The Meaning of Occupation for Adults With Advanced Cancer: A Scoping Review.

IMPORTANCE: In this scoping review, we explore the meaning of occupation for people with advanced cancer to develop and improve occupation-based services in oncology. OBJECTIVE: To identify the meaning(s) of occupation for adults with advanced cancer through relevant peer-reviewed literature. DATA SOURCES: Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, and PubMed were used to identify peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2021. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA COLLECTION: Inclusion criteria comprised research studies in English and on meaningful occupations as well as participants age 19 yr or older and diagnosed with advanced cancer. Exclusion criteria comprised non-English publications, studies with participants in an early stage of cancer, and gray literature or nonreviewed articles. FINDINGS: Thirteen articles matched the inclusion criteria: 9 qualitative studies, 1 mixed-methods study, 1 case study, 1 pilot study (pretest-posttest design), and 1 retrospective study (review of clinical data). Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis: occupation benefits important relationships and connections with others, occupation as a source of physical or psychological comfort, managing one's identity through occupation, and occupation as a religious expression. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This scoping review highlights the value of participating in an occupation for people with advanced cancer. It also shows the importance of meaningful occupations to the quality of life and well-being of adults with advanced cancer. What This Article Adds: This scoping review identifies meanings of occupation linked to the health and well-being of adults with advanced cancer to develop and improve occupation-based services in oncology.

The Five-Year Survival Rate of Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Based on Tumor Response after Receiving Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy, Followed by Chemoradiation, in Indonesia: A Retrospective Study.

INTRODUCTION: Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a common malignancy in Southeast Asia with a high mortality rate. Previous studies have shown that the patient survival rate is <80% worldwide. At the Dharmais Cancer Hospital, NPC is the first of the top 10 diseases with the highest rate of stage III cancer progression. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the 5-year survival rate of patients with NPC based on tumor response and their prognostic factors after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by chemoradiation. METHODS: The records of 261 patients between January 2009 and December 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients with NPC who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by chemoradiation, at the Dharmais Cancer Hospital from 2009 to 2013 were identified. Patients with metastasis were excluded. The primary endpoint of this study was overall survival, which was defined as the time from the date of treatment to the date of death. The survival curve was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazard model was used for the multivariate analysis of prognostic factors. RESULTS: The tumor response rates for patients with complete response (CR), partial response (PR), and progressive disease (PD) were 33.7, 45.2, and 21.2%, respectively. The 5-year overall survival rate was 38.6%. The 5-year survival rates based on tumor response among CR, PR, and PD patients were 71.0, 30.4, and 10.6%, respectively. The significant independent prognostic factors were tumor response, educational background, job, alcohol consumption, clinical stage, and prompt treatment. CONCLUSION: The survival probability of patients with NPC receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by chemoradiation, was higher in the CR group than in the PR and PD groups. This confirms that early detection can improve the patient's survival. Long-term follow-up is required to determine the factors influencing tumor response in NPC.

Unraveling Copy Number Alterations in Pediatric B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Correlation with Induction Phase Remission Using MLPA.

OBJECTIVE: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy occurring in children. Copy number alterations (CNA) like PAX5, CDKN2A/2B, PAR1 Region, ETV6, IKZF1, BTG1, and RB1 gene deletion are important genetic events that define and prognosticate B-cell ALL. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate associations of CNA with induction phase remission status in childhood B-cell ALL. METHODS: This study was observational with a cross-sectional design at the Dharmais Cancer Hospital, Harapan Kita Mother and Children Hospital, and Tangerang Regional Public Hospital. We evaluated 74 pediatric B-cell ALL cases with 1-18-year-olds. Genomic DNA was analyzed by Multiplex Ligation Dependent Probe Amplification Assay (MLPA). This study used the P335 ALL-IKZF1 panel kit, which contains several ALL-related genes. The patient's clinical and laboratory characteristics were collected from medical records from January to December 2019. RESULT: We observed gene copy number alteration in children with B-Cell ALL. PAX5 was the most commonly observed gene deletion, followed by CDKN21/2B, ETV6, IKZF1, BTG1, RB1, and PAR1 Region. Based on gene mutations, only the PAX5 had a significant association with the remission status of pediatric B-cell ALL (p-value <0.05; OR = 3.91). It showed that patients with PAX5 gene mutations have 3.9 times the risk of no remission and/or relapse compared to those without PAX5 gene mutations. CONCLUSION: Patients with mutations in the PAX5 gene have a higher chance of not achieving remission and/or experiencing relapse than those without such mutations. The MLPA method can be utilized for examining copy number alterations, which is valuable for achieving more precise stratification in diagnosis.. Further research is needed to expand upon this finding.