Results from a 1-day workshop on the assessment of quality of life in cancer patients: a joint initiative of the Japan Clinical Oncology Group and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer

This report summarizes the presentations and discussion in the first Japan Clinical Oncology Group-European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life/Patient-Reported Outcome workshop funded by the National Cancer Center Hospital that was held on Saturday, 1 September 2018 in Tokyo, Japan. The infrastructure and understanding regarding the Quality of Life/Patient-Reported Outcome assessment of cancer patients in Japan is still immature, in spite of the increased demand for oncological Patient-Reported Outcome research felt not only by researchers but also by patients or other stakeholders of cancer drug development. The workshop aimed to share each perspective, common issues to be considered and future perspectives regarding the strong alliance between the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Group and the Japan Clinical Oncology Group for Quality of Life/Patient-Reported Outcome research as well as explore the possibility of conducting collaborative research. European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer is a leading international cancer clinical trials organization, and its Quality of Life Group is a global leader in the implementation of Quality of Life research in cancer patients. The three invited speakers from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Group presented their perspective, latest methodology and ongoing projects. The three speakers from the Japan Clinical Oncology Group presented their current status, experience and some issues regarding data management or interpretation of the Patient-Reported Outcome data. The two patient advocates also shared their expectations in terms of advances in cancer research based on the Patient-Reported Outcome assessment. As the next steps after this workshop, the Japan Clinical Oncology Group and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer have decided to cooperate more closely to facilitate Patient-Reported Outcome research in both the groups, and the Japan Clinical Oncology Group has approved the establishment of a new committee for Quality of Life/Patient-Reported Outcome research in Japan

Performance of uniform and heterogeneous slip distributions for the modeling of the November 2016 off Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, Japan

Abstract The M w 6.9 earthquake off Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, of 22 November 2016 was followed by a tsunami that struck the Japanese coast from Hokkaido in northern Japan to Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan. We compared the performance of a seismologically deduced single-fault model, a seismologically deduced finite fault slip model (FFM), an optimized single-fault model based on tsunami data, the FFM with horizontal shift, and the tsunami waveform inversion models of the previous studies considered for this earthquake regarding reproduction of tsunami waves by tsunami computations. It is important to discuss how these models work well because it is sometimes desirable to obtain an earthquake source model to estimate tsunami waves with a simple process obtained with limited data from the viewpoint of tsunami prediction. The seismologically deduced FFM has an advantage in terms of the information of slip regions of fault plane and was superior to the seismologically deduced single-fault model, especially in predicting amplitudes of tsunami waves. This means that when only with seismic data, the FFM could narrow the range of forecast of tsunami amplitude. In the comparison of models optimized with tsunami data, the single-fault model showed the almost equivalent performance of the tsunami waveform inversion models of previous studies regarding the waveform coincidence with observations and the horizontal location at the negative peak of the initial sea surface displacement. In case the main generation region of the tsunami is concentrated in one place, the tsunamis can be expressed by a single-fault model by conducting the detailed grid search. We also confirmed that the centroid location of centroid moment tensor (CMT) solution and the absolute location of the FFM were not necessarily suitable to express tsunamis, while the moment magnitude, the focal mechanism, the centroid depth of CMT solution, and the relative slip distribution of the FFM were effective to represent tsunamis. Since this event occurred at the shallow depth, the speed of tsunami wave is particularly slow. Therefore, it would be advisable to pay attention to the horizontal uncertainty to apply seismologically obtained solution to tsunami forecast, especially when a tsunami occurs in shallow water

A Case of a Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor with Skeinoid Fibers of the Sigmoid Colon

An 80-year-old man was diagnosed with rectal cancer and underwent Hartmann's procedure. Although no tumors were identified during the preoperative examination, gross examination of the resected specimen incidentally revealed a submucosal tumor that was 9 mm in diameter at the oral side and located in the proximal stump of the specimen from the sigmoid colon. We suspected a concurrent gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) and performed a histopathological examination. An L-shaped nodular lesion measuring 9 × 6 mm was histologically composed of a patternless proliferation of spindle cells intermingled with eosinophilic globules. Cellular atypia, prominent mitotic figures and necrotic foci were not observed in the nodule. The spindle cells were positive for CD34, CD117 and vimentin, but negative for CD56, smooth muscle actin and S-100 protein. MIB-1 positivity was estimated to be as low as approximately 1-2%. Electron microscopy showed a bundle of wool-like fibers with a periodicity of approximately 40 nm. We therefore considered the lesion to be a low-risk GIST with skeinoid fibers in the large intestine. Although numerous previous reports have reported skeinoid fibers in the stomach and small intestines, there have been only 9 cases (including the present case) of skeinoid fibers in the large intestine

Primary Yolk Sac Tumor of the Omentum: A Case Report and Literature Review

Yolk sac tumor (YST) is a rare malignant tumor originating from germ cells. YST normally originates from the gonads, rarely occurring in extragonadal sites. We report a 35-year-old man with YST arising in the omentum, which is the first reported case of a primary YST of the omentum in an adult male. The patient presented to the community hospital with abdominal distension. A CT scan showed thickening of the omentum with ascites. The patient underwent open biopsy of the omental mass. The Pathology Department of the hospital could not make a definitive diagnosis at that time, and the tumor was considered a cancer of unknown primary (CUP) origin with features of primary colorectal cancer based on the immunohistochemistry (IHC) findings of the biopsy specimen (CK7–/CK20+ and CDX-2+). He was then referred to our hospital. We found that serum α-fetoprotein was abnormally elevated to 7,144 ng/ml (normal <10.0), and reevaluation of the biopsy specimen revealed microcystic or reticular patterns of tumor cells with Schiller-Duval bodies typical of YST. The present case suggests that IHC is a very useful diagnostic tool for subtyping CUP but should be interpreted in the context of clinical and morphological findings

A case of congenital autonomous thyroid adenoma with a somatic activating gene mutation in the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor

We report here a male case of autonomous adenoma (AA) in the thyroid that was caused by a somatic heterozygous mutation in the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) gene at codon 453, which encodes the second transmembrane domain of the protein. This activating mutation of TSHR induced an increase in cell proliferation that resulted in the development of a thyroid goiter. The patient showed symptoms of hyperthyroidism since perinatal age and developed a thyroid goiter at the age of 1 year. Technetium scan showed a hot spot in the right lobe and weak tracer uptake in the left lobe of the thyroid, which were typical findings in AA. He underwent right hemi-thyroidectomy at 1 year and 10 months of age, and attained complete cure after surgery. Keywords: Thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor, Autonomous adenoma, Thyroidectom