Chronic hepatitis B and occult infection in chemotherapy patients - evaluation in oncology and hemato-oncology settings: The CHOICE study.

BACKGROUND: Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a well-known risk that can occur spontaneously or following immunosuppressive therapies, including cancer chemotherapy. HBV reactivation can cause significant morbidity and even mortality, which are preventable if at-risk individuals are identified through screening and started on antiviral prophylaxis. AIM: To determine the prevalence of chronic HBV (CHB) and occult HBV infection (OBI) among oncology and hematology-oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: In this observational study, the prevalence of CHB and OBI was assessed among patients receiving chemotherapy. Serological markers of HBV infection [hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)/anti-hepatitis B core antigen (HBc)] were evaluated for all patients. HBV DNA levels were assessed in those who tested negative for HBsAg but positive for total anti-HBc. RESULTS: The prevalence of CHB in the study cohort was determined to be 2.3% [95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.0-4.2]. Additionally, the prevalence of OBI among the study participants was found to be 0.8% (95%CI: 0.2-2.3). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study highlight the importance of screening for hepatitis B infection in oncology and hematology-oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy. Identifying individuals with CHB and OBI is crucial for implementing appropriate antiviral prophylaxis to prevent the reactivation of HBV infection, which can lead to increased morbidity and mortality.

Molecular basis and clinical application of targeted therapy in oncology.

Targeted therapy and precision oncology aim to improve efficacy and minimize side effects by targeting specific molecules involved in cancer growth and spread. With the advancements in genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics with the accessible modalities such as next-generation sequencing, circulating tumor cells, and tumor Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), more number of patients are being offered the targeted therapy in form of monoclonal antibodies and various intracellular targets, specific for their tumor. The harnessing of host immunity against the cancer cells by utilizing immune-oncology agents and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy has further revolutionized the management of various cancers. These agents, however, have the challenge of managing the adverse effects that are peculiar to the class of drugs and very different from the conventional chemotherapy. This review article discusses the molecular basis, diagnostics, and use of targeted therapy in oncology.

Lessons Learnt From a Greenfield Hangar-Based 1,000-Bedded Temporary Hospital in India.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of hospital beds in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi was 54,321 (roughly 300 beds per one lakh population), which was inadequate for the patients. Therefore, the Indian government initiated the construction of a 1,000-bedded greenfield hangar-based hospital to bridge the healthcare gap. As a result, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in the facility augmented the COVID-19 care ICU beds in the city by 11%. The authors were involved in the planning, developing, and initiating the functioning of 1,000-bedded Dedicated COVID-19 Hospital (DCH). The hospital was conceptualized, built, and operationalized in 12 days only. Lessons learned from this experience would be of benefit should similar situations arise in future. Coordinating structural designing early with the entire project team-from facility administrators and medical practitioners to architects, consultants, and contractors-can result in a structure that better matches the facility's long-term needs and often saves construction time and costs. This article enumerates various challenges faced and the way they were addressed. This hangar-based hospital can be rapidly constructed and deployed on a massive scale. While structural integrity is essential, the planning team was particularly aware of the patient-centric modality of healthcare. Many modifications were carried out in the structure based on patient inputs. Informal discussions with discharged patients and relatives revealed that the human-centric approach was the mainstay of the therapy.

Current and emerging therapeutic strategies in pancreatic cancer: Challenges and opportunities.

Pancreatic carcinoma (PC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Despite early detection and advances in therapeutics, the prognosis remains dismal. The outcome and therapeutic approach are dependent on the stage of PC at the time of diagnosis. The standard of care is surgery, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. The advent of newer drugs has changed the landscape of adjuvant therapy. Moreover, recent trials have highlighted the role of neoadjuvant therapy and chemoradiotherapy for resectable and borderline resectable PC. As we progress towards a better understanding of tumor biology, genetics, and microenvironment, novel therapeutic strategies and targeted agents are now on the horizon. We have described the current and emerging therapeutic strategies in PC.

Diabetes, COVID 19 and mucormycosis: Clinical spectrum and outcome in a tertiary care medical center in Western India.

AIMS: Diabetes Mellitus predisposes patients to invasive fungal infections. There has been a recent surge of Mucormycosis with COVID 19 infection particularly in patients with diabetes. This study aims to study the clinical spectrum of CAM (COVID -associated Mucormycosis) with diabetes and subsequent outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a descriptive study conducted at a single COVID Care Centre in India in patients with COVID Associated Mucormycosis from April 12, 2021 to May 31, 2021. RESULTS: Among 953 hospitalized patients with COVID 19 infection, 32 patients had CAM with an incidence of 3.36%. In patients with CAM, 87.5% had Diabetes Mellitus as the most common co-morbidity. The majority of the patients had poor glycemic control with a mean HbA1c of 9.06%. Out of the total study population, 93% had prior exposure to high dose corticosteroids. During the study period, 12.5% patients of CAM did not survive. CONCLUSION: Mucormycosis is an angioinvasive fungal infection with high mortality. The disease has surged in COVID 19 pandemic due to uncontrolled diabetes and improper corticosteroid use.

Self-learning on COVID-19 among medical students in Bhutan: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Bhutan lacks a medical school and all medical students are trained in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. When the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of medical schools in these countries in March-April 2020, the medical students were repatriated to Bhutan. Upon return, they were kept in government-sponsored facility quarantine for 21 days. This study assessed their knowledge on COVID-19 as a part of self-learning and their attitude towards participation in government's health response to COVID-19. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study among medical students who had returned to the country. The survey was conducted through an online questionnaire while the students were in facility quarantine. The sample size calculated was 129 and convenient sampling was used. Knowledge was assessed using 20 questions, each scored 1/20. Knowledge was considered "good" if the cumulative score was ≥80%, "satisfactory" if ≥60-79% and "poor" if <60%. Correlation between knowledge score and duration of clinical clerkship was tested using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Attitude of students towards their willingness to participate in the national COVID-19 response was tested using rating scales. Data were analysed using Stata 13.1. RESULTS: 120 medical students responded to the survey (response rate = 93%). Eighty-eight (74%) had good knowledge, 28 (23%) had satisfactory knowledge and only four (3%) had poor knowledge on COVID-19. The students scored high on the symptomatology, mode of transmission, prevention and treatment options and on local epidemiology; and scored low on the forms of mechanical ventilation and on home-management of non-critical cases. The knowledge score correlated with the duration of clinical clerkship they had undertaken (r = 0.326, p = 0.001). The primary source of information were social media sites (102, 85%), television (94, 78%) and newspapers (76, 63%). The majority (78, 65%) were willing to participate in the government's COVID-19 response but could not identify what roles they could play. The fear of contracting COVID-19 was reported by eight students (7%). CONCLUSIONS: Medical students had good knowledge on COVID-19 and had self-learned through social media, television and newspapers. The students held positive attitude towards participation in the government's COVID-19 response.

Precision medicine: Uses and challenges.

Precision medicine has brought in many changes to the practise of medicine. The omics-based development of biomarkers and pharmaco-omics-based drug development programmes are evidences for the advancement. However, the field where it has proved to be most useful is in the development of various modalities of treatment in oncology. Various drugs targeting vascular endothelial growth factor, epidermal growth factor, tyrosine kinase receptor and rat sarcoma mutations have come to the forefront proving to be beneficial in many cancers. Some of the classic drugs developed using this concept include trastuzumab, bevacizumab, cetuximab and panitumumab among others. Precision medicine has been put to best use in the COVID-19 pandemic through use of various biomarkers such as IL-6 and c-reactive protein in assessing severity of disease, for development of various therapies and also to judge efficacy of vaccines. Precision medicine is also finding its place in management of infectious diseases, chronic diseases such as asthma, connective tissue diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity. India has also made its presence felt in the field by launching various initiatives such as the Indian genome project and Indian cancer genome atlas. Numerous challenges still exist to the future of precision medicine such as cost involved, ethics, security of the Big data, merger of various platforms to integrate data and also availability of trained manpower to manage the data and algorithms. This new age medicine is a big step forward for mankind and hopefully it will bring more benefits for both patients and the caregivers in the near future.

Relation of D-dimer levels of COVID-19 patients with diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Diabetes is a frequent comorbidity in patients with Severe COVID-19 infection associated with a worse prognosis. Hypercoagulability with elevation in D-dimer levels has been demonstrated in patients with COVID-19. This study aims to study D-dimer levels in people with diabetes compared to those without diabetes among patients with COVID-19 infection. METHODS: In this observational study 98 moderate and severely ill patients with COVID-19 infection were included at a dedicated COVID hospital. The study group was divided into patients with diabetes and without diabetes. Peak D-dimer was measured in both the groups and compared using appropriate statistical tests. RESULTS: In our study peak D-dimer levels were 1509 ± 2420 ng/mL (Mean ± SD) in people with diabetes and 515 ± 624 ng/mL (Mean ± SD) in patients without diabetes. Patients with diabetes had higher D-dimer levels which were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows COVID-19 patients with diabetes had significantly higher D-dimer levels. Therefore, it is possible that COVID-19 infection with diabetes is more likely to cause hypercoagulable state with a worse prognosis. However clinical implications of these findings will need to be seen in further studies.

Management of Lymphomas: Consensus Document 2018 by an Indian Expert Group.

The clinical course of lymphoma depends on the indolent or aggressive nature of the disease. Hence, the optimal management of lymphoma needs a correct diagnosis and classification as B cell, T-cell or natural killer (NK)/T-cell as well as indolent or high-grade type lymphoma. The current consensus statement, developed by experts in the field across India, is intended to help healthcare professionals manage lymphomas in adults over 18 years of age. However, it should be noted that the information provided may not be appropriate to all patients and individual patient circumstances may dictate alternative approaches. The consensus statement discusses the diagnosis, staging and prognosis applicable to all subtypes of lymphoma, and detailed treatment regimens for specific entities of lymphoma including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, T-cell lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, Burkitt's lymphoma, and anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

Novel formulations of docetaxel, paclitaxel and doxorubicin in the management of metastatic breast cancer.

The management of breast cancer with advanced disease or metastasis is a common problem in India and other countries. A panel of 13 oncology experts deliberated on the sidelines of the 35th Indian Cooperative Oncology Network Conference held in Mumbai to formulate an expert opinion recommendation on the novel drug delivery system (NDDS) formulations in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). The survey comprised of 39 questions related to limitations of conventional formulations and therapeutic positioning of NDDS formulations of docetaxel, paclitaxel and doxorubicin in the management of MBC. The experts used data from published literature and their practical experience to provide expert opinion and recommendations for use by the community oncologists. The experts opined that the newer NDDS formulations should provide a significant efficacy advantage in terms of overall survival and progression-free survival, or demonstrate better tolerability when compared with conventional formulations. The newer NDDS formulations of taxanes should be considered in special circumstances such as diabetes, in patients who have had hypersensitivity reactions and in cases where steroids need to be avoided. The novel formulations of doxorubicin should be used in the elderly and in patients with borderline cardiac function.

A 37-year-old male with extensive cerebral venous thrombosis: Clinicopathological correlation of a rare case.

We present the autopsy findings and differential diagnosis of a 37-year-old immunocompetent male patient who presented primarily with extensive cerebral vein thrombosis and was found to have a rare association with JAK2V617F mutation positivity.

Pitfalls in interpretation of FDG PET/CT: Septic pulmonary emboli mimicking metastases in a case of gastric carcinoma.

Inflammatory lesions may sometimes show intense tracer uptake and mimic neoplastic lesions on (18) F-fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). We report one such false positive case on FDG PET/CT, where septic pulmonary emboli (SPE) mimicked pulmonary metastases. A 45-year-old man with stomach cancer had an indwelling central venous catheter (CVC) in situ while on neoadjuvant chemotherapy. He underwent FDG PET/CT scan for response assessment and the images revealed multiple, intensely FDG avid, peripheral, lung nodules with feeding vessels, which were suspicious for pulmonary metastases. A day later, the patient developed fever with chills and his blood culture showed bacterial growth (Enterobacter cloacae). A provisional diagnosis of SPE from an infected CVC was made. Chemotherapy was withheld, CVC removed, and the catheter tip was sent for bacterial culture. Following a 4-week course of antibiotic treatment, the patient became afebrile. Culture from the CVC tip grew the same organism, as was seen earlier in the patient's blood culture, thus pin-pointing the source of infection in our case. Diagnosis of SPE was clinched when follow-up CT chest done after completion of antibiotic course showed complete resolution of the lung lesions.

Circulating T-regulatory cells in PNET: a prospective study.

PURPOSE: Bone marrow regulatory T-cells (Tregs) have been evaluated in patients with peripheral neuroectodermal tumor (PNET); data on peripheral blood circulating Tregs are lacking. The objective of our study was to determine baseline Tregs (both Treg frequency and absolute number) in patients with PNET and correlate with patient characteristics, and observe their change with treatment and relapse. METHODS: Five milliliters blood was evaluated in de novo patients with PNET at diagnosis, post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy and at relapse/progression, along with nine healthy controls using flow-cytometric analysis for Treg cells (CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+). RESULTS: Thirty-seven patients with median age 17 years; male/female ratio 5.1:1 had significantly higher baseline absolute Tregs than controls (mean 338.95 ± 264.63/mm(3) vs. 34.83 ± 24.90/mm(3); P < 0.001). Patients with fever had a significantly higher mean Treg frequency than those without fever (11.27 ± 8.36% vs. 8.40 ± 2.58%; P = 0.014). There was significant reduction in the circulating Tregs after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mean 339.78 ± 294.31/mm(3) vs. 82.09 ± 91.25/mm(3), P < 0.001) and rise at progression (n = 13) as compared to values post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mean 240.92 ± 191.90/mm(3) vs. 57.67 ± 39.01/mm(3), P = 0.012). There was no significant difference in the event-free survival (EFS) or overall survival (OS) between the high and low Treg cell groups (2-year EFS 51.6% vs. 52.1%; P = 0.689 and OS 61.3% vs. 59.2%; P = 0.891). CONCLUSION: This study on circulating Tregs in PNET demonstrated that peripheral blood Tregs are higher in patients than healthy controls. There was significant reduction in Tregs with chemotherapy and rise at progression.

Long-term survivor of human immunodeficiency virus-associated plasmablastic lymphoma.

Plasmablastic lymphoma (PL) is a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) having a strong association with immunosuppression, especially, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. It generally has a poor prognosis with most patients dying within 2 years from initial presentation, and long-term survivors are very few. We report the case of a 10-years-old child, presenting in 2003 with swelling on the right side of the face and fever of 2 months. Evaluation revealed a mass in the right palatal and upper alveolar region with extensive spread and bone destruction, regional adenopathy, mass lesion in the liver and hepatosplenomegaly without bone marrow involvement. Histopathology was suggestive of the PL and patient tested positive for HIV. He was started on high grade NHL chemotherapy protocol along with highly-active anti-retroviral therapy HAART. He responded well and is in complete remission since 8 years of completion of treatment and is on HAART.

Superior vena cava syndrome and poor performance status at presentation affect survival in mediastinal T-lymphoblastic lymphoma--a single institute experience from India.

Analysis of mediastinal T-lymphoblastic lymphomas (T-LBL) with T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia has precluded identification of prognostic factors. Newly diagnosed T-LBL patients presenting with mediastinal mass and <20% bone marrow involvement were analyzed for clinical features and outcome. In 55 patients with median age 18 years, 39 (71%) had "B" symptoms, 46 (83.6%) had bulky mediastinal mass and two thirds of patients (n = 36) had superior vena cava syndrome/superior mediastinal syndrome (SVCS/SMS). With acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)-like protocols in majority, complete remission was achieved in 58.2% patients. Estimated 5-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were 59.8 and 51.6% (median follow-up-35 months). On multivariate analysis, poor Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS > 2; n = 14) affected OS (p = 0.007), while Poor ECOG PS and SVCS/SMS affected EFS (p = 0.008 and p = 0.035, respectively). Combination of baseline-poor PS and presence of SVCS/SMS predicted poor EFS in a prognostic model (HR 6.20; p = 0.002). This is the first outcome study from Asia which has been able to predict baseline ECOG PS and presence of SVCS/SMS as prognostic factors affecting EFS.