ABSTRACT
Introduction: Urachal cancer (UrC) is a rare, non-urothelial malignancy. Its natural history and management are poorly understood. Although localized to the bladder dome, the most common histological subtype of UrC is adenocarcinoma. UrC develops from an embryonic remnant, and is frequently diagnosed in advanced stage with poor prognosis. The treatment is not standardized, and based only on case reports and small series. This large retrospective multicentric study was conducted by the French Genito-Urinary Tumor Group to gain a better understanding of UrC. Material and Methods: data has been collected retrospectively on 97 patients treated at 22 French Cancer Centers between 1996 and 2020. Results: The median follow-up was 59 months (range 44-96). The median age at diagnosis was 53 years (range 20-86), 45% were females and 23% had tobacco exposure. For patients with localized disease (Mayo I-II, n=46) and with lymph-node invasion (Mayo III, n=13) median progression-free-survival (mPFS) was 31 months (95% CI: 20-67) and 7 months (95% CI: 6-not reached (NR)), and median overall survival (mOS) was 73 months (95% CI: 57-NR) and 22 months (95% CI: 21-NR) respectively. For 45 patients with Mayo I-III had secondary metastatic progression, and 20 patients were metastatic at diagnosis. Metastatic localization was peritoneal for 54% of patients. Most patients with localized tumor were treated with partial cystectomy, with mPFS of 20 months (95% CI: 14-49), and only 12 patients received adjuvant therapy. Metastatic patients (Mayo IV) had a mOS of 23 months (95% CI: 19-33) and 69% received a platin-fluorouracil combination treatment. Conclusion: UrC is a rare tumor of the bladder where patients are younger with a higher number of females, and a lower tobacco exposure than in standard urothelial carcinoma. For localized tumor, partial cystectomy is recommended. The mOS and mPFS were low, notably for patients with lymph node invasion. For metastatic patients the prognosis is poor and standard therapy is not well-defined. Further clinical and biological knowledge are needed.
ABSTRACT
Radiation plexitis, also known as radiation-induced brachial neuropathy is a rare toxicity following axillary, breast, cervical or thoracic radiotherapy, first described in 1966 by Stoll and Andrew. Although improvements in radiotherapy techniques have greatly reduced its risk over the past seventy years, its severe form remains a dreaded complication that is difficult to manage in patients with increased life expectancy. This article summarizes the epidemiological elements, risk factors, diagnostic methods, doses and constraints to be respected in radiotherapy and the treatment strategies of radiation plexitis.
Subject(s)
Brachial Plexus Neuropathies , Brachial Plexus , Radiation Injuries , Humans , Brachial Plexus Neuropathies/diagnosis , Brachial Plexus Neuropathies/epidemiology , Brachial Plexus Neuropathies/etiology , Radiation Injuries/diagnosis , Radiation Injuries/epidemiology , Radiation Injuries/etiology , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
The world has now been facing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since over a year. If most of clinical presentations are benign, fragile patients are at greater risk of developing severe or fatal lung disease. Many therapies have been explored with very low impact on mortality. In this context, Kirkby et Mackenzie have published in April 2020 a report reminding the anti-inflammatory properties of low-dose radiotherapy (delivering less than 1Gy) and its use in the treatment of viral and bacterial pneumopathies before antibiotics era. Large in vivo and in vitro data have demonstrated the biological rationale and anti-inflammatory activity of low-dose radiotherapy in many pathologies. Over the past year, three phase I/II clinical trials have been published, as well as one randomized controlled trial, reporting the feasibility and the clinical and biological improvement of a 0.5 to 1Gy treatment dose to the entire lung. 13 other studies, including a randomized phase III trial, are currently ongoing worldwide. These studies may provide data in the effect of low-dose radiotherapy in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. This article explains biological rationale of low-dose radiotherapy, and reports already published or ongoing studies on low-dose radiotherapy for SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.
