Delay and completion of treatment in head and neck cancer patients employing a multidisciplinary team approach: A single institution experience

Objective@#To explore possible associations of a multidisciplinary team approach compared to a non-multidisciplinary team approach on delay and completion of treatment of head and neck cancer patients.@*Methods@#Design: Historical Cohort Study Setting: Tertiary Private Training Hospital Participants: A total of 240 records of head and neck cancer patients from January 2016 and December 2018 were included in the study; 117 underwent a multidisciplinary team approach and 123 underwent a non- multidisciplinary team approach.@*Results@#Only 24.79% of head and neck cancer patients under the multidisciplinary team approach had treatment delays compared to 37.40% under the non-multidisciplinary team approach. The proportion of treatment delays was significantly higher (χ2 = 4.44, p = .035) with the non-multidisciplinary team approach. Comparative treatment completion of 77.78% and 69.11% under the multidisciplinary and non-multidisciplinary team approaches, respectively, were not significantly different (χ2 = 2.31, p = .129). @*Conclusion@#The multidisciplinary approach might be associated with decreased delay in treatment among patients with head and neck cancer compared to the non-multidisciplinary team approach. A possible trend toward better treatment completion rate was also observed, but it did not reach statistical significance.

Malignant transformation of choroidal nevus according to race in 3334 consecutive patients

Purpose: To evaluate choroidal nevus demographics, clinical features, imaging features, and the rate of transformation into melanoma by race. Methods: In this observational case series, There were 3334 participants (3806 choroidal nevi) at a single tertiary-referral center evaluated between January 2, 2007, and August 7, 2017. Retrospective chart and multimodal imaging review was performed. Patient demographics, tumor features, and outcomes were compared between different races using Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, t-test, and analysis of variance. The main outcome measure was clinical features of choroidal nevus and the rate of transformation into melanoma by race. Results: Of the 3334 patients, there were Caucasian (n = 3167, 95%) and non-Caucasian (n = 167, 5%). The non-Caucasian races included African-American (n = 27, <1%), Hispanic (n = 38, <1%), Asian (n = 15, <1%), Asian Indian (n = 2, <1%), Middle Eastern (n = 4, <1%), and unknown (n = 83, 3%). By comparison (Caucasian versus vs. non-Caucasian), there were differences in the mean age at presentation (61 vs. 56 years,P < 0.0001), female sex (63% vs. 52%,P < 0.01), dysplastic nevus syndrome (<1% vs. 1%,P < 0.01), and previous cutaneous melanoma (5% vs. 1%,P= 0.03). A comparison of tumor features revealed differences in presence of symptoms (12% vs. 20%,P < 0.01) and ?3 nevi per eye (3% vs. <1%,P= 0.04). A comparison of imaging features showed no differences. A comparison of outcome of nevus transformation into melanoma revealed no difference (2% vs. 3%,P= 0.29). However, of those nevi exhibiting growth to melanoma, ultrasonographic hollowness was less frequent in Caucasians (29% vs. 67%,P= 0.04). Conclusion: In this analysis of 3334 patients with choroidal nevus, we found differences in the mean age of presentation, sex, dysplastic nevus syndrome, previous cutaneous melanoma, presence of symptoms, and multiplicity of nevus per eye by race. However, there was no difference in the rate of transformation into melanoma by race.