Development of a cancer risk model and mobile health application to inform the public about cancer risks and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate a mobile health application, the Cancer Risk Calculator (CRC), aimed at improving public health literacy by providing personalized information on cancer risks and preventive measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The CRC was developed through a comprehensive process involving the identification of necessary content, integration of average cancer risks using data from reliable sources, creation of a novel risk model emphasizing modifiable factors, and the application's development for easy access. The application covers 38 cancer types, 18 subtypes, and approximately 790 risk factors, utilizing data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program and scientific literature. RESULTS: CRC offers users personalized risk assessments across a broad range of cancers, emphasizing modifiable risk factors to encourage preventive behaviors. It distinguishes itself by covering more cancer types and risk factors than existing tools, with preliminary user feedback indicating its utility in promoting health literacy and lifestyle changes. DISCUSSION: The CRC application stands out as an innovative tool in health informatics, significantly enhancing public understanding of cancer risks. Its development underscores the potential of digital health technologies to bolster preventive healthcare strategies through improved health literacy. CONCLUSION: The Cancer Risk Calculator is a pivotal development in mobile health technology, offering comprehensive and personalized insights into cancer risks and prevention. It serves as a valuable resource for public health education, facilitating informed decisions and lifestyle modifications for cancer prevention.

Rapid-onset paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration successfully treated by radiotherapy and tumorectomy.

We report the first-ever documented case of successful treatment of paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) with radiotherapy. A 31-year-old female presented with rapidly progressing neurological symptoms, which were revealed to be due to PCD secondary to an undiagnosed breast cancer. The cancer responded well to chemotherapy, but her neurological status continued to deteriorate, eventually progressing to complete expressive aphasia and dyssynergia with paraparesis. Due to the extraordinarily rapid progression of the disorder, a treatment with tumorectomy and radiotherapy of the whole brain was performed. This proved to be very successful, with a complete stop of the deterioration of symptoms after treatment and with a significant neurologic improvement in the following months. This case indicates that there may be a place for radiotherapy in the treatment of PCD. Current treatment options have proven insufficient and no guidelines for treatment currently exist. As such, the disorder remains associated with a very poor prognosis and often entails permanent loss of function. Radiation, with its known immunosuppressive effect and non-stochastic effects on the nervous system at the proper doses, might therefore be a valid option. However, we should note that it was in this instance combined with a removal of the primary tumor and as such, its individual efficacy cannot be considered proven.

Imaging for the Detection of Locoregional Recurrences in Biochemical Progression After Radical Prostatectomy-A Systematic Review.

CONTEXT: Local and regional recurrence after radical prostatectomy (RP) can be treated using salvage radiotherapy (SRT). If the recurrence can be delineated on diagnostic imaging, this could allow for increasingly individualized SRT. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed at evaluating the evidence regarding the usefulness of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in identifying local and regional recurrences, with the aim to further individualize the SRT treatment. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A systematic PubMed/Medline search was conducted in December 2015. Studies included were imaging studies of post-RP patients focusing on local and/or regional recurrence where sensitivity and specificity of MRI or PET were the primary end points. Only studies using biopsy, other histological analysis, and/or treatment follow-up as reference standard were included. Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 was used to score the study quality. Twenty-five articles were deemed of sufficient quality and included in the review. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: [11C]Acetate had the highest pooled sensitivity (92%), while [11C]choline and [18F]choline had pooled sensitivities of 71% and 84%, respectively. The PET tracer with highest pooled specificity was [11C]choline (86%). Regarding MRI, MR spectroscopy combined with dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI showed the highest pooled sensitivity (89%). High pooled sensitivities were also seen using multiparametric MRI (84%), diffusion-weighted MRI combined with T2-weigthed (T2w) imaging (82%), and DCE MRI combined with T2w imaging (82%). These also showed high pooled specificities (85%, 89%, and 92%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Both MRI and PET have adequate sensitivity and specificity for the detection of prostate cancer recurrences post-RP. Multiparametric MRI, using diffusion-weighted and/or DCE imaging, and the choline-labeled tracers showed high pooled sensitivity and specificity, although their ranges were broad. PATIENT SUMMARY: After reviewing imaging studies of recurrent prostate cancer after prostatectomy, we concluded that choline positron emission tomography and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging can be proposed as the current standard, with high sensitivity and specificity.