Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among women worldwide and is usually managed with chemoradiation in advanced disease. This case presents a 41-year-old female with locally advanced cervical cancer who underwent combination intracavitary/interstitial brachytherapy after chemoradiation for local disease control. At her fifth brachytherapy session, one of the interstitial needles was malpositioned and lead to vascular injury with significant blood loss. She subsequently underwent emergent embolization of a branch of the right obturator artery with immediate clinical improvement and no complications. This is the first reported case of vascular injury from an interstitial brachytherapy needle that required arterial embolization for hemostasis.
Vasculitic immune checkpoint inhibitor-related adverse events (irAEs) are rare, with limited data to guide their management. Here, we present a case of a 67-year-old female with stage IV cutaneous melanoma who received first-line pembrolizumab. She had completed 21 cycles of pembrolizumab dosed at 200 mg every 21 days over 15 months when she developed fatigue, chills, decreased appetite, night sweats, nausea, diarrhea, dry cough, and chest pain. A routine, staging positron emission tomography (PET) scan revealed aortitis of the transverse aortic arch. An extensive workup was unremarkable for other causes, so her condition was labeled a grade III immune-related vasculitis. Based on this diagnosis, we started high-dose prednisone and discontinued pembrolizumab. After two months of high-dose prednisone, she developed bothersome weight gain and insomnia, leading to a switch from prednisone to tocilizumab as a steroid-sparing agent. The selection of tocilizumab was based on its routine use for giant cell arteritis which can have extracranial symptoms including thoracic aortitis. Her symptoms resolved, and subsequent PET scans showed resolution of the aortitis and no evidence of metastatic melanoma. As the indications for immunotherapy expand, rare complications are becoming more prevalent, and more data will be needed to guide their management. While there is evidence for tocilizumab use as a steroid-sparing treatment for large-vessel vasculitides due to other conditions, this is the first case of its use to treat an aortitis irAE to our knowledge. In this case, it was an effective means of treating the patient while sparing them from prolonged corticosteroids.
Introduction: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has historically been considered an oncologic emergency, requiring immediate intervention and initiation of therapy. Although urgency to initiate treatment has been debated, no guidelines exist to address the impact of diagnosis to treatment interval (DTI) in patients with AML. Recent FDA approvals have added treatment options using targeted therapy as monotherapy in older patients (e.g. - ivosidenib), or in combination with chemotherapy in younger patients (e.g.- midostaurin) in the newly diagnosed setting with improved outcomes. Unfortunately, results of molecular mutation testing often return several days after the initial diagnosis of AML has been made. While immediate induction is important to control disease and to minimize disease-related morbidity and mortality (Sekkers et al), molecular testing is becoming increasingly important for treatment decisions, and there may be benefit in waiting for these results. In addition, in 'real world settings', several barriers (e.g., lack of resources, correct diagnostic testing) often delay time to diagnosis, and initiation of therapy. We conducted a retrospective study in two academic centers in a major metropolitan area in the United States to evaluate the impact of DTI on the outcomes of patients with AML. Methods: We collected data from 196 patients who presented to George Washington University Hospital (120 patients) between June 2010 and July 2018 and Georgetown University hospital (76 patients) between January 2014 and December 2018. All patients were older than 18 years. Patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia and those who decided to pursue treatment elsewhere were excluded. Patients characteristics including age, gender, race, smoking past medical history and disease characteristics (Cytogenetics, FISH and NGS when available) were collected using retrospective chart review. Type of treatment received (low intensity vs high intensity), and the time from diagnosis to initiation of therapy were collected. We recorded mortality at day 30 and day 90. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association of DTI with mortality independently from patient age. Chi-square test was used to examine the association of 30- and 90-day mortality with DTI. Results: A total of 140 patients were used in the analysis, 71% of whom were treated within 5 days of diagnosis (DTI <1-5 days), 16% in 6-10 days, and 12% in >10 days. Incidence of 30-day mortality was 15%, 14%, and 0% (p=.24), while 90-day mortality was 28% 18%, and 13% for <1-5, 6-10, and >10 days respectively (p=.33). Neither association was statistically significant, and adjusting for age and type of therapy did not change the findings. Conclusion: Our data does not support that shorter DTI is associated with improved mortality regardless of age or type of therapy. Although there was no statistical significance, there was a numerical trend of improved mortality in patients with delayed DTI (6-10 days) compared to those with a DTI of <1-5 days. Larger prospective studies need to be conducted to investigate DTI in AML patients based on patient's age, disease characteristics, and treatment type. In particular, given the growing importance of knowing molecular mutations at diagnosis, used for both prognosis and incorporation of potential targeted agents, it will be important to understand how long we can safely wait to treat patients without affecting outcomes. Disclosures Lai: Jazz Pharma: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Jazz Pharma: Speakers Bureau; Astellas: Speakers Bureau; Daiichi-Sankyo: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Agios: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.
PURPOSE: Hematology and oncology (HO) lags behind all medicine subspecialties in fellows under-represented in medicine (URM) despite a growing minority patient population. Websites have been effectively used in URM recruitment. We evaluated all US HO program websites to facilitate a more informed and URM-considerate recruitment. We also performed a stratified analysis on programs affiliated with National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designated Cancer Centers, National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network (NCCN) member institutions, and ranked as a top 50 cancer hospital by US News, given their stated commitment to outreach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Websites of all 2019-2020 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited HO programs were assessed for 28 informational and three diversity categories. Websites with > 70% of categories were comprehensive. Affiliation with NCI, NCCN, and US News was noted. RESULTS: One hundred fifty-six websites were analyzed: 20% were comprehensive and 22% had any diversity information. Inclusion of diversity content and being comprehensive were significantly associated ( P = .001). NCI, NCCN, and US News ranking were significantly associated with inclusion of more information in univariate analyses ( P < .001, P = .008, and P < .001, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed that US News ranking was significantly associated with more information ( P = .005). Diversity-related univariate and multivariate analyses showed a significant association with US News ranking ( P = .006 and P = .029, respectively). CONCLUSION: Most HO fellowship websites are not comprehensive and lack diversity content. Given COVID-19 travel restrictions limit in-person interviews, digital program presence remains an important opportunity. HO programs should offer comprehensive and inclusive websites to better inform applicants, including URM. This may increase institutional diversity and potentially improve URM representation in the HO workforce.
Introduction: Systemic sclerosis (aka scleroderma) is an autoimmune disease with no known definitive etiology, but genetic, infectious, and non-infectious exposures have been associated with its occurrence. Previous studies have shown that systemic sclerosis can be a paraneoplastic phenomenon and may be associated with increased risk of malignancy, most commonly lung, skin, and breast cancers. The association of renal cell carcinoma with systemic sclerosis is rare. Case Description: Here, we present a case of a 75-year-old male patient with a rapidly progressive scleroderma despite the initial treatment with methotrexate and prednisone 5 mg daily. Shortly after the diagnosis of scleroderma, the patient was found to have a renal mass. The patient underwent a right partial nephrectomy revealing papillary renal cell carcinoma. The surgical margin was negative indicating complete removal of the cancer. The patient, later, developed scleroderma renal crisis and progressed to end-stage renal disease despite treatment with captopril, mycophenolate mofetil, plasmapheresis, and intravenous immunoglobulin. Conclusions: The purpose of this case report and literature review is to highlight that diffuse scleroderma can potentially be paraneoplastic from a renal cell carcinoma and to add more data to the literature given there are only a handful of reported cases. Our patient is unique in the sense that he was discovered to have renal cell carcinoma shortly after being diagnosed with scleroderma suggesting a paraneoplastic etiology yet continued to worsen despite full resection of the renal cell carcinoma. This is in contrast to the other reported cases of renal cell carcinoma associated scleroderma where scleroderma worsened around the time of the diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma and improved after nephrectomy. There also are case reports of the patients with renal cell carcinoma associated scleroderma where the patient had scleroderma for several years before the diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma, which raises the question, if scleroderma could also represent a risk factor for developing renal cell carcinoma.
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