Katherine S Panageas

..01), and frontal lobe predominance (P < .05). Limited level 1 evidence is currently available to guide treatment decisions, and ongoing phase III trials will be critical to understanding the optimal therapy...

..The decision to use PFS as a primary endpoint should be made carefully when designing clinical trials, and investigators focused on a particular disease should develop consensus standards and strive for consistent surveillance intervals...

..Strategies to foster judicious utilization of HTRI should be a priority...

..Sample size tables are provided for parameter sets commonly used in the oncologic setting. Software is available by contacting the authors...

..By contrast, the cluster weighted GEE method is inefficient...

..We illustrate these methods using a subset of data from a clinical trial examining the effects of scaling and root planing on levels of interleukin-1 beta...

..Combined CT + RT led to longer disease control and survival than did CT or RT alone in cases with no 1p19q deletion. Ongoing trials will address these issues prospectively...

..The current Phase II study examined the efficacy and safety of this combination in chemotherapy-naive patients with brain metastases...

..We sought to determine the association between calculated creatinine clearance (CL(CR)) and grade 3 or 4 toxicities during adjuvant chemotherapy in women > or =65 years of age with breast cancer...

..4, P< .0001). Longitudinal increases in serum YKL-40 are associated with increased risk of death in patients with glioblastomas and anaplastic gliomas. YKL-40 is also a putative indicator of disease status in these patients...

..We conducted a pilot trial to assess the feasibility of dose-dense chemotherapy consisting of a standard regime at 10- to 11-day intervals in the adjuvant/neoadjuvant setting. A 2-day window was allowed for scheduling logistics...

..To examine the toxicity experienced by a cohort of older women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer and the longitudinal effect on their functional status and quality of life (QOL)...

..Changes in serum MMP-9 were not associated with survival in the anaplastic glioma cohort. Serum MMP-9 showed no utility in determining glioma disease status and was not a clinically relevant prognostic marker of survival...

..Therefore, the efficacy and safety of temozolomide in combination with pegylated IFN-alpha-2b in patients with metastatic melanoma without brain metastases was investigated...

..The objective of the current study was to identify factors associated with the receipt and type of treatment in a population-based cohort of older PCNSL patients...

..046). Functional assessment of HER2 status may provide unique predictive information not seen with conventional assessments...

..51). Similarly, there were no differences in response rates or overall survival according to MTX AUC, suggesting that intra-patient dose escalation to increase MTX exposure is unnecessary when our regimen is utilized...

..The activity and safety reported in this trial are consistent with previous reports in similar patients...

..We explored the effects of KIT inhibition using imatinib mesylate in this molecular subset of disease...

..To further investigate the efficacy and safety of temozolomide plus thalidomide in patients with metastatic melanoma without brain metastases...

..Therefore, a retrospective study was conducted to assess the impact of consolidation treatment after a CR to initial induction chemotherapy on disease control and survival...

..Thus, in volume-outcome studies, the degree of clustering of outcomes should be characterized because it may provide insight into variations in quality of care...

..Our goal was to assess the relationship between adjuvant chemotherapy use and survival in a large, population-based cohort of older women with hormone receptor (HR) -negative breast cancer...

..To evaluate YKL-40 and MMP-9 proteins as tumor biomarkers in serum samples from patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL)...

..However, there is no consensus regarding the optimal method for pathologic examination of SLN, or the prognostic significance of SLN micrometastases...

..Responding T cells had an effector memory cell phenotype. Polyfunctional T cells were also demonstrated. At a median of 31 months follow-up, median survival has not been reached. Human GM-CSF DNA was found to be a safe adjuvant...

..Dose-dense EC (without the 5-FU) is not associated with pneumonitis, and dose-dense paclitaxel (alone) is feasible. Primary objective was feasibility...

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..CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort of older patients who received chemotherapy for breast cancer, changes in blood counts from cycle 1 to cycle 2 were associated with increased risk of treatment-related grade 3 or 4 toxicity...

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..33 to 0.94; two-sided chi(2) P =.027) in multivariable analysis. HDM2 overexpression appears to be an independent predictor of survival for patients with primary melanoma; however, larger prospective studies are required for validation...

..To report on the longitudinal cognitive functioning of older women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer...

..CONCLUSION: Imatinib therapy at doses of 800 mg/day was associated with significant toxicity in patients with heavily pre-treated MBC. Our results do not indicate activity for imatinib monotherapy in these unselected patients...

..In that study, cyclophosphamide consolidation improved the frequency of complete response (CR) four-fold. Subsequently, rituximab was added to this regimen (F-->C-->R)...

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..The pathologic status of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) is a powerful prognostic factor for patients with intermediate thickness melanoma. We hypothesize that a high number of SLNs identified may be associated with poor outcome...

..To further define the optimal vaccination strategy, we conducted a pilot clinical trial comparing i.m. injection with particle-mediated epidermal delivery (PMED)...

..This study evaluates the outcome of patients who had a positive SLN but did not undergo CLND at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center...

..To retrospectively determine the relationship of age to toxicity from adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer...

..Here, the authors describe their experience with a large cohort of patients who were treated at a single institution to describe patterns of recurrence after curative therapy...

..However, the importance of surgeon case volume as a determinant of outcome has been less well studied, and it is unclear whether hospital or surgeon volume is the more powerful predictor of outcomes...

..Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a cutaneous neuroendocrine neoplasm with propensity for lymphatic spread. The rarity of MCC has limited analysis of factors associated with a positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and survival...

..To establish a safe and tolerated regimen of an oral cytotoxic agent, temozolomide, and a cytostatic agent, thalidomide, in patients with unresectable stage III or IV malignant melanoma...

..Mouse and human TYR DNA vaccines were found safe and induced CD8(+) T-cell responses in 7 of 18 patients. T cells recognizing a native TYR peptide had a phenotype consistent with that of effector memory cells...

..The objectives of this study were to characterize the immunophenotypes of PCNSL samples and to determine their utility in predicting clinical outcomes...

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..The authors report on advanced refractory melanoma patients treated in a compassionate use trial of ipilimumab at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center...

..To evaluate the patterns of care in elderly glioblastoma (GBM) patients from a large population-based registry...

..The current study was conducted to evaluate the patterns of care and survival of older adults with oligodendroglioma (OLI) and astrocytoma (AST) from a large population-based registry...

..To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of erlotinib plus bevacizumab in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/HER1) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway...

..Cancer screening has been integrated into routine primary care but does not benefit patients with limited life expectancy...

..e., hospital or surgeon) procedure volumes and patient outcomes have been demonstrated for many types of cancer operation. We performed a population-based cohort study to examine these associations for ovarian cancer resections...

..Data on variates of survival and site of first metastasis may guide strategies for screening patients, although our data failed to show a survival advantage in discovering asymptomatic metastatic disease...

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..The primary objective was to determine the feasibility of the regimen; the secondary objective was to estimate the disease-free and overall survival...

..CONCLUSIONS: Celecoxib combined with trastuzumab is well tolerated. However, this combination in patients with HER2/neu-overexpressing, trastuzumab-refractory disease, was not active...

..A retrospective review was carried out to assess the impact of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), intrathecal therapy (IT), and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) on outcomes...

..To determine the utility of the current diameter criterion of larger than 6 mm of the ABCDE acronym for the early diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma...

..Rapid infusion of high-dose intravenous methotrexate (HD IV MTX) penetrates the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and has reported activity in leptomeningeal metastases...

..However, patients with TCM are prognostically heterogeneous, and all independently predictive factors should be considered when an individual patient's risk of recurrence is assessed...

..Our findings show the need to examine molecular alterations identified in preclinical studies using an adequately large cohort of patients with extended follow-up to better assess the magnitude of their clinical relevance...

..Although results from clinical trials suggest progress in the treatment of PCNSL, survival improvements are not reflected in this population-based cohort...

..This phase I/II trial was conducted to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and antileukemic effects of (213)Bi-lintuzumab, the first targeted α-emitter, after partially cytoreductive chemotherapy...

..Inadequate mammography resources in some areas may impair access to this technology. We assessed the relationship between availability of mammography machines and the use of screening...

..07). CONCLUSION: Patients with evidence of tumor response on paclitaxel had a QoL benefit not observed in nonresponders, and this response was associated with a trend for lower overall costs...

..We compared the efficacy of human Langerhans cells (LC) as tumor immunogens in vivo with monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDC) and investigated how interleukin 15 (IL15) supports optimal DC-stimulated antitumor immunity...

..9% at 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of MPM is increased in patients with a positive family history and/or dysplastic nevi. These patients should undergo intensive dermatologic screening and should consider genetic testing...

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..Further, precursor frequency as an isolated variable can be exploited to augment efficacy of clinical vaccine strategies designed to activate any antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells...

..We conducted a phase II trial using the hsp90 inhibitor 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) in melanoma patients. The primary end points were clinical responses and whether treatment inhibited MAPK pathway activity...

..The prognostic implications of TILs were re-evaluated in a large group of patients undergoing SLN biopsy at our institution...

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..CONCLUSIONS: In primary cutaneous melanoma, a high proliferative index is associated with clinicopathologic parameters predictive of worse clinical outcomes. However, it was not an independent predictor of clinical outcome...

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..We obtained prospective longitudinal serum samples from patients with gliomas to determine whether YKL-40 or MMP-9 could be used as serum markers...

..Lymphedema is a common complication affecting men with breast cancer as well as women and appropriate treatment and rehabilitation strategies need to be implemented for both genders...

..We also determined the biodistribution of (124)I-huA33 when a large dose of human intravenous IgG (IVIG) was administered to manipulate the Fc receptor or when (124)I-huA33 was given via hepatic arterial infusion (HAI)...

..This guide provides a nonstatistical audience with a methodological approach for building, interpreting, and using nomograms to estimate cancer prognosis or other health outcomes...

..We have sought to elaborate some potential causes of these disparities; however, future studies are needed to identify and address specific barriers to care in the community...

..g., HER2, EGFR), and estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors. These molecular markers and their correlation with clinical taxane sensitivity are investigated in this retrospective clinicopathologic study...

..S-plus and SAS codes to perform the statistical methods are provided. Gene expression data from an unpublished oncologic study is used to illustrate these methods...

..These data highlight a need to educate health care providers across a wide range of medical fields, who may be the first to evaluate patients with APL, to have a major effect on early death and the cure rate of APL...

..Ductal lavage (DL) is a new method for the sampling of breast epithelium. Data regarding its sensitivity in the detection of epithelial abnormalities, including carcinoma in situ (CIS), remains limited...

..To compare surgeon and hospital procedure volume as predictors of outcomes for patients with rectal cancer...

..Tumors with prominent fibrosis (pure subtype) are unlikely to disseminate to regional lymph nodes and are associated with a favorable outcome when compared with those with mixed desmoplasia or CM...

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..028). Despite improved treatment for both diseases over the past decade, survival remains dismal in this cohort of Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries with HIV-related PCNSL. These results may not apply to the general HIV population...

..An understanding of the methods of detection of recurrent melanoma after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is essential for the coordination of a rational plan of follow-up...

..Based on these results, we are currently studying PCR as initial therapy for patients with CLL...

..The prognostic factors identified in this retrospective study should be considered when making treatment decisions for patients with BM and used as stratification factors in future clinical trials...

..Chemotherapy may be avoided in low-risk patients who are offered potentially curative operations. Patients treated with operations for epidural disease are at high risk of subsequently developing spinal deformity...

..Assuming this criteria, convincing induction of T-cell immunity against MUC1 by vaccination has yet to be described...

..Superselective catheterization permits Grade D or E embolization in 80% of patients. Shared blood supply with an RMA is the most important factor precluding complete embolization...

..Our methodological research will heighten awareness of clustering in health policy studies. Upon completion of our research plan, we will make recommendations about various analytic strategies for clustered binary data. ..