After completing this course, the reader will be able to:1. Perform screening for prior hepatitis B viral exposure in all patients with hematologic malignancies who will receive rituximab as part of their therapy.2. Implement prophylactic antiviral therapy in patients who are positive for hepatitis B and who are being treated with rituximab.3. Monitor serum viral load and clinical signs of hepatic injury for at least six months following the completion of rituximab treatment in patients who are hepatitis B-sAg positive.This article is available for continuing medical education credit at CME.TheOncologist.com. CME CME ABSTRACTRituximab use in hematology and oncology practice has significantly and positively improved the clinical outcomes in patients with a wide variety of B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders. However, emerging data reveal that there is a risk of viral hepatitis B reactivation in some patients treated with rituximab. Many of these cases result in treatment delays, inferior oncologic outcomes, increased morbidity, and more rarely fulminant hepatic decompensation and death. Indeed, the rituximab package insert and many clinical practice guidelines have been modified to reflect these concerns. The true incidence and mechanism of reactivation are still being elucidated. This article focuses on the current evidence that supports these recently re-
Pain is both common and undertreated in the hematology/oncology population despite national guidelines and a focus from The Joint Commission. Herein, we describe the features of a pain clinical decision support tool (PCDST) embedded into the electronic medical record (EMR) and report its impact on oncology inpatients at risk for uncontrolled pain. The PCDST was developed to identify patients with potentially uncontrolled pain, defined as a pain score ≥4. Clinical pharmacists were encouraged to use the tool to determine whether interventions were needed to better control pain. Pain and safety outcomes between 2 cohorts of opioid-tolerant adult inpatients presenting with severe pain were compared prior to and following the implementation of the PCDST. The primary endpoint, attainment of analgesia at 24 hours from admission, was met in 10 of 30 (33.3%) patients in the preimplementation group and in 14 of 32 (43.8%) of patients in the postimplementation group ( = .78). Secondary endpoints including time to analgesia, mean pain score, frequency of pharmacy intervention, and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline-adherent pain regimens were not found to be statistically significantly different between the 2 groups. The number of mean nursing pain assessments in the first 24 hours from admission was found to be significantly higher in the postimplementation group compared with the preimplementation group (12 vs 7.4, < .001). Safety events were rare and not statistically different between groups. Overall, a modest, but statistically nonsignificant, improvement in pain outcomes was associated with patients admitted after the implementation of a pharmacist-managed electronic pain scoring tool.
Advancements in cancer drug delivery have led to the development of personalized oncology care through molecularly-driven targeted therapies. Understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms which drive tumor progression and resistance is critical in managing new treatment strategies which have shifted from empiric to biomarker-directed therapy selection. Biomarker-directed therapies have improved clinical outcomes in multiple malignancies as monotherapy and in combination with other treatment modalities, however the changing scope of treatment options presents new opportunities and challenges for research. Furthermore, pharmacogenetics may provide a rationale method of personalizing anticancer drug dosing and supportive care management for oncology patients. This chapter reviews biomarker classifications and pharmacogenetics in anticancer therapy and supportive care. Examples of biomarker-directed therapies and clinical assays, in addition to future directions of molecular profiling in oncology therapy management are discussed.
e20539 Background: The PACIFIC trial ushered in a paradigm shift in the management of unresectable, non-metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), demonstrating improvement in 12,24,36-month overall survival (OS) and leading to the 2018 FDA approval for durvalumab in unresectable or locally advanced stage III NSCLC. With almost 3 years of FDA approval, we performed a retrospective analysis of patient experiences and outcomes at Levine Cancer Institute analyzing patient data to assess survival and potential points of clinical significance. Methods: Patients over the age of 18, who met criteria similar to the PACIFIC trial (i.e. unresectable or locally advanced stage III NSCLC) from February 2018 through September 2020 were analyzed. Those who were receiving active treatment at the data cutoff were excluded. Patient characteristics, prior treatment, durvalumab administration, immune-related adverse events (irAEs), and efficacy data were summarized and evaluated. OS and progression free survival (PFS) were evaluated with Kaplan Meier methods. Results: A total of 159 patients were evaluated. 40.9% were female and 59.1% were male. The median age was 67 (range 38-83 years). Of note, 86.8% of patients were white, whereas 13.2% were nonwhite. 50.3% patients experienced an irAE. The most common reasons for discontinuation of durvalumab were completion (at least 24 doses), progressive disease, or toxicity (33.3%, 30.8%, 26.4%, respectively). The median number of doses of durvalumab received was 14 (range 1-26 doses). The median PFS was 15.3 months with 12-and 24-month PFS being 54% and 41.1 %, respectively. Median OS was 42 months with 12-and 24-month OS being 78.1% and 67.8%, respectively. Our analysis compared outcomes in those who completed adjuvant durvalumab versus those who did not complete adjuvant therapy (Table). Conclusions: Data shows the best survival in those who completed durvalumab (comparable to historic values) and novel data shows a perceived survival benefit in those completing 12 doses compared to those who did not. Thus, partial treatment may provide a survival advantage. Further multivariate analysis will look for possible correlations to increased immune events and inability to complete therapy. Further investigation will delve into this cohort’s small proportion of non-white patients, evaluating for possible barriers to care that may lead to more patients being diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC.[Table: see text]
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