scholarly journals Narrative Medicine: A Digital Diary in the Management of Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma Patients. Preliminary Results of a Multidisciplinary Pilot Study

2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 406
Author(s):  
Maria Cecilia Cercato ◽  
Sabrina Vari ◽  
Gabriella Maggi ◽  
Wioletta Faltyn ◽  
Concetta Elisa Onesti ◽  
...  

Background. Guidelines for the implementation of narrative medicine in clinical practice exist; however, in Italy, no standard methodology is currently available for the management of oncological patients. Since 2017, at the “Regina Elena” National Cancer Institute, studies using “digital narrative diaries” (DNMLAB platform) have been carried out; this article focuses on a pilot, uncontrolled, real-life study aiming to evaluate the utility of DNM integrated with the care pathway of patients with bone and limb soft tissue sarcomas. Methods. Adult patients completed the diary during treatment or follow-up by writing their narrative guided by a set of narrative prompts. The endpoints were: (a) patients’ opinions about therapeutic alliance, awareness, and coping ability; (b) healthcare professionals’ (HCPs’) opinions about communication, therapeutic alliance, and information collection. Open- and closed-ended questions (Likert score: 1–5) were used to assess the items. Results. At the interim analysis of data from seven patients and five HCPs, DNM was shown to improve: (a) the expression of patients’ point of view, the perception of effective taking charge, disease awareness, and self-empowerment (score: 4.8/5); (b) patients’ communication, relationships, and illness knowledge (score: 4.6–4.8/5). Conclusions. The preliminary results supported the need to integrate patients’ narratives with clinical data and encourage further research.

Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 512
Author(s):  
Celine Jacobs ◽  
Lore Lapeire

Soft tissue sarcomas are a group of rare mesenchymal tumors with more than 70 subtypes described. Treatment of these subtypes in an advanced setting is mainly according to a one-size-fits-all strategy indicating a high unmet need of new and more targeted therapeutic options in order to optimize survival. The introduction of advanced molecular techniques in cancer has led to better diagnostics and identification of new therapeutic targets, leading to more personalized treatment and improved prognosis for several cancer types. In sarcoma, a likewise evolution is seen, albeit at a slower pace. This manuscript describes how in the past years advanced molecular profiling in soft tissue sarcomas was able to identify specific and often pathognomonic aberrations, deferring standard sarcoma treatment in favor of more targeted treatment from an oncologist’s point of view.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (14) ◽  
pp. 7518
Author(s):  
Marcella Tazzari ◽  
Laura Bergamaschi ◽  
Alessandro De Vita ◽  
Paola Collini ◽  
Marta Barisella ◽  
...  

Soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) are a family of rare malignant tumors encompassing more than 80 histologies. Current therapies for metastatic STS, a condition that affects roughly half of patients, have limited efficacy, making innovative therapeutic strategies urgently needed. From a molecular point of view, STSs can be classified as translocation-related and those with a heavily rearranged genotype. Although only the latter display an increased mutational burden, molecular profiles suggestive of an “immune hot” tumor microenvironment are observed across STS histologies, and response to immunotherapy has been reported in both translocation-related and genetic complex STSs. These data reinforce the notion that immunity in STSs is multifaceted and influenced by both genetic and epigenetic determinants. Cumulative evidence indicates that a fine characterization of STSs at different levels is required to identify biomarkers predictive of immunotherapy response and to discover targetable pathways to switch on the immune sensitivity of “immune cold” tumors. In this review, we will summarize recent findings on the interplay between genetic landscape, molecular profiling and immunity in STSs. Immunological and molecular features will be discussed for their prognostic value in selected STS histologies. Finally, the local and systemic immunomodulatory effects of the targeted drugs imatinib and sunitinib will be discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Benjamin

Dr. Gianni Bonadonna is internationally recognized as one of the foremost medical oncologists of the 20th century. He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer, but he was also the father of sarcoma chemotherapy. The first investigator to study the new chemotherapeutic agent adriamycin in the late 1960s, he noted activity against sarcomas. This article, focusing on adjuvant chemotherapy, adriamycin, and sarcomas, memorializes his achievements and their progeny.


1995 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Verweij ◽  
H.T. Mouridsen ◽  
O.S. Nielssen ◽  
P.J. Woll ◽  
R. Somers ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 107815522092407
Author(s):  
Sinan Koca ◽  
Mehmet Beşiroğlu ◽  
Melike Özçelik ◽  
Mustafa Karaca ◽  
Mehmet Bilici ◽  
...  

Purpose Soft tissue sarcomas are associated with a poor prognosis and low chemotherapeutic efficiency. Pazopanib is an orally available multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that was explored in patients with non-adipocytic advanced soft tissue sarcomas. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the real life data of single-agent pazopanib efficacy and safety for soft tissue sarcomas in the Turkish population. Materials and methods We evaluated a total of 103 patients (41 males, 62 females) who received pazopanib for advanced non-adipocytic soft tissue sarcomas diagnosis in eight centers of Turkey, retrospectively. The pazopanib dose was 800 mg once daily. Progression-free survival, overall survival, and adverse events were analyzed. Results The median age was 50 years (range, 38–58). Majority of the patients had leimyosarcoma (41%). Median progression-free survival was 4.3 months, and the median overall survival was 10.1 months. The main common toxicities were fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, nausea, hypertension, and grade ≥3 toxicities were fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, and liver disorder. Conclusion Pazopanib is an efficient and tolerable agent and is well tolerated in good performance status patients with relapsed, advanced non-adipocytic soft tissue sarcomas.


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