Ovarian cancer patients with homologous recombination deficiencies exhibit specific clinical behaviors, and improved responses to treatments, such as platinum-based chemotherapy and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, have been observed. Germline ...

Objective: To assess whether a restrictive strategy of RBC transfusion reduces 28-day mortality when compared with a liberal strategy in cancer patients with septic shock. Design: Single center, randomized, double-blind controlled trial. Setting: Teaching hospital. Patients: Adult cancer patients with septic shock in the first 6 hours of ICU admission. Interventions: Patients were randomized to the liberal (hemoglobin threshold, < 9 g/dL) or to the restrictive strategy (hemoglobin threshold, < 7 g/dL) of RBC transfusion during ICU stay. Measurements and Main Results: Patients were randomized to the liberal (n = 149) or to the restrictive transfusion strategy (n = 151) group. Patients in the liberal group received more RBC units than patients in the restrictive group (1 [0–3] vs 0 [0–2] unit; p < 0.001). At 28 days after randomization, mortality rate in the liberal group (primary endpoint of the study) was 45% (67 patients) versus 56% (84 patients) in the restrictive group (hazard ratio, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.53–1.04; p = 0.08) with no differences in ICU and hospital length of stay. At 90 days after randomization, mortality rate in the liberal group was lower (59% vs 70%) than in the restrictive group (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.53–0.97; p = 0.03). Conclusions: We observed a survival trend favoring a liberal transfusion strategy in patients with septic shock when compared with the restrictive strategy. These results went in the opposite direction of the a priori hypothesis and of other trials in the field and need to be confirmed.

Purpose: Preclinical studies show that adavosertib, a WEE1 kinase inhibitor, sensitizes TP53-mutant cells to chemotherapy. We hypothesized that adavosertib, plus chemotherapy, would enhance efficacy versus placebo in TP53-mutated ovarian cancer. Methods: Following safety run-in, this double-blind Phase II trial (NCT01357161) randomized women with TP53-mutated, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer to oral adavosertib (225 mg twice daily for 2.5 days/21-day cycle) or placebo, plus carboplatin (AUC5) and paclitaxel (175 mg/m²), until disease progression or for six cycles. The primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) by enhanced RECIST v1.1 (ePFS [volumetric]) and safety. Secondary/exploratory objectives included PFS by RECIST v1.1 (single dimension), objective response rate, overall survival, and analysis of tumor gene profile versus sensitivity to adavosertib. Results: 121 patients were randomized to adavosertib (A+C; n=59) and placebo (P+C; n=62) plus chemotherapy. Adding adavosertib to chemotherapy improved ePFS (median: 7.9 [95% CI 6.9-9.9] vs 7.3 months [5.6-8.2]; HR 0.63 [95% CI 0.38-1.06]; two-sided P=0.080), meeting the predefined significance threshold (P<0.2). Clinical benefit was observed following A+C for patients with different TP53 mutation subtypes, identifying possible response biomarkers. An increase in adverse events was seen with A+C versus P+C: greatest for diarrhea (adavosertib 75%; placebo 37%), vomiting (63%; 27%), anemia (53%; 32%), and all grade ≥3 adverse events (78%; 65%). Conclusions: Establishing an optimal strategy for managing tolerability and identifying specific patient populations most likely to benefit from treatment may increase clinical benefit. Future studies should consider additional adavosertib doses within the chemotherapy treatment cycle and the potential for maintenance therapy.

Resumo: O câncer de mama é a principal causa de morte por câncer em mulheres no Brasil. As novas diretrizes para detecção precoce no Brasil foram elaboradas com base em revisões sistemáticas da literatura sobre riscos e possíveis benefícios de diversas estratégias de detecção precoce. O objetivo do presente artigo é apresentar as recomendações e atualizar a síntese de evidências, discutindo as principais controvérsias existentes. As recomendações para o rastreamento do câncer de mama (mulheres assintomáticas) foram: (i) recomendação contrária forte ao rastreamento com mamografia em mulheres com menos de 50 anos; (ii) recomendação favorável fraca ao rastreamento com mamografia em mulheres com idades entre 50 e 69 anos; (iii) recomendação contrária fraca ao rastreamento com mamografia em mulheres com idades entre 70 e 74 anos; (iv) recomendação contrária forte ao rastreamento com mamografia em mulheres com 75 anos ou mais; (v) recomendação favorável forte de que o rastreamento nas faixas etárias recomendadas seja bienal, quando comparada às periodicidades menores do que a bienal; (vi) recomendação contrária fraca ao ensino do autoexame das mamas para rastreamento; (vii) ausência de recomendação favorável ou contrária ao rastreamento com exame clínico das mamas; e (viii) recomendação contrária forte ao rastreamento com ressonância nuclear magnética, ultrassonografia, termografia ou tomossíntese, seja isoladamente, seja como complemento à mamografia. As recomendações para o diagnóstico precoce do câncer de mama (mulheres com sinais ou sintomas suspeitos) foram: (i) recomendação favorável fraca à implementação de estratégias de conscientização para o diagnóstico precoce do câncer de mama; (ii) recomendação favorável fraca ao uso de sinais e sintomas selecionados nas presentes diretrizes como critério de referência urgente para serviços de diagnóstico mamário; e (iii) recomendação favorável fraca de que toda a avaliação diagnóstica do câncer de mama, após a identificação de sinais e sintomas suspeitos na atenção primária, seja feita em um mesmo centro de referência.

1. Introdução Atualmente, doenças cardiovasculares (DCV) e câncer são as principais causas de mortalidade em todo o mundo e no Brasil.– As transições demográfica e epidemiológica ocorridas recentemente no nosso país resultaram no aumento da expectativa de vida da população, hoje em torno de 76 anos, e na modificação no perfil de saúde, em que doenças crônicas e suas complicações são prevalentes. Esses fatores ocasionam importantes desafios e a necessidade de uma agenda para as políticas de saúde que possam [...] 1. Introdução Atualmente, doenças cardiovasculares (DCV) e câncer são as principais causas de mortalidade em todo o mundo e no Brasil.– As transições demográfica e epidemiológica ocorridas recentemente no nosso país resultaram no aumento da expectativa de vida da população, hoje em torno de 76 anos, e na modificação no perfil de saúde, em que doenças crônicas e suas complicações são prevalentes. Esses fatores ocasionam importantes desafios e a necessidade de uma agenda para as políticas de saúde que possam

The detection of germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 is essential to the formulation of clinical management strategies, and in Brazil, there is limited access to these services, mainly due to the costs/availability of genetic testing. Aiming at the identification of recurrent mutations that could be included in a low-cost mutation panel, used as a first screening approach, we compiled the testing reports of 649 probands with pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants referred to 28 public and private health care centers distributed across 11 Brazilian States. Overall, 126 and 103 distinct mutations were identified in BRCA1 and BRCA2, respectively. Twenty-six novel variants were reported from both genes, and BRCA2 showed higher mutational heterogeneity. Some recurrent mutations were reported exclusively in certain geographic regions, suggesting a founder effect. Our findings confirm that there is significant molecular heterogeneity in these genes among Brazilian carriers, while also suggesting that this heterogeneity precludes the use of screening protocols that include recurrent mutation testing only. This is the first study to show that profiles of recurrent mutations may be unique to different Brazilian regions. These data should be explored in larger regional cohorts to determine if screening with a panel of recurrent mutations would be effective.