Early additional palliative care resulted in relevant improvements. The optimal timing of this intervention should be examined prospectively.

BackgroundEffective symptom palliation can be achieved with low-dose palliative thoracic radiotherapy. In several studies, median survival was not improved with higher doses of radiation. More controversy exists regarding the impact of higher doses on 1- and 2-year survival rates. Therefore, a comparison of survival outcomes after radiotherapy with different biologically equivalent doses (equivalent dose in 2-Gy fractions, EQD2) was performed.MethodsThis was a retrospective single-institution study of 232 patients with small or non-small cell lung cancer. Most commonly 2 fractions of 8.5 Gy were prescribed (34%), followed by 10 fractions of 3 Gy or equivalent regimens (30%, EQD2 circa 33 Gy). The highest EQD2 consisted of 45 Gy. Intention-to-treat analyses were performed.ResultsSurvival was significantly shorter with regimens of intended EQD2 < 33 Gy, e.g., 2 fractions of 8.5 Gy (median 2.5 months compared to 5.0 and 7.5 months with EQD2 of circa 33 and 45 Gy, respectively). The 2-year survival rates were 0%, 7% and 11%, respectively. In 128 prognostically favorable patients, median survival was comparable for the three different dose levels (6 - 8.3 months). The 2-year survival rates were 0%, 10%, and 13%, respectively (not statistically significant).ConclusionAlthough most of the observed survival differences diminished after exclusion of poor prognosis patients with reduced performance status and/or progressive extrathoracic disease, a slight increase in 2-year survival rates with higher EQD2 cannot be excluded. Because of relatively small improvements, a confirmatory randomized trial in this subgroup would have to include a large number of patients.

Objective: To report the incidence, patterns of care, and outcomes of oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a rural practice setting in Norway. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of all patients with stage IV NSCLC at the initial diagnosis who received active treatment in the central part of Nordland, a rural county in northern Norway, during the period of 2006-2012. We analyzed overall survival and prognostic factors. Results: The initial study population included 113 patients with stage IV disease who received active therapy; of these, 23 (20%) had oligometastatic spread (a maximum of 3 metastases to 1 organ). The median age was 71 years. Of the 23 patients, 16 (70%) did not receive radical or at least moderately aggressive local treatment for their thoracic disease. Of the remaining 7 patients, 4 (17.4%) did not receive systemic therapy. The median actuarial survival was 5.6 months in patients with more advanced metastases and 11.7 months in those with oligometastases (p = 0.03). Significant differences were also seen between the 2 oligometastatic patient groups with and without more intense thoracic treatment (median 19.7 vs. 7.6 months, p = 0.004). Further significant predictors of survival in patients with oligometastases were nodal stage (p = 0.028) and weight loss (p = 0.045). Trends were seen for T stage (p = 0.058) and performance status (p = 0.07). Conclusion: Oligometastatic NSCLC was diagnosed in a relevant proportion of patients; therefore, warranting prospective studies are recommended. Such studies are also needed to confirm the treatment-dependent survival differences observed in our patient population.

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Introduction. Takayasu arteritis is a rare disease affecting the aorta and its main branches, causing arterial claudication and end-organ ischemia, including stroke. The etiology is unknown but is believed to be autoimmune. An association between Takayasu arteritis and tuberculosis has been suggested, but the possible relation is unclear. Case Presentation. A 15-year-old Somali boy was diagnosed with latent tuberculosis. He had a lesion in the right lung, and both the tuberculin skin test by the Mantoux method and Quantiferon GOLD test turned out positive. After he suffered a cerebral infarct in the right hemisphere, childhood Takayasu arteritis was diagnosed. The diagnosis was based on diagnostic imaging showing a high-grade stenosis of the origin of the right common carotid artery, an occluded common carotid artery on the left side, a circumferential thickening of the vessel walls in the right and left common carotid artery, and laboratory findings with elevated C-reactive protein. Conclusion. Takayasu arteritis is an uncommon cause of stroke. It should however be kept in mind as a cause of cerebrovascular disease, especially in the young.

Palliative radiotherapy improves lung cancer related symptoms. Prognosis should be taken into account when deciding about fractionation. In this study, prognostic factors derived from multivariate analysis were used to assign a point sum reflecting 6-month survival. Four prognostic groups were compared. Performance status, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, liver/adrenal gland metastases, and extrathoracic disease status significantly predicted survival and formed the basis of the score. The four groups had a median survival of 0.8, 1.6, 3.3, and 10.5 months (6-month survival 0, 10, 30, 70%; 12-month survival 0, 0, 12, 40%; p = 0.0001), respectively. In the unfavorable group best supportive care might be preferable.

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