RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy (nast) in the treatment of breast cancer is increasing, and the role of adjuvant radiation therapy (rt) in that setting is uncertain. We sought to review and report the use of nast, its trends over time, and its relationship with the prescribing patterns of locoregional rt in a provincial cancer system. METHODS: Patients with stages i-iii breast cancer diagnosed during 2007-2012 were identified using a provincial database. Patient, tumour, and treatment characteristics were extracted. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to assess associations with the use of nast. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression were used for survival analyses. RESULTS: Of the 11,658 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 602 (5%) had received nast. Use of nast was more frequent in stage iii patients (53%) than in stages i and ii patients (2%). In clinically lymph-node positive patients, a pathology assessment was made approximately 50% of the time. Higher clinical tumour stage and increasing clinical nodal stage predicted for increasing use of nast and of nodal rt after nast, but pathologic nodal status after nast was not associated with use of nodal rt. A statistically significant survival difference was observed between patients in the nast and no-nast groups, but that significance disappeared in a multivariable Cox regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This population-based study demonstrated 5% use of nast for breast cancer. Most patients received nodal rt after nast, and nodal rt was not associated with pathologic stage after nast. Findings likely reflect the realities of clinical practice and show that reliance on clinical nodal staging results in outcomes similar to those reported in the literature.
RESUMO
AIM: Tumour hypoxia is associated with an increased risk of cervical tumour recurrence and death. Because smoking is a modifiable behaviour, it is important to establish the importance of smoking as a prognostic factor. We hypothesized that there is an association between smoking and tumour hypoxia, and that smoking adversely affects radiation response and survival. METHODS: A smoking history was obtained from 100 of 115 patients with cervical cancer entered into a prospective study of tumour oxygenation. Eighty-seven of these had clinically evident disease and radiation therapy alone was the planned treatment. Patients who smoked within 2 weeks of commencing radiation therapy were considered smokers, and the amount that they smoked was recorded in packs per day. Patients who had never smoked or quit at least 2 weeks prior to radiation therapy were considered non-smokers. Tumour oxygenation was determined using the Eppendorf polarographic oxygen electrode and tumour oxygenation is represented by the hypoxic proportion HP5 (% of pO2 measurements <5 mmHg). RESULTS: There was no significant association between smoking and tumour hypoxia (P=0.3), haemoglobin (P=0.6) nor tumour size (P=0.1). Progression-free survival at 3 years was 56% for non-smokers and 44% for smokers (P=0.23). In both univariate and multivariate analysis, neither smoking status nor amount smoked were significant predictors of progression-free survival or local control. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant association between smoking and tumour hypoxia, treatment response or survival in this study of patients with cervix cancer.