Anti-PD-1 for the treatment of advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in elderly patients: a French multicenter retrospective survey.

BACKGROUND: Anti-PD1 agents are currently recommended as first-line treatment in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (acSCC) by updated European guidelines. Although acSCC frequently affects elderly patients with multiple comorbidities, this subset of patients is often excluded of registration clinical trials. PURPOSE: To assess anti-PD-1 efficacy and safety in elderly acSCC patients in real-life conditions and describe this specific population with oncogeriatric evaluation tools. METHODS: A multicenter retrospective study including acSCC patients at least 70 years old treated with PD-1 inhibitors was conducted in French referral centers. The primary endpoint was the overall response rate (ORR). Secondary endpoints included safety data, time to response (TTR), duration of response (DOR), overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: 63 patients were included. ORR was 57.1% (95% CI 44.0-69.5), median TTR and DOR were 3 and 5.5 months respectively. Median OS was not reached (95% CI 12.5 months-not reached) at data cut-off after a median follow-up of 8 months while median PFS was 8 months. (95% CI 5 months-not reached). Grade 3-5 adverse effects occurred in 47.6% of patients. 41.3% of patients experienced degradation of ECOG performance status during anti-PD-1 treatment. Nutritional state worsened in 27% of patients and 57.1% lost weight during treatment. CONCLUSION: In this particular subset of acSCC patients PD-1 inhibitors obtain results similar to those obtained in younger populations included in pivotal clinical trials, with acceptable safety. A specific oncogeriatric evaluation at treatment initiation and during follow-up appears important in this setting most notably to help manage toxicity.

Spreading geriatric oncology culture through professional caregivers: Results of a French massive open online course (MOOC).

Geriatric oncology is based on the synergy between several professionals whose common goal is to improve care for older patients with cancer. This requires sharing a common core of knowledge to facilitate collaboration between them. To date, training in geriatric oncology has been limited in scope and difficult to access for caregivers, particularly nurses and healthcare aides. To meet this need, a massive open online course (MOOC), in geriatric oncology has been developed in France. This kind of course aims to provide simultaneous access for a large number of participants and to foster communication with the pedagogical team through discussion forums. The first session of the MOOC, which has been set up in the Occitania region of France, went online nationwide from March 6 to June 23, 2020. Despite the SARS CoV-2 global health crisis, 1020 people subscribed to the first session and 417 (40.9%) were certified at the end of the course. Most are nurses (35.2%) and work outside Occitania (56.3%). A survey revealed a high satisfaction level regarding relevance of lessons (97.9%), pedagogical quality of teaching team (97.9%), knowledge acquisition (93.6%), meeting learners' needs (90.4%) and practical value of the course (88.3%). This preliminary experience demonstrates the ability of this MOOC to spread the culture of geriatric oncology and the educational potential of this new type of online training.

[Development and assessment of a MOOC about delirium in geriatric oncology]. / Création et évaluation d'un MOOC sur le syndrome confusionnel en oncogériatrie.

INTRODUCTION: Among the themes to be addressed by a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on geriatric oncology, one of the priorities was delirium, due to its frequency, complications and difficulties encountered by healthcare professionals in diagnosing and managing delirium. Our study aims to evaluate professional practices in the area of education, regarding the evaluation of the content of a MOOC module about delirium syndrome in geriatric oncology. METHODS: We created a multidisciplinary group to define the scientific content, the pedagogical objectives, the scriptwriting and the development of a training module. The quality of instructional design was then evaluated according to eleven MOOC design principles to promote learning. Participants were studied. RESULTS: Seven of the eleven criteria for evaluating pedagogical quality were documented. Among the 1020 participants, 455 (44.6%) completed the final test concerning delirium: 417 (40.8%) passed the final test; 406 documented their profession and the region of France where they worked: 146 (32%) nurses (confirming the participation of the targeted audience), 103 (22.6%) doctors/pharmacists (illustrating the multi-professional interest of the thematic), with a wide distribution of the participants over the national territory. DISCUSSION: The multidisciplinary team's investment in developing these teaching materials strengthened the group's cohesion and valuated its professional skills. All teaching resources developed for access via the internet must be accompanied by an evaluation of the quality of the scientific content, objectives and teaching methods, before being able to appreciate its use in the field and assess its real impact on the participants' learning and practice.

A new tool to adapt the treatment of Parkinson's disease patients in nursing homes.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common condition in nursing home (NH) residents. The primary treatment for Parkinson's disease is levodopa therapy to relieve motor symptoms and maximize physical function. Non-motor symptoms are highly prevalent in NH residents with Parkinson's disease and dramatically decrease quality of life. Choices in drug treatment need to take into account the complex interactions between aging, comorbidity and non-motor symptoms. Optimal management requires expertise and cooperative effort from prescribing neurologists and nursing home health professionals. The objective is to evaluate the pertinence of the CHEF, a new tool to screen daily life clinical data helpful for the management of neurologist consultants. NH nurses were asked to briefly report falls and gait problems, hallucinations, sleep disorders and motor fluctuations. Analysis of the results obtained in 26 patients showed that CHEF was perceived as a helpful complement to existing ressources. The use of this tool has the potential to enhance the quality of NH care of Parkinsonian patients.

Assessment and treatment relevance in elderly glioblastoma patients.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant primary brain tumor. Its incidence continues to increase in the elderly because the older segment of the population is growing faster than any other age group. Most clinical studies exclude elderly patients, and "standards of care" do not exist for GBM patients aged >70 years. We review epidemiology, tumor biology/molecular factors, prognostic factors (clinical, imaging data, therapeutics), and their assessments as well as classic and specific endpoints plus recent and ongoing clinical trials for elderly GBM patients. This work includes perspectives and personal opinions on this topic. Although there are no standards of care for elderly GBM patients, we can hypothesize that (i) Karnofsky performance status (KPS), probably after steroid treatment, is one of the most important clinical factors for determining our oncological strategy; (ii) resection is superior to biopsy, at least in selected patients (depending on location of the tumor and associated comorbidities); (iii) specific schedules of radiotherapy yield a modest but significant improvement; (iv) temozolomide has an acceptable tolerance, even when KPS <70, and could be proposed for methylated elderly GBM patients; and (v) the addition of concomitant temozolomide to radiotherapy has not yet been validated but shows promising results in some studies, yet the optimal schedule of radiotherapy remains to be determined. In the future, specific assessments (geriatric, imaging, biology) and use of new endpoints (quality of life and toxicity measures) will aid clinicians in determining the balance of potential benefits and risks of each oncological strategy.