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Introduction: Early integration of palliative care and advance care planning (ACP) play an increasingly important role in the treatment of patients with advanced cancer. Advance directives (ADs) and patients' preferences regarding end-of-life (EoL) care are important aspects of ACP. In the outpatient setting, the prevalence of those documents and EoL care wishes is not well investigated, and changes in the longitudinal course are poorly understood. Methods: From June 2020 to August 2022, 67 outpatients with advanced solid tumors undergoing palliative cancer therapy were interviewed on the topic of ACP in a longitudinal course. From this database, the prevalence of ADs, healthcare proxy, EoL care wishes, and the need for counseling regarding these issues were collected. In addition, EoL care wishes were examined for their stability. Results: Fifty-one patients (76.1%) reported having ADs, and 41 patients (61.2%) reported having a healthcare proxy. Nineteen patients (37.3%) with ADs and 11 patients (68.7%) without ADs indicated a wish for counseling. Reported EoL care wishes remained stable over a period of approximately 6 months. Nevertheless, intraindividual changes occurred over time within the different EoL care preferences. The desire for resuscitation and dialysis were significantly higher in men than in women (resuscitation: 15 of 21 men [71.4%] versus 9 of 22 women [40.9%], odds ratio [OR] 3.611, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01–12.89, p = 0.048; dialysis: 16 of the 23 men [69.6%] versus 9 of the 25 women [36.0%], OR: 4.063, 95% CI: 1.22–13.58, p = 0.023). Conclusion: Our results show a reasonably high percentage of ADs and healthcare proxies in our study cohort. The observed stability of EoL requests encourages the implementation of structured queries for ADs and healthcare proxy for outpatients undergoing palliative treatment. Our data suggest that gender-specific characteristics should be further investigated in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication of cancer. This study aimed to evaluate immature platelet fraction (IPF), mean platelet volume (MPV), P-selectin, D-dimer, and thrombin generation (TG) as predictive biomarkers for VTE and further the improvement of existing risk assessment models (RAMs). Methods: A prospective, observational, exploratory study was conducted on ambulatory cancer patients with indication for systemic chemotherapy. Baseline RAMs included the Khorana-, Vienna Cancer, Thrombosis-, Protecht-, ONKOTEV-, and Catscore. IPF, MPV, P-selectin, D-dimer, and TG were analysed at baseline and 3-month follow-up. Results: We enrolled 100 patients, of whom 89 completed the follow-up. Frequent tumour types were breast (30%), gastric (14%), gynaecological (14%), and colorectal (14%) cancer. Ten of the 89 patients (11.2%) developed VTE. The highest VTE rate was observed in patients with cholangiocarcinoma (3/5; 60%). Baseline D-dimer levels but not IPF, MPV, or P-selectin were associated with the risk of developing VTE (HR 6.9; p = 0.021). None of the RAMs showed statistical significance in predicting VTE. Peak thrombin and endogenous thrombin potential were lower in patients who developed VTE. Biomarker changes between baseline and follow-up were not associated with VTE risk. Conclusions: VTE risk was well predicted by baseline D-dimer levels. Adding D-dimer could improve existing RAMs to better identify patients who may benefit from primary VTE prophylaxis. The VTE risk among patients with cholangiocarcinoma should be further evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinomas (MANECs) are rare malignancies with both neuroendocrine and non-neuroendocrine components. To date, the prognosis of gastroenteropancreatic MANECs remains dismal, and treatment options are mainly based on guidelines for the treatment of pure neuroendocrine carcinomas or small cell lung cancer. Established first-line therapy in the metastatic situation is cisplatin and etoposide. Platinum derivatives are known to cause a variety of side effects also involving the visual system. Severe orbital and optic nerve toxicities have been described mainly after intracarotid infusion of cisplatin. Case Report: Herein we report a rare case of a 60-year-old male patient suffering from MANEC of the gastroesophageal junction with HER2/neu overexpression who developed severe orbital and ocular neurotoxicity (grade 3 according to CTCAE v4.03) after intravenous cisplatin. Conclusion: We discuss diagnostic approaches and differential diagnoses in this clinical situation. Before starting treatment with intravenous and topical steroids, it is crucial to rule out meningeal and cerebral spread as well as paraneoplastic and endocrine syndromes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]