'Aussie normals': an a priori study to develop clinical chemistry reference intervals in a healthy Australian population.

Development of reference intervals is difficult, time consuming, expensive and beyond the scope of most laboratories. The Aussie Normals study is a direct a priori study to determine reference intervals in healthy Australian adults. All volunteers completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire and exclusion was based on conditions such as pregnancy, diabetes, renal or cardiovascular disease. Up to 91 biochemical analyses were undertaken on a variety of analytical platforms using serum samples collected from 1856 volunteers. We report on our findings for 40 of these analytes and two calculated parameters performed on the Abbott ARCHITECTci8200/ci16200 analysers. Not all samples were analysed for all assays due to volume requirements or assay/instrument availability. Results with elevated interference indices and those deemed unsuitable after clinical evaluation were removed from the database. Reference intervals were partitioned based on the method of Harris and Boyd into three scenarios, combined gender, males and females and age and gender. We have performed a detailed reference interval study on a healthy Australian population considering the effects of sex, age and body mass. These reference intervals may be adapted to other manufacturer's analytical methods using method transference.

Overall survival benefit for sequential doxorubicin-docetaxel compared with concurrent doxorubicin and docetaxel in node-positive breast cancer--8-year results of the Breast International Group 02-98 phase III trial.

Background In women with node-positive breast cancer, the Breast International Group (BIG) 02-98 tested the incorporation of docetaxel (Taxotere) into doxorubicin (Adriamycin)-based chemotherapy, and compared sequential and concurrent docetaxel. At 5 years, there was a trend for improved disease-free survival (DFS) with docetaxel. We present results at 8-year median follow-up and exploratory analyses within biologically defined subtypes. Methods Patients were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: (i) sequential control: doxorubicin (A) (75 mg/m(2)) × 4 →classical cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil (CMF); (ii) concurrent control: doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide (AC)(60/600 mg/m(2)) × 4 →CMF; (iii) sequential docetaxel: A (75 mg/m(2)) × 3 → docetaxel (T) (100 mg/m(2)) × 3 → CMF and (iv) concurrent docetaxel: AT(50/75 mg/m(2)) × 4 →CMF. The primary comparison evaluated docetaxel efficacy regardless of the schedule. Exploratory analyses were undertaken within biologically defined subtypes. Results Two thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven patients were enrolled. After 93.4 months of median follow-up, there were 916 DFS events. For the primary comparison, there was no significant improvement in DFS from docetaxel [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.80-1.05, P = 0.187]. In secondary comparisons, sequential docetaxel significantly improved DFS compared with sequential control (HR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.67-0.99, P = 0.036), and significantly improved DFS (HR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.72-0.99, P = 0.035) and overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.65-0.98, P = 0.028) compared with concurrent doxorubicin-docetaxel. Luminal-A disease had the best prognosis. HRs favored addition of sequential docetaxel in all subtypes, except luminal-A; but this observation was not statistically supported because of limited numbers. Conclusion With further follow-up, the sequential docetaxel schedule resulted in significantly better OS than concurrent doxorubicin-docetaxel, and continued to show better DFS than sequential doxorubicin-based control.

Evaluation of the cardiovascular health study (CHS) instrument and the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13) in elderly cancer patients. Are we still missing the right screening tool?

BACKGROUND: A geriatric screening tool would be valuable to identify elderly cancer patients who might benefit from a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). This study evaluated the accuracy of the cardiovascular health study (CHS) instrument in predicting abnormality in CGA. The vulnerable elders' survey-13 (VES-13) was also evaluated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients aged ≥ 70 years with solid tumors underwent a CGA after being screened with the CHS and VES-13. Analyses were conducted for the overall population and according to the disease status (early or advanced) and type of early cancer (breast or gastrointestinal, GI). RESULTS: Of 259 patients, 75% were impaired according to the CHS and 47% according to the VES-13. CGA impairment was reported in 171 patients (66%). In the overall population, overall accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of CHS in identifying CGA impairments were 74%, 87% and 49%, respectively. The corresponding figures for the VES-13 were 68%, 62% and 81%. Sensitivity and specificity of CHS in predicting CGA impairments in subgroups were early 81% and 55%, advanced 98% and 29%; early breast 78% and 69%, early GI 87.5% and 19%. CONCLUSIONS: The CHS compared favourably with VES-13 for sensitivity. However, the great variability in specificity observed with the CHS within subgroups limits its applicability in the global population.

Identification of a serum-detectable metabolomic fingerprint potentially correlated with the presence of micrometastatic disease in early breast cancer patients at varying risks of disease relapse by traditional prognostic methods.

BACKGROUND: Prognostic tools in early breast cancer are inadequate. The evolving field of metabolomics may allow more accurate identification of patients with residual micrometastases. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-four early breast cancer patients with pre- and postoperative serum samples had metabolomic assessment by nuclear magnetic resonance. Fifty-one metastatic patients served as control. Differential clustering was identified and used to calculate individual early patient 'metabolomic risk', calculated as inverse distance of each early patient from the metastatic cluster barycenter. Metabolomic risk was compared with Adjuvantionline 10-year mortality assessment. RESULTS: Innate serum metabolomic differences exist between early and metastatic patients. Preoperative patients were identified with 75% sensitivity, 69% specificity and 72% predictive accuracy. Comparison with Adjuvantionline revealed discordance. Of 21 patients assessed as high risk by Adjuvantionline, 10 (48%) and 6 (29%) were at high risk by metabolomics in pre- and postoperative settings, respectively. Of 23 low-risk patients by Adjuvantionline, 11 (48%) preoperative and 20 (87%) postoperative patients were at low risk by metabolomics. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies metabolomic discrimination between early and metastatic breast cancer. Micrometastatic disease may account for metabolomic misclassification of some early patients as metastatic. Metabolomics identifies more patients as low relapse risk compared with Adjuvantionline. Further exploration of this metabolomic fingerprint is warranted.

Chemotherapy with or without trastuzumab.

The prognosis of pT1N0M0/stage I breast cancer has generally been considered so favourable that these patients are not routinely offered adjuvant systemic therapy. However, biological heterogeneity within pT1N0M0 dictates diverse outcomes within the subgroup. HER2 gene amplification or protein overexpression is uncommon in pT1N0M0 disease, but, when present, is clearly associated with a higher risk of recurrence. The role of anti-HER2 therapy in these patients is controversial. Few women with node-negative, small tumours were included in the adjuvant trastuzumab trials. There are no robust data on trastuzumab in this patient subset, although subgroup analyses suggest that proportional benefits are independent of T and N. With current guidelines and scheduling, committing to adjuvant trastuzumab involves concurrent chemotherapy, 1 year of treatment and potential cardiotoxicity. A further challenge with anti-HER2 therapy is the potential benefit in patients with demonstrable HER2 positivity within a predominantly HER2-negative tumour. The decision for therapy requires a yes/no answer, but HER2 status derives from a continuum of gene copy number and protein expression. The diagnostic threshold is made more complex by heterogeneity of the HER2 status within a tumour. This review focuses on available data for HER2-positive pT1N0M0 disease and explores the significance of intratumoural HER2 heterogeneity.

Preoperative investigations for metastatic staging of colon and rectal cancer across multiple centres--what is current practice?

OBJECTIVE: The optimal strategy for elective distant staging of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) has yet to be defined, with current guidelines based on small and limited series. One specific issue requiring review is the value of routine computerized tomographic (CT) chest examination. Also lacking is data on current routine clinical practice. METHOD: A retrospective chart review of consecutive cases of elective surgery for CRC from five hospitals. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty-seven cases were reviewed, 128 colon and 129 rectal primaries. 164 (64%) of patients overall, ranging from 45% to 88% across the individual centres, had a preoperative serum CEA level performed. CT abdomen/pelvis was performed in 222 (86%) of cases, ranging from 69% to 98% per centre. CT chest was performed in 95 (37%) of cases, 47% of rectal vs 29% of colon cancers (P = 0.004). In 17 cases (18%) CT chest examinations revealed abnormalities suspicious for metastatic disease, leading to a change in management in six (35%) of these cases. Of the 17 cases with an abnormal CT chest, in only 5 of the 14 (36%) where carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were also recorded was this increased, and in only three (21%) was this markedly (> 10 microg/l) elevated. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial variability exists in the preoperative evaluation of patients with CRC. Many patients do not have a CEA and/or abdominal imaging performed. Where performed, CT chest revealed suspicious findings in a significant number of patients, the vast majority of whom had a normal or near normal CEA. Future studies are required to define optimal preoperative staging.