In this article, we report on 904 patients undergoing transplantation for follicular lymphoma. A total of 176 (19%) received allogeneic, 131 (14%) received purged autologous, and 597 (67%) received unpurged autologous transplants. Five-year treatment-related mortality (TRM) rates were 30%, 14%, and 8% and 5-year recurrence rates were 21%, 43%, and 58% after allotransplantation, purged autotransplantation, and unpurged autotransplantation, respectively. In multivariate analyses, allotransplantation had higher TRM and lower disease recurrence. Purged autotransplantation had a 26% lower recurrence risk than unpurged autotransplantation. Five-year probabilities of survival were 51%, 62%, and 55% after allogeneic, purged autotransplantation, and unpurged autotransplantation, respectively. Advanced age, prolonged interval from diagnosis to transplantation, high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), refractory disease, bone marrow involvement, low performance scores, and transplantation between 1990 and 1993 were associated with adverse outcomes. Total body irradiation was associated with higher TRM but lower recurrence. There was no association between acute or chronic graft-versus-host disease and recurrence after allotransplantation. We conclude that both allogeneic and autologous transplantation can induce durable remissions. There may be a benefit to graft purging in autologous transplantation. The decreased recurrence after allotransplantation is offset by increased TRM. We did not detect a correlation between graftversus-host disease (GVHD) and recurrence. Finally, outcomes of transplantation for follicular lymphoma show improvement over the past decade.

Objective. To develop and validate a clinically informed algorithm that uses solely Medicare claims to identify, with a high positive predictive value, incident breast cancer cases. Data Source. Population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Tumor Registry data linked to Medicare claims, and Medicare claims from a 5 percent random sample of beneficiaries in SEER areas. Study Design. An algorithm was developed using claims from 1995 breast cancer patients from the SEER-Medicare database, as well as 1995 claims from Medicare control subjects. The algorithm was validated on claims from breast cancer subjects and controls from 1994. The algorithm development process used both clinical insight and logistic regression methods. Data Extraction. Training set: Claims from 7,700 SEER-Medicare breast cancer subjects diagnosed in 1995, and 124,884 controls. Validation set: Claims from 7,607 SEER-Medicare breast cancer subjects diagnosed in 1994, and 120,317 controls. Principal Findings. A four-step prediction algorithm was developed and validated. It has a positive predictive value of 89 to 93 percent, and a sensitivity of 80 percent for identifying incident breast cancer. The sensitivity is 82-87 percent for stage I or II, and lower for other stages. The sensitivity is 82-83 percent for women who underwent either breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy, and is similar across geographic sites. A cohort identified with this algorithm will have 89-93 percent incident breast cancer cases, 1.5-6 percent cancer-free cases, and 4-5 percent prevalent breast cancer cases. Conclusions. This algorithm has better performance characteristics than previously proposed algorithms. The ability to examine national patterns of breast cancer care using Medicare claims data would open new avenues for the assessment of quality of care.

High-dose therapy with autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (auto-HCT) is frequently used to improve outcomes in lymphoma. However, small studies suggest a survival disadvantage among obese patients. Using a retrospective cohort analysis, we studied the outcomes of 4681 patients undergoing auto-HCT for Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma between 1990 and 2000 according to body mass index (BMI). Four groups categorized by BMI were compared by using Cox proportional hazards regression to adjust for other prognostic factors. A total of 1909 patients were categorized as normal weight (BMI 18-25 kg/m2), 121 as underweight (BMI<18 kg/m2), 1725 as overweight (BMI>25-30 kg/m2), and 926 as obese (BMI>30 kg/m2) at the time of HCT. Outcomes evaluated included overall survival, relapse, transplantation-related mortality (TRM), and lymphoma-free survival. TRM was similar among the normal, overweight, and obese groups; the underweight group had a higher risk of TRM (relative risk [RR], 2.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.59-3.82; P<0.0001) compared with the normal-BMI group. No differences in relapse were noted. Overall mortality was higher in the underweight group (RR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.17-1.88; P=.001) and lower in the overweight (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.79-0.96; P=.004) and obese (RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.67-0.86; P<.0001) groups compared with the normal-BMI group. In light of our inability to find differences in survival among overweight, obese, and normal-weight patients, obesity alone should not be viewed as a contraindication to proceeding with auto-HCT for lymphoma when it is otherwise indicated.

Ankle plantar flexor weakness is present in children and adolescents with type I OI and correlates with function. Gillette Functional Assessment Questionnaire, PODCI, and strength assessment are valuable evaluation tools for children and adolescents with type I OI and can aid therapists in goal setting.