A Study on the Global Scenario of COVID-19 Related Case Fatality Rate, Recovery Rate and Prevalence Rate and Its Implications for India—A Record Based Retrospective Cohort Study

Importance: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the pandemic claiming millions of lives since the first outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China during December 2019. It is thus important to make cross-country comparison of the relevant rates and understand the socio-demographic risk factors. Methods: This is a record based retrospective cohort study. Table 1 was extracted from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and from the Corona virus resource center (Table 2, Figures 1-3), Johns Hopkins University. Data for Table 1 includes all countries which reported >1000 cases and Table 2 includes 20 countries reporting the largest number of deaths. The estimation of CFR, RR and PR of the infection, and disease pattern across geographical clusters in the world is presented. Results: From Table 1, we could infer that as on 4th May 2020, COVID-19 has rapidly spread world-wide with total infections of 3,566,423 and mortality of 248,291. The maximum morbidity is in USA with 1,188,122 cases and 68,598 deaths (CFR 5.77%, RR 15% and PR 16.51%), while Spain is at the second position with 247,122 cases and 25,264 deaths (CFR 13.71%, RR 38.75%, PR 9.78%). Table 2 depicts the scenario as on 8th October 2020, where-in the highest number of confirmed cases occurred in US followed by India and Brazil (cases per million population: 23,080, 5007 & 23,872 respectively). For deaths per million population: US recorded 647, while India and Brazil recorded 77 and 708 respectively. Conclusion: Studying the distribution of relevant rates across different geographical clusters plays a major role for measuring the disease burden, which in-turn enables implementation of appropriate public healthcare measures.

Clinicopathological Profile of Lung Cancers at an Institute from South India—A Record Based Retrospective Cohort Study

Introduction: Apart from smoking as the known risk factor for lung cancer, recent developments implicate occupational exposure to carcinogens, indoor air pollution and dietary factors as other causative agents. In our study, we have analyzed the clinical and pathological profile of lung cancer patients treated at our center over a period of 8 years. Aim: To find the demographic and clinicopathological profile of lung cancer patients admitted to the oncology unit. Methods: This retrospective record based analysis includes a cohort of 1248 patients diagnosed with lung cancer, at a tertiary cancer care center in Bangalore, South India. This study includes data of patients admitted during the period 2010 to 2018, retrieved from the Hospital’s emergency medical records (EMR). Their demographic profile, clinical correlates, radiological profile and diagnostic details were studied. Benign tumours, malignant pleural disease and sarcomatoid tumors were excluded from this study. Results: Adenocarcinoma (AC) was detected among 70.4% of patients, Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) among 15.3% and Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) among 14.3% of lung cancer admissions. Male to female ratio was 2.95:1. It was found that the median age of lung cancer patients was 61 years. >60% of lung cancer patients were from the 51 - 70 year age-group. Across the three types of cancers among the patients in Stage 3B to 4 strata, >35% received palliative chemotherapy and >20% received palliative chemotherapy + radiation. Conclusion: In our study, AC is the most common histological subtype (>70%) of lung cancer. The outcome of lung cancer patients can be considerably impacted by addressing risk factors through preventive measures implemented in the community.

Efficacy of Plerixafor for Peripheral Stem Cell Mobilisation in Autologous Transplantation: A Single Centre Study

Plerixafor is a stem cell mobilising agent, and when administered along with G-CSF has been shown to improve CD34+ stem cell collections in lymphoma and multiple myeloma patients compared to G-CSF alone. Patients who failed to mobilize <2.0 × 106 cells/kg on Day 1 collection received Plerixafor and G CSF for further collections. Study population was divided into two groups as plerixafor yes (PY) who are poor mobilizers and Plerixafor No (PN) who are good mobilizers. Out of 49 patients, 28 patients were in PY group and 21 patients in PN group. Median value of apheresis CD34 of day 1 was 1.75 (range 0.258 to 8.52) in PY group and 2.63 (range 1.06 to 6.29) in PN group and that of day 2 was 3.845 (range 0.317 to 13.89) in PY group and 3.18 (range 0.88 to 6.348) in PN group. Median value of total apheresis CD34 was 8.10 (range 4.33 to 18.66) in PY group and 7.58 (range 4.06 to 9.8) in PN group. Median day of neutrophil engraftment was 11.5 (range 9 - 22) in PY group and 11 (range 9 - 36) in PN group whereas median day of platelet engraftment was 14 (range 9 - 98) in PY group and 13 (range 11 - 98) in PN group. It can be concluded that the use of plerixafor not only enabled poor mobilizers of Lymphoma and Multiple Myeloma to collect adequate stem cells to proceed to ASCT, but also had early neutrophil and platelet engraftment which was comparable with good mobilizers.

Clinical Profile of Carcinoma Breast Patients Treated with Trastuzumab: A Single Centre Study

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common female cancer in India and accounting for almost 1 in 4 cancer cases in women worldwide. According to GLOBOCAN 2018: breast cancer incidence is increased to 162,468 in 2018 compared to 144,937 in 2012. Biosimilar drugs allow expanding access to the therapies in the form of cost savings and leading to better overall health outcomes. Our study evaluates the efficacy and safety of Trastuzumab biosimilars and assesses overall survival in the study population. Materials & Methods: This prospective study was conducted in Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd., Bengaluru, India, and all female patients diagnosed with Her2 positive, metastatic (mBC) and Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC), between March 2013 and November 2014, with at least 4 years of post-treatment follow up. Results: A total of 65 patients diagnosed with Her2 positive breast cancer and satisfied the selection criteria were included for the study. Partial Response (PR) was observed in 42 (64.6%) patients, Stable Disease (SD) in 11 (16.9%) patients and Progressive Disease (PD) in 12 (18.5%) patients. The overall response rates were 46.1% PR, 30% SD, 23.8% PD in metastatic population and 76% PR, 7.2% SD, 15% PD observed in locally advanced disease. The mean overall survival of the study population was 20.75 ± 15.20 months in metastatic and 29.2 ± 17.06 months in locally advanced patients. Conclusion: This prospective study shows the effectiveness of Trastuzumab for HER2-positive in locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer. The response rates, survival and toxicity correlate with other global studies. The response and survival are as same as either generic or original Trastuzumab.

Molecular Therapeutics of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and Challenges in Repeat Tissue Biopsy

With advances in targeted and personalized treatment for lung cancer, molecular analysis of tumors is routinely performed for sequencing of treatment options in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Oncogene addiction due to driver mutations includes EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations, MET amplification, EML4-AL, KRAS G12C point mutations, RET rearrangements, HER2 amplification and mutations, and FGFR amplification and translocations. A re-biopsy at the time of tumor recurrence or progression after first-line treatment failure is important for further molecular assessment and personalized therapy. However, repeat tumor biopsies are fraught with challenges including access to the tumor, sample inadequacy, patient consent, patient performance status, safety, or physician’s choice or assessment. Cytological specimens are gaining importance but are limited due to validation difficulties. Liquid biopsies, which are minimally invasive have shown promise to assess dynamic biomarkers using ctDNA analysis and are thus frequently considered in routine clinical practice in advanced NSCLC patients to guide further targeted treatment. Here we present a comprehensive review that emphasizes the significance of performing tumor re-biopsy in advanced stage NSCLC patients following resistance to first-line treatment and simultaneously highlights the current challenges in performing the same and the current status and future perspectives of liquid biopsy in NSCLC.