METHODS: A prospective, non-randomised longitudinal study was conducted in two government integrated hospitals over an 8-month period. Early-stage breast cancer patients who were (1) either already using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or not and (2) who were on a regime of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide were included in the study. Patients who agreed to receive CHM were assigned to receive individualised CHM prescriptions deemed suitable for the individual at a particular time. Those who were not willing to take Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) were assigned to the non-CHM control group. Blood profile and chemotherapy-induced AE were recorded whilst HRQOL assessment was done using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire on first, third, and sixth cycles.
RESULTS: Forty-seven patients [32 female vs. 1 male, p = 0.31; mean year of age: 52.2(SD = 7.6), p = 0.28)}] were recruited during the study period. Demographics of both groups were comparable. Fifty percent of respondents reported using some kind of CAM before chemotherapy. Diet supplements (40.6%) were the most common CAM used by the respondents. The study showed that patients using CHM had significantly less fatigue (p = 0.012), nausea (p = 0.04), and anorexia (p = 0.005) during chemotherapy. There were no significant differences in patients' HRQOL (p = 0.79). There were no AEs reported during the study.
CONCLUSION: The use of CHM as an adjunct treatment with conventional chemotherapy have been shown to reduce fatigue, nausea, and anorexia in breast cancer patients but did not reduce chemotherapy-associated hematologic toxicity. The sample size of this study was not powered to assess the significance of HRQOL between two groups of patients.
METHODS: In three double-blind phase 3 studies, patients receiving HEC or MEC were randomized 1:1 to receive oral rolapitant 180 mg or placebo prior to chemotherapy plus 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3 receptor antagonist and dexamethasone therapy. Patients completed the FLIE questionnaire on day 6 of cycle 1. Endpoints included FLIE total score, nausea and vomiting domain scores, and the proportion of patients with no impact on daily life (total score >108 [range 18-126]). We performed a prespecified analysis of the MEC/anthracycline-cyclophosphamide (AC) study and a post hoc analysis of two pooled cisplatin-based HEC studies.
RESULTS: In the pooled HEC studies, rolapitant significantly improved the FLIE total score (114.5 vs 109.3, p
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Selected cases diagnosed as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) during the period of 1980 to 2012 were retrieved from the archives of the Oral Pathology Diagnostic Laboratory, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya. The sections from the formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks were stained with H and E as well as with LCA, CD20, and CD3.
RESULTS: The mean age was 41.6 years with a male: female ratio of 1.3:1. Out of the forty two cases, nineteen were Malays, eighteen were Chinese, followed by Indians (3) and Indonesians (2). The most common site of involvement was the mandible (22.2%), followed by the maxilla and palate (19.4% each). Most of the lesions presented as a painless progressive swelling. Only thirty six cases were further subdivided into B or T cell types. The majority were B-cell type (26 cases), of these 6 cases were Burkitt's lymphomas. Only ten cases were T-cell lymphoma, with three cases of NK/T-cell lymphoma.
CONCLUSIONS: In this series of 42 patients diagnosed as extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the lesions appeared as painless swellings, mostly in men with the mandible as the most frequent site of involvement. Majority were B-cell lymphomas with Malays and Chinese being equally affected whereas lymphomas were rare in the Indian ethnicity. T-cell lymphomas were found to be common in the Chinese ethnic group.
AIMS OF THE STUDY: To analyse pre-treatment clinical features of DLBCL patients that are predictive of R-CHOP therapy resistance and early disease relapse after R-CHOP therapy treatment.
METHODS USED TO CONDUCT THE STUDY: A total of 698 lymphoma patients were screened and 134 R-CHOP-treated DLBCL patients were included. The Lugano 2014 criteria was applied for assessment of treatment response. DLBCL patients were divided into R-CHOP resistance/early relapse group and R-CHOP sensitive/late relapse group.
RESULTS OF THE STUDY: 81 of 134 (60%) were R-CHOP sensitive/late relapse, while 53 (40%) were R-CHOP resistance/early relapse. The median follow-up period was 59 months ± standard error 3.6. Five-year overall survival rate of R-CHOP resistance/early relapse group was 2.1%, while it was 89% for RCHOP sensitive/late relapse group. Having more than one extranodal site of DLBCL disease is an independent risk factor for R-CHOP resistance/early relapse [odds ratio = 5.268 (1.888-14.702), P = .002]. The commonest extranodal sites were head and neck, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory system, vertebra and bones. Advanced age (>60 years), advanced disease stage (lll-lV), raised pre-treatment lactate dehydrogenase level, bone marrow involvement of DLBCL disease high Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group status (2-4) and high R-IPI score (3-5) showed no significant association with R-CHOP therapy resistance/early disease relapse (multivariate analysis: P > .05).
CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: DLBCL patients with more than one extranodal site are 5.268 times more likely to be R-CHOP therapy resistance or experience early disease relapse after R-CHOP therapy. Therefore, correlative studies are warranted in DLBCL patients with more than one extranodal site of disease to explore possible underlying mechanisms of chemoresistance.
AIM: The objective of the present study was to investigate whether this polymorphism modulate the risk of disease recurrence in TNBC patients undergoing TAC chemotherapy regimen.
METHODS: Blood samples of 76 immunohistochemistry confirmed TNBC patients were recruited. The genotyping of CYP1B1 4326 C>G polymorphism was carried out using PCR-RFLP technique. The genotype patterns were categorized into homozygous wildtype, heterozygous and homozygous variant. Kaplan-Meier analysis followed by Cox proportional hazard regression model were performed to evaluate the TNBC patients' recurrence risk.
RESULTS: Out of 76 TNBC patients, 25 (33.0%) showed disease recurrence after one-year evaluation. Kaplan Meier analysis showed that TNBC patients who are carriers of CYP1B1 4326 GG variant genotypes (37.0%) had a significantly lower probability of disease-free rates as compared to TNBC patients who are carriers of CYP1B1 4326 CC/CG genotypes (71.0%). Univariate and multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that TNBC patients who carried CYP1B1 4326 GG variant genotype had a significantly higher risk of recurrence with HR: 2.50 and HR: 4.18 respectively, even after adjustment as compared to TNBC patients who were carriers of CYP1B1 4326 CC and CG genotypes.
CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate the potential use of CYP1B1 4325 GG variant genotype as a candidate biomarker in predicting risk of recurrence in TNBC patients undergoing TAC chemotherapy regimen.