Survival Outcomes Associated With 3 Years vs 1 Year of Adjuvant Imatinib for Patients With High-Risk Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: An Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial After 10-Year Follow-up.

Importance: Adjuvant imatinib is associated with improved recurrence-free survival (RFS) when administered after surgery to patients with operable gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), but its influence on overall survival (OS) has remained uncertain. Objective: To evaluate the effect of adjuvant imatinib on OS of patients who have a high estimated risk for GIST recurrence after macroscopically complete surgery. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this open-label, randomized (1:1), multicenter phase 3 clinical trial conducted in Finland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden, 400 patients who had undergone macroscopically complete surgery for GIST with a high estimated risk for recurrence according to the modified National Institutes of Health Consensus Criteria were enrolled between February 2004 and September 2008. Data for this follow-up analysis were analyzed from September to November, 2019. Interventions: Imatinib 400 mg/d administered orally for either 12 months or 36 months after surgery. Main Outcomes And Measures: The primary end point was RFS; the secondary objectives included OS and treatment safety. Results: The intention-to-treat cohort consisted of 397 patients (12-month group, 199; 36-month group, 198; 201 men and 196 women; median [IQR] age, 62 (51-69) years and 60 (51-67) years, during a median follow-up time of 119 months after the date of randomization, 194 RFS events and 96 OS events were recorded in the intention-to-treat population. Five-year and 10-year RFS was 71.4% and 52.5%, respectively, in the 36-month group and 53.0% and 41.8% in the 12-month group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.66; 95% CI, 0.49-0.87; P = .003). In the 36-month group, 5-year OS and 10-year OS rates were 92.0% and 79.0%, respectively, and in the 12-month group 85.5% and 65.3% (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.37-0.83; P = .004). The results were similar in the efficacy population, from which 15 patients who did not have GIST in central pathology review and 24 patients who had intra-abdominal metastases removed at surgery were excluded (36-month group, 10-year OS 81.6%; 12-month group, 66.8%; HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.32-0.80; P = .003). No new safety signals were detected. Conclusions and Relevance: Three years of adjuvant imatinib is superior in efficacy compared with 1 year of imatinib. Approximately 50% of deaths may be avoided during the first 10 years of follow-up after surgery with longer adjuvant imatinib treatment. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00116935.

The Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Central Register: 6,000 patients after 25 years of monitoring of referral and treatment of extremity and trunk wall soft-tissue sarcoma.

Purpose - We wanted to examine the potential of the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) Central Register, and evaluate referral and treatment practice for soft-tissue sarcomas in the extremities and trunk wall (STS) in the Nordic countries. Background - Based on incidence rates from the literature, 8,150 (7,000-9,300) cases of STS of the extremity and trunk wall should have been diagnosed in Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden from 1987 through 2011. The SSG Register has 6,027 cases registered from this period, with 5,837 having complete registration of key variables. 10 centers have been reporting to the Register. The 5 centers that consistently report treat approximately 90% of the cases in their respective regions. The remaining centers have reported all the patients who were treated during certain time periods, but not for the entire 25-year period. Results - 59% of patients were referred to a sarcoma center untouched, i.e. before any attempt at open biopsy. There was an improvement from 52% during the first 5 years to 70% during the last 5 years. 50% had wide or better margins at surgery. Wide margins are now achieved less often than 20 years ago, in parallel with an increase in the use of radiotherapy. For the centers that consistently report, 97% of surviving patients are followed for more than 4 years. Metastasis-free survival (MFS) increased from 67% to 73% during the 25-year period. Interpretation - The Register is considered to be representative of extremity and trunk wall sarcoma disease in the population of Scandinavia, treated at the reporting centers. There were no clinically significant differences in treatment results at these centers.

Needle biopsy through the abdominal wall for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumour - Does it increase the risk for tumour cell seeding and recurrence?

PURPOSE: Preoperative percutaneous transabdominal wall biopsy may be considered to diagnose gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) and plan preoperative treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors when an endoscopic biopsy is not possible. Hypothetically, a transabdominal wall biopsy might lead to cell seeding and conversion of a local GIST to a disseminated one. We investigated the influence of preoperative needle biopsy on survival outcomes. METHODS: We collected the clinical data from hospital case records of the 397 patients who participated in the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) XVIII/Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO) randomised trial and who had a transabdominal fine needle and/or core needle biopsy carried out prior to study entry. The SSG XVIII/AIO trial compared 1 and 3 years of adjuvant imatinib in a patient population with a high risk of GIST recurrence after macroscopically radical surgery. The primary end-point was recurrence-free survival (RFS), and the secondary end-points included overall survival (OS). RESULTS: A total of 47 (12.0%) out of the 393 patients with data available underwent a percutaneous biopsy. No significant difference in RFS or OS was found between the patients who underwent or did not undergo a percutaneous biopsy either in the entire series or in subpopulation analyses, except for a statistically significant RFS advantage for patients who had a percutaneous biopsy and a tumour ≥10 cm in diameter. CONCLUSION: A preoperative diagnostic percutaneous biopsy of a suspected GIST may not increase the risk for GIST recurrence in a patient population who receive adjuvant imatinib after the biopsy.

Adjuvant Imatinib for High-Risk GI Stromal Tumor: Analysis of a Randomized Trial.

PURPOSE: Three years of adjuvant imatinib therapy are recommended for patients with GI stromal tumor (GIST) with high-risk features, according to survival findings in the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group XVIII/AIO (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie) trial. To investigate whether the survival benefits have persisted, we performed the second planned analysis of the trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible patients had macroscopically completely excised, KIT-positive GIST with a high risk of recurrence, as determined by using the modified National Institutes of Health criteria. After surgery, the patients were randomly assigned to receive imatinib for either 1 or 3 years. The primary objective was recurrence-free survival (RFS), and the secondary objectives included survival. RESULTS: A total of 400 patients were entered onto this open-label study between February 4, 2004, and September 29, 2008. During a median follow-up of 90 months, 171 recurrences and 69 deaths were detected. Patients assigned to the 3-year group had longer RFS than those assigned to the 1- year group; 5-year RFS was 71.1% versus 52.3%, respectively (hazard ratio [HR], 0.60; 95% CI 0.44 to 0.81; P < .001), and survival was 91.9% versus 85.3% (HR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.97; P = .036). Patients in the 3-year group survived longer in the subset with centrally confirmed GIST and without macroscopic metastases at study entry (93.4% v 86.8%; HR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30 to 0.93; P = .024). Similar numbers of cardiac events and second cancers were recorded in the groups. CONCLUSION: Three years of adjuvant imatinib therapy results in longer survival than 1 year of imatinib. High 5-year survival rates are achievable in patient populations with high-risk GIST.

Oral contraceptive use, parity, and constitutional characteristics in soft tissue sarcoma: a Swedish population-based case-control study 1988-2009.

PURPOSE: The study was designed to investigate the influence of surrogate factors associated with sex (SH) and growth hormones (GH) on the risk of developing soft tissue sarcomas (STS). BACKGROUND AND METHODS: The etiology of soft tissue sarcoma is largely unknown. We have studied the effect of hormone related factors on STS in the Swedish population between 1988 and 2009 using a population-based matched case-control design. RESULTS: Our study is the largest on this topic to date, including 634 cases in a primary matched analysis and 855 cases in an unmatched sensitivity analysis. We identified protective effects connected to constitutional characteristics, hormonal and reproductive factors. Being shorter than your peers at age 11 was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.51 (0.36-0.74). Having used oral contraceptives (OC), OR 0.75 (0.49-1.15), and high parity, OR 0.16 (0.04-0.63), comparing three or more children to two or less, also appeared to reduce the risk of STS. The risk was further reduced with the duration of OC use (p = 0.01), comparing use for 11 years or more to use for 3 years or less yielded an OR of 0.10 (0.02-0.41). No effect was observed for ever having had perimenopausal hormone therapy OR 1.02 (0.70-1.47). The effect of BMI varied significantly with subtype (p = 0.03) and tumor location (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We observed surrogates of SH, GH, and insulin-like growth factor 1 to be associated with STS development. These findings are important as they may connect STSs to the group of hormone-dependent tumors, potentially revealing common treatment and prevention targets.

One vs three years of adjuvant imatinib for operable gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a randomized trial.

CONTEXT: Adjuvant imatinib administered for 12 months after surgery has improved recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients with operable gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) compared with placebo. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of imatinib administration duration as adjuvant treatment of patients who have a high estimated risk for GIST recurrence after surgery. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Patients with KIT-positive GIST removed at surgery were entered between February 2004 and September 2008 to this randomized, open-label phase 3 study conducted in 24 hospitals in Finland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. The risk of GIST recurrence was estimated using the modified National Institutes of Health Consensus Criteria. INTERVENTION: Imatinib, 400 mg per day, orally for either 12 months or 36 months, started within 12 weeks of surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary end point was RFS; the secondary end points included overall survival and treatment safety. RESULTS: Two hundred patients were allocated to each group. The median follow-up time after randomization was 54 months in December 2010. Diagnosis of GIST was confirmed in 382 of 397 patients (96%) in the intention-to-treat population at a central pathology review. KIT or PDGFRA mutation was detected in 333 of 366 tumors (91%) available for testing. Patients assigned for 36 months of imatinib had longer RFS compared with those assigned for 12 months (hazard ratio [HR], 0.46; 95% CI, 0.32-0.65; P < .001; 5-year RFS, 65.6% vs 47.9%, respectively) and longer overall survival (HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.22-0.89; P = .02; 5-year survival, 92.0% vs 81.7%). Imatinib was generally well tolerated, but 12.6% and 25.8% of patients assigned to the 12- and 36-month groups, respectively, discontinued imatinib for a reason other than GIST recurrence. CONCLUSION: Compared with 12 months of adjuvant imatinib, 36 months of imatinib improved RFS and overall survival of GIST patients with a high risk of GIST recurrence. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00116935.

Translocation-related sarcomas.

Sarcomas with chromosomal translocations represent only about one fourth of sarcoma diagnoses. However, like gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), with its characteristic KIT or PDGFRA mutations, they are particularly interesting since they provide specific biological insights and mechanisms of action that may have an impact upon prognosis or therapy. These are mechanisms we are just beginning to exploit. In this section we will review the biology and clinical impact of translocation-associated sarcomas and review the clinical findings that have made a recent impact upon patients with these diverse diagnoses.

Direct hospital resource utilization and costs of treating patients with multiple myeloma in Southwest Sweden: a 5-year retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND: Approximately 570 patients are diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) in Sweden each year. Few studies have estimated the cost of treatment for these patients. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively investigate the direct hospital resource utilization and costs associated with the treatment of patients with MM in southwest Sweden. METHODS: Patients aged > or =18 years who initiated first-line chemotherapy in the year 2001 at hospitals in southwestern Sweden were included in this retrospective chart review. Direct hospital-based resources and their corresponding costs (year-2006 euros) for each patient were calculated until the patient's death, or until December 31, 2005. Costs for outpatient and terminal stage care related to MM were not included. RESULTS: Ninety-four patients were included; 20 were still alive at study completion. Mean age at diagnosis was 76 years and patients were followed for a mean of 32.7 months; 55% were males and 74% had at least 1 comorbidity. First-, second-, and third-line treatment lasted a mean of 24.3, 5.8, and 2.6 months, and included 2.8, 2.6, and 3.1 chemotherapy drugs per patient, respectively. Of the 80 patients who received first-line chemotherapy, 72 were prescribed melphalan and 55 patients received a combination of melphalan and prednisone, as recommended by Swedish treatment guidelines. The mean total cost per patient was euro88,199, or euro2770 per patient-month. Therapy-induced and comorbidity-related events constituted 42% of total costs, as much as autologous stem-cell transplantation and inpatient care together. Chemotherapy, bisphosphonate, and blood cell-enhancement drugs each amounted to only 2% of total costs, but chemotherapy drugs increased from euro29/month in first-line therapy to euro453/month in third-line therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The cost of treating Swedish patients with MM varied greatly between individuals but, overall, chemotherapy drugs constituted only a minor part of the total monthly cost (2%), whereas costs for inpatient stays and therapy-induced adverse events or comorbidity-related events accounted for 35% and42%, respectively. There was no significant differencein monthly cost between treatment lines.

Radiotherapy to improve local control regardless of surgical margin and malignancy grade in extremity and trunk wall soft tissue sarcoma: a Scandinavian sarcoma group study.

PURPOSE: Adjuvant radiotherapy has during the past decades become increasingly used in the treatment of localized soft tissue sarcoma. We evaluated the effect of radiotherapy (RT) on local recurrence rates (LRRs) in Scandinavia between 1986 and 2005. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A total of 1,093 adult patients with extremity or trunk wall soft tissue sarcoma treated at four Scandinavian sarcoma centers were stratified according to the treatment period (1986-1991, 1992-1997, and 1998-2005). The use of adjuvant RT, quality of the surgical margin, interval between surgery and RT, and LRR were analyzed. The median follow-up was 5 years. RESULTS: The use of RT (77% treated postoperatively) increased from 28% to 53%, and the 5-year LRR decreased from 27% to 15%. The rate of wide surgical margins did not increase. The risk factors for local recurrence were histologic high-grade malignancy (hazard ratio [HR], 5), an intralesional (HR, 6) or marginal (HR, 3) surgical margin, and no RT (HR, 3). The effect of RT on the LRR was also significant after a wide margin resection and in low-grade malignant tumors. The LRR was the same after preoperative and postoperative RT. The median interval from surgery to the start of RT was 7 weeks, and 98% started RT within 4 months. The LRR was the same in patients who started treatment before and after 7 weeks. CONCLUSION: The results of our study have shown that adjuvant RT effectively prevents local recurrence in soft tissue sarcoma, irrespective of the tumor depth, malignancy grade, and surgical margin status. The effect was most pronounced in deep-seated, high-grade tumors, even when removed with a wide surgical margin.

May P-glycoprotein status be used to stratify high-grade osteosarcoma patients? Results from the Italian/Scandinavian Sarcoma Group 1 treatment protocol.

The aim was to evaluate the clinical impact of P-glycoprotein in primary non-metastatic high-grade osteosarcoma patients, treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy protocols. P-glycoprotein was assessed by immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue samples collected at time of diagnosis from 94 osteosarcoma patients, treated with the Italian Sarcoma Group/Scandinavian Sarcoma Group 1 (ISG/SSG 1) protocol. P-glycoprotein-positivity at diagnosis was found in 53/94 ISG/SSG 1 cases (56%) and emerged as the single factor significantly associated with an unfavourable outcome from survival and multivariate analyses. A comparative analysis of the subgroup of 94 patients considered for P-glycoprotein evaluation and the whole series of ISG/SSG 1 patients showed that this marker retained its prognostic value also in the latter group. In osteosarcoma patients treated with doxorubicin-based chemotherapy protocols, P-glycoprotein overexpression at diagnosis is an important adverse prognostic factor for outcome. P-glycoprotein evaluation can therefore constitute the basis for stratifying, at diagnosis, osteosarcoma patients for whom alternative treatments may be considered.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with high-dose Ifosfamide, high-dose methotrexate, cisplatin, and doxorubicin for patients with localized osteosarcoma of the extremity: a joint study by the Italian and Scandinavian Sarcoma Groups.

PURPOSE: To explore the effect of high-dose ifosfamide in first-line treatment for patients < or = 40 years of age with nonmetastatic osteosarcoma of the extremity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From March 1997 to September 2000, 182 patients were evaluated. Primary treatment consisted of two blocks of high-dose ifosfamide (15 g/m2), methotrexate (12 g/m2), cisplatin (120 mg/m2), and doxorubicin (75 mg/m2). Postoperatively, patients received two cycles of doxorubicin (90 mg/m2), and three cycles each of high-dose ifosfamide, methotrexate, and cisplatin (120 to 150 mg/m2). Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor support was mandatory after the high-dose ifosfamide/cisplatin/doxorubicin combination. RESULTS: No disease progression was recorded during primary chemotherapy, 164 patients (92%) underwent limb-salvage surgery, four patients (2%) underwent rotation plasty, and 11 patients (6%) had limbs amputated. Three (1.6%) patients died as a result of treatment-related toxicity, and one died as a result of pulmonary embolism after pathologic fracture. Grade 4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia followed 52% and 31% of all courses, respectively, and mild to severe nephrotoxicity was recorded in 19 patients (10%). The median received dose-intensity compared with protocol was 0.82. With a median follow-up of 55 months, the 5-year probability of event-free survival was 64% (95% CI, 57% to 71%) and overall survival was 77% (95% CI, 67% to 81%), whereas seven patients (4%) experienced local recurrence. CONCLUSION: The addition of high-dose ifosfamide to methotrexate, cisplatin, and doxorubicin in the preoperative phase is feasible, but with major renal and hematologic toxicities, and survival rates similar to those obtained with four-drug regimens using standard-dose ifosfamide. Italian Sarcoma Group/Scandinavian Sarcoma Group study I showed that in a multicenter setting, more than 90% of patients with osteosarcoma of the extremity can undergo conservative surgery.

Improved prognostication in soft tissue sarcoma: independent information from vascular invasion, necrosis, growth pattern, and immunostaining using whole-tumor sections and tissue microarrays.

In 140 mixed primary soft tissue sarcomas with a median follow-up of 6 years, the prognostic importance of tumor size, tumor depth, grade, necrosis, vascular invasion, and peripheral growth pattern (pushing versus infiltrating) was evaluated on whole-tumor sections. Immunohistochemical expression of Ki-67, p53, cyclin A, bcl-2, beta-catenin, CD44, and P-glycoprotein was determined using tissue microarray from the peripheral growth zone. Local recurrences developed in 17% of the patients and correlated with necrosis, vascular invasion, and cyclin A expression. No local recurrence developed in tumors with a pushing growth pattern, regardless of tumor grade and depth. Metastasis developed in 39% of the patients. Vascular invasion was identified in 36% of the tumors and was the strongest prognostic factor for metastasis with a hazard ratio of 3.5. Growth pattern and tumor necrosis were also strong prognostic factors for metastasis, whereas malignancy grade, tumor size, and tumor depth did not have any independent prognostic value. Immunostaining showed independent prognostic information for Ki-67, beta-catenin, CD44, and P-glycoprotein. The results indicate that whole-tumor sections could facilitate identification of vascular invasion, necrosis, and peripheral growth pattern and that immunohistochemical profiling from the growth zone also provides independent prognostic information for metastasis in soft tissue sarcoma.

The influence of surgical volume on hospital mortality and 5-year survival for carcinoma of the oesophagus and gastric cardia.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of hospital operation volume on hospital mortality and 5-year survival in patients treated with resection for carcinoma of the oesophagus and gastric cardia. INTRODUCTION: Surgery due to tumours of the oesophagus and gastric cardia is probably associated with the highest postoperative morbidity and mortality of all elective surgical procedures. Concentration to high-volume centres has been suggested to improve the outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1987 and 1996, all patients with squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus or gastric cardia were identified from the Swedish Cancer Registry and the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry. The study population was assessed according to patients operated at hospitals with a low (L-V), intermediate (I-V) or high operation volume (H-V), defined as <5 resections/year, 5-15 resections/year and >15 resections/year, respectively. We analyzed hospital mortality and 5-year survival. RESULTS: During the study period, 1429 patients were treated with resection for carcinoma of the oesophagus (n=665) or the gastric cardia (n = 764). A total of 74 hospitals were registered with at least one surgical resection, of which 90% performed <5 resections/year. The distribution of gender and age was comparable in the three groups. Hospital mortality was 10.4, 6.3 and 3.5% in the L-V, I-V and H-V groups, respectively. Overall 5-year survival was 17% (L-V), 19% (I-V) and 22% (H-V). Multivariate analysis showed an improved long-term survival for patients operated at H-V compared to L-V hospitals (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: This study supports an inverse relationship between hospital volume and hospital mortality after surgical tumour resection of the oesophagus or gastric cardia. Overall 5-year survival was significantly higher at high-volume hospitals compared to low-volume centres. We believe that concentrating these patients in high-volume hospitals is necessary to achieve high quality surgical treatment and to facilitate research aiming to improve prognosis.

Hospital stay related to TNM-stage and the surgical procedure in primary breast cancer.

In Sweden from 1980 to 1995 there was an overall decrease of 56% in mean length of stay (MLOS) for surgical curative breast cancer treatment. The objective of this study was to separate the possible impact of tumour size and lymph node dissemination and changes in surgical procedures. All women diagnosed (n=13 290) with breast cancer between 1982 and 1995 were selected from the Southern Swedish Tumour Register. Data on LOS, diagnoses, and surgical procedures were obtained from the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register. A multi-factorial model was fitted to the data. Discharges where patients were treated with breast conserving surgery had more than two days shorter MLOS (-2.49, 95% CI -1.66) compared with mastectomy. Although TNM data imply a shift from T2 to smaller T1 among operated women the effect on MLOS is negligible when controlled for age, type of operation etc. Changes in clinical practice such as changes in operation technique can explain approximately 13% of the total decrease in MLOS.

Expression profiling using tissue microarray in 211 malignant fibrous histiocytomas confirms the prognostic value of Ki-67.

The tissue microarray technology is a high-throughput technique that allows studies of multiple markers in large tumor materials. We performed immunohistochemical profiling using tissue microarray and immunostaining for Ki-67, p53, bcl-2, CD44, cyclin A and Pgp in a series of 211 malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFHs) with correlation to prognosis. Tissue from 50 local recurrences and 20 metastases was available for comparison with the primary tumors. In univariate analysis, Ki-67 was the only immunohistochemical marker significantly correlated with metastasis with a hazard ratio of 1.9. Multivariate analysis, with tumor size, depth, necrosis, vascular invasion, mitotic rate and Ki-67 expression, revealed an independent prognostic value of tumor size and Ki-67. Local recurrences did not differ from the corresponding primary tumors, whereas metastases showed a trend for upregulation of cyclin A and Pgp. In this large series of MFHs, a tumor size greater than 8 cm and a Ki-67 index of more than 20% were strong and independent prognostic factors for metastasis. In contrast, p53, bcl-2, CD44, cyclin A and Pgp, which have previously been suggested as prognostic factors in soft tissue sarcomas, did not show such correlations. Hence, we suggest that proliferation, as measured by Ki-67 index, should be considered as a prognostic marker in clinical management of pleomorphic soft tissue sarcomas.

Time dependence of prognostic factors for patients with soft tissue sarcoma: a Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Study of 338 malignant fibrous histiocytomas.

BACKGROUND: Prognostic factors for metastasis in soft tissue sarcoma govern decisions regarding adjuvant treatment. However, the significance of initial tumor-related prognostic factors over time is largely unknown. METHODS: The current study included 338 patients with malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the extremities or the trunk wall whose tumors were reviewed by the Scandinavian Sarcoma Pathology Review Group. Of these 338 patients, 329 (97%) had high-grade tumors. The median follow-up period was 7 years. Metastases occurred in 110 of 338 of patients after a median follow-up period of 14 months, with roughly one-third (32 of 110) occurring after 2 years. The authors investigated the prognostic significance of tumor size, tumor depth, histologic grade, microscopic tumor necrosis, vascular invasion, mitotic rate, and local tumor recurrence at various time intervals using metastases as an endpoint. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, all investigated factors were found to be correlated with metastases for the entire follow-up period and also for the first 2 years of follow-up; beyond this time point, only size, tumor depth, and local recurrence were significant. On multivariate analysis, necrosis and local tumor recurrence were significant for the entire follow-up duration and also for the first 2 years of follow-up, whereas only tumor depth and local recurrence were significant beyond 2 years of follow-up. For all initial factors, the annual metastasis risks in the high-risk and low-risk groups converged to < 0.1 after 2 years and to near 0 after 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Prognostic factors for metastasis in MFH were time dependent. The predictive value of the initial prognostic factors was limited to the first 2 years of follow-up. The lack of observed prognostic value beyond 2 years of follow-up probably was attributable to heterogeneity within risk categories as a result of measurement errors and unknown biologic variations.

Prostate cancer--prevalence-based healthcare costs.

OBJECTIVE: To calculate the total costs of in- and outpatient healthcare for patients with prostate cancer based on an episode-of-care approach. The cost analysis includes costs incurred during the first year of diagnosis, a longitudinal 3-year analysis and the incremental cost of prostate cancer during the first year of diagnosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients registered with prostate cancer between 1998 and 2000, according to the data files of the Southern Swedish Regional Tumour Registry, were given encrypted identifiers that could also be used in the Patient Administrative System of the Region Skåne County Council, making it possible to identify consumption of healthcare on an episode-of-care basis. Itemized costs for resources used by each individual patient were calculated from the complete accounting system of the County Council. RESULTS: Healthcare costs for prostate cancer during the first year varied between 45 000 and 51 000 SEK per patient. The second- and third-year costs were progressively lower, with an estimated total cost of 114 000 SEK over a period of 3 years. The age-standardized incremental cost of prostate cancer corresponded to 33 000 SEK during the first year, compared to the average cost per inhabitant. CONCLUSIONS: The episode-of-care approach, based on encrypted identifiers for the identification of the diagnoses of individual patients and their utilization of healthcare, gives a unique opportunity to estimate the healthcare costs of specific diseases. The incremental healthcare cost per patient with prostate cancer corresponded to 33 000 SEK during the first year.

The cost of treating pancreatic cancer--a cohort study based on patients' records from four hospitals in Sweden.

An estimate of the average cost of treatment (COT) was assessed for 53 patients with pancreatic cancer treated between 1997 and 1999 in four hospitals in southern Sweden. Average COT was estimated to Euro18 947, 55% of which was attributable to hospitalization (including surgical procedures), 20% to long-term care and 11% to chemotherapy. Diagnostics and radiotherapy accounted for 9% and 4%, respectively. Median survival was 5.6 months (mean 6.3 months). Treatment costs per patient were negatively correlated with age but were higher for patients receiving chemo/radiotherapy and surgical treatment than for patients receiving only standard supportive care. Disease stage and type of hospital (university versus regional/local hospitals) were not significant predictors of COT per se. Assuming that our estimate of the average cost is representative for Sweden, the total healthcare cost for pancreatic cancer was Euro16 million (dollar14 million), i.e about 2-3% of the COT for all cancer diseases in Sweden. In the USA the cost of pancreatic cancer accounted for the same proportion. However, our estimated cost per patient was about half the amount of the US estimate. The distribution of costs between the different types of treatment services did not differ greatly between Sweden and the USA.