Immunotherapy-induced pneumonitis is a rare complication with incidence estimated around 3%. This disease is difficult to diagnose and has great morbidity. For this reason, it became a challenge for oncologists and emergencists. We reviewed the case of five patients who used anti-PD1 (program cell death receptor antagonist 1) for antineoplastic treatment and developed treatment-induced pneumonitis. All patients had respiratory problems because of immunotherapy and presence of ground-glass radiologic change. Among all patients, only one had grade 5 pneumonitis, and delaying to begin corticosteroid therapy and worsening in clinical picture led to patient death. Other four patients with symptomatic grade 2 pneumonitis underwent corticosteroid therapy and had improvement in clinical and radiologic picture. Two patients were treated after an episode of pneumonitis, and no new pulmonary complications were observed until the end of this study. Immunotherapy-induced pneumonitis, although uncommon, can be potentially fatal. Medical team has the responsibility to pay attention for most common symptoms of the disease such as cough and dyspnea and conduct an early diagnosis and effective early treatment with corticosteroids.
Introduction Warthin tumor is described as papillary cystadenoma lymphomatosum and is the second most common tumor of the parotid glands. Bilateral synchronous incidence is rare, occurring in 7 to 10% of the cases. It is more common in males between 60 and 70 years of age and is closely related to smoking. There is slow growth and the condition is a delimited nodule of regular outlines; it has low rates of malignant progression and recurrence. Objective Report a case of synchronous bilateral Warthin tumor occurring in an elderly patient, and review incidence and peculiarities of this tumor. Case Report A 78-year-old man who used to smoke had a history of mild pain in the topography of right parotid three weeks ago. Patient with hypertension, diabetes and a longtime smoker (smoking a pack per day for 32 years) noticed a progressive bulging in the right parotid region for about 2.5 years ago, and noticed another progressive bulging (althought in the left parotid region), for about one year ago. Patient denied fever, redness, skin lesions and pain during this period until last three weeks, when he sought medical attention for a mild pain in the right facial region. The patient underwent cervical magnetic resonance imaging that showed tumor lesions in both parotids. Fine needle aspiration revealed a typical lesion of epithelial oxyphilic cells associated with reactive lymphoid proliferation, suggesting Warthin tumor. The patient underwent two superficial parotidectomies, and the histopathologic result from both tumors of parotid glands showed papillary cystadenoma lymphomatosum. Conclusion The occurrence of synchronous bilateral Warthin tumor is extremely rare, and anamnesis and physical examination, as well as some complementary examinations, are important means for diagnostic evaluation. Confirmation of the diagnosis can only be obtained through a histopathologic study. A superficial or total parotidectomy is the recommended treatment for the disease.
Objective: To determine the association of red cell blood counts, and liver panel tests to predict outcomes in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors who underwent systemic antineoplastic treatments. Methods: Patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors in systemic treatment were assessed according to laboratory tests within the same period. Progression free survival was determined by the period between the beginning of treatment and the date of progression. We used conditional models (PWP model) to verify the association between laboratory tests and tumor progression. The level of significance used was 5%. Results: A total of 30 treatments given to 17 patients in the intention-to-treat population were evaluated. Treatment included octreotide, lanreotide, everolimus, lutetium, and chemotherapy. We had statistically significant results in chromogranin A, neutrophils and platelets-to-lymphocyte ratio. The risk of progression increases by 2% with the addition of 100ng/mL of chromogranin A (p=0.034), 4% with the increase of 100 neutrophil units (p=0.006), and 21% with the addition of 10 units in platelets-to-lymphocyte ratio (p=0.002). Conclusion: Chromogranin A, neutrophils and platelets-to-lymphocyte ratio were associated with disease progression during systemic treatment in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Further prospective studies with larger cohorts are necessary to validate our findings.
12052 Background: Older cancer patients in developing countries face considerable challenges in obtaining access to specialized medical attention, often due to a lack of human resources and healthcare infrastructure. This study sought to explore the benefit of a remote, validated geriatric assessment (GA) program for older patients starting chemotherapy in Brazil. Methods: Older adults (65+ years) beginning a new chemotherapy treatment regimen in Brazil were recruited. Through telehealth, patients were assessed with GA before starting chemotherapy treatment for any type of solid cancer and at a follow-up visit (3 months after enrollment). GA results were discussed by a multidisciplinary team (e.g., geriatrician, psychologist, nutritionist) and recommendations were determined. Outcome measures included chemo toxicity scores (CARG, scale 0-19), physical symptoms (FACT-G, scale 0-108) and activities of daily living (IADL, scale 0-5 for men and 0-8 for women, or scale 0-1 for IADL ratio). Descriptive statistics were generated, and paired t-tests were used to evaluate the change in these measures over time. Results: A total of 51 older patients from 5 different Brazilian states (Amazonas, Distrito Federal, Espirito Santo, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Sul) have been enrolled to date. The mean distance from a patients’ home to their place of cancer treatment was 21 miles (range: 3-101 miles). Participants had a mean age of 76.5 years (SD = 7.6) and were predominantly female (57%), white (57%), married (61%), and had a high school degree or more (65%). Patients were mostly diagnosed with gastrointestinal (39%) or gynecological (20%) cancers; 55% of patients were diagnosed with a stage IV disease. The majority of patients (80%) were referred to appropriate remote services based on the GA; including geriatricians (41%), nutritionists (39%) and/or psychologist (16%). At the time of abstract submission, data from 34 complete cases were available for longitudinal analysis, in which we observed a decrease in chemo toxicity scores (M1= 6.65, M2= 5.88, p = 0.035) and an improvement in FACTG (M1= 92.94, M2= 98.53, p < 0.001). The improvement in IADL ratio was not significant (M1= 0.79, M2= 0.85, p = 0.069). Conclusions: This novel, ongoing study is, to our knowledge, the first to implement a remote GA program in Brazil. Our preliminary findings suggest that a remote GA program, with appropriate referrals to specialists, may increase the reach of supportive services and improve cancer care in developing countries.
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