Current status and future readiness of Indian radiation oncologists to embrace prostate high-dose-rate brachytherapy: An Indian Brachytherapy Society survey.

Purpose: This survey aimed to understand the practice pattern and attitude of Indian doctors towards prostate brachytherapy. Material and methods: A 21-point questionnaire was designed in Google form and sent to radiation oncologists practicing in India, using texts, mails, and social media. Responses were collated, and descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results: A total of 212 radiation oncologists from 136 centers responded to the survey questionnaire, with majority (66%) being post-specialty training > 6 years. We found that about 44.3% (n = 94) of respondents do not practice interstitial brachytherapy for any site, and majority (83.3%, n = 175) do not practice high-dose-rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy. Only 2.8% (n = 6) of doctors preferred boost by brachytherapy compared with 38.1% (n = 80) of respondents, who favored stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) boost. When asked about the indication of HDR prostate brachytherapy in Indian setting, 32.5% (n = 67) of respondents favored monotherapy, 46.1% (n = 95) of oncologists thought boost as a good indication, and 21.4% (n = 44) preferred re-irradiation/salvage setting. The most cited reason for prostate brachytherapy not being popularly practiced in India was lack of training (84.8%, n = 179). It was also noted that out of 80 respondents who practiced SBRT for prostate boost, 37 would prefer HDR brachytherapy boost if given adequate training and facilities. Conclusions: The present survey provided insight on practice of prostate brachytherapy in India. It is evident that majority of radiation oncologists do not practice HDR prostate brachytherapy due to lack of training and infrastructure. Indian physicians are willing to learn and start prostate brachytherapy procedures if dedicated training and workshops are organized.

Modelling the leadership characteristics for organizational readiness: a context of lean implementation in healthcare.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the leadership characteristics that make a health-care organization ready for lean implementation, analyse the interdependence among them and determine the rank of each characteristic based on their influence in the overall phenomenon. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The leadership characteristics were identified through a review followed by an expert interview. Then, total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to analyse the interdependence and determine the rank, driving power and dependence of each characteristic. FINDINGS: The results suggest that modesty is the most crucial leadership characteristic that makes a health-care organization ready for the successful incorporation of lean practices. Apart from that, attributes such as transparency, accountability, a leader's ability to empower the employees and communication play a significant role in making the change management programme impactful and effective. A leader's team building capacity was found to be the dependent characteristic and was ranked the last in the overall phenomenon. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Though this study throws light on various leadership dispositions that prepare a health-care organization to become a lean, it is still not an exhaustive exploration to be generalized. Because the leadership characteristics required for successful lean implementation may vary from one organization to the other depending on the purpose, intensity and priority of the implementation programme, these parameters along with the complexity of the scenario would determine what other leadership characteristics need to be included in the model to make it more robust and holistic. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The novelty of the study lies in capturing the leadership characteristics for organizational readiness in the health-care sector and using the TISM approach to identify the critical characteristics in the context of lean implementation in hospitals.

Hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of outpatients with mildly symptomatic COVID-19: a multi-center observational study.

BACKGROUND: Hydroxychloroquine has not been associated with improved survival among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the majority of observational studies and similarly was not identified as an effective prophylaxis following exposure in a prospective randomized trial. We aimed to explore the role of hydroxychloroquine therapy in mildly symptomatic patients diagnosed in the outpatient setting. METHODS: We examined the association between outpatient hydroxychloroquine exposure and the subsequent progression of disease among mildly symptomatic non-hospitalized patients with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection. The primary outcome assessed was requirement of hospitalization. Data was obtained from a retrospective review of electronic health records within a New Jersey USA multi-hospital network. We compared outcomes in patients who received hydroxychloroquine with those who did not applying a multivariable logistic model with propensity matching. RESULTS: Among 1274 outpatients with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection 7.6% were prescribed hydroxychloroquine. In a 1067 patient propensity matched cohort, 21.6% with outpatient exposure to hydroxychloroquine were hospitalized, and 31.4% without exposure were hospitalized. In the primary multivariable logistic regression analysis with propensity matching there was an association between exposure to hydroxychloroquine and a decreased rate of hospitalization from COVID-19 (OR 0.53; 95% CI, 0.29, 0.95). Sensitivity analyses revealed similar associations. QTc prolongation events occurred in 2% of patients prescribed hydroxychloroquine with no reported arrhythmia events among those with data available. CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective observational study of SARS-CoV-2 infected non-hospitalized patients hydroxychloroquine exposure was associated with a decreased rate of subsequent hospitalization. Additional exploration of hydroxychloroquine in this mildly symptomatic outpatient population is warranted.

The role of the radiation oncologist in quality and patient safety: A proposal of indicators and metrics.

This manuscript represents a collaboration from an international group of quality and safety expert radiation oncologists. It is a position/review paper with the specific aim of defining the role of the radiation oncologist in quality and safety management. This manuscript is unique in that we recommend specific quality assurance/control tasks and correlated quality and indicators and safety measures that are the responsibility of the radiation oncologist. The article addresses the role of the radiation oncologist in quality and safety from a strong perspective of multidisciplinarity and teamwork. Our manuscript is "cross-cutting" and applicable to radiation oncologist in any practice setting (i.e. low middle-income countries).

IAEA-HypoX. A randomized multicenter study of the hypoxic radiosensitizer nimorazole concomitant with accelerated radiotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that radiotherapy (RT) of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) can be improved by hypoxic modification using nimorazole (NIM) in association with accelerated fractionation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The protocol was activated in March 2012 as an international multicenter randomized trial in patients with HNSCC. Tumors were treated to a dose of 66-70Gy, 33-35 fractions, 6 fractions per week. NIM was administered in a dose of 1.2gperm(2), 90min before the first daily RT fraction. The primary endpoint was loco-regional failure. The trial was closed prematurely by June 2014 due to poor recruitment. An associated quality assurance program was performed to ensure the consistency of RT with the protocol guidelines. RESULTS: The trial was dimensioned to include 600 patients in 3years, but only 104 patients were randomized between March 2012 and May 2014 due to the inability to involve three major centers and the insufficient recruitment rate from the other participating centers. Twenty patients from two centers had to be excluded from the analysis due to the unavailability of the follow-up data. Among the remaining 84 patients, 82 patients were evaluable (39 and 43 patients in the RT+NIM and the RT-alone arms, respectively). The treatment compliance was good with only six patients not completing the full planned RT course, and 31 patients (79%) out of 39 allocated for NIM, achieving at least 90% of the prescribed drug dose. At the time of evaluation, 40 patients had failed to achieve persistent loco-regional tumor control, and a total of 45 patients had died. The use of NIM improved the loco-regional tumor control with an 18month post-randomization cumulative failure rate of 33% versus 51% in the control arm, yielding a risk difference of 18% (CI -3% to 39%; P=0.10). The corresponding values for overall death was 43% versus 62%, yielding a risk difference of 19% (CI -3% to 42%; P=0.10). Sixteen patients, out of 55 patients analyzed for hypoxic gene expression, were classified as having more hypoxic tumors. Such patients, if treated with RT alone, had a higher loco-regional tumor failure rate as compared to the rest of the patients with known hypoxic status (P=0.05). CONCLUSION: Although the trial was incomplete and suffered from a small number of patients, the results suggested an improvement in loco-regional tumor control and overall survival in patients with advanced HNSCC given the hypoxic modifier NIM in addition to accelerated fractionation RT. However, the trial also revealed that conducting multicenter and multinational study combining drug and RT in developing countries may suffer from uncontrolled and unsolvable problems.

Report of chronic myeloid leukemia from Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Regional Cancer Center, 2002-2009.

Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Regional Cancer Center was established in 1993. It's one of the main Health-Care Institution in the state of Bihar. The data of 205 patients was presented in the ICON meeting and 98% of patients were diagnosed in chronic phase. Complete hematological response was seen in 91% of patients in 3 months. A total of 197 (96%) patients were alive at the time of analysis of which 179 (87%) were still in chronic phase with hematological remission.

Epidemiology of cancer: Indian scenario.

In this article the epidemiology of cancer according to the data source, burden and pattern of common cancer and its future have been described in brief in Indian scenario.

Cementing a liner into a stable cementless acetabular shell: the double-socket technique.

BACKGROUND: During revision hip replacement surgery, the cementless acetabular shell is often well fixed but the locking mechanism may be ineffective. Cementing a new liner into the existing acetabular shell (the double-socket technique) can provide a simple solution. The purposes of the present study were to review our initial clinical results and to define the potential limitations of this technique. METHODS: Thirty-two hips with a preexisting well-fixed acetabular socket that had been in situ for an average of 8.6 years were treated with the insertion of a new polyethylene liner (seventeen hips) or a metal liner (fifteen hips) with use of cement. The indication for this technique was a deficient locking mechanism in twenty-two hips and the unavailability of a matching liner in ten hips. Anteroposterior radiographs of all hips were analyzed by a single independent reviewer. RESULTS: The mean duration of follow-up was 5.1 years. Six hips required a reoperation after a mean of 29.7 months; the reasons for the reoperations included aseptic failure of the acetabular construct (four hips), instability (one hip), and sepsis (one hip). The University of California at Los Angeles hip scores improved significantly (p < 0.001) compared with the preoperative values; specifically, the mean score improved from 6.2 to 9.1 for pain, from 6.3 to 8.3 for walking, from 6.2 to 7.8 for function, and from 4.7 to 5.8 for activity. The prevalence of dislocation was 22%. Kaplan-Meier analysis with revision as the end point revealed a five-year survival rate of 78% (95% confidence interval, 55% to 91%). CONCLUSIONS: The double-socket technique is a good alternative to acetabular socket removal for suitable candidates who have a well-fixed cementless socket with an inner diameter that is larger than the outer diameter of the cemented liner. This technique preserves acetabular bone stock and permits conversion to alternate bearing surfaces. We believe, however, that removal of a well-fixed acetabular shell or the use of a constrained liner should be strongly considered for patients with a history of hip instability.