Background: Novel SARS-CoV-2 infection has been a severe health problem in Italy since the beginning of March 2020, with around 227,000 confirmed cases on May 18th, 2020. The north-western part of Tuscany has been one of the areas with the highest incidence (342/100,000 inhabitants) and the highest lethality rate (31,2/ 100,000 inhabitants). The lethality rate was higher in men than women (12.6% vs. 7.4%). People aged 70-79 represented half of this population and the deaths in this subgroup represented 15.9% of all SARS-CoV-2-related deaths. Cancer patients are known to be at higher risk of incidence and complications from SARS-CoV-2. We aimed at analyzing the incidence and the lethality of Sars-CoV-2 in our prostate cancer (PC) patients (pts), in whom hormonal therapy seems to be protective from the first evidences published in the literature.
Methods:We reviewed all the clinical files of PC pts'visits performed from March 1st to April 30th, 2020 in the University Hospital of Pisa. We analyzed the demographic characteristics, the comorbidities, the type of hormonal therapy pts received, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 and the related lethality rate.
We reported the preoperative radio-guided localization of 4 peritoneal metastatic nodules in the case of a 45-year-old woman with uterine leiomyosarcoma. Three lines of chemotherapy were tried, but cardiotoxicity occurred. Within the context of so-called GOSTT (guided intraoperative scintigraphic tumor targeting), preoperative radio-guided localization of peritoneal metastases enabled their subsequent radio-guided excisional biopsy. SPECT/CT allowed for anatomical localization of the hot lesions and generated a 3-dimensional volume-rendering roadmap, facilitating a surgical approach.
Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 disease (COVID-19) has caused a worldwide challenging and threatening pandemic. Multinational, placebo-controlled, observer-blinded trials were conducted since the beginning of pandemic because safe and effective vaccines were needed urgently. In most trials of COVID-19 vaccines patients affected by malignancies or on treatment with immunosuppressive drugs were excluded. Patients and methods: A retrospective monocentric study was conducted at Medical Oncological Unit of Santa Chiara Hospital (Pisa, Italy) in this subset of population to investigate safety and tolerability of COVID-19 vaccines; 377 patients with solid tumor on treatment were enrolled. Vaccine-related adverse events were recorded using a face-to-face questionnaire including a toxicity grading scale. Most of the patients (94%) received mRNA vaccine as indicated by Italian health ministry guidelines. Mean age was 66 years (range 27–87), 62% of the patients were older than 65 years and 68% had at least one additional comorbidity. The majority (86%) of patients were in a metastatic setting and 29% received immunotherapy-based treatment. For statistical analysis, multivariate binary logistic regression models were performed and linear regression models were applied. Results: Adverse events were mild and transient and ended in a few days without any sequelae. No severe or uncommon adverse events were recorded. In multivariate analysis, we found that the female sex was associated with a greater risk of more severe and longer lasting adverse events, and a higher risk of adverse events was found for patients treated with immunotherapy. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccines were safe and well-tolerated in this population of patients being treated for solid tumors.
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