Geographic Distribution and Survival Outcomes for Rural Patients With Cancer Treated in Clinical Trials

Abstract. L-arginine is an important factor in several physiological and biochemical processes. Recently, scientists studied L-arginine effect on inflammatory mediators such as C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). We conducted a systematic review on randomized controlled trials assessing L-arginine effect on inflammatory mediators. We searched data bases including Google scholar, ISI web of science, SCOPUS, and PubMed/Medline up to April 2019. Randomized clinical trials assessing the effect of L-arginine on inflammatory mediators in human adults were included. Our search retrieved eleven articles with 387 participants. Five articles were on patients with cancer and 6 articles were on adults without cancer. L-arginine was applied in enteral form in 5 articles and in oral form in 6 articles. Eight articles were on both genders, two articles were on women, and one article was on men. L-arginine could not reduce inflammatory mediators among patients with and without cancer except one article which indicated that taking L-arginine for 6 months decreased IL-6 among cardiopathic nondiabetic patients. Our results indicated that L-arginine might not be able to reduce selected inflammatory mediators, but for making a firm decision more studies are needed to be conducted with longer intervention duration, separately on male and female and with different doses of L-arginine.

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Rationale for heparin treatment of colon cancer

Hämostaseologie ◽

10.1055/s-0037-1619481 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 20 (03) ◽

pp. 136-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

D. L. Ornstein ◽

L. R. Zacharski

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trials ◽

Substantial Improvement ◽

Patients With Cancer ◽

Coagulation Mechanism ◽

Anticoagulant Drug ◽

Cancer Outcome ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

Improvement In Survival ◽

Spectrum Of Patients ◽

To Receive

SummaryIt is widely known that the systemic blood coagulation mechanism is often activated in malignancy, leading to an increased incidence of vascular thromboses in patients with cancer. It is not widely appreciated, however, that products of the coagulation mechanism may also support tumor growth and dissemination. Interest in this approach to cancer therapy has surged recently because of mounting evidence that the familiar anticoagulant drug, heparin, may impede tumor progression. Heparin has the capacity to modify angiogenesis, growth factor and protease activity, immune function, cell proliferation and gene expression in ways that may block malignant dissemination. Clinical trials in which heparin has been administered to a broad spectrum of patients to prevent or treat thrombosis have unexpectedly shown improvement in survival in the subset of patients with malignancy entered to these studies. Meta-analyses of clinical trials comparing unfractionated (UF) versus low molecular weight (LMW) heparin treating venous thromboembolism suggest that there may be substantial improvement in cancer outcome in patients with malignancy randomized to receive LMW heparin. These findings provide a rationale for definitive clinical trials of LMW heparin in cancer, and the results of several such studies that are currently underway are awaited with interest.

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Treatment and secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients

Onkologische Welt ◽

10.1055/s-0038-1630173 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 03 (03) ◽

pp. 121-125

Author(s):

I. Pabinger ◽

C. Ay

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trials ◽

Venous Thromboembolism ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Factor Xa ◽

New Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Phase Iii ◽

Patients With Cancer ◽

Potential Use

SummaryCancer is a major and independent risk factor of venous thromboembolism (VTE). In clinical practice, a high number of VTE events occurs in patients with cancer, and treatment of cancerassociated VTE differs in several aspects from treatment of VTE in the general population. However, treatment in cancer patients remains a major challenge, as the risk of recurrence of VTE as well as the risk of major bleeding during anticoagulation is substantially higher in patients with cancer than in those without cancer. In several clinical trials, different anticoagulants and regimens have been investigated for treatment of acute VTE and secondary prophylaxis in cancer patients to prevent recurrence. Based on the results of these trials, anticoagulant therapy with low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWH) has become the treatment of choice in cancer patients with acute VTE in the initial period and for extended and long-term anticoagulation for 3-6 months. New oral anticoagulants directly inhibiting thrombin or factor Xa, have been developed in the past decade and studied in large phase III clinical trials. Results from currently completed trials are promising and indicate their potential use for treatment of VTE. However, the role of the new oral thrombin and factor Xa inhibitors for VTE treatment in cancer patients still has to be clarified in further studies specifically focusing on cancer-associated VTE. This brief review will summarize the current strategies of initial and long-term VTE treatment in patients with cancer and discuss the potential use of the new oral anticoagulants.

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EPID-07. ACCESS TO GLIOBLASTOMA CLINICAL TRIALS FOR RURAL PATIENTS IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 2010–2020

Neuro-Oncology ◽

10.1093/neuonc/noaa215.325 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. ii79-ii79

Author(s):

Kathryn Nevel ◽

Samuel Capouch ◽

Lisa Arnold ◽

Katherine Peters ◽

Nimish Mohile ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

Rural Communities ◽

The United States ◽

Interventional Treatment ◽

Phase Ii Trials ◽

Treatment Trials ◽

Rural Sites ◽

Rural Patients ◽

Urban Sites

Abstract BACKGROUND Patients in rural communities have less access to optimal cancer care and clinical trials. For GBM, access to experimental therapies, and consideration of a clinical trial is embedded in national guidelines. Still, the availability of clinical trials to rural communities, representing 20% of the US population, has not been described. METHODS We queried ClinicalTrials.gov for glioblastoma interventional treatment trials opened between 1/2010 and 1/2020 in the United States. We created a Structured Query Language database and leveraged Google application programming interfaces (API) Places to find name and street addresses for the sites, and Google’s Geocode API to determine the county location. Counties were classified by US Department of Agriculture Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC 1–3 = urban and RUCC 4–9 = rural). We used z-ratios for rural-urban statistical comparisons. RESULTS We identified 406 interventional treatment trials for GBM at 1491 unique sites. 8.7% of unique sites were in rural settings. Rural sites opened an average of 1.7 trials/site and urban sites 2.8 trials/site from 1/2010–1/2020. Rural sites offered more phase II trials (63% vs 57%, p= 0.03) and fewer phase I trials (22% vs 28%, p= 0.01) than urban sites. Rural locations were more likely to offer federally-sponsored trials (p< 0.002). There were no investigator-initiated or single-institution trials offered at rural locations, and only 1% of industry trials were offered rurally. DISCUSSION Clinical trials for GBM were rarely open in rural areas, and were more dependent on federal funding. Clinical trials are likely difficult to access for rural patients, and this has important implications for the generalizability of research as well as how we engage the field of neuro-oncology and patient advocacy groups in improving patient access to trials. Increasing the number of clinical trials in rural locations may enable more rural patients to access and enroll in GBM studies.

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