Cancer Fatalism and Preferred Sources of Cancer Information: an Assessment Using 2012 HINTS Data

Abstract

Cancer fatalism is associated with lower participation in cancer screening, nonadherence to cancer screening guidelines, and avoidance of medical care. Few studies, however, have examined the relationship between cancer fatalism and health information seeking. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between endorsement of fatalistic beliefs regarding cancer and preferred sources of cancer information. We analyzed data from the Health Information National Trends Survey 4 Cycle 2, which were collected in late 2012 and early 2013 (N = 3630). When weighted, the data are representative of the non-institutionalized US population aged 18 or older. In bivariate and multivariate analyses, we assessed three cancer fatalism beliefs as predictors of preferred use of healthcare provider versus preferred use of the Internet for cancer information. Results indicate the majority of US adults endorse one or more fatalistic beliefs about cancer. Unadjusted results indicate endorsing the fatalistic belief that "there's not much you can do to lower your chances of getting cancer" was significantly associated with lower odds of preferring the Internet (versus healthcare providers) as the source of cancer information (OR: 0.70; CI: 0.50, 0.98). In the adjusted model, however, none of the three cancer fatalism measures were significantly associated with preferred source of cancer information. In conclusion, fatalistic beliefs about cancer are common, and further research is warranted to understand cancer fatalism and whether and how it may impact health information-seeking behaviors.

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Issue Information

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Current management and future directions in metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Of the anticipated 50,000 individuals expected to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2016, the majority will have metastatic disease. Given the noncurative nature of advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma, treatment is aimed at inducing disease regression, controlling symptom, and extending life. The last 5 years have been marked by advances in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer, specifically the approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of 2 combination chemotherapy regimens and the widespread use of a third, which have reproducibly been shown to improve survival. Ongoing studies are building on these regimens along with targeted and immunotherapeutic agents. This article will review the current treatment standards and emerging targets for metastatic pancreatic cancer. Cancer 2016. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

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Immunotherapy for prostate cancer: False promises or true hope?

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer-related death for men in the United States. Despite the approval of several new agents for advanced disease, each of these has prolonged survival by only a few months. Consequently, new therapies are sorely needed. For other cancer types, immunotherapy has demonstrated dramatic and durable treatment responses, causing many to hope that immunotherapies might provide an ideal treatment approach for patients with advanced prostate cancer. However, apart from sipuleucel-T, prostate cancer has been conspicuously absent from the list of malignancies for which immunotherapies have received recent approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. This has left some wondering whether immunotherapy will "work" for this disease. In this review, the authors describe current developments in immunotherapy, including approaches to engage tumor-targeting T cells, disrupt immune regulation, and alter the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The authors then describe the recent application of these approaches to the treatment of prostate cancer. Given the Food and Drug Administration approval of 1 agent, and the finding that several others are in advanced stages of clinical testing, the authors believe that immunotherapies offer real hope to improve patient outcomes for men with prostate cancer, especially as investigators begin to explore rational combinations of immunotherapies and combine these therapies with other conventional therapies. Cancer 2016. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

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The psychosocial experiences of women with breast cancer across the lifespan: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective

To summarize the psychosocial experience of women with breast cancer from a lifespan perspective by examining the findings of qualitative studies.

Methods

A meta-aggregate review of 24 qualitative studies was undertaken. To be included, studies must include women with a breast cancer diagnosis and focus on younger or older women (as defined by the study), or compare a psychosocial issue across the lifespan. Eight databases were searched systematically.

Results

Study participants ranged in age from 26 to 91 years. Sixteen studies focused on younger women, six focused on older women, and two included women across the lifespan. A total of 155 findings were extracted from the studies, and were aggregated into 11 categories. These were synthesized into four synthesized findings: 1) dealing with cancer, 2) the importance of caring, 3) the aftermath of cancer, and 4) fertility and infertility.

Conclusions

Further research is required to explore these findings, and to examine the needs of older women in particular. Delineating the similarities and differences in the needs of women across the lifespan will inform the development of psychosocial interventions for all women with breast cancer.

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Next-generation sequencing adds value to the preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic cysts

BACKGROUND

The diagnosis of a pancreatic cyst as mucinous or high-risk dictates the need for follow-up or surgery. Molecular analysis of aspirated pancreatic cyst fluid (PCF) can provide valuable information not obtained by carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) analysis or cytology.

METHODS

All patients who underwent molecular analysis of PCF between March 2013 and June 2015 were reviewed, including pathology, imaging, and follow-up. Molecular testing was performed using a patented, anchored multiplex polymerase chain reaction next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform, which sequenced numerous hotspots in 39 genes linked with malignancy. Performance of NGS and cytology was calculated using final outcome, as determined by clinicopathologic follow-up.

RESULTS

The study cohort included 113 PCFs from 105 patients. In total, 119 variants were detected in 67 PCFs (59%). Variants were more common in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs)/cancer than in nonmucinous cysts (P < .005). The inclusion of v-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS)/guanine nucleotide-binding protein (GNAS) variants improved the classification of IPMNs as mucinous from 50% by microscopy to 100%. Seventy-five percent of cancers had high-grade atypia versus 0% of IPMNs and nonmucinous cysts (P < .002). Variants in tumor protein 53 (TP53), SMAD family member 4 (SMAD4), cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A), and notch1 (NOTCH1) were detected only in malignant cysts. Cytology was similarly specific (100%) for detecting malignant cysts but was more sensitive than the identification of late mutations by NGS (75% vs 46%).

CONCLUSIONS

The detection of KRAS/GNAS variants improves the identification of mucinous neoplasms. Variants in TP53, SMAD4, CDKN2A, and NOTCH1 support the diagnosis of a high-risk cyst requiring surgery or additional sampling. Although molecular analysis is not a replacement for cytopathology, it does provide valuable information for accurate preoperative diagnosis, helping to classify mucinous neoplasms and high-risk cysts that require surgical resection. Cancer Cytopathol 2016. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

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Robotic gastrectomy versus open gastrectomy in the treatment of gastric cancer

Abstract

Background

Robotic gastrectomy (RG) has been developed to improve surgical quality and to overcome the limitations of conventional open gastrectomy (OG) for gastric cancer. The aim of this meta-analysis is to comprehensively compare the safety and efficacy between robotic surgery and open surgery for treating gastric cancer.

Methods

Major databases were searched for retrospective case-matched studies comparing RG and OG for treating gastric cancer. A list of these studies, published in English from 1990 to 2016, was obtained independently by two reviewers from databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Web of Science. Intraoperative data, oncological outcomes and postoperative complications were compared using Review Manager 5.3.

Results

Seven studies involving 5970 patients with 606 cases of RG and 5364 cases of OG were included in this meta-analysis. Compared to OG, RG has a significantly longer operation time [weighted mean differences (WMD) = 63.72, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 33.83–93.61, P < 0.0001], lower blood loss (WMD: −129.74, 95 % CI −178.31 to −81.16, P < 0.00001) and shorter hospital stay (WMD = −2.39, 95 % CI −2.92 to −1.87; P < 0.00001). No statistical difference was noted based on the rate of overall postoperative complication, wound infection, bleeding, ileus and obstruction, abdominal collections and abscesses, and the rate of anastomotic leak in the RG versus OG. Postoperative oncological outcomes showed that there were also no statistical differences among the number of retrieved lymph nodes, proximal resection margin, distal resection margin except for tumor size (WMD = −1.60; 95 % CI −2.96 to −0.25; P = 0.02).

Conclusion

The results of this meta-analysis suggest that RG will be more accessible than conventional OG for gastric cancer. However, more prospective, well-designed, multicenter, randomized controlled trials are necessary to further evaluate the safety and efficacy as well as the long-term outcome of this technology.

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