Comparison of foot pain and foot care among rheumatoid arthritis patients taking and not taking anti-TNFα therapy: an epidemiological study.

Epidemiological studies report foot pain affects more than 90% of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Most data about foot involvement in RA were collected prior to the availability of novel treatments such as biologics. The objective of this study is to compare the prevalence of foot symptoms, frequency of foot examination, and access to foot care services among RA patients currently treated with anti-TNFα to those not receiving biologics. This study is a cross-sectional epidemiological study: a 28-item self-administered questionnaire was posted to 1,040 people with RA throughout the UK. Overall, 585 (55%) useable replies were received, and 120 (20.5%) respondents were currently taking anti-TNFα medication. Prevalence of current foot pain was 99% among the biologics group compared with 76% not treated with biologics. Stiffness, swelling, and numbness in the feet were all significantly more common in the anti-TNFα group (P < 0.05). Most respondents (90%) taking biologics discussed their foot pain with their rheumatologist, but only 70% were receiving podiatry (compared to 78% not taking anti-TNFα). Subjects reported that their feet were examined significantly less frequently (P < 0.001) than their hands. Foot complaints are common in this group, and allied health professions could enhance rheumatological care by undertaking foot assessment.

Adaptive Radiotherapy in the Management of Cervical Cancer: Review of Strategies and Clinical Implementation.

The complex and varied motion of the cervix-uterus target during external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) underscores the clinical benefits afforded by adaptive radiotherapy (ART) techniques. These gains have already been realised in the implementation of image-guided adaptive brachytherapy, where adapting to anatomy at each fraction has seen improvements in clinical outcomes and a reduction in treatment toxicity. With regards to EBRT, multiple adaptive strategies have been implemented, including a personalised internal target volume, offline replanning and a plan of the day approach. With technological advances, there is now the ability for real-time online ART using both magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography-guided imaging. However, multiple challenges remain in the widespread dissemination of ART. This review investigates the ART strategies and their clinical implementation in EBRT delivery for cervical cancer.

An amelanotic malignant melanoma masquerading as hypergranulation tissue.

We report a case of amelanotic malignant melanoma occurring in the nail sulcus of the hallux, which on initial presentation was mistaken for hypergranulation tissue due to an in-growing toenail. We highlight the importance of this differential diagnosis as such lesions can have serious sequelae.

The Role of Biomarkers for the Prediction of Response to Checkpoint Immunotherapy and the Rationale for the Use of Checkpoint Immunotherapy in Cervical Cancer.

Checkpoint immunotherapy has revolutionised the way that melanoma is treated and has also shown significant effectiveness in lung, bladder, renal, and head and neck cancers. At the present time, trials of checkpoint immunotherapy in cervical cancer are at early phases, but there is very good rationale for pursuing this as a treatment option, especially as cervical cancer is a virally driven cancer and therefore should be recognised by the immune system as being foreign. This review explores the biomarkers for the selection of patients for immunotherapy in other cancers, such as programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, tumour infiltrating lymphocytes and total mutational burden, and relates these biomarkers to cervical cancer. A PubMed search was carried out for publications published in English with the terms 'immunotherapy' OR 'cervical cancer' OR 'checkpoint blockade' OR 'tumour infiltrating lymphocytes' OR 'total mutational burden'. Articles that met these criteria and were available on PubMed before 8 October 2018 were included. The results showed that PD-L1 is positive in up to 90% of cervical cancers and that the total mutational burden is moderately high, with 5-6 mutations per megabase. In addition, the tumour microenvironment in cervical cancer has an impact on prognosis, with higher ratios of CD8+ tumour infiltrating lymphocytes to CD4+ T regulatory cells being associated with improved survival. Clinical studies to date have shown the response rate of cervical cancer to checkpoint immunotherapy to be in the region to 10-25%. Cervical cancer exhibits many of the features that have been shown to be correlated with response to checkpoint immunotherapy in other tumour sites. However, response rates to date are in the region of 10-25%. Therefore, combinations of immunotherapeutic agents or checkpoint inhibitors with radiotherapy may be required to maximise the therapeutic benefit of harnessing the host immune system to fight cancer.

Identifying patient-reported outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis: the impact of foot symptoms on self-perceived quality of life.

BACKGROUND: The importance of patient-reported outcome measures in healthcare is increasingly recognized but these need to be patient generated. Given that foot symptoms are very common in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we chose a patient-centred model with which to investigate the patients' perspective on how their foot symptoms affected them as individuals and impacted on their self-perceived quality of life, rather than using the traditional approaches of clinical examination (e.g. prevalence of deformities) or radiological assessments. METHODS: A 33-item self-administered postal questionnaire was sent to all people with RA attending outpatient clinics in three hospitals over the course of one month (n=390). The questionnaire used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to enquire about the nature and extent of foot complaints and how respondents believed this affected their quality of life. RESULTS: In total, 190 usable replies were received (49%). Nearly all respondents (n=177; 93.2%) reported that their quality of life was adversely affected by their foot complaint(s), with over half describing their quality of life as being badly or very badly affected. When asked to rate how severely foot complaints affected their quality of life using a 10 cm visual analogue scale, the mean score was 5.36 (range 0-10 ± SD 3), indicating that foot complaints have a moderate-to-severe effect on quality of life. Those aspects of daily living most significantly affected were: the ability to walk and the ability to wear a variety of shoes. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that people with RA focus on different aspects of the impact of their disease to doctors. Rather than foot deformity or ulceration, disease activity score or health assessment questionnaire score, patients were easily able to pinpoint the key negativities of living with RA in their feet and indicated choice of footwear and ability to walk as crucial. This study and similar ones are key to identifying appropriate patient-reported outcome measures.

Biologic agents used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and their relevance to podiatrists: a practice update.

This review considers the pharmacological management of rheumatoid arthritis including the role of anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) agents, as a precursor to highlighting some of the issues for podiatrists involved in the care of patients on this particular medication.