Outpatient Embedded Palliative Care for Patients with Advanced Thoracic Malignancy: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Although cancer care is often contextualized in terms of survival, there are other important cancer care outcomes, such as quality of life and cost of care. The ASCO Value Framework assesses the value of cancer therapies not only in terms of survival but also with consideration of quality of life and financial cost. Early palliative care for patients with advanced cancer is associated with improved quality of life, mood, symptoms, and overall survival for patients, as well as cost savings. While palliative care has been shown to have numerous benefits, the impact of real-world implementation of outpatient embedded palliative care on value-based metrics is not fully understood. We sought to describe the association between outpatient embedded palliative care in a multidisciplinary thoracic oncology clinic and inpatient value-based metrics. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 215 patients being treated for advanced thoracic malignancies with non-curative intent. We evaluated the association between outpatient embedded palliative care and inpatient clinical outcomes including emergency room visits, hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, hospital charges, as well as hospital quality metrics including 30-day readmissions, admissions within 30 days of death, inpatient mortality, and inpatient hospital charges. Outpatient embedded palliative care was associated with lower hospital charges per day (USD 3807 vs. USD 4695, p = 0.024). Furthermore, patients who received outpatient embedded palliative care had lower hospital admissions within 30 days of death (O.R. 0.45; 95% CI 0.29, 0.68; p < 0.001) and a lower inpatient mortality rate (IRR 0.67; 95% CI 0.48, 0.95; p = 0.024). Our study further supports that outpatient palliative care is a high-value intervention and alternative models of palliative care, including one embedded into a multidisciplinary thoracic oncology clinic, is associated with improved value-based metrics.

Phase I Trial of Intravenous Mistletoe Extract in Advanced Cancer.

Purpose: Mistletoe extract (ME) is widely used for patients with cancer to support therapy and to improve quality of life (QoL). However, its use is controversial due to suboptimal trials and a lack of data supporting its intravenous administration. Materials and Methods: This phase I trial of intravenous mistletoe (Helixor M) aimed to determine the recommended phase II dosing and to evaluate safety. Patients with solid tumor progressing on at least one line of chemotherapy received escalating doses of Helixor M three times a week. Assessments were also made of tumor marker kinetics and QoL. Results: Twenty-one patients were recruited. The median follow-up duration was 15.3 weeks. The MTD was 600 mg. Treatment-related adverse events (AE) occurred in 13 patients (61.9%), with the most common being fatigue (28.6%), nausea (9.5%), and chills (9.5%). Grade 3+ treatment-related AEs were noted in 3 patients (14.8%). Stable disease was observed in 5 patients who had one to six prior therapies. Reductions in baseline target lesions were observed in 3 patients who had two to six prior therapies. Objective responses were not observed. The disease control rate (percentage of complete/partial response and stable disease) was 23.8%. The median stable disease was 15 weeks. Serum cancer antigen-125 or carcinoembryonic antigen showed a slower rate of increase at higher dose levels. The median QoL by Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General increased from 79.7 at week 1 to 93 at week 4. Conclusions: Intravenous mistletoe demonstrated manageable toxicities with disease control and improved QoL in a heavily pretreated solid tumor population. Future phase II trials are warranted. Significance: Although ME is widely used for cancers, its efficacy and safety are uncertain. This first phase I trial of intravenous mistletoe (Helixor M) aimed to determine phase II dosing and to evaluate safety. We recruited 21 patients with relapsed/refractory metastatic solid tumor. Intravenous mistletoe (600 mg, 3/week) demonstrated manageable toxicities (fatigue, nausea, and chills) with disease control and improved QoL. Future research can examine ME's effect on survival and chemotherapy tolerability.

An Oncology Urgent Care Clinic for the Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events: A Descriptive Analysis.

Introduction: With the increasing use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) for cancer, there is a growing burden on the healthcare system to provide care for the toxicities associated with these agents. Herein, we aim to identify and describe the distribution of encounters seen in an urgent care setting for immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and the clinical outcomes from irAE management. Methods: Patient demographics, disease characteristics, and treatment data were collected retrospectively from encounters at an oncology Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) from a single tertiary center for upper aerodigestive malignancies from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics with odds ratios for associations between patient features and hospitalization after UCC evaluation. Results: We identified 494 encounters from 289 individual patients over the study period. A history of ICI therapy was noted in 34% (n = 170/494) of encounters and 29 encounters (29/170, 17%) were confirmed and treated as irAEs. For those treated for irAEs, the majority (n = 19/29; 66%) were discharged home. Having an irAE was associated with an increased risk of hospitalization compared to non-irAEs (OR 5.66; 95% CI 2.15−14.89; p < 0.001). Conclusion: In this single institution experience, the majority of UCC encounters for confirmed irAEs were safely managed within the UCC. In ICI-treated patients, having an irAE was associated with an increased risk of hospitalization versus non-irAEs.

Post-operative ctDNA monitoring in stage I colon cancer: A case report.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) level monitoring after surgery for colon cancer has been studied in stage II and III colon cancer to risk-stratify patients for adjuvant therapy. However, there is less data regarding the role of this diagnostic tool in the management of stage I disease, where current recommended surveillance is limited to screening colonoscopy at one year. In this report, we describe the case of a 57-year-old man with stage I colon cancer who underwent complete resection with adequate lymph node surgical sampling, normal preoperative CEA and no evidence of metastatic disease on initial imaging. The patient elected to undergo serial ctDNA monitoring after surgery. Rising ctDNA levels, five months after resection, prompted cross-sectional imaging which demonstrated metastatic disease to the liver. The patient subsequently received five cycles of leucovorin, 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan with bevacizumab (FOLFOXIRI-Bev) and definitive microwave ablation to the liver metastases, with resulting undetectable ctDNA levels. The patient's imaging and colonoscopy one-year post-operatively showed no evidence of disease, with ctDNA levels remaining undetectable. This report highlights the value of ctDNA monitoring in patients with early-stage colon cancer and suggests that further, large-scale studies may be warranted to determine its appropriate clinical use.

NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Older Adult Oncology, Version 1.2021.

The NCCN Guidelines for Older Adult Oncology address specific issues related to the management of cancer in older adults, including screening and comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), assessing the risks and benefits of treatment, preventing or decreasing complications from therapy, and managing patients deemed to be at high risk for treatment-related toxicity. CGA is a multidisciplinary, in-depth evaluation that assesses the objective health of the older adult while evaluating multiple domains, which may affect cancer prognosis and treatment choices. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines providing specific practical framework for the use of CGA when evaluating older adults with cancer.

Oncology Fellow-Led Quality Improvement Project to Improve Rates of Palliative Care Utilization in Patients With Advanced Cancer.

PURPOSE: ASCO guidelines recommend palliative care (PC) referral for patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. Despite this, implementation has considerable hurdles. First-year oncology fellows at our institution identified low rates of PC utilization in their longitudinal clinic as a metric needing improvement. METHODS: A fellow-led multidisciplinary team aimed to increase PC utilization for patients with advanced cancer followed in he first-year fellows' clinic from a baseline of 11.5% (5 of 43 patients, July to December of 2018) to 30% over a 6-month period. Utilization was defined as evaluation in the outpatient PC clinic hosted in the cancer center. The team identified the following barriers to referral: orders difficult to find in the electronic medical record (EMR), multiple consulting mechanisms (EMR, by phone, or in person), EMR request not activating formal consult, no centralized scheduler to contact or confirm appointment, and poor awareness of team structure. Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles were implemented based on identified opportunities. Data were obtained from the EMR. RESULTS: The first PDSA cycle included focus groups with stakeholders, standardizing referral process via single order set, identifying a single scheduler with bidirectional communication, and disseminating process changes. PDSA cycles were implemented from January to June of 2019. Rates of PC use increased from 11.5% before the intervention to 48.4% (48 of 99 patients) after the intervention. CONCLUSION: A multidisciplinary approach and classic quality improvement methodology improved PC use in patients with advanced cancer. The pilot succeeded given the small number of fellows, buy-in from stakeholders, and institutional and leadership support. Straightforward EMR interventions and ancillary staff use are effective in addressing underreferrals.

Fatigability and endurance performance in cancer survivors: Analyses from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is prevalent and distressing among cancer survivors, but its subjective nature makes it difficult to identify. Fatigability, defined as task-specific fatigue, and endurance performance may be useful supplemental measures of functional status in cancer survivors. METHODS: Fatigability, endurance performance, and cancer history were assessed every 2 years in Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants between 2007 and 2015. Fatigability was defined according to the Borg rating of perceived exertion scale after a 5-minute, slow treadmill walk; and endurance performance was calculated according to the ability and time to complete a fast-paced, 400-meter walk. The association between cancer history, fatigability, and endurance performance was evaluated using longitudinal analyses adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and comorbidities. RESULTS: Of 1665 participants, 334 (20%) reported a history of cancer. A combination of older age (>65 years) and a history of cancer was associated with 3.8 and 8.6 greater odds of high perceived fatigability and poor endurance, respectively (P < .01). Older adults with and without a history of cancer walked 42 and 23 seconds slower than younger adults without a history of cancer, respectively (P < .01). The median times to the development of high fatigability and poor endurance were shorter among those who had a history of cancer compared with those who had no history of cancer (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that a history of cancer is associated with fatigability and poor endurance and that this effect is significantly greater in older adults. Evaluating the effects of cancer and age on fatigability may illuminate potential pathways and targets for future interventions. Cancer 2018;124:1279-87. © 2018 American Cancer Society.

The Effect of Preservative and Temperature on the Analysis of Circulating Tumor DNA.

Purpose: Analysis of genomic alterations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is evolving as an approach to detect, monitor, and genotype malignancies. Methods to separate the liquid from the cellular fraction of whole blood for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analyses have been largely unstudied, although these may be a critical consideration for assay performance.Experimental Design: To evaluate the influence of blood processing on cfDNA and ctDNA quality and yield, we compared the cfDNA levels in serum with those in plasma. Given the limitations of serum for ctDNA analyses, we evaluated the effects of two plasma processing approaches, K2EDTA and Cell-Free DNA BCT (BCT) tubes, on cfDNA and ctDNA recovery. A total of 45 samples from nine patients with cancer were collected in both tube types. Once collected, blood was processed into plasma immediately or kept at room temperature and processed into plasma at 1, 3, 5, or 7 days.Results: As early as 24 hours after collection, plasma isolated from blood collected in K2EDTA tubes contained an elevated level of cfDNA that increased over time compared with BCT tubes where no significant increase in cfDNA levels was observed. When samples from an additional six patients with cancer, collected in the same manner, were stored at 4°C in K2EDTA tubes over the course of 3 days, total cfDNA and ctDNA levels were comparable between samples collected in BCT tubes. At day 3, there was a trend toward a decrease in ctDNA levels in both tubes that was more pronounced when measuring the mutant allele fraction for cases stored at 4°C in K2EDTA tubes.Conclusions: In summary, methods of blood processing have a strong influence on cfDNA and ctDNA levels and should be a consideration when evaluating ctDNA in peripheral circulation. Clin Cancer Res; 23(10); 2471-7. ©2016 AACR.

NCCN Guidelines Insights: Older Adult Oncology, Version 2.2016.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older adults aged 60 to 79 years. Older patients with good performance status are able to tolerate commonly used treatment modalities as well as younger patients, particularly when adequate supportive care is provided. For older patients who are able to tolerate curative treatment, options include surgery, radiation therapy (RT), chemotherapy, and targeted therapies. RT can be highly effective and well tolerated in carefully selected patients, and advanced age alone should not preclude the use of RT in older patients with cancer. Judicious application of advanced RT techniques that facilitate normal tissue sparing and reduce RT doses to organs at risk are important for all patients, and may help to assuage concerns about the risks of RT in older adults. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on the recent updates to the 2016 NCCN Guidelines for Older Adult Oncology specific to the use of RT in the management of older adults with cancer.

Team Leadership and Cancer End-of-Life Decision Making.

End-of-life decision making in cancer can be a complicated process. Patients and families encounter multiple providers throughout their cancer care. When the efforts of these providers are not well coordinated in teams, opportunities for high-quality, longitudinal goals of care discussions can be missed. This article reviews the case of a 55-year-old man with lung cancer, illustrating the barriers and missed opportunities for end-of-life decision making in his care through the lens of team leadership, a key principle in the science of teams. The challenges demonstrated in this case reflect the importance of the four functions of team leadership: information search and structuring, information use in problem solving, managing personnel resources, and managing material resources. Engaging in shared leadership of these four functions can help care providers improve their interactions with patients and families concerning end-of-life care decision making. This shared leadership can also produce a cohesive care plan that benefits from the expertise of the range of available providers while reflecting patient needs and preferences. Clinicians and researchers should consider the roles of team leadership functions and shared leadership in improving patient care when developing and studying models of cancer care delivery.

Refining the chemotherapy approach for older patients with colon cancer.

Population studies support an increased incidence of most cancers among older adults. Colorectal cancer has high prevalence in the aging population, with a median age of 69 years at diagnosis and 74 years at death. The vast majority of patients with colon cancer (CC) will require chemotherapy treatments during their disease course, challenging oncologists with the task of tailoring therapy for older patients with CC in the face of limited evidence-based data to guide them. Factors such as comorbidity, performance status, cognitive function, and social support may affect decision making and complicate tolerance of any recommended therapy. In recent years, attention to the specific needs of the aging population with cancer has given rise to the field of geriatric oncology in general, and has generated an increasing fund of knowledge on which to base chemotherapy delivery for this specific population of patients with CC. This article will review the available data specifically for chemotherapy management of older patients with CC in the postoperative and metastatic settings.

Senior adult oncology, version 2.2014: clinical practice guidelines in oncology .

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older adults aged 60 to 79 years. The biology of certain cancers and responsiveness to therapy changes with the patient's age. Advanced age alone should not preclude the use of effective treatment that could improve quality of life or extend meaningful survival. The challenge of managing older patients with cancer is to assess whether the expected benefits of treatment are superior to the risk in a population with decreased life expectancy and decreased tolerance to stress. These guidelines provide an approach to decision-making in older cancer patients based on comprehensive geriatric assessment and also include disease specific issues related to age in the management of some cancer types in older adults.

Assessing cognitive function and capacity in older adults with cancer.

The number of older individuals with cancer is increasing exponentially, mandating that oncologists contemplate more comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches to treatment of this cohort. Recruitment of assessment instruments validated in older patients can be invaluable for guiding treatment and decision-making by both patients and providers, and can arguably contribute to improving outcomes and health-related quality of life. The Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment is one such validated instrument that can be used by oncologists to assess patient readiness and appropriateness for prescribed cancer therapy. As a multidisciplinary diagnostic and treatment process, it comprises functional status, cognitive status, social support, and advance care preferences, and is an ideal instrument for evaluating complex older individuals. It is well established that many older individuals with cancer travel with multiple comorbid illnesses, including cognitive impairment, and when presented with a cancer diagnosis struggle to choose from multiple treatment options. In addition to the complete medical history, the ability of patients to decide on a course of therapy in concert with their oncologist is critically important. Alternatively, many oncologists are conflicted as to whether true informed consent for treatment can be obtained from many older patients. Having a roadmap to decision-making capacity is therefore an inescapable imperative in geriatric oncology, because careful attention must be directed at identifying older patients with cancer who might benefit from these assessments and the individualized treatment plans that emerge.

Patients undergoing surgery of intracranial metastases have different outcomes based on their primary pathology.

OBJECTIVES: Patients with a variety of different primary cancers can develop intracranial metastases. Patients who develop intracranial metastases are often grouped into the same study population, and therefore an understanding of outcomes for patients with different primary cancers remain unclear. METHODS: Adults who underwent intracranial metastatic tumor surgery from 1997-2011 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Primary pathologies were compared using Fisher's exact and Student's t-test, and Cox regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with survival. RESULTS: About 708 patients underwent surgery during the reviewed period, where 269 (38%) had non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 106 (15%) breast cancer (BC), 72 (10%) gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, 88 (12%) renal cell cancer (RCC), and 88 (12%) melanoma. The most notable differences were that NSCLC patients were older, BC younger, BC had more primary tumor control, and NSCLC less extracranial spread. BC had longer survival, RCC had longer local progression free survival (PFS), and NSCLC had longer distal PFS. The factors independently associated with survival for NSCLC (female, recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class, primary tumor control, solitary metastasis, tumor size, adenocarcinoma, radiation, discharge to home), BC (age, no skull base involvement, radiation), GI cancer (age, RPA class, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS), lack of preoperative motor deficit, non-esophageal tumors, non-hemorrhagic tumors, avoidance of new deficits), melanoma (preoperative seizures, solitary metastasis, smaller tumor size, discharge to home, chemotherapy), and RCC (KPS, chemotherapy) were distinctly different. DISCUSSION: These differences between patients with different primary cancers support the fact that patients with intracranial disease are not all the same and should be studied by their primary pathology.

Challenges in the management of older patients with colon cancer.

Most patients with colon cancer are older than 65 years. Their treatment poses multiple challenges, because they may have age-related comorbidities, polypharmacy, and physical or physiologic changes associated with older age. These challenges include limited data on the ability to predict tolerance to anticancer therapy and the appropriate use of treatment modalities in the setting of comorbidity and concurrent frailty. The low number of older patients enrolled in large clinical trials results in a paucity of evidence to guide oncologists in the appropriate management of this population. In early-stage disease, clinical dilemmas arise regarding the ability of older patients to undergo successful curative surgical procedures and the risk/benefit ratio of adjuvant chemotherapy. The management of metastatic disease raises questions regarding the clinical benefit of various anticancer therapies and the role of combination therapy with possible increased toxicity in the noncurative setting. Overall, the available evidence shows that fit older patients are able to tolerate treatment and derive similar clinical benefits to younger patients. Limited data are available to guide treatment for less-fit, more-vulnerable older patients. This lack of data leads to variations in treatment patterns in older adults, making them less likely to receive standard therapies. This review provides an overview of the available data regarding the management of older adults with colon cancer in the adjuvant and metastatic settings.

Atrial flutter associated with carboplatin administration.

OBJECTIVE: To report a novel case of atrial flutter associated with carboplatin administration and review chemotherapy-related cardiac toxicities, focusing on platinum-containing compounds. CASE REPORT: A 69-year-old man with extensive small cell lung cancer and asymptomatic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease was inconsistently adherent to his medication regimen. While undergoing carboplatin infusion, he developed atrial flutter. He had no other immediate arrhythmogenic causes of atrial flutter and the arrhythmia spontaneously reverted to sinus rhythm after 24 hours. His condition remained stable until he died 8 days later. The cause of death was unknown and the family declined postmortem examination. DISCUSSION: Although this patient's cardiac history and nonadherence to his medications may have increased his susceptibility to develop atrial arrhythmias, the Naranjo probability scale reveals a possible relationship between atrial flutter and infusion of carboplatin. A literature search revealed other adverse cardiac events due to platinum compounds; however, to our knowledge, this case is the first to describe an association with atrial flutter. A definitive causal link cannot be determined, but this may have been the result of a direct arrhythmogenic effect of treatment or to a novel hypersensitivity reaction. Given the potential deleterious impact of drug-induced arrhythmias, we have reported this case to the Food and Drug Administration as a new adverse effect of carboplatin. CONCLUSIONS: Providers should consider cardiac monitoring during carboplatin infusion in patients with known cardiac disease or at high risk of cardiac complications.

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: assessment of oncology nurses' knowledge and practice.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To explore oncology nurses' practice behaviors and knowledge of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in the assessment of patients with cancer. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, exploratory. SETTING: Two hospital-based outpatient chemotherapy clinics in Baltimore, MD. SAMPLE: Self-selected convenience sample of 39 oncology nurses. METHODS: Completion of the principal investigator-developed questionnaire consisting of 16 knowledge and 16 practice-behavior items, 8 instruction and perception items, and a 9-item demographic survey. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: CIPN assessment practice behaviors and knowledge; tool reliability. FINDINGS: The mean CIPN knowledge score of 12.6 (SD=1.7) demonstrated knowledge deficits (maximum score of 16). All respondents indicated CIPN assessment is essential in their oncology role, but 75% rated their CIPN assessment skills as fair to poor. Assessment practices did not routinely include neurologic physical assessment. In addition, 82% believed CIPN is a significant problem for patients. Cronbach alpha for the tool was 0.84. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated participants had knowledge deficits pertaining to CIPN and lacked training, proficiency, and confidence in neurologic physical assessment. Education and training programs are needed to improve knowledge and neurologic assessment skills. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: To date, CIPN nursing assessment guidelines do not exist. Practice guidelines for CIPN nursing assessment and management should be efficient and appropriate to the role of the chemotherapy infusion oncology nurse working in a busy setting where chair turnover time, accuracy, safety, and quality service are competing priorities.