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OBJECTIVE: In patients with breast cancer and positive hormone receptors, aromatase inhibitors are effective in reducing the risk of recurrences and are active in progressing the disease in this setting. On the other hand, fatigue and painful musculoskeletal side effects can significantly reduce treatment compliance. With no further treatment options to control these symptoms, non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as oxygen-ozone therapy, may play a role in managing rheumatologic symptomatology inasmuch. We have previously reported evidence on the effectiveness of oxygen-ozone in the treatment of pain and fatigue in chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia patients and in oncological patients as well. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, we reported 6 cases of patients (mean age 64 yrs, all Caucasian females) with breast cancer upon treatment with anastrozole (Arimidex®), suffering from musculoskeletal pain, weakness and fatigue, and therefore treated with oxygen-ozone major autohemotherapy according to the Italian Scientific Society of Oxygen Ozone Therapy (SIOOT) protocol. Pain was measured with a 10-item Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and fatigue with a 7-item Fatigue Scoring Scale (FSS). RESULTS: A reduction of at least 66% of pain (from 9.43 ±0.54 SD to 2.36 ±1.32 SD, p<0.001) and 66.26% of fatigue were obtained for all the cases. Pain and fatigue disappeared within one month from ozone therapy, and a healthy painless state lasted for many months following the oxygen-ozone therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The oxygen-ozone therapy is a sound opportunity for breast cancer patients to reduce anti-aromatase-induced pain, fatigue, and musculoskeletal symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic generated concerns about the healthcare of patients with cancer, not simply because of the formidable impact of COVID-19 patients in the public healthcare system, but also due to the overlapping pathognomonic signs of many forms of lung cancer with lung injuries associated with COVID-19. This report tries to shed light on the issue. We evaluated the great concern of people suffering from lung cancer and also infected with SARS-CoV-2 by discussing evidence and data from current literature. Lung cancer in Italy has represented more than 1 case/4 (27%) in the latest ten years and nevertheless, even due to the concurrence of many complex interplays between COVID-19 and cancer even at the immune level, a consensus protocol and expert guidelines to diagnose and treat lung cancer upon SARS-CoV-2 infection are yet lacking. New insights and consensus panels should be therefore proposed, even at the simplistic level about if priority must be either given to COVID-19 or to cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) has deeply modified the outcome of HIV patients by improving their overall survival and ameliorating their quality of life (QoL). The prolongation of these patients’ survival has led to an increased risk of highly diffused non-infectious diseases, e.g., cardiovascular diseases, endocrine disease, neurological diseases, and cancer. The management of antiretroviral therapy and anticancer agents (AC) can be challenging, due to the possible drug-drug interactions (DDI) between AC and ART. For this reason, a multidisciplinary approach is always preferred as demonstrated by the GICAT (Italian Cooperation Group on AIDS and Tumors). This review aims to analyze the current scientific data regarding the possible effects of ART on the management of HIV-positive cancer patients and to evaluate the possible DDIs that must be taken into consideration when co-administrating ART and AC. A collaboration between all the involved professional figures, particularly infectious disease specialists and oncologists, represents the key to the correct managing of these patients in order to guarantee the best oncological outcome possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a concerning chronic disease showing as widespread pain, muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances, chronic fatigue, and depressed mood, for which no sound therapy is yet available to date. In this article we assessed a wider patients' cohort the efficacy of oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy (O2-O3-AHT) previously reported. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A number of 200 FM-patients accessed the study and were treated with 3-4 runs of O2-O3-AHT, following their signed consent. A modified 10 points-PI-NRS were used to evaluate pain intensity before and after the conclusion of the complete ozone-treatment cycle (1 month). Kruskall-Wallis' test and other statistics were used at p<0.05 level of significance. RESULTS: A quite complete rehabilitation of the musculoskeletal function and of the overall arthralgia was observed in 76% of the patients at one month of follow-up. The number of patients having a reduction in the PI-NRS score from 10 (the maximal observed) to 3 (including 10-1 and 10-2) following only two runs of O2-O3-AHT was 23.5%, whereas only 17.5% did not show any significant improvement (ΔPI-NRS = 0 o r 1), so a ssessing that the efficacy of O2-O3-AHT, independently from ages, encompassed at least 41% in a moderate way and 64.5% of the treated patients, as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: Oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy represents a formidable therapeutic approach for FM, deserving further studies to be made in order to fully elucidate ozone effect of this pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV2 infection (PASC) are a novel terminology used to describe post-COVID persistent symptoms, mimicking somehow the previously described chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). In this manuscript, we evaluated a therapeutical approach to address PASC-derived fatigue in a cohort of past-COVID-19 positive patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A number of 100 patients, previously diagnosed as COVID-19 positive subjects and meeting our eligibility criteria, was diagnosed having PASC-related fatigue. They were recruited in the study and treated with oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy (O2-O3-AHT), according to the SIOOT protocol. Patients’ response to O2-O3-AHT and changes in fatigue were measured with the 7-scoring Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), according to previously published protocols. RESULTS: Statistics assessed that the effects of O2-O3-AHT on fatigue reduced PASC symptoms by 67%, as a mean, in all the investigated cohort of patients (H = 148.4786 p < 0.0001) (Figure 1). Patients following O2-O3- AHT therapy, quite completely recovered for PASC-associated fatigue, a quote amounting to about two fifths (around 40%) of the whole cohort undergoing ozone treatment and despite most of patients were female subjects, the effect was not influenced by sex distribution (H = 0.7353, p = 0.39117). CONCLUSIONS: Ozone therapy is able to recover normal functionality and to relief pain and discomfort in the form of PASC-associated fatigue in at least 67% of patients suffering from post-COVID sequelae, aside from sex and age distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The huge concern raised by SARS-CoV2 pandemic about public health management and social impact is still under debate, particularly because COVID-19 may affect infected people much longer than expected from a typical air-borne viral disease. The scientific community is actually wondering about the etiopathogenesis and clinical development of this "post-COVID" complex symptomatology, very close to symptoms typically observed in chronic fatigue syndrome, so recently named as "postacute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC)". This commentary tries to focus on the most recent news about this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs about bio-integrative medicine of Integrating medical knowledge to improve science with a novel, straightforward attitude. Topics include use novelties coming from research in order to ameliorate the human existence; and Pluralism in science has to be considered a sort of priceless wealth but probably the dramatic urgency in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic hampered the cautious debate in science to focus onto immediate and sound solutions.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly affected health care organizations globally. Many aspects of this disease, as well as the risks for patients treated with multiple drug regimens to control severe COVID-19, are unclear. During emergency surgery for SARS-CoV-2-positive patients, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure and transmission to the surgical staff has yet to be determined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this report, we describe a SARS-CoV-2-positive patient with severe respiratory syndrome treated with multiple doses of IL-6 inhibitors who presented with a perforated duodenal ulcer and underwent emergency surgery. During and after surgery, we tested for SARS-CoV-2 at the ulcer site and in the peritoneal fluid. RESULTS: The history of the patient allows for two possible interpretations of the pathogenesis of the duodenal ulcer, which could have been a stress ulcer, or a gastrointestinal ulcer associated to the use of IL-6 inhibitors. We also noticed that the ulcer site and peritoneal fluid repeatedly tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, we reviewed the pertinent literature on gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with COVID-19 and on SARS-CoV-2 detection in the peritoneal fluid of surgical patients and discussed possible prevention strategies for bleeding and the actual risk of infection for the surgical staff. CONCLUSIONS: The first implication of this case is that the relation between repeated administration of IL-6 inhibitors and upper gastrointestinal bleeding and perforation must be investigated, and that the threshold for administering prophylactic proton pump inhibitors therapy should be carefully considered for patients with severe COVID-19. The second implication is that further testing should be performed on the peritoneal fluid of COVID-19 patients undergoing emergency surgical procedures to clarify the discordant results for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the peritoneal cavity and the possible risk of transmission to the surgical staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Fatigue may be cause by all cancer treatments, maybe because the tissue damage or the build-up of dead cells derived products. PATIENTS AND METHODS: At the Mede Clinic in Sacile, Pordenone, Italy, from February 2016 to May 2018 we studied 50 patients with cancer and fatigue (15 with breast cancer, 12 with lung cancer, 11 with colon cancer, 5 with renal cancer, 3 with prostate cancer, 2 with melanoma and 2 hepatocellular carcinoma). Patients were treated with Auto Hemotransfusion (GAE) according to the SIOOT (Scientific Society of Oxygen Ozone Therapy) protocols, two times a week for one month and then twice monthly as maintenance therapy. RESULTS: Nineteen of them were undergoing neoplastic treatment, 10 had already ended the cancer therapy and 21 were in a palliative setting. The Fatigue Severity Scale was used to assess the extent of fatigue in patients, in order to estimate the severity of the symptom with a score from 1 to 7. No side effects were found, and 35 patients (70%) achieved a significant improvement (> 50%) of the symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary data demonstrate that ozone therapy is a valid supportive therapy for fatigue in cancer patients, both during cancer therapy and in a palliative setting with no significant side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder with a very complex symptomatology. Although generalized severe pain is considered to be the cardinal symptom of the disease, many other associated symptoms, especially non-restorative sleep, chronic fatigue, anxiety, and depressive symptoms also play a relevant role in the degree of disability characteristic of the disease. Ozone therapy, which is used to treat a wide range of diseases and seems to be particularly useful in the treatment of many chronic diseases, is thought to act by exerting a mild, transient, and controlled oxidative stress that promotes an up-regulation of the antioxidant system and a modulation of the immune system. According to these mechanisms of action, it was hypothesized that ozone therapy could be useful in fibromyalgia management, where the employed therapies are very often ineffective. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-five patients with fibromyalgia, according to the definition of the American College of Rheumatology (Arthritis Rheum 1990; 33: 160-172), were treated at the MEDE Clinic (Sacile, Pordenone, Italy) from February 2016 to October 2018. Females were 55 and males were 10; age ranged from 30 to 72 years, and the time from fibromyalgia diagnosis ranged from 0.5 to 33 years. Treatment was made by autohemotransfusion in 55 patients and by ozone rectal insufflations in 10 patients, according to SIOOT (Scientific Society of Oxygen Ozone Therapy) protocols, twice a week for one month and then twice a month as maintenance therapy. RESULTS: We found a significative improvement (>50% of symptoms) in 45 patients (70%). No patient reported important side effects. In conclusion, at our knowledge, this is the largest study of patients with fibromyalgia treated with ozone therapy reported in the literature and it demonstrates that the ozone therapy is an effective treatment for fibromyalgia patients without significant side effects. CONCLUSIONS: At the moment, ozone therapy seems a treatment that, also because without any side effect, is possible to be proposed to patients with fibromyalgia that are not obtaining adequate results from other available treatments and it can be considered as complementary/integrative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has markedly extended the survival rates of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), leading to suppression even though not eradication of HIV. In HIV infected patients, cancer has become a growing problem, representing the first cause of death. A large number of worldwide studies have shown that HIV infection raises the risk of many non-AIDS defining cancers (NADCs), including squamous cell carcinoma of the anus (SCCA), testis cancer, lung cancer, cancer of the colon and rectum (CRC), skin (basal cell skin carcinoma and melanoma), Hodgkin disease (HD) and hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC). Generally in HIV positive patients NADCs are more aggressive and in advanced stage disease than in the general population. In the ART era, however, the outcome of HIV positive patients is more similar as in the general population. Only about lung cancer the outcome seems different between HIV positive and HIV negative patients. The aim of this article is to provide an update on NADCs within the activity of the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS and Tumors (GICAT) to identify clinical prognostic and predicting factors in patients with HIV infection included in the GICAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer survivorship represents a new challenge in the third Millennium. In Europe the number of cancer survivors was estimated to be 17,8 million in 2008 and this number is growing. Recent improvements in cancer survival are largely due to earlier diagnosis and advancements in treatment. Despite having favorable effects on cancer survival, radiation therapy, surgery treatment and combination chemotherapy regimens can also cause long-term organ damage and functional disabilities. In this paper we review the most important aspects of long-term toxicities in otolaryngology cancer survivors patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer survivorship represents a new challenge in the third Millennium. In Europe the number of cancer survivors was estimated to be 17,8 million in 2008 and this number is growing. Recent improvements in cancer survival are largely due to earlier diagnosis and advancements in treatment. Despite having favorable effects on cancer survival, radiation therapy, surgery treatment and combination chemotherapy regimens can also cause longterm organ damage and functional disabilities. In this paper we review the most important aspects of long-term toxicities in otolaryngology cancer survivors patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: This case report evaluates the feasibility and efficacy of intraperitoneal (IP) trastuzumab administration in gastric cancer (GC) patients with peritoneal carcinomatoses. METHODS: Peritoneal metastasis is a common sign of advanced tumor stage, tumor progression or disease recurrence in patients with GC. Recently, the role of HER2 overexpression in GC, occurring in about 20% of cases, is correlated with a worse prognosis.We report the case of 61-years old female, admitted to our Hospital after curative surgery for GC with over-expression of HER2. Seven months after the start of first line chemotherapy treatment a pleuro-peritoneal disease progression occurred, documented by cytological exam; according to HER2 status, we decided to treat the patient with IP trastuzumab administration. RESULTS: Between September and October 2012, the patient (ECOG performance status was 0), underwent to 6 cycles of IP trastuzumab. Trastuzumab was administered weekly at a dose of 150 mg for each cycle after paracentesis. The safety was good, no local complications (e.g. abdominal pain, peritonitis) occurred. The clinical revaluation evidenced a stable peritoneal disease. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge this is the first report on Trastuzumab use to treat IP metastases from GC, with acceptable toxicity and local disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: AIDS incidence and mortality have decreased since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) into clinical practice. HIV-related malignancies, namely Kaposi's sarcoma and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, have decreased, whereas non-AIDS defining tumors have been increasing. Our aim was to study the impact of HAART on natural history of lung cancer in HIV-positive patients, comparing patients with HIV-lung cancer treated in the pre-HAART era versus the HAART era. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We collected 68 patients with HIV-lung cancer diagnosed from 1986 to 2003. Pre-HAART era included 34 patients who did not receive HAART, whereas the HAART era included 34 patients diagnosed after January 1997 who received HAART. RESULTS: At diagnosis Performance Status (PS) was significantly different, patients with PS ≥ 2 were 44% in the pre-HAART era, versus 29% in the post-HAART era, p = 0.02. The 79.4% of patients in the post-HAART era received chemotherapy alone or with radiotherapy versus 47% in the pre-HAART era, p = 0.04. Cancer was the leading cause of death for both groups, with 29 (85.3%) and 21 (61.8%) patients in the pre- and post-HAART settings, respectively. The median overall survival (OS) was 3.8 months for the pre-HAART population vs. 7 months for the post-HAART patients, p = 0.01. CONCLUSIONS: HIV-lung cancer patients have a longer overall survival in the post-HAART era versus the pre-HAART era, due to a not detrimental effect of chemotherapy and positive effect of HAART. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death, showing that treatment of the cancer is the most important target now to improve their outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a distinctive syndrome characterized by specific symptoms cluster. CFS mostly affects women and often results in severe functional limitation. Its prevalence varies from 0.4 to 2.5% in the general population. In our prior studies on the clinical features of 205 CFS patients we founded immunological and brain abnormalities. In this paper we illustrate our caseload on CFS treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 2000 to December 2005, we evaluated all the patients admitted at the CFS Unit of the Aviano National Cancer Institute, for staging procedures and treatments. Patients not meeting the Fukuda diagnostic criteria were excluded. RESULTS: 250 male and 491 female (median age 35.5 and 39.3 years, respectively) were enrolled and treated for CFS. As expected, CFS resulted from previous infectious disease in all patients. Female patients showed to be more affected by symptoms than male patients. The treatment schedules followed by the patients included nutritional supplements alone, corticosteroids, antidepressant/sedative drugs, and antiviral/immunoglobulin drugs. Antiviral/ immunoglobulin drugs achieved the best response (15.3% positive responses vs. 8.3% negative responses; OR 0.44, CI 0.26-0.74, p = 0.002). The carrying out of 4 or more treatments showed a protective effect (OR 0.46, CI 0.28-0.77, p = 0.003). This finding was confirmed in the multivariate analysis, adjusted by type of drugs (OR 0.49, CI 0.28-0.84, p = 0.009) and number of treatments carried out (OR 0.51, CI 0.30-0.86, p = 0.01); these two variables were independent. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that the antiviral/immunoglobulin approach has a longer positive disease free survival in comparison with other approaches. However, CSF still remains a difficult disease to be effectively treated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a multicentric angioproliferative cancer of endothelial origin typically occurring in the context of immunodeficiency, i.e. coinfection with Human Immonodeficiency Virus (HIV) or transplantation. The incidence of KS has dramatically decreased in both US and Europe in the Highly Active Anti-retroviral Therapy (HAART) era. However, KS remains the second most frequent tumor in HIV-infected patients worldwide and it has become the most common cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 1994, Yuan Chang et al discovered a novel γ-herpesvirus in biopsy specimens of human KS. Epidemiologic studies showed that KS-as-sociated herpesvirus (KSHV) or human her-pesvirus-8 (HHV-8) was the etiological agent associated with all subtypes of KS. KS has a variable clinical course ranging from very indolent forms to a rapidly progressive disease. HAART represents the first treatment step for slowly progressive disease. Chemotherapy (CT) plus HAART is indicated for visceral and/or rapidly progressive disease. The current understanding of KS as a convergence of immune evasion, oncogenesis, inflammation and angiogenesis has prompted investigators to develop target therapy, based on anti-angiogenic agents as well as metallopro-teinase and cytokine signaling pathway inhibitors. These drugs may represent effective strategies for patients with AIDS-associated KS, which progress despite chemotherapy and/or HAART. In this review, we focus on the current state of knowledge on KSHV epidemiology, pathogenesis and therapeutic options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Squamous cell carcinoma of the anus (SCCA) is a relatively uncommon cancer. In the HIV-positive patients the introduction of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) did not change the incidence of SCCA. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS and Tumours (GICAT) experience on HIV-positive patients with SCCA. The purposes of this retrospective study were: first to describe the clinical presentation and outcome of HIV-positive patients with SCCA, second to compare them with the ones reported in the literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between July 2000 and March 2010 we retrospectively collected epidemiological, clinical and survival data from 65 patients with SCCA in HIV infection enrolled within the GICAT. RESULTS: Fifty-three (81.5%) patients were male. The majority of patients (40%) were homosexual Forty-three patients (66.1%) were diagnosed with HIV before 1996. Thirty-five patients (54%) had CD4-positive cells count >200/mm3 and 28 patients (43%) had viral load >50 cp/ml at the time of SCCA diagnosis. The median time difference between HIV and SCCA diagnosis was 120 months (range 10-282 months). Sixty-one patients (96.8%) received HAART at SCCA diagnosis. Fiftytwo patients (80%) had performance status (PS) 0-1 at the time of SCCA diagnosis. Twenty-seven patients (41.5%) underwent surgery with curative intent. Thirty-five patients (53.9%) were given combined modality therapy (CMT) consisting of pelvic radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy. No grade 3/4 haematological or extra-haematological effects were observed in our patients.INTRODUCTION: Squamous cell carcinoma of the anus (SCCA) is a relatively uncommon cancer. In the HIV-positive patients the introduction of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) did not change the incidence of SCCA. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS and Tumours (GICAT) experience on HIV-positive patients with SCCA. The purposes of this retrospective study were: first to describe the clinical presentation and outcome of HIV-positive patients with SCCA, second to compare them with the ones reported in the literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between July 2000 and March 2010 we retrospectively collected epidemiological, clinical and survival data from 65 patients with SCCA in HIV infection enrolled within the GICAT. RESULTS: Fifty-three (81.5%) patients were male. The majority of patients (40%) were homosexual Forty-three patients (66.1%) were diagnosed with HIV before 1996. Thirty-five patients (54%) had CD4-positive cells count >200/mm3 and 28 patients (43%) had viral load >50 cp/ml at the time of SCCA diagnosis. The median time difference between HIV and SCCA diagnosis was 120 months (range 10-282 months). Sixty-one patients (96.8%) received HAART at SCCA diagnosis. Fiftytwo patients (80%) had performance status (PS) 0-1 at the time of SCCA diagnosis. Twenty-seven patients (41.5%) underwent surgery with curative intent. Thirty-five patients (53.9%) were given combined modality therapy (CMT) consisting of pelvic radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy. No grade 3/4 haematological or extra-haematological effects were observed in our patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Promise in the future, a disease could be ranked into genetic categories, allowing bespoke tailoring of medicine to maximize therapeutic effects and to reduce the potential for adverse drug response. This new feature requires for health professionals to have competencies not only for the basic skills of their discipline, but also for the understanding on why, when, and how that knowledge should be applied to improve personalized therapies for their patients. Current opinion on basic competences of health professions includes knowledge and skills on two fundamental features: (1) genetics of disease, to allow the understanding and the identification of diseases associated to genetic variations, and to facilitate the development of new genomic tests; and (2) ethical, social and economical implications that are fundamental to identify those factors that might contribute to a successful integration of pharmacogenomics into international health and public policy. Aim: Briefly, we described (1) current knowledge on genetic variations that interact with therapies and the need to detect them; (2) the most common available methods for detecting mutations; and (3) ethical, social and economic issues related to pharmacogenetic testing and recording of genetic information (e.g., critical evaluation of the development of new tests, privacy, the current absence of public reimbursement, etc). Conclusions: These could be useful recommendations for academic institutions and educational programs to prepare health professionals with the necessary abilities for their future practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "The Expression of PD-L1 APE1 and P53 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Its Relationship to Clinical Pathology" by Kan and Dong that was published in a 2015 issue.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article regarding the use of Sorafenib in combination with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Prognostic value of PUMA expression in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma," by S. L. Peng et al., in the 2015; 19 issue.

More than 60% of all cancer patients in Europe and the USA are older than 65 years at the time of diagnosis. Despite this, elderly patients are generally under-represented in clinical trials. There is a lack of clinical trials to drive evidence-based decision making in the elderly cancer patients. In this review, we address the most important issue surrounding the treatment of older cancer patients: comorbidity assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented about the shortage of cancer drugs in the U.S. and Italy.

A letter to the editor about the cost-effectiveness of molecularly targeted anti-cancer treatments is presented.

The article addresses the growing number of long-term cancer survivors. A report released by the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the number of cancer survivors grew from 9.8 million in 2001 to 11.7 million in 2007. According to the authors, the growing number of cancer survivors underscores the urgency for medical personnel to focus on the possible long-term and late effects of cancer on the physical and psychosocial well-being of patients.