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This document summarizes the key findings and insights from the 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual meeting, with a focus on thoracic oncology. It covers various topics such as immunotherapy-based therapy in nonmetastatic settings, radiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and bispecific T-cell engagers in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The report includes data from clinical trials and studies, highlighting the effectiveness and safety of different treatment approaches. It also mentions the approval of certain therapies by regulatory bodies and emphasizes the need for further research in specific patient subgroups. Authored by a team of experts, this report provides valuable insights and perspectives for library patrons conducting research in this field. [Extracted from the article]

The article provides an overview of key findings from the 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual meeting in the field of thoracic oncology, specifically focusing on targeted therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The studies discussed highlight the safety and efficacy of various targeted therapies, such as adagrasib plus pembrolizumab for patients with a specific genetic mutation, and the combination of atezolizumab, bevacizumab, carboplatin, and paclitaxel for other genetic mutations. The article acknowledges the positive outcomes observed in these trials but also emphasizes the need for further research and understanding of these therapies. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: Modern, personalized treatment concepts in oncology require an interdisciplinary and multiprofessional collaboration. In addition to its relevance in patient care, interdisciplinary collaboration is also becoming increasingly important in clinical research as well as medical education and resident training in oncology. Methods: Between November 2021 and March 2022, an online survey was conducted among German early career research groups, represented by Young Oncologists United (YOU). The aim was to identify the status and need for interdisciplinarity at clinic, educational, and research levels. Results: A total of 294 participants completed the questionnaire in full. 90.7% of the respondents fully or predominantly agreed with the statement that interdisciplinary work plays a major role in their daily clinical work. 78.9% wished for more interdisciplinary collaboration. Of the 49.7% of participants who have never participated in an interdisciplinary research project, 80.1% said they would like to participate in such a study project in the future. Lack of time resources, too much organizational effort, and possible political conflicts between institutions were identified as factors that make practical implementation difficult. 74.1% declared their willingness to become active in an oncology early career research group. Conclusion: Interdisciplinary collaboration has become increasingly important in oncology. Networks that span different disciplines could help to promote interdisciplinary research projects among young scientists and improve exchange in professional practice and education with the implication of improved patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disorders. Here, patients suffer from multiple breathing pauses longer than 10 s during the night which are referred to as apneas. The standard method for the diagnosis of sleep apnea is the attended cardiorespiratory polysomnography (PSG). However, this method is expensive and the extensive recording equipment can have a significant impact on sleep quality falsifying the results. To overcome these problems, a comfortable and novel system for sleep monitoring based on the recording of tracheal sounds and movement data is developed. For apnea detection, a unique signal processing method utilizing both signals is introduced. Additionally, an algorithm for extracting the heart rate from body sounds is developed. For validation, ten subjects underwent a full-night PSG testing, using the developed sleep monitor in concurrence. Considering polysomnography as gold standard the developed instrumentation reached a sensitivity of 92.8% and a specificity of 99.7% for apnea detection. Heart rate measured with the proposed method was strongly correlated with heart rate derived from conventional ECG (r 2 = 0.8164). No significant signal losses are reported during the study. In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel approach to reliably and noninvasively detect both apneas and heart rate during sleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the SQUIRE study, adding the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) IgG1 antibody necitumumab to first-line gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC + N) in advanced squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC) significantly improved overall survival (OS); the safety profile was acceptable. We explored data for the German subpopulation (N = 96) of SQUIRE patients with EGFR-expressing tumors. Patient and Methods: Patients with stage IV sqNSCLC were randomized 1: 1 to up to 6 cycles of open-label GC + N or GC alone. GC + N patients with no progression continued on necitumumab monotherapy until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. The primary endpoint was OS; the secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), safety and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D, Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS)). Results: The 96 German SQUIRE patients with EGFR-expressing tumors (GC + N 42, GC 54) received a median of 4 GC cycles; the GC + N patients received 5 cycles of necitumumab. Adding necitumumab was associated with 41% risk reduction of death (hazard ratio (HR) 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.37-0.94, p = 0.026) and 44% risk reduction of progression (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.33-0.95, p = 0.029). Adverse events typically associated with EGFR antibody treatment (including rash, hypomagnesemia) were more common with GC + N. The time to deterioration of the EQ-5D and LCSS scores showed no notable differences between the treatment arms, except for appetite loss (delayed for GC + N). Conclusion: The survival benefit from adding necitumumab to first-line GC was more pronounced in the German SQUIRE subpopulation with EGFR-expressing tumors than in the overall (intentionto- treat) population; toxicity was manageable and consistent with the overall population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During physical exercise, pulse transit time (PTT), expressed as the interval between ventricular electrical activity and peripheral pulse wave, may provide a surrogate estimate for blood pressure by the use of specific calibration procedures. The objective of this study was to determine systolic blood pressure (SBP) values derived from the PTT method and from an established method of non-invasive continuous blood pressure measurement based on the volume clamp technique, and to compare their agreement with sphygmomanometry during exercise tests. In 18 subjects, electrocardiogram (ECG) and finger-photoplethysmography were continuously recorded during maximal cycle exercise tests. Intermittent and continuous blood pressure measurements were simultaneously taken using automated sphygmomanometry and a Portapres Model-2 device, respectively. PTT was calculated for each ECG R-wave and the corresponding steepest upstroke slope in the photoplethysmogram, and was transformed to a continuous blood pressure estimate using multipoint nonlinear regression calibration based on the individual subject's sphygmomanometer readings. Bland–Altman limits of agreement between PTT-derived SBP estimates and sphygmomanometer values were –24.7 to 24.1 mmHg, and between Portapres and sphygmomanometer SBP values were –42.0 to 70.1 mmHg. For beat-to-beat SBP estimation during exercise, PTT measurement combined with multipoint nonlinear regression calibration based on intermittent sphygmomanometry may be an alternative to volume clamp devices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Obstructive sleep apnea ( OSA) is generally considered an etiologic factor in the development of hypertension ( HT), but the exact pathophysiological mechanisms remain incompletely explained. Portapres continuous non-invasive blood pressure ( BP) measurement during polysomnography ( PSG) might be a powerful tool for future research to better understand these mechanisms. However, the effect of overnight Portapres BP monitoring itself on sleep is unclear. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of Portapres BP measurement on sleep quality during PSG. In a matched groups design, 40 patients with treated or suspected, untreated sleep apnea underwent one overnight PSG either with or without simultaneous Portapres BP measurement. Twenty PSG recordings with additional Portapres monitoring and 20 gender and treatment matched control PSGs were investigated. Total recording time was significantly lower in the Portapres group than in the control group (414.6 vs 443.4 min, P = 0.046). No statistically significant differences were observed in arousal index (20.6 vs 23.3 events/h), total sleep time (312.0 vs 324.6 min), sleep efficiency (75.2 vs 73.9%), sleep onset latency (20.4 vs 22.2 min), REM-sleep (16.1 vs 15.0%) and slow-wave sleep (8.9 and 11.5%) between the Portapres and the control group. The results of this analysis suggest that Portapres BP measurement during overnight PSG does not have a clinically relevant impact on sleep quality and might therefore be a good diagnostic tool for future research on dynamic BP changes in sleep apnea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The importance of clinical predictors in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has increased during the last decade. This retrospective study analyzed the combined patient-level data from two phase II trials that investigated the efficacy and safety of combination chemotherapy with vinorelbine and mitomycin in patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC. The aim of this analysis was to determine if patients' baseline and disease characteristics, including histology, gender, smoking history, and expression of TTF-1, might be potential predictors of outcome. Methods: Response rates, unadjusted survival times, and Cox covariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated. Results were reported separately for each subgroup in each individual trial and in the pooled data set. Results: A total of 175 patients were included in this analysis. Adjusted HRs for both overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) favored the nonadenocarcinoma histology subgroup, achieving a statistical significance for OS in the pooled data ( n = 175; HR 0.68; 95 % CI 0.49-0.94; p = 0.019). TTF-1-negative immunohistochemistry was associated with a significantly higher response rate (25 vs. 0 %; p = 0.04) and with a nonsignificant advantage in OS ( n = 33; HR 1.23; 95 % CI 0.56-2.73; p = 0.608). Gender and smoking history were not strongly related to outcome. Conclusions: The results of this analysis indicate that patients with nonadenocarcinoma histology might get superior benefit from combination chemotherapy with vinorelbine and mitomycin. These results should be confirmed in a prospective study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Long COVID syndrome refers to long-term sequelae of the novel viral disease, which occur even in patients with initially mild disease courses. However, there is still little evidence of the actual organic consequences and their frequency, and there is no standardized workup to diagnose long COVID syndrome yet. In this study, we aim to determine the efficiency of a stepwise diagnostic approach for reconvalescent COVID-19 patients with cardiopulmonary symptoms. (2) Methods: The diagnostic workup for long COVID syndrome included three steps. In the first step, the focus was on broad applicability (e.g., blood tests and body plethysmography). In the second step, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and cardiac MRI (CMR) were used. The third step was tailored to the individual needs of each patient. The observation period lasted from 22 February to 14 May 2021. (3) Results: We examined 231 patients in our long COVID unit (mean [SD] age, 47.8 [14.9], 132 [57.1%] women). Acute illness occurred a mean (SD) of 121 (77) days previously. Suspicious findings in the first visit were seen in 80 (34.6%) patients, prompting further diagnostics. Thirty-six patients were further examined with CPET and CMR. Of those, 16 (44.4%) had pathological findings. The rest had functional complaints without organ damage ("functional long COVID"). Cardiopulmonary sequelae were found in asymptomatic as well as severe courses of the initial COVID-19 disease. (4) Conclusions: A structured diagnostic pathway for the diagnosis of long COVID syndrome is practicable and rational in terms of resource allocation. With this approach, manifest organ damage can be accurately and comprehensively diagnosed and distinguished from functional complaints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]