Carcinoma cervix: A single institute experience from Kashmir, Northern India.

Background: Carcinoma cervix is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, with an estimated 604,000 new cases and 342,000 deaths worldwide in 2020. Carcinoma cervix is an uncommon malignancy in Kashmir. In this retrospective study, we have tried to find clinicopathological characteristics of carcinoma cervix along with the survival rates at our tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: Case records of cervical cancer patients registered from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2019, were retrieved. A total of 138 patients was registered. 22 had undergone surgery, and out of these 17 had received postoperative radiotherapy. 109 patients were treated with definitive chemoradiation and 13 with palliative radiotherapy. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patient and treatment-related variables, and Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed for survival analysis. Results: A total of 138 cases that were registered from 2015 to 2019 were included in this study. The median age at the presentation was 56 years. Most of the patients had a performance status of 1 (98 patients (71.01)). Most of the patients 110 (79.71%) were married before 20 years of age, only 1 patient was unmarried, and 85 (61.59) patients were multiparous in our study group. Only 14 (10.14%) patients in our study group had a history of oral contraceptive use and most of them were non-smokers [124 (89.80%)]. Multiple marriages were present in 8 (5.79%) patients only. The most common presenting symptom was bleeding per vagina (78.26%), and the maximum number of patients fall in the post-menopausal group (67.39%). 116 patients had squamous cell carcinoma histology while 10 patients had adenocarcinoma histology. Most of the patients had stage II and stage III disease (85 patients). At last, follow up out of 138 patients 75 (54.35) were alive. 3 year disease-free survival was 54.34% and 3-year overall survival was 72.46%. Conclusion: Carcinoma cervix is an uncommon malignancy in Kashmir because of different socio-cultural and religious practices but the response to treatment, toxicity profile, and survival are similar to the rest of the world.

Nosocomial SARS-COVID-19 Outbreak During the Third Wave of COVID-19 in an Oncology Facility at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Kashmir, India.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged as a life-threatening respiratory condition, especially in immunocompromised patients, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Initially detected in China in December 2019, the first case in India was diagnosed on January 30, 2020. Here we report a nosocomial COVID-19 outbreak among cancer patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) in a medical oncology unit of a tertiary care hospital from our region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a descriptive study of the nosocomial COVID-19 outbreak and was conducted in the month of January 2022 at the medical oncology unit of a tertiary care hospital in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), India. The study included 25 COVID-19 cases, including patients and HC/non-HCWs (NHCWs). The confirmation of diagnosis was done through real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs as the test sample. RESULTS: Twenty-five COVID-19 cases, including 14 admitted patients, nine HCWs, and two NHCWs were confirmed by COVID-19 RT-PCR in a span of 11 days. The first case was a positive HCW. The patients were admitted for management of various hematological as well as solid organ malignancies. Of the 14 patients, eight were in the pediatric age group with a mean age of 6.9 years, and six were adults with a mean age of 55.2 years. Thirteen patients were on different chemotherapy protocols, and one was undergoing an autologous stem cell transplant. Of the 14 patients, four were asymptomatic for COVID-19 symptoms, eight had mild disease, and two had severe disease with respiratory failure. Two patients with severe diseases needed COVID-19-designated high-dependency unit (HDU) admission. There was one COVID-19-related death. Among the healthcare workers, the mean age was 33.8 years, of which six were males and three were females. All the HCWs and NHCWs had mild disease, and all of them recovered completely. CONCLUSION: Nosocomial COVID-19 illness is a new entity and is preventable. COVID-19 illness will remain in society after the pandemic is over, like the influenza B viral illness, and there can be seasonal flares in the future. Proper measures should be taken to prevent its clustering in hospital settings.

Long-Term Outcomes of Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) for Multiple Myeloma: While New Horizons Emerge, It Is Still Only a Silver Lining for Resource-Constrained Settings.

Background Significant hurdles impede the optimal implementation of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in low-middle income countries (LMICs). Herein, we highlight the challenges faced in LMICs while performing HSCT and report the long-term outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) who underwent autologous HSCT (AHSCT) at our center. Besides, we provide a comprehensive review of studies reporting long-term outcomes of AHSCT in MM from the Indian subcontinent. Methodology This study was conducted at the State Cancer Institute, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, India. Case records of all patients with MM who received AHSCT from December 2010 to July 2018 were reviewed retrospectively. A non-systematic literature search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Data regarding clinicopathological parameters and long-term follow-up were extracted from relevant studies and for patients included in our study. Results At our center, 47 patients (median age 52.0 years) with MM underwent AHSCT. Majority of patients had stage III disease (ISS) and median time to transplant was 11.5 months. The five-year progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 59.1% and 81.2%, respectively. Studies from the Indian subcontinent have observed a five-year OS of ~50% to ~85%. However, a greater variability in the five-year PFS has been reported, ranging from ~20% to ~75%. The median time to transplant has ranged from seven to 17 months (indicating time delays) with median CD34 cell counts of 2.7-6.3×106 cells/kg (lower than developed countries). Conclusions Despite significant resource limitations in LMICs, AHSCT is increasingly been performed in MM with encouraging long-term outcomes.