RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

The burden of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is felt worldwide with increasing number of diagnosed cases. A recommended treatment option for a longer remission is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation after chemotherapy with cytarabine and an anthracycline antibiotic, either Idarubicin or Daunorubicin. In the Philippines, Doxorubicin, a cheaper and more accessible option for chemotherapy among those who have financial incapabilities. It is no longer part of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommendation for use however; it remains to be part of the Philippine National Clinical Practice Guideline in the treatment of AML. This leads us to wonder what the difference in outcome of patients who have received doxorubicin compared to those who received Idarubicin as induction chemotherapy.

This is a retrospective cohort study. Data was collected through chart review of AML patients admitted for induction chemotherapy. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the sociodemographic and clinical profile of patients. Survival analysis was done using the Kaplan-Meier computation. The t-test for two proportions was used to compare outcomes between the two groups.

This study included 65 participants, 55 received idarubicin and 10 received doxorubicin. The average age of diagnosis in the Idarubicin group is 41.38 years, and 34.9 years in the Doxorubicin group. Majority of participants are females (58.18% vs 80%) and married (67.27% vs 60%). They are predominantly nonsmokers (89.09% vs 80%), with no maintenance medications (61.82% vs 70%), and comorbidities (70.91% vs 90%). There was no significant difference in the median overall survival of both groups (507 days vs 428 days, logrank test = 0.74).

Outcomes of this study leads us to conclude that Doxorubicin is not inferior to Idarubicin in terms of survival.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the clinical outcomes of ultra high-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) patients managed with and without induction chemotherapy in the Division of Trophoblastic Diseases, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Philippine General Hospital. Methods: Clinical and demographic data were collected retrospectively from ultra high-risk GTN patients admitted in the Division of Trophoblastic Diseases, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Philippine General Hospital from January 2015 to December 2021. Rate of remission and early death of those who received induction chemotherapy were compared to those who did not. Results: A total of 21 patients with ultra high-risk GTN were included in the study, nine of whom underwent induction chemotherapy while 12 had no induction chemotherapy and was given the standard EMACO regimen. There was no significant difference in the rate of early death as well as the rate and time to achieve remission between those who received induction chemotherapy compared to those who were immediately started on EMACO. Conclusion A firm conclusion cannot be drawn from the results considering the small population included in the study. Further studies with larger sample size and prospective study design are recommended.
Induction Chemotherapy ; Gestational Trophoblastic Disease

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy of veneclax combined with azacitidine in acute myeloid leukemia(AML) patients and explore the predictors of treatment response and recurrence. METHODS: The clinical data of 30 AML patients who received venetecla combined with azacitidine in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from January 2021 to September 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, composite complete remission (CRc) rate, overall response rate(ORR), and disease free survival(DFS) of patients were observed. RESULTS: After one course of trea- tment, CRc was 16 cases and ORR was 23/30. Patients with TP53 mutation had poor treatment response (P=0.009). After 1-2 courses, 25 patients reached CR/CRi. Finally, 24 patients who obtained CR/CRi were included to observe the duration of remission. 17 patients had relapse, with a median recurrence time of 3.9 (0.6-15.9) months. The Kaplan-Meier curve showed that MRD negative was a favorable factor for maintaining DFS status (HR=0.5647,95%CI:0.2179-1.464,P=0.007), while NRAS mutation was an adverse factor for maintaining DFS (HR=2.036,95%CI:0.6639-6.245,P=0.0003). Univariate combined multivariate cox regression analysis showed that NRAS mutation was an independent risk factor affecting DFS in patients (HR=5.569, P<0.05). In addition, the cases number of early recurrence in MRD negative group (n=8) and MRD non-negative group (n=9) was 0 and 5, respectively, the difference was statistically significant (P=0.012). There were 3 cases of early recurrence in the NRAS mutant group (n=4) and 2 cases in the NRAS wild-type group (n=13), the difference was statistically significant (P=0.022). CONCLUSION TP53 mutation is a predictor of poor response to veneclax in combination with azacitidine. With the conti-nuation of the combination chemotherapy regimen described above, NRAS mutation is an independent risk factor for DFS in patients. Moreover, the patients with non-negative MRD and NRAS mutations are at high risk of early recurrence.
Humans ; Remission Induction ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics* ; Recurrence ; Azacitidine/therapeutic use* ; Chronic Disease ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use*

Objective:This study aimed to evaluate the clinical features and treatment outcomes of the value of response-adapted treatment following radiotherapy and induction chemotherapy follwing subsequent comprehensive therapy in patients with resectable locally advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods:This cohort study was conducted from September 2010 to September 2020 in our hospital, 231 patients pathologically confirmed stage Ⅲ and ⅣB resectable locally advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma included. For the IC-directed ART strategy, IC is used to select good candidates to receive radical RT or CCRT, and others undergo surgery. He response-adapted strategy was determined based on the primary tumor response, which was evaluated at a dose of 50 Gy. If the response reached complete response or partial response（more than 80% tumor regression）, patients received radical RT or CCRT; otherwise, they received surgery, if possible, at 4 to 6 weeks after RT. The end points of the study were OS（overall survival）, progression free survival（PFS）, locoregional recurrence-free survival（LRRFS） and LDFS. Results:In IC-directed group, 75.0%（57/76） patients reached PR after 2 cycles of induction chemotherapy. While in RT-directed group, 70.3%（109/155） patients reached large PR at dose of 50 Gy. The median interquartile range follow-up period of the whole cohort was 63.8 months. The 5-year OS, PFS, LRRFS and SFL of the whole cohort were 47.9%、39.6%、44.3% and 36.2%, respectively. In evaluations based on the different treatment strategies, the 5-year OS and SFL were 51.3% versus 37.0%（HR 0.67; 95%CI 0.43-1.05; P=0.07） and 27.8% versus 39.8%（HR 0.68; 95%CI 0.46-0.99; P=0.04） between IC-directed and RT-directed groups. In additional, surgery complications did not significantly differ between these two groups. Conclusion:In this cohort study, the response-adapted strategy based on an early RT response facilitated better treatment tailoring, and higher laryngeal preservation compared with IC-directed strategies. This approach could provide a feasible laryngeal preservation strategy in patients with resectable locally advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma.
Male ; Humans ; Cohort Studies ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Carcinoma ; Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms/therapy* ; Induction Chemotherapy

Objective: To evaluate treatment responses, outcomes, and prognostic factors in adults with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML) . Methods: Between January 2008 and February 2021, date of consecutive cases of younger than 65 years of adults with sAML were assessed retrospectively. Clinical characteristics at diagnosis, treatment responses, recurrence, and survival were evaluated. Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards model were employed to determine significant prognostic indicators for treatment response and survival. Results: 155 patients were recruited, including 38, 46, 57, 14 patients belonging to t-AML, and AML with unexplained cytopenia, post-MDS-AML, and post-MPN-AML, respectively. In the 152 evaluable patients, the rate of MLFS after the initial induction regimen was 47.4%, 57.9%, 54.3%, 40.0%, and 23.1% in the four groups (P=0.076) . The total rate of MLFS after the induction regimen was 63.8%, 73.3%, 69.6%, 58.2%, and 38.5% (P=0.084) , respectively. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that male gender (OR=0.4, 95% CI 0.2-0.9, P=0.038 and OR=0.3, 95% CI 0.1-0.8, P=0.015) , SWOG cytogenetic classification into unfavorable or intermediate (OR=0.1, 95% CI 0.1-0.6, P=0.014 and OR=0.1, 95% CI 0.1-0.3, P=0.004) and receiving low-intensity regimen as induction regimen (OR=0.1, 95% CI 0.1-0.3, P=0.003 and OR=0.1, 95%CI 0.1-0.2, P=0.001) were typical adverse factors impacting the first CR and the final CR; PLT<45 × 10(9)/L (OR=0.4, 95%CI 0.2-0.9, P=0.038) and LDH ≥258 U/L (OR=0.3, 95%CI 0.1-0.7, P=0.005) were independent factors for CR. Among the 94 patients with achieving MLFS, 46 cases had allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. With a median follow-up period of 18.6 months, the probabilities of relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) at 3 years were 25.4% and 37.3% in patients with transplantation, and in patients with chemotherapy, the probabilities of RFS and OS at 3-year were 58.2% and 64.3%, respectively. At the time of achieving MLFS, multivariate analysis revealed that age ≥46 years (HR=3.4, 95%CI 1.6-7.2, P=0.002 and HR=2.5, 95%CI 1.1-6.0, P=0.037) , peripheral blasts ≥17.5% at diagnosis (HR=2.5, 95%CI 1.2-4.9, P=0.010 and HR=4.1, 95%CI 1.7-9.7, P=0.002) , monosomal karyotypes (HR=4.9, 95%CI 1.2-19.9, P=0.027 and HR=28.3, 95%CI 4.2-189.5, P=0.001) were typical adverse factors influencing RFS and OS. Furthermore, CR after induction chemotherapy (HR=0.4, 95%CI 0.2-0.8, P=0.015) and transplantation (HR=0.4, 95%CI 0.2-0.9, P=0.028) were substantially linked to longer RFS. Conclusion: Post-MDS-AML and post-MPN-AML had lower response rates and poorer prognoses than t-AML and AML with unexplained cytopenia. In adults with male gender, low platelet count, high LDH, and SWOG cytogenetic classification into unfavorable or intermediate at diagnosis, and receiving low-intensity regimen as the induction regimen predicted a low response rate. Age ≥46 years, a higher proportion of peripheral blasts and monosomal karyotype had a negative effect on the overall outcome. Transplantation and CR after induction chemotherapy were greatly linked to longer RFS.
Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Remission Induction ; Retrospective Studies ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/drug therapy* ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Recurrence ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Humans ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Benzamides ; Treatment Outcome ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/therapy* ; Remission Induction ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use*

OBJECTIVES: To study the efficacy and safety of rituximab combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of children and adolescents with mature B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL) through a Meta analysis. METHODS: The databases including PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, and Weipu were searched to obtain 10 articles on rituximab in the treatment of mature B-NHL in children and adolescents published up to June 2022, with 886 children in total. With 3-year event-free survival (EFS) rate, 3-year overall survival (OS) rate, complete remission rate, mortality rate, and incidence rate of adverse reactions as outcome measures, RevMan 5.4 software was used for Meta analysis, subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias analysis. RESULTS: The rituximab+chemotherapy group showed significant increases in the 3-year EFS rate (HR=0.38, 95%CI: 0.25-0.59, P<0.001), 3-year OS rate (HR=0.29, 95%CI: 0.14-0.61, P=0.001), and complete remission rate (OR=3.72, 95%CI: 1.89-7.33, P<0.001) as well as a significant reduction in the mortality rate (OR=0.31, 95%CI: 0.17-0.57, P<0.001), as compared with the chemotherapy group without rituximab. There was no significant difference in the incidence rate of adverse reactions between the two groups (OR=1.28, 95%CI: 0.85-1.92, P=0.24). CONCLUSIONS The addition of rituximab to the treatment regimen for children and adolescents with mature B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma can bring significant survival benefits without increasing the incidence of adverse reactions.
Child ; Adolescent ; Humans ; Rituximab/adverse effects* ; Lymphoma, B-Cell/drug therapy* ; Progression-Free Survival ; Remission Induction ; China ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the treatment of children with high-risk acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), aiming to improve the prognosis. METHODS: The clinical datas of 24 children with high-risk APL in our hospital from January 2015 to June 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The main manifestations of 24 children (including 15 males and 9 females) were purpura, gingiva bleeding and nasal hemorrhage, with a median age of 7 years old and a median leukocyte count of 28.98 (10-232)×10⁹/L, including 15 cases with leukocyte count between 10×10⁹/L and 50×10⁹/L, 2 cases between 50×10⁹/L and 100×10⁹/L, and 7 cases >100×10⁹/L. The leukocyte count of 2 cases in 3 children admitted from 2015 to November 2016 was >100×10⁹/L, in which 1 case was first treated with homoharringtonine for cytoreduction, 7 days later treated with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) after genetic diagnosis, then died of differentiation syndrome and pulmonary hemorrhage after 3 days. The other one was treated with reduced ATRA+daunorubicin+arsenic trioxide (ATO) for induction, then achieved complete remission. The third one with leukocyte count 12×10⁹/L had cerebral hemorrhage before admission and died on the 7th day of treatment. The remaining 21 children were treated with chemotherapy according to the APL regimen for children in South China, including 14 cases with leukocyte count between 10×10⁹/L and 50×10⁹/L, 2 cases between 50×10⁹/L and 100×10⁹/L, and 5 cases >100×10⁹/L. In the 5 children with leukocyte count >100×10⁹/L, 1 case died of cerebral hemorrhage on the second day of oral ATRA before the addition of anthracyclines, 3 cases died of cerebral hemorrhage after the addition of anthracyclines to chemotherapy on the second day of oral ATRA, and another one developed differentiation syndrome after the addition of mitoxantrone on the second day of oral ATRA, then achieved complete remission after ATRA reduction chemotherapy and survived without disease till now. In the 2 children with leukocyte count between 50×10⁹/L and 100×10⁹/L, 1 case died of cerebral hemorrhage on the second day of oral ATRA before the addition of anthracyclines. All the children were followed up until 1st August, 2021, with a median follow-up time of 40 months, including 7 deaths and 1 recurrence in maintenance therapy who achieved second remission after chemotherapy, 14 cases survived in 3 years and 13 cases survived without event. The 7 dead children had a median time from treatment to death of 5 days, including 1 case with leukocyte count between 10×10⁹/L and 50×10⁹/L, 1 case between 50×10⁹/L and 100×10⁹/L, and 5 cases >100×10⁹/L. CONCLUSION High-risk APL children with leukocyte count >100×10⁹/L have a high mortality rate. Gradual addition of chemotherapy starting at small doses and early addition of ATO may help to improve the prognosis.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Child ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute/drug therapy* ; Retrospective Studies ; Arsenic Trioxide/therapeutic use* ; Tretinoin/therapeutic use* ; Remission Induction ; Anthracyclines/therapeutic use* ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of idarubicin combined with high-dose cytarabine as a post-remission therapy for elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). METHODS: From November 2017 to June 2021, 24 AML patients aged ≥60 years who were in complete remission for the first time were enrolled in consolidation chemotherapy with idarubicin (10 mg/m² intravenously once for day 1) combined with high-dose cytarabine (1.5 g/m² intravenously over 3 hours every 12 hours for day 1-3), and the efficacy and safety were observed. RESULTS: Among the 24 patients, there were 12 males and 12 females, the median age was 65 (60-78) years old, and the median follow-up time was 23.3 (2-42.7) months. By the end of the follow-up, 15 patients relapsed and 11 patients died. The median disease-free survival (DFS) was 9 months and there were 3 cases of 2-year DFS. The median overall survival (OS) was 16.2 months, and there were 4 cases of 2-year OS. In terms of safety, 6 patients had grade 1-2 non-hematological adverse reactions, 12 patients had grade 3-4 hematological adverse reactions, and a total of 6 patients developed infection after consolidation chemotherapy. Multivariate analysis showed that two induction cycles and high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities were the adverse factors of DFS and OS in elderly patients with AML in this study. CONCLUSION For AML patients ≥60 years old in first complete remission, idarubicin combined with high-dose cytarabine as post-remission therapy has a better safety, but compared with other regimens does not improve the prognosis of elderly patients, which needs further exploration.
Aged ; Male ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Idarubicin/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies ; Cytarabine ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/etiology* ; Remission Induction

Objective: To evaluate the effect of depth of remission of induction chemotherapy on the overall prognosis of limited stage small cell lung cancer (L-SCLC). Methods: The study was a retrospective, L-SCLC patients who contained complete imaging data and underwent consecutive standardized treatments at the Department of Thoracic Radiation and Medical Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University between January 2013 and June 2021 were included. To delineate the volume of tumor before and after induction chemotherapy and to calculate the depth of remission caused by the induced chemotherapy. The time receiver operating characteristic (timeROC) method was used to determine the optimal predictors for prognosis, multi-factor analysis using Cox risk proportional model. Results: A total of 104 patients were included in this study. The median PFS and OS of this cohort were 13.7 months and 20.9 months, respectively. It was observed by timeROC analysis that residual tumor volume after induction chemotherapy had the optimal predictive value of PFS at 1 year (AUC=0.86, 95% CI: 0.78~0.94) and OS at 2 years (AUC=0.76, 95% CI: 0.65~0.87). Multivariate analysis showed residual tumor volume after induction chemotherapy was the independent prognostic factor to PFS (HR=1.006, 95% CI: 1.003~1.009, P<0.01) and OS (HR=1.009, 95% CI: 1.005~1.012, P<0.001). For those whose residual tumor volume remitted to less than 10 cm(3) after induction chemotherapy, the favorable long-term outcomes could be achieved, regardless of their initial tumor load. Conclusion: The depth of remission of induction chemotherapy could be a promising prognostic predictor to the L-SCLC and provide the individualized treatment guidance.
Humans ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma/pathology* ; Lung Neoplasms/pathology* ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Prognosis