Intensified First Cycle of Rituximab Plus Eight Cycles of Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Vincristine, and Prednisolone with Rituximab Chemotherapy for Advanced-Stage or Bulky Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: A Multicenter Phase II Consortium for Improving Survival of Lymphoma (CISL) Study / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

Purpose@#This phase II, open-label, multicenter study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of a rituximab intensification for the 1st cycle with every 21-day of rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (R-CHOP-21) among patients with previously untreated advanced-stage or bulky diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). @*Materials and Methods@#Ninety-two patients with stage III/IV or bulky DLBCL from 21 institutions were administered 8 cycles of R-CHOP-21 with an additional one dose of rituximab intensification on day 0 of the 1st cycle (RR-CHOP). The primary endpoint was a complete response (CR) rate after 3 cycles of chemotherapy. @*Results@#Among the 92 DLBCL patients assessed herein, the response rate after 3 cycles of chemotherapy was 88.0% (38.0% CR+50.0% partial response [PR]). After the completion of 8 cycles of chemotherapy, the overall response rate was observed for 68.4% (58.7% CR+9.8% PR). The 3-year progression-free survival rate was 64.0%, and the 3-year overall survival rate was 70.4%. Febrile neutropenia was one of the most frequent grade 3 adverse events (40.0%) and 5 treatment-related deaths occurred. Compared with the clinical outcomes of patients who received R-CHOP chemotherapy as a historical control, the interim CR rate was higher in male patients with RR-CHOP (20.5% vs. 48.8%, p=0.016). @*Conclusion@#Rituximab intensification on days 0 to the 1st cycle of the standard 8 cycles R-CHOP-21 for advanced DLBCL yielded favorable response rates after the 3 cycles of chemotherapy and acceptable toxicities, especially for male patients. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01054781.

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of the Safety and Efficacy of Olanzapine for the Prevention of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting in Patients Receiving Moderately Emetogenic Chemotherapy: Results of the Korean South West Oncolog / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

PURPOSE: Data on the efficacy of olanzapine in patients receiving moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (MEC) are limited. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the efficacy of olanzapine versus placebo in controlling nausea and vomiting in patients receiving MEC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to determine whether olanzapine can reduce the frequency of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) and improve the quality of life (QOL) in patients receiving palonosetron and dexamethasone as prophylaxis for MEC-induced nausea and vomiting. The primary end point was complete response for the acute phase (0-24 hours after chemotherapy). The secondary end points were complete response for the delayed (24-120 hours) and overall phase (0-120 hours), proportion of significant nausea (visual analogue scale ≥ 25 mm), use ofrescue medications, and effect on QOL. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients were randomized to the olanzapine (n=29) and placebo (n=27) groups. Complete response rates were not significantly different between the olanzapine and placebo groups in the acute (96.5% vs. 88.0%, p=0.326), delayed (69.0% vs. 48.0%, p=0.118), and overall phases (69.0% vs. 48.0%, p=0.118). However, the percentage of patients with significant nausea (17.2% vs. 44.0%, p=0.032) and the use of rescue medications (0.03±0.19 vs. 1.88±2.88, p=0.002) were lower in the olanzapine group than in the placebo. Furthermore, the olanzapine group demonstrated better QOL (p=0.015). CONCLUSION: Olanzapine combined with palonosetron and dexamethasone significantly improved QOL and vomiting control among previously untreated patients receiving MEC, although the efficacy was limited to the reduction of the frequency of CINV.

Multicenter Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Characteristics, Treatment Patterns, and Outcomes in Very Elderly Patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: The Korean Cancer Study Group LY16-01 / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

PURPOSE: The treatment strategy for elderly patients older than 80 years with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has not been established because of poor treatment tolerability and lack of data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This multicenter retrospective study was conducted to investigate clinical characteristics, treatment patterns and outcomes of patients older than 80 years who were diagnosed with DLBCL at 19 institutions in Korea between 2005 and 2016. RESULTS: A total of 194 patients were identified (median age, 83.3 years). Of these, 114 patients had an age-adjusted International Prognostic Index (aaIPI) score of 2-3 and 48 had a Charlson index score of 4 or more. R-CHOP was given in 124 cases, R-CVP in 13 cases, other chemotherapy in 17 cases, radiation alone in nine cases, and surgery alone in two cases. Twenty-nine patients did not undergo any treatment. The median number of chemotherapy cycles was three. Only 37 patients completed the planned treatment cycles. The overall response rate from 105 evaluable patients was 90.5% (complete response, 41.9%). Twentynine patients died due to treatment-related toxicities (TRT). Thirteen patients died due to TRT after the first cycle. Median overall survival was 14.0 months. The main causes of death were disease progression (30.8%) and TRT (27.1%). In multivariate analysis, overall survival was affected by aaIPI, hypoalbuminemia, elevated creatinine, and treatment. CONCLUSION: Age itself should not be a contraindication to treatment. However, since elderly patients show higher rates of TRT due to infection, careful monitoring and dose modification of chemotherapeutic agents is needed.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia with the 11q23 Rearrangement in a Patient with Klinefelter Syndrome / 대한내과학회지

Klinefelter syndrome is usually characterized by eunuchoidism, gynecomastia, small testes, infertility, elevated gonadotropins, mental retardation, and a constitutional extra X chromosome. Several reports have suggested an association between leukemia and Klinefelter syndrome, although two cohort studies failed to show a clear association between the two. We report the first Korean case of acute myeloid leukemia with the 11q23 rearrangement in a 27-year-old man with Klinefelter syndrome.

Prediction of survival by applying current prognostic models in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP followed by autologous transplantation

BACKGROUND: Among the currently available prognostic models for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), we investigated to determine which is most adoptable for DLBCL patients treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) followed by upfront autologous stem cell transplantation (auto-SCT). METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated survival differences among risk groups based on the International Prognostic Index (IPI), the age-adjusted IPI (aaIPI), the revised IPI (R-IPI), and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network IPI (NCCN-IPI) at diagnosis in 63 CD20-positive DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP followed by upfront auto-SCT. RESULTS: At the time of auto-SCT, 74.6% and 25.4% of patients had achieved complete remission and partial remission after R-CHOP, respectively. As a whole, the 5-year overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 78.8% and 74.2%, respectively. The 5-year OS and PFS rates according to the IPI, aaIPI, R-IPI, and NCCN-IPI did not significantly differ among the risk groups for each prognostic model (P-values for OS: 0.255, 0.337, 0.881, and 0.803, respectively; P-values for PFS: 0.177, 0.904, 0.295, and 0.609, respectively). CONCLUSION: There was no ideal prognostic model among those currently available for CD20-positive DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP followed by upfront auto-SCT.

Hypoglycemic Coma in a Patient with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Sunitinib / 대한내과학회지

We present a patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus and metastatic renal cell carcinoma who developed severe hypoglycemia and metabolic encephalopathy after sunitinib treatment. Sunitinib, a multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is used to treat metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Sunitinib-induced hypoglycemia has been reported and there are rare case reports of severe hypoglycemia due to sunitinib. Therefore, glycemic control should be monitored closely in diabetic patients treated with sunitinib.

R-CHOP chemoimmunotherapy followed by autologous transplantation for the treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

BACKGROUND: We investigated factors that influence outcomes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with rituximab combined with the CHOP regimen (R-CHOP) followed by upfront autologous stem cell transplantation (Auto-SCT). METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated survival differences between subgroups based on the age-adjusted International Prognostic Index (aaIPI) and revised-IPI (R-IPI) at diagnosis, disease status, and positron emission tomographic/computerized tomographic (PET/CT) status at transplantation in 51 CD20-positive DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP followed by upfront Auto-SCT. RESULTS: Patients had either stage I/II bulky disease (5.9%) or stage III/IV disease (94.1%). The median patient age at diagnosis was 47 years (range, 22-66 years); 53.3% and 26.7% had high-intermediate and high risks according to aaIPI, respectively. At the time of Auto-SCT, 72.5% and 27.5% experienced complete (CR) and partial remission (PR) after R-CHOP, respectively. The median time from diagnosis to Auto-SCT was 7.27 months (range, 3.4-13.4 months). The 5-year overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were 77.3% and 72.4%, respectively. The 5-year OS and PFS rates according to aaIPI, R-IPI, and PET/CT status did not differ between the subgroups. More importantly, the 5-year OS and PFS rates of the patients who achieved PR at the time of Auto-SCT were not inferior to those of the patients who achieved CR (P=0.223 and 0.292, respectively). CONCLUSION: Survival was not influenced by the aaIPI and R-IPI at diagnosis, disease status, or PET/CT status at transplantation, suggesting that upfront Auto-SCT might overcome unfavorable outcomes attributed to PR after induction chemoimmunotherapy.

A Case of Masked t(8;21) in Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Cytogenetic Abnormality of 45,X,-Y,t(8;17)(q22;p13)

The t(8;21)(q22;q22) is one of the most frequent structural chromosomal anomaly found in AML, occurring in about 5% of all AML and in 10% of AML with maturation (M2). And approximately 3.4% of AML with t(8;21)(q22;q22) occurs as a complex chromosomal abnormality and occasionally shows discrepancy between cytogenetic and molecular genetic analyses. We report a case of 42 yr old male patient that revealed morphological characteristics of AML-M2 and karyotypic abnormality of 45,X,-Y,t(8;17)(q22;p13) without visible involvement of chromosome 21 by conventional cytogenetic study with masked t(8;21) identified by FISH using RUNX1/RUNX1T1 probes. FISH confirmed nuc ish (RUNX1T1x3),(RUNX1x3), (RUNX1T1 con RUNX1x1). According to the results of conventional cytogenetic and FISH analyses, the karyotype was revised to 45,X,-Y,t(8;17;21)(q22;p13;q22).

A Case of Liver Metastasis of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor That Was Resected after Treatment with Imatinib Mesylate and Sunitinib

A 65-year old man underwent wedge resection for a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of the gastric fundus in 1997. In 2003, the abdominal CT and sono-guided biopsy revealed he had a large GIST liver metastasis. He underwent treatment with 400 mg/day of imatinib mesylate. As a result, the liver metastasis markedly decreased in size. However, focal progression of the liver metastasis was observed on the follow up CT, so we increased the imatinib from 400 mg/day to 800 mg/day. We then performed extended left hepatectomy. We report here on a patient who presented with an isolated metastatic GIST to the liver, and the patient was successfully treated with imatinib therapy and hemihepatectomy.

The Clinical and Histopathologic Features according to Loss of LKB1 Protein Expression on Primary Lung Cancer / 결핵및호흡기질환

BACKGROUND: LKB1(STK11) is a serine/threonine kinase that functions as a tumor growth suppressor. The functions of LKB1 in lung cancer are not completely understood. This study evaluated the relationship between LKB1 protein expression and the clinicopathological features in lung cancer tissues. METHODS: The expression of LKB1 was studied in paraffin-embedded tumor blocks, which were obtained from 77 patients who had undergone surgery at Wonkwang University Hospital. The expression of the LKB1 protein was considered positive if the staining intensity in the tumor tissue adjacent to the normal airway epithelium was >30%. RESULTS: The LKB1 expression was positive in 31 (40%) of samples. Loss of LKB1 expression was significantly associated with being male, smoking history, and squamous cell carcinoma. In the peripheral sites, the loss of LKB1 expression was strongly associated with a smoking history. A loss of LKB1 expression was more frequently associated with progression according to TNM staging, particularly more than T2, N progression. CONCLUSION: There was a significant relationship between the loss of the LKB1 protein and gender, smoking history, and histological type in primary lung cancer. Although LKB1 expression was not found to be a significant prognostic factor, further studies with a larger cohort of patient's lung cancer tissue samples will be needed to confirm this.