with laryngeal cancer undergoing total laryngectomy, HN-MRI demonstrates promising accuracy in predicting tumor invasion of specific laryngeal subsites (e.g., base of tongue). Our findings showed the potential of HN-MRI as a valuable tool for pre-operative planning and treatment decision-making in this patient population.