What We Have Learned About Combining a Ketogenic Diet and Chemoimmunotherapy: a Case Report and Review of Literature.

Background: A high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet has been reported in the literature as a treatment option for patients with cancer. Case Presentation: A 69-year-old veteran was initially diagnosed with stage III colorectal cancer and progressed to having liver, pancreatic, and omental lymph node involvement despite completing adjuvant FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin calcium, and oxaliplatin) after surgery. The patient was treated with FOLFIRI (fluorouracil, leucovorin calcium, and irinotecan hydrochloride) and bevacizumab, followed by encorafenib and cetuximab on progression. Subsequently, he received pembrolizumab but continued to progress. The patient was later placed on trifluridine/tipiracil and bevacizumab concurrent with a ketogenic diet. Positron emission tomography and carcinoembryonic antigen levels indicated disease stabilization for 10 months. On progression, the patient was transitioned to ipilumimab and nivolumab and continued to adhere to the ketogenic diet. The patient's disease has continued to remain stable for the past 1 year. His degree of ketosis was determined using the glucose ketone index. The patient continues to have a good quality of life during concurrent ketogenic diet and therapy. Conclusions: This case supports the tolerability of the ketogenic diet along with chemotherapy and immunotherapy and should be considered as an adjunct to standard cancer treatment. In this report, we reviewed the latest literature about cellular mechanism of the ketogenic diet and the efficacy and relationship with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We are about to open a ketogenic diet protocol at the Veterans Affairs Central California Health Care System in Fresno.

Lymphangitic Carcinomatosis of Possible Urothelial Origin.

Urothelial cancer with lymphangitic carcinomatosis is a rare clinical phenomenon that is not commonly associated with acute respiratory failure. However, the recent prevalence of COVID-19 may predispose a patient's respiratory system to become more susceptible to metastatic lymphangitic spread. We present a case of a 57-year-old male with progressively worsening hypoxic respiratory failure after testing positive for COVID-19 six months prior. Imaging during the hospitalization showed adenopathy consistent with lymphangitic carcinomatosis that was not present six months prior. Acute respiratory deterioration is associated more commonly with infection rather than the progression of cancer, but infectious, autoimmune, and cardiac processes were deemed minimal contributory factors. The patient's respiratory decline only allowed for a T-11 vertebral biopsy which showed poorly differentiated metastatic carcinoma of possible urothelial origin. Urothelial cancer leading to respiratory failure due to lymphangitic carcinomatosis is an uncommon phenomenon, but in the setting of prior COVID-19, it may make the respiratory system more susceptible to lymphangitic spread. However, research is limited due to the recent prevalence of COVID-19, and more research is necessary to investigate a potential correlation with rapid lymphatic carcinomatosis after COVID-19 infection.

A rare case of MGRS with immunotactoid glomerulopathy responding to bortezomib, dexamethasone, and rituximab.

Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance should be treated with clone-directed therapy against sources of monoclonal proteins in order to prevent progression to more advanced monoclonal gammopathies and renal failure.

A Rare Case of Systemic Mastocytosis With Associated Clonal Hematological Non-Mast Cell Lineage Disease That Transformed to Acute Leukemia With IDH2 Mutation.

An elderly 72-year-old man presented with anemia, thrombocytopenia, monocytosis, splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy. Bone marrow biopsy was consistent with mast cell neoplasm with positive CD117, CD25, CD34 myeloblasts and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed mutation of D816V. He developed bilateral femoral neck fractures and biopsy confirmed that he has systemic mastocytosis (SM). He received cladribine and midostaurin with stable disease for 21 months. His SM with associated clonal hematological non-mast cell lineage disease (SM-AHNMD) transformed to acute myelogenous leukemia with isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) mutation. A trial of enasidenib was given for 5 months but without any response. Patient decided to go with home hospice and died afterwards.

A Rare Case of Sunitinib-Induced Rhabdomyolysis in Renal Cell Carcinoma.

We report a rare case of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a patient who developed rhabdomyolysis while on sunitinib. He was admitted to the hospital due to muscle weakness, fatigue, poor oral intake, and difficulty swallowing in March 2017. He was found to have pancytopenia, liver failure, kidney failure, high uric acid, and increased creatine phosphokinase of more than 5000. He quickly developed lactic acidosis and acute respiratory failure. He was transferred to the ICU, but his condition declined rapidly. He died 3 days later. In this article we discussed about sunitinib-mediated inhibition of adenosine monophosphate kinase (AMPK) as a possible pathophysiology of rhabdomyolysis. Our case is the third sunitinib-induced rhabdomyolysis reported in the literature.

Erratum to: Modified Atkins diet in advanced malignancies-final results of a safety and feasibility trial within the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s12986-016-0113-y.].

A Case of Metastatic Adamantinoma That Responded Well to Sunitinib.

Adamantinoma is a rare low-grade malignant bone tumor of epithelial origin. Metastatic adamantinoma has been reported to be resistant to chemotherapy. We report a case of metastatic adamantinoma to the lung, 10 years after the initial diagnosis of tibial mass. The patient received radiation therapy to the lung with partial response. A surveillance PET scan revealed progression of the lung mass and biopsy confirmed to be progressive residual metastatic adamantinoma. He received carboplatin and etoposide for 7 months and achieved a partial response. Four months later, PET scan showed disease progression. We started him on sunitinib, a multikinase inhibitor. He achieved a good partial response for 3 years. He died due to pneumonia at the age of 72.

Modified Atkins diet in advanced malignancies - final results of a safety and feasibility trial within the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

BACKGROUND: Dysfunctional mitochondrial processes limit malignant cells ability to use energy from fatty acids and ketones. Animal studies using ketogenic diets for cancer show encouraging results. We tested the diet's safety and feasibility in cancer patients across a broad variety of solid tumors. METHODS: We recruited 17 advanced cancer patients who were not on chemotherapy. They consumed 20 to 40 g of carbohydrates daily with evaluations performed weekly until week 4, then every 4 weeks until 16 weeks. Quality of life questionnaires monitored for tolerability and compliance. Positron emission/computerized tomography was ordered at baseline, 4,8 and 16 weeks. Student t-testing evaluated differences between baseline and last visit scores for quality of life, weight, body mass index, and serum parameters. Correlations between weight loss and serum ketones, glucose, lipids and creatinine were done. Two-tailed unpaired t-testing of the mean weight loss compared responders against non-responders. RESULTS: Eleven out of seventeen enrolled patients were evaluable. Mean age was 65+/- 11.7 years, weight 203 +/- 4.98 lbs. (92 ± 2.3 kgs.) and previous treatment failures was 1.7, +/- 0.97. All lost significant weight with hematologic, biochemical and lipid tests remaining stable. Quality of life scores slightly improved. At 4,8 and 16 weeks, six (54.5 %), five (45.4 %) and four (36 %) patients were stable or improved. We observed no correlations between serum glucose, ketones or lipids. Clinical response did not correlate with ketosis or glycemia. Responders (stable disease or partial responders) lost statistically more weight than non-responders. Dietary compliance was difficult. Only three patients continued dieting past 16 weeks. Out of these, two patients developed brain metastases and were on steroids. They survived 80 and 116 weeks respectively. The third patient underwent residual tumor resection and has no disease at 131 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Modified Atkins diets are safe and feasible in advanced cancer. Quality of life was preserved. Patients who lost at least 10 % of their body weight responded the best. Steroid intake affected optimal ketone and glucose levels. Despite this, survival improved in some melanoma and lung cancer patients. Further studies are recommended. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01716468. Registered on September 18, 2012.

Lung cancer with gastrointestinal metastasis - review of theories of metastasis with three rare case descriptions.

Approximately 1 in 14 men and women during their lifetime will be diagnosed with lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the world. As of January 1, 2008, there were about 373,500 men and women living with lung cancer in the United States. Fewer than 60,000 of these are estimated to be alive by January 2013, reflecting a poor overall 5-year relative survival rate of under 16 %. With metastatic cancer, the overall 5-year survival is meager 4 %. On the other hand, the overall five-year survival is over 50 % when the cancer is still in the localized stage. However, unfortunately, more than half of cases of lung cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage Howlader et al. (2010). Cancer metastasis, the single most critical prognostic factor, is still poorly understood and a highly complex phenomenon. The most common sites of lung cancer metastasis are the lymph nodes, liver, adrenals, brain and bones. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is an exceptionally rare site of metastasis; with only a handful of cases reported in the literature Centeno et al. (Lung Cancer, 18: 101-105, 1997); Hirasaki et al. (World J Gastroenterol, 14: 5481-5483, 2008); Carr and Boulos (Br J Surg, 83: 647, 1996); Otera et al. (Eur Respir Rev, 19: 248-252, 2010); Antler et al. (Cancer, 49: 170-172, 1982); Fujiwara et al. (Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg, 59: 748-752, 2011); Stinchcombe et al. (J Clin Oncol, 24: 4939-4940, 2006); John et al. (J Postgrad Med, 48: 199-200, 2002); Carroll and Rajesh (Eur J Cardiothorac Surg, 19: 719-720, 2001); Brown et al. (Dis Colon Rectum, 23: 343-345, 1980). We report three cases of non-small cell (squamous cell) lung cancer with GI tract metastasis-two in the colon and one in the jejunum. Then we present a review of literature exploring various theories of metastasis, as an attempt to understand the reason of preferential tumor metastasis.