Clinical Study Comparison of Three Chemotherapy Regimens in Elderly Patients with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma: Experience at a Single National Reference Center in Mexico

Background. Although chemotherapy added to rituximab is a standard of care for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), treatment of patients ≥65 years of age remains controversial due to comorbidities. Methods. This is a retrospective, comparative, nonrandomized study of patients ≥65 years of age, who were diagnosed with DLBCL but not previously treated. Demographic characteristics and comorbidities were analyzed. Three rituximab-containing treatment regimens (standard RCHOP, anthracycline dose-reduced RChOP, and RCOP) were compared. Descriptive analyses were conducted. Survival was calculated with the KaplanMeier method, and differences were compared with the log-rank test. Results. In total, 141 patients with a median age of 73.9 years were studied. The three treatment groups had comparable demographic characteristics. The overall response was 77%, 72.5%, and 59% in groups treated with RCHOP, RChOP, and RCOP, respectively. After multivariate analysis, the factors influencing the overall survival were the presence of B symptoms, poor performance status (ECOG ≥ 3), and febrile neutropenia. Factors influencing disease-free survival were febrile neutropenia, high-intermediate and high-risk IPI scores, and treatment without anthracycline. Conclusion. A higher ORR (overall response rate) was achieved with standard RCHOP, which influenced DFS and OS, although it was not statistically significant compared with the other groups. Interventional phase 3 trials testing new molecules in patients aged 70 to 80 years and older are required to improve the prognosis within this growing population

Medical Cost to Treat Cervical Cancer Patients at a Social Security Third Level Oncology Hospital in Mexico City

Background: Cervical Cancer (CC) is an important public health problem worldwide. In 2015, CC was the sixth leading cause of death for women aged 30-59 years in Mexico. Despite the importance of having high-quality and accurate estimates of CC treatment costs that can be used to effectively evaluate the impact of preventive programs, there is scarce information on this topic in Mexico. Objective: To estimate the treatment costs by stage diagnosis in patients with CC at a Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) oncology hospital in Mexico City. Methods: An observational retrospective study of the resources used to treat 346 women with CC was conducted. Medical charts were reviewed and relevant resource use information was extracted using a data collection instrument that was created based on treatment guidelines. Data were classified into nine cost categories to estimate the total cost per patient. Results: The mean age of patients in the study sample was 54.3 years (range: 41-67), and the average body mass index (BMI) was >26 kg/m2. Among the participants, 37% were smokers, 39% had diabetes, and 56% had hypertension. The medical cost for stages I-IV ranged from $4,738 to$6,058 USD, with an estimated average cost of $5,114 USD. Conclusion: Total treatment costs per patient are high, especially since they were estimated considering only 7.5 months of treatment. This is the first study to estimate the annual cost to treat CC in Mexico and to additionally document the resource pattern use, cost by stage of cancer, and the distribution by cost categories

Transcript Profiling Distinguishes Complete Treatment Responders With Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer (CC) mortality is a major public health concern since it is the second cause of cancer-related deaths among women. Patients diagnosed with locally advanced CC (LACC) have an important rate of recurrence and treatment failure. Conventional treatment for LACC is based on chemotherapy and radiotherapy; however, up to 40% of patients will not respond to conventional treatment; hence, we searched for a prognostic gene signature able to discriminate patients who do not respond to the conventional treatment employed to treat LACC. Tumor biopsies were profiled with genome-wide high-density expression microarrays. Class prediction was performed in tumor tissues and the resultant gene signature was validated by quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. A 27-predictive gene profile was identified through its association with pathologic response. The 27-gene profile was validated in an independent set of patients and was able to distinguish between patients diagnosed as no response versus complete response. Gene expression analysis revealed two distinct groups of tumors diagnosed as LACC. Our findings could provide a strategy to select patients who would benefit from neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy-based treatment

Mexican BRCA1 founder mutation: Shortening the gap in genetic assessment for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer patients.

The deletion of exons 9 to 12 of BRCA1 (9-12 del BRCA1) is considered a founder mutation in the Mexican population. We evaluate the usefulness of the target detection of 9-12 del BRCA1 as the first molecular diagnostic strategy in patients with Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC). We performed the genetic assessment of 637 patients with suspected HBOC. The region corresponding to the breakpoints for the 9-12 del BRCA1 was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). An analysis of the clinical data of the carriers and non-carriers was done, searching for characteristics that correlated with the deletion. The 9-12 del BRCA1 was detected in 5% of patients with suspected HBOC (30/637). In patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer, 13 of 30 were 9-12 del BRCA1 carriers, which represents 43%. We found a significant association between the 9-12 del BRCA1 carriers with triple negative breast cancer and high-grade papillary serous ovarian cancer. We concluded that the detection of the 9-12 del BRCA1 is useful as a first molecular diagnostic strategy in the Mexican population. In particular, it shortens the gap in genetic assessment in patients with triple negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer