Clinical outcomes of radiation therapy for transgender and gender-expansive people with cancer

IntroductionApproximately 1.6 million people in the US identify as transgender, many of whom undergo gender-affirming medical or surgical therapies. While transgender individuals are diagnosed with cancer at similar rates as those who are cisgender, the impacts of radiation therapy on outcomes of gender-affirming care in transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people with cancer are understudied. We report on the experiences and outcomes of transgender and gender-expansive patients receiving radiation therapy for cancer treatment.MethodsThis study is a multi-institutional retrospective review of patients evaluated from 2005-2019 identified as transgender or gender-expansive in the medical record and treated with radiation therapy.ResultsWe identified 23 patients who received radiation to 32 sites, including 12 (38%) to the brain, head, or neck, 8 (25%) to the thorax, and 7 (22%) to the pelvis. Seventeen patients (74%) received gender-affirming hormone therapy and 13 patients (57%) underwent gender-affirming surgery. Four patients had pelvic radiation before or after gender-affirming pelvic surgery, including two trans women who had pelvic radiation after vaginoplasty. Four patients had radiation to the chest or thorax and gender-affirming chest or breast surgery, including two trans men with breast cancer. Two pediatric patients developed hypopituitarism and hypogonadism secondary to radiation therapy and, as adults, changed their hormone replacement therapy to affirm their transgender identities.DiscussionTransgender people with cancer undergo radiation therapy for a wide range of cancers. Understanding their prior gender-affirming medical or surgical treatments and future gender affirmation goals may identify important considerations for their oncologic care

Adjuvant chemotherapy for invasive bladder cancer: a 2013 updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials

CONTEXT: The role of adjuvant chemotherapy remains poorly defined for the management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). The last meta-analysis evaluating adjuvant chemotherapy, conducted in 2005, had limited power to fully support its use. OBJECTIVE: To update the current evidence of the benefit of postoperative adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy compared with control (ie, surgery alone) in patients with MIBC. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A comprehensive literature review was performed to identify all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy with control for patients with MIBC. The search included the Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases, and abstracts from the American Society of Clinical Oncology meetings up to May 2013. An updated systematic review and meta-analysis was performed. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of 945 patients included in nine RCTs (five previously analyzed, one updated, and three new) were examined. For overall survival, the pooled hazard ratio (HR) across all nine trials was 0.77 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59-0.99; p=0.049). For disease-free survival, the pooled HR across seven trials reporting this outcome was 0.66 (95% CI, 0.45-0.91; p=0.014). This disease-free survival benefit was more apparent among those with positive nodal involvement (p=0.010). CONCLUSIONS: This updated and improved meta-analysis of randomized trials provides further evidence of an overall survival and disease-free survival benefit in patients with MIBC receiving adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy after radical cystectomy