Skin cancer is a worldwide, emerging clinical need in the elderly white population, with a steady increase in incidence rates, morbidity and related medical costs. Skin cancer is a heterogeneous group of cancers comprising cutaneous melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC), which predominantly affect elderly patients, aged older than 65 years. Melanoma has distinct clinical presentations in the elderly patient and represents a challenging question in terms of clinical management. NMSC includes the basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and presents a wide disease spectrum in the elderly population, ranging from low-risk to high-risk tumours, advanced and inoperable disease. Treatment decisions for NMSC are preferentially based on tumour characteristics, patient’s chronological age and physician’s preferences and operational settings. Several treatment options are available for NMSC, from surgery to non-invasive/medical therapies, but patient-based factors, such as geriatric comorbidities and patient’s life expectancy, do not frequently modulate treatment goals. In melanoma, age-related variations in clinical management are significant and may frequently lead to under-treatment, limiting access to advanced surgical and medical treatments. Clinical decision-making in the care of elderly skin cancer patient should ideally implement a geriatric assessment, prioritizing patient-based factors and efficiently differentiating fit from frail cancer patients. Current clinical practice guidelines for NMSC and melanoma only partially address geriatric aspects of cancer care, such as frailty, limited life-expectancy, geriatric comorbidities and treatment compliance. We review the recent evidence on the scope and problem of skin cancer in the elderly population as well as age-related variations in its clinical management, highlighting the potential role of a geriatric approach in optimizing dermato-oncological care.
Economical and psychological consequences of the lockdown in low-resource setting in rural Africa are unknown. We drafted a survey in order to address the social impact of COVID-19 lockdown on a rural village in Sierra Leone. The survey developed by the study group and translated in the local language, distributed to the householders of the village on April 13th and responses collected on April 14th, when Sierra Leone was on day 11 of lockdown. The questions aimed to assess in the community the following items: age group, main activities before lockdown, change in income and ability to feed the family during lockdown, anxiety during lockdown. 78 householders (100% of Bureh Town) replied. All, expect one, declared a 51À80% (19.2%) to 81À100% (79.4%) reduction of weekly income compared with the prelockdown period, declaring difficulties in providing food for the family members (82%), and anxiety (60%). Our analyses showed that people lost their jobs and have difficulties in providing food for their families.Highlights: Our analyses in a low resource setting in rural Africa in Sierra Leone, West Africa, showed that people lost their jobs and have difficulties in providing food for their families, as a consequence of COVID-19 lockdown
The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) opened a new era in oncologic therapy. The favourable profile of ICIs in terms of efficacy and safety can be overshadowed by the development of immune-related adverse events (irAEs).Dermatologic irAEs (dirAEs) appear in about 40% of patients undergoing immunotherapy and mainly include maculopapular, psoriasiform, lichenoid and eczematous rashes, auto-immune bullous disorders, pigmentary disorders, pruritus, oral mucosal lesions, hair and nail changes, as well as a few rare and potentially life-threatening toxicities. The EADV task force Dermatology for Cancer Patients merged the clinical experience of the so-far published data, incorporated the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of each specific dirAEs, and released dermatology-derived, phenotypespecific treatment recommendations for cutaneous toxicities (including levels of evidence and grades of recommendation). The basic principle of management is that the interventions should be tailored to serve the equilibrium between patients' relief from the symptoms and signs of skin toxicity and the preservation of an unimpeded oncologic treatment.
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the second most common skin cancer, accounting for 20% of all cutaneous malignancies, and has an increasing incidence in the elderly as well as in the younger population. Although most cSCC is treated with simple therapeutic procedures, advanced cSCC can lead a significant risk for morbidity, negative impact on quality of life, and death. Proper management includes distinguishing between high-risk and low-risk lesions and determining treatment accordingly. A collaboration of multidisciplinary Italian experts has given birth to these recommendations on cSCC diagnosis and management, based on a critical review of the literature, existing European (EADO-EDF-EORTC) guidelines and the expert's experience. Topics covered include diagnostic path and histopathologic assessment, tumor staging, surgical and nonsurgical procedures, follow-up and management of localized and advanced disease.
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) represents 20% of all skin cancers. Although primary cSCCs can be successfully treated with surgery, a subset of highly aggressive lesions may progress to advanced disease, representing a public healthcare problem with significant cancer-related morbidity and mortality. A complex network of genes (TP53, CDKN2A, NOTCH1 and NOTCH2, EGFR and TERT) and molecular pathways (RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR) have been shown to play an important role in the pathogenesis of cSCC. The epigenetic regulation of TP53 and CDKN2A is an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of cSCC, as well as NOTCH-activating agents capable to restore its tumour-suppressor function. EGFR inhibitors including both monoclonal antibodies (cetuximab and panitumumab) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (erlotinib, gefitinib and dasatinib) have been used in clinical trials for the treatment of advanced cSCC, achieving only partial clinical benefit. Recently, an immune-modulatory drug (cemiplimab) has been introduced for the treatment of advanced cSCC with good clinical results and a favourable safety profile, while other PD1/PD-L1 inhibitors, either as monotherapy or in combination with targeted therapies, are currently under investigation. This review focuses on molecular findings involved in the pathogenesis of cSCC and their implications for the future development of new treatment strategies. In addition, current and ongoing treatments on targeted therapies and/or immunotherapy are illustrated.JEADV 2020, 34, 932-941 934 Di Nardo et al.
Background Cutaneous immune-related adverse events (irAEs) represent the most frequent toxicities induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Objectives To investigate clinical associations of cutaneous toxicities induced by different ICI therapies. Methods This was a multicentre retrospective international cohort study of patients with cancer who developed cutaneous irAEs under ICI therapy. Analysis was performed of the rates and basic characteristics of all cutaneous toxicities, and identification of any associations was performed using univariate and multivariate models. Results In total, 762 patients were included, who developed 993 cutaneous toxicities. Forty different types of skin toxicities were identified. Psoriasis (175 patients, 23Á0%) and pruritus (171 patients, 22Á4%) were the most common toxicities, followed by macular rash (161 patients, 21Á1%) and eczematous-type reactions (150 patients, 19Á7%). Multivariate analysis showed that among
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