A Retrospective Evaluation of Bevacizumab Treatment in Patients with Progressive Malignant Glioma in Northern Sweden.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Overall survival for glioblastoma patients is short. Standard treatment is surgery followed by radiochemotherapy and adjuvant temozolomide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome for all patients with progressive disease treated with bevacizumab-based treatment combinations in the northern region of Sweden. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective analysis after bevacizumab-based second-line treatment for malignant glioma. All patients treated with bevacizumab, between 2007 and 2011 in our Center were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: Progression-free survival after the start of bevacizumab-based treatment was 20 weeks and overall survival was 31 weeks. Treatment was well tolerated, but 9% of patients (n=6) suffered from serious adverse events. In 68% of patients, a ≥25% decrease in contrast enhancement was seen at best response. CONCLUSION: Results from this retrospective study are comparable with earlier phase-II studies and motivate randomized trials of bevacizumab-based treatment in the second-line setting.

Clinical and Immunological Characteristics of Autoimmune Addison Disease: A Nationwide Swedish Multicenter Study.

Context: Studies of the clinical and immunological features of autoimmune Addison disease (AAD) are needed to understand the disease burden and increased mortality. Objective: To provide upgraded data on autoimmune comorbidities, replacement therapy, autoantibody profiles, and cardiovascular risk factors. Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional, population-based study that included 660 AAD patients from the Swedish Addison Registry (2008-2014). When analyzing the cardiovascular risk factors, 3594 individuals from the population-based survey in Northern Sweden, MONICA (monitoring of trends and determinants of cardiovascular disease), served as controls. Main Outcome Measures: The endpoints were the prevalence of autoimmune comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors. Autoantibodies against 13 autoantigens were determined. Results: The proportion of 21-hydroxylase autoantibody-positive patients was 83%, and 62% of patients had ≥1 associated autoimmune diseases, more frequently coexisting in females (P < 0.0001). AAD patients had a lower body mass index (P < 0.0001) and prevalence of hypertension (P = 0.027) compared with controls. Conventional hydrocortisone tablets were used by 89% of the patients, with a mean dose of 28.1 ± 8.5 mg/d. The mean hydrocortisone equivalent dose normalized to the body surface was 14.8 ± 4.4 mg/m2/d. A greater hydrocortisone equivalent dose was associated with a greater incidence of hypertension (P = 0.046). Conclusions: Careful monitoring of AAD patients is warranted to detect associated autoimmune diseases. Contemporary Swedish AAD patients did not have an increased prevalence of overweight, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, or hyperlipidemia. However, high glucocorticoid replacement doses could be a risk factor for hypertension.