Use of camel urine is of no benefit to cancer patients: observational study and literature review.

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine is widely used in Saudi Arabia. One of the common practices is the use of camel urine alone or mixed with camel milk for the treatment of cancer, which is often supported by religious beliefs. Aims: To observe and follow-up cancer patients who insisted on using camel urine, and to offer some clinically relevant recommendations. Methods: We observed 20 cancer patients (15 male, 5 female) from September 2020 to January 2022 who insisted on using camel urine for treatment. We documented the demographics of each patient, the method of administering the urine, reasons for refusing conventional treatment, period of follow-up, and the outcome and side effects. Results: All the patients had radiological investigations before and after their treatment with camel urine. All of them used a combination of camel urine and camel milk, and treatment ranged from a few days to 6 months. They consumed an average of 60 ml urine/milk per day. No clinical benefit was observed after the treatment; 2 patients developed brucellosis. Eleven patients changed their mind and accepted conventional antineoplastic treatment and 7 were too weak to receive further treatment; they died from the disease. Conclusion: Camel urine had no clinical benefits for any of the cancer patients, it may even have caused zoonotic infection. The promotion of camel urine as a traditional medicine should be stopped because there is no scientific evidence to support it.

Skeletal Mets From Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lower Limb: A Case Report.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common non-melanoma skin cancer worldwide and one of the most capable of metastasis. The bone is a common metastatic site of cancers, which is a major cause of morbidity, with an estimated 350,000 people dying yearly from bone metastases. However, bone metastasis from an SCC in the lower limb is rarely reported in the literature and the role of systemic chemotherapy is not well established. We report a case of a 72-year-old gentleman with an SCC metastasis of the bone. This patient received six cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy with no surgical or radiation intervention.

Implications of COVID-19 pandemic on lung cancer management: A multidisciplinary perspective.

Treatment of patients with lung cancer during the current COVID-19 pandemic is challenging. Lung cancer is a heterogenous disease with a wide variety of therapeutic options. Oncologists have to determine the risks and benefits of modifying the treatment plans of patients especially in situation where the disease biology and treatment are complex. Health care visits carry a risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the similarities of COVID-19 symptoms and lung cancer manifestations represent a dominant problem. Efforts to modify treatment of lung cancer during the current pandemic have been adapted by many healthcare institutes to reduce exposure of lung cancer patients to SARS-CoV-2. We summarized the implications of COVID-19 pandemic on the management of lung cancer from the perspective of different specialties of thoracic oncology multidisciplinary team.

Clinical updates in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a clonal disease characterized by B or T lineage. Here we cover the clinical manifestations, pathophysiology and therapy for ALL. Additionally, we will discuss the evidence for minimal residual disease assessment, novel molecular targets and newly developed targeted therapies. The separation of ALL into Philadelphia chromosome positive and recently into Philadelphia-like disease represents the most exciting developments in this disease. Finally, the advent of new immunotherapeutic approaches led us to predict that in few years, ALL therapy might be based heavily on non-chemotherapeutic approaches.