IMPORTANCEAlthough stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is preferred for limited brain metastases from most histologies, whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) has remained the standard of care for patients with small cell lung cancer. Data on SRS are limited.OBJECTIVE To characterize and compare first-line SRS outcomes (without prior WBRT or prophylactic cranial irradiation) with those of first-line WBRT.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS FIRE-SCLC (First-line Radiosurgery for Small-Cell Lung Cancer) was a multicenter cohort study that analyzed SRS outcomes from 28 centers and a single-arm trial and compared these data with outcomes from a first-line WBRT cohort.

OBJECTIVEConcurrent use of anti-PD-1 therapies with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) have been shown to be beneficial for survival and local lesional control in melanoma patients with brain metastases. It is not known, however, if immunotherapy (IT) confers the same outcome advantage in lung cancer patients with brain metastases treated with SRS.METHODSThe authors retrospectively reviewed 85 non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases who were treated with SRS between January 2006 and December 2016. Thirty-nine PD-L1 antibody–positive patients received anti-PD-1 therapy with SRS (IT group) and 46 patients received chemotherapy (CT) with SRS (CT group). Results were obtained using chi-square, Kaplan-Meier, and Mann-Whitney U tests and Cox regression analyses.RESULTSMedian survival following first radiosurgical treatment in the whole study group was 11.6 months (95% CI 8–15.5 months). Median survival times in the IT group and CT group were 10 months (95% CI 8.3–13.2 months) and 11.6 months (95% CI 7.7–15.6 months), respectively (p = 0.23). A Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score < 80 (p = 0.001) and lung-specific molecular marker Graded Prognostic Assessment (lungmol GPA) score < 1.5 (p = 0.02) were found to be predictive of worse survival.Maximal percent lesional shrinkage and time to maximal shrinkage were not significantly different between the CT and IT groups. Of the lesions for which a complete response occurred, 94.8% had pre-SRS volumes < 500 mm3. The amount of lesion shrinkage and time to maximal shrinkage were not different between the IT and CT groups for lesions with volumes < 500 mm3. However, in lesions with volume > 500 mm3, 90% of lesions shrank after radiosurgery in the IT group compared with 47.8% in the CT group (p = 0.001). Median times to initial response and times to maximal shrinkage were faster in the IT group than in the CT group: initial response 49 days (95% CI 33.7–64.3 days) versus 84 days (95% CI 28.1–140 days), p = 0.001; maximal response 105 days (95% CI 59–150 days) versus 182 days (95% CI 119.6–244 days), p = 0.12.CONCLUSIONSUnlike patients with melanoma, patients with NSCLC with brain metastases undergoing SRS showed no significant benefit—either in terms of survival or total amount of lesional response—when anti-PD-1 therapies were used. However, in lesions with volume > 500 mm3, combining SRS with IT may result in a faster and better volumetric response which may be particularly beneficial in lesions causing mass effect or located in neurologically critical locations.

Opioid-refractory pain is distressing because it is notoriously difficult to treat. Relief from adjuvant therapies often occurs after a lag time. Retrospective evidence points to a role for intravenous (IV) lidocaine in this setting for pain relief. This study was planned as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in which eligible patients received both lidocaine and placebo infusions separated by two weeks. Primary endpoints were magnitude and duration of pain relief. Fifty patients were included in the study. Pain relief was significantly better (P<0.001) and more patients reported a decrease in analgesic requirements (P=0.0012) after lidocaine infusion than after placebo. Onset of analgesia was noted at a mean of 40+/-16.28 minutes after initiation of infusion of IV lidocaine. Mean duration of this analgesia, 9.34+/-2.58 days after the single infusion, was significantly longer than that for placebo (P<0.01). Side effects observed were tinnitus, perioral numbness, sedation, light-headedness, and headache. All side effects were self-limited and did not require any intervention except termination of lidocaine infusion in one case. These data demonstrate that a single IV infusion of lidocaine provided a significantly greater magnitude and duration of pain relief than placebo infusion in opioid-refractory patients with cancer pain. Side effects were tolerable. It is thus a promising modality worth investigating further to establish guidelines for its use in cancer patients with opioid-refractory pain.

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Background Acardiac anomaly spectrum is a rare congenital malformation found in monozygotic twin pregnancy. Besides the absence of heart, the condition is associated with variable grades of developmental disruption. Thus, no two cases are similar. Methods This case report is based on physical examination and autopsy findings. Results The twin had acardia and partial development of head and face. There was complete absence of upper extremities. Conclusions The twin reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) theory is the most accepted etiology of the disorder. Normally, the cephalic pole is the most severely affected, being most distal to the retrograde perfusion. In acardia, partial development of head, face, and brain is usually associated with the development of the upper extremities. However, in the present case, there was extensive cephalic development in the absence of upper extremity development. Teratology 62:356–359, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.