RESPONSE OF INFLAMMATORY CYSTOID MACULAR EDEMA TO TREATMENT USING ORAL ACETAZOLAMIDE.

PURPOSE: To determine the treatment effect of oral acetazolamide on refractory inflammatory macular edema. METHODS: A retrospective review of identified patients with uveitic or pseudophakic macular edema treated using acetazolamide between 2007 and 2014. Visual acuity and central macular subfield thickness was determined at baseline and at first follow-up. Baseline optical coherence tomography features were analyzed as predictors of acetazolamide response. RESULTS: Sixteen patients (19 eyes) of 61 screened met all criteria. Mean age was 57.9 years (19.7-81.1). The most common diagnosis was idiopathic uveitis (n = 6, 31.6%). Mean uveitis duration was 4.4 years (0.2-27.5). Average central macular subfield thickness decreased significantly (from 471.8 ± 110.6 µm to 358.3 ± 50.4 µm) (P < 0.0001). Average visual acuity (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) improved significantly from 20/54 (0.43 ± 0.25) to 20/37 (0.27 ± 0.16) (P = 0.003). Pretreatment optical coherence tomographies demonstrated intraretinal fluid (n = 19, 100%), subretinal fluid (n = 8, 42.1%), epiretinal membrane (n = 13, 68.3%), and vitreomacular traction (n = 1, 5.2%). No optical coherence tomography characteristic was predictive of a response to therapy. CONCLUSION: There is a significant benefit to vision and central macular subfield thickness after acetazolamide treatment in patients with inflammatory macular edema. In patients with refractory inflammatory macular edema, treatment using acetazolamide can provide anatomical and visual benefit without corticosteroid-related adverse effects.

Differential Outcomes Among Immunosuppressed Patients With Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Impact of Immunosuppression Type on Cancer-specific and Overall Survival.

OBJECTIVES: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare, aggressive neuroendocrine skin cancer with higher incidence among whites, elderly, and immunosuppressed patients. Although immunosuppressed MCC patients are at higher risk of recurrence and MCC-related death, it is unknown whether immunosuppression type is associated with differential outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 89 nonmetastatic MCC patients with a diagnosis of chronic immunosuppression. Immunosuppression was categorized as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (31% of cohort), other hematologic malignancies (18%), solid organ transplant (21%), autoimmune disease (21%), and human immunodeficiency virus acquired deficiency syndrome (8%). Progression-free survival (PFS) and MCC-specific survival (MSS) were estimated with the cumulative incidence function. Overall survival (OS) was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 52 months, 53 deaths occurred (42 from MCC, 7 unknown, and 4 non-MCC). Two-year PFS, MSS, and OS were 30%, 55%, and 52%, respectively. Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired deficiency syndrome and solid organ transplant patients were diagnosed with MCC at a younger age (median 55 and 59 y, respectively) and with more advanced stage disease compared with other immunosuppressed subgroups. PFS did not significantly differ among the 5 immunosuppression subgroups (P=0.30), but significant differences were observed in MSS and OS (both P=0.01). Controlling for potential confounders for OS, including age and stage, immunosuppression type was still significantly associated with risk of death (P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Among immunosuppressed MCC patients, recurrent MCC is the major cause of mortality. The risk of death from MCC differs among immunosuppression types, suggesting important biological differences in host-tumor immune interactions.

Effect of Patient Immune Status on the Efficacy of Radiation Therapy and Recurrence-Free Survival Among 805 Patients With Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) with chronic immunosuppression (IS) have worse outcomes, but the mechanisms are not well understood. We hypothesized that these differences may be mediated in part by differential response to treatment, and we evaluated whether radiation therapy (RT) efficacy is altered among IS compared with immune-competent (IC) patients with MCC. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Among 805 patients with MCC, recurrence-free survival (RFS) and patterns of first recurrence were compared between 89 IS and 716 IC patients with stage I to III MCC treated with curative intent. We used a Fine and Gray's competing risk multivariable analysis to estimate associations with RFS. RESULTS: IS and IC patients with MCC had similar demographic and disease characteristics. Most (77% IC, 86% IS) were irradiated (median, 50.4 Gy IC, 50.3 Gy IS), although more IS patients were irradiated to the primary site (97% vs 81%). With a median follow-up of 54.4 months, IS patients had inferior RFS (2-year: 30% vs 57%; P < .0001) and higher rates of local recurrence as the first site of relapse (25% vs 12%; P = .0002). The association between RT and RFS differed by immune status (interaction P = .01). Although RT was associated with significantly improved RFS among IC patients (hazard ratio 0.56, 95% confidence interval 0.44-0.72), no difference in RFS was observed with RT among IS patients (hazard ratio 1.49, 95% confidence interval 0.70-3.17). CONCLUSIONS: Radiation therapy efficacy at current standard RT doses for MCC is impaired among immunosuppressed patients with MCC. Although a strong link between durability of RT response and immune function does not appear to be evident in most cancers, our results may reflect an especially dynamic interaction between immune status and RT efficacy in MCC.

Cardiac sparing characteristics of internal mammary chain radiotherapy using deep inspiration breath hold for left-sided breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: While breast radiotherapy typically includes regional nodal basins, the treatment of the internal mammary nodes (IMN) has been controversial due to concern for long-term cardiac toxicity. For high risk patients where IMN treatment is warranted, there is limited data with regards to the degree of heart sparing conferred by modern techniques. In this study, we sought to analyze the specific heart sparing metrics conferred by deep inspiration breath hold (DIBH) in the setting of IMN irradiation. METHODS: From 2012 to 2015, 168 consecutive patients were treated with adjuvant left-sided radiotherapy using DIBH. Retrospective review identified 49 patients who received nodal irradiation, either to a supraclavicular field (SCF) and IMN (16), or to the SCF alone (33). Cardiac mean dose and dose volumes were calculated from free breathing (FB) and DIBH treatment plans, and compared by Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann-Whitney U tests. RESULTS: DIBH achieved significant reductions in mean heart dose (p < 0.001) in both the IMN treated group from 6.73 Gy to 2.79 Gy (- 56.4%) and the IMN untreated group from 4.77 Gy to 1.55 Gy (- 63.7%). There was a 7.3% difference in relative reduction that was not statistically significant (p = 0.216). Relative reductions in heart dose volume measures were all significantly lower for IMN-irradiated patients (p ≤ 0.012), with the greatest deficits at V5 that gradually diminish with increasing dose (V25). CONCLUSIONS: The relative heart sparing benefits of the DIBH technique are retained even with IMN inclusion. However, the addition of IMN irradiation is associated with an intrinsically greater heart dose, which translates to an estimated 9.2% proportional increase in the risk of a subsequent major coronary event. In the setting of effective cardiac sparing techniques, clinicians should take these considerations into account to guide when IMN treatment is warranted.