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Background & objectives: High mortality has been observed in the cancer population affected with COVID-19 during this pandemic. We undertook this study to determine the characteristics and outcomes of cancer patients with COVID-19 and assessed the factors predicting outcome. Methods: Patients of all age groups with a proven history of malignancy and a recent diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection based on nasal/nasopharyngeal reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR tests were included. Demographic, clinical and laboratory variables were compared between survivors and non-survivors groups, with respect to observed mortality. Results: Between May 11 and August 10, 2020, 134 patients were included from the three centres and observed mortality was 17.1 per cent. The median age was 53 yr (interquartile range 39-61 yr) and thirty four patients (25%) were asymptomatic. Solid tumours accounted for 69.1 per cent and breast cancer was the most common tumour type (20%). One hundred and five patients (70.5%) had received chemotherapy within the past four weeks and 25 patients (19.3%) had neutropenia at presentation. On multivariate analysis, age [odds ratio (OR) 7.99 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.18-54.00); P=0.033], haemoglobin [OR 6.28 (95% CI 1.07-37.04); P=0.042] neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio [OR 12.02 (95% CI 2.08-69.51); P=0.005] and baseline serum albumin [OR 18.52 (95% CI 2.80-122.27); P=0.002], were associated with higher mortality. Recent chemotherapy, haematological tumours type and baseline neutropenia did not affect the outcome. Interpretation & conclusions: Higher mortality in moderate and severe infections was associated with baseline organ dysfunction and elderly age. Significant proportion of patients were asymptomatic and might remain undetected
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PURPOSE: There is no study till date determining the spectrum of adverse events of pazopanib in Indian patients with advanced sarcoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study by analyzing the case records of metastatic sarcoma patients treated with pazopanib from January 2016 to July 2017 in sarcoma medical oncology clinic. Toxicity was assessed according to CTCAE v.4.03 criteria. SPSS version 23 was used for statistical evaluation. RESULTS: A total of 33 patients received pazopanib. The median age was 41 years (range, 19–75 years), with a male predominance (54.5%). Twenty-six patients (78.8%) had ECOG performance status 1 at the time of pazopanib initiation. The most common type of sarcoma was synovial sarcoma, and the mean duration of pazopanib intake in patients was 4.12 months. The median follow-up was 13 months. Median progression-free survival was 5 months, and median overall survival was 18 months. Overall response rate was 6.0%. Out of the 33 patients, 42.4% (n = 14) received it after first line of therapy. Six patients (18.2%) required dose reductions due to toxicity. Thirteen (39.4%) patients experienced CTCAE grade 3 or 4 toxicities. Most common grade 3 and 4 toxicities experienced among patients were hand–foot skin reaction (18.2%) and proteinuria (9.1%). No significant difference was seen when analyzed for variables such as age, sex, ECOG performance status, comorbidities, and number of previous lines received in patients experiencing grade 3 and 4 toxicities. CONCLUSIONS: The spectrum of adverse events in Indian patients at doses lower than the recommended dose is distinctly different from the western population. However, this unique toxicity profile needs to be validated in prospective studies.
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Sartore-Bianchi A, Trusolino L, Martino C, Bencardino K, Lonardi S, Bergamo F, Zagonel V, Leone F, Depetris I, Martinelli E, Troiani T, Ciardiello F, Racca P, Bertotti A, Siravegna G, Torri V, Amatu A, Ghezzi S, Marrapese G, Palmeri L, Valtorta E, Cassingena A, Lauricella C, Vanzulli A, Regge D, Veronese S, Comoglio PM, Bardelli A, Marsoni S, Siena S. (Niguarda Cancer Center, Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milano; Istituto di Candiolo, Fondazione del Piemonte per l’Oncologia-IRCCS, Candiolo; Oncologia Medica 1, Istituto Oncologico Veneto– IRCCS, Padova; Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Napoli; Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza, Torino; Istituto Mario Negri IRCCS, Milano; Dipartimento di Oncologia, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino; Dipartimento di Oncologia e Emato-Oncologia Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.) Dual-targeted therapy with trastuzumab and lapatinib in treatment-refractory, KRAS codon 12/13 wild-type, HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer (HERACLES): A proof-of-concept, multicentre, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol 2016;17:738–46.
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Weinstein C, Jordan K, Green SA, Camacho E, Khanani S, Beckford-Brathwaite E, Vallejos W, Liang LW, Noga SJ, Rapoport BL. (Merck & Co., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA; Department of Hematology/Oncology, Martin Luther University HalleWittenberg, Halle, Germany; Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Desert Regional Medical Center, Palm Springs, California; Department of Hematology/Oncology, Reliant Medical Group, Worcester, Massachusetts; Department of Oncology, Weinberg Cancer Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Department of Medical Oncology, Medical Oncology Center of Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa). Single-dose fosaprepitant for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting associated with moderately emetogenic chemotherapy: Results of a randomized, double-blind phase III trial. Ann Oncol 2016;27:172–8.