H. Wildiers MD, PhD

Geriatric syndromes in oncology: what does the oncologist need to know?

SUMMARY

A ‘Geriatric Syndrome’ is characterised by its multifactorial origin. A combination of impairments leads to one specific condition that is typical for frail older patients. The rising incidence of cancer among older adults makes it interesting for the oncologist to understand common geriatric syndromes. The following geriatric syndromes are presented in this article:

Delirium: In patients with cancer, the prevalence of delirium is high. In end-stage malignant disease a prevalence near 90% has been reported. The pathophysiology is characterised by an equilibrium between predisposing and precipitating factors. The more predisposing factors, the less precipitating factors are required to develop delirium, and vice versa. Delirium is often underdiagnosed, although it leads to increased morbidity and mortality. Screening tools, such as the Confusion Assessment Method or the 4 ’A’s Test, could help the oncologist to discover delirium. Prevention and non-pharmacological therapy are the cornerstone of the approach. Pharmacological therapy is only appropriate when non-pharmacological therapy is not successful or if delirium could harm the patient.

Cognitive decline: In Belgium, the prevalence of dementia is estimated at 7.4% in adults aged 65 and over. Apart from dementia, cognitive decline in oncologic patients could also be provoked by cancer or its treatment. Cognitive decline is prognostic for overall survival in older patients with cancer. The Mini-Cog is an easy screening tool for cognitive decline, but more extensive testing, e.g. by means of a Mini Mental State Examination, can also be applied. Referral to a memory clinic should be considered, taking into account oncological diagnosis and prognosis.

Urinary incontinence: About 15 to 35% of patients older than 60 years have urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence is associated with falls and fractures, pressure ulcers, and urinary infection. It has an emotional impact, affects quality of life and is associated with higher depression rates. In predisposed patients, precipitating factors could trigger incontinence. Prevention is of high importance and is primarily aimed at treating the precipitating factors. Pharmacological treatment blocking muscarinic receptors is associated with important side effects.

Functional decline: One third of patients receiving chemotherapy suffer from functional decline. Functional decline is prognostic for overall survival. Baseline functional assessment before initiation of treatment is important. The oncologist has to define predisposing and precipitating factors and to estimate the risk of functional decline. A multidisciplinary approach with physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses and social workers is warranted to achieve optimal rehabilitation.

Falls: Thirty percent of patients older than 65 years have fall incidents. Ten percent of falls lead to residual injuries. Cancer and its treatment increase the risk of falling. Bone metastases or cancer therapy can lead to more severe injuries. Falls are often preventable. Therefore, risk stratification and formulation of a multifactorial fall prevention plan by a multidisciplinary team is warranted.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2021;15(6):270-7)

Highlights in breast cancer

ASCO 2021 featured one crucial, practice-changing trial in early breast cancer: the OlympiA trial showed that one year of adjuvant olaparib improves invasive disease-free survival by 8.8% compared to placebo, when administered to high risk early breast patients (triple negative or hormone sensitive and HER2 negative) with a germline BRCA1 or 2 mutation. Furthermore, ECOG-ACRIN EA1131 failed to show improved outcome in triple negative breast cancer treated without pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemo-therapy with platinum based chemotherapy compared to the current standard capecitabine. GeparNUEVO for the first time showed long term outcome with anti-PD(L)1 therapy administered with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer. In the advanced setting, interesting overall survival updates of the PALOMA-3 and MONALEESA-3 studies were presented. Furthermore, the SYsucc-002 trial demonstrated that trastuzumab plus endocrine therapy was non-inferior to and had fewer toxicities compared with trastuzumab plus chemotherapy in patients with HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer. In addition, this article will touch upon several other studies that are notable.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2021;15(5):208-17)

A case of HER2-positive breast cancer with rapidly progressing CNS metastases

SUMMARY

A 53-year old woman previously treated for stage IIIc Her2-positive breast cancer presented to the outpatient oncology department with symptoms of holocranial headache irradiating to the neck in combination with morning sickness and vomitus. Brain CT showed multiple cerebellar metastases with signs of tonsillar herniation through the foramen magnum. Since radiotherapy was deemed unsafe given the possibility that transient increase of intracranial pressure could worsen the herniation, urgent treatment with corticosteroids and capecitabine-lapatinib was started. The metastases and peritumoral oedema initially responded well, which allowed subsequent pancranial radiotherapy after three weeks of systemic therapy. We provide a short overview of studies showing that systemic therapy can induce tumour response in brain metastases related to HER2+ positive disease.

BELG J MED ONCOL 2021;15(3):123-7

Highlights in breast cancer

During the 2020 Virtual ESMO meeting, long-awaited results were presented of several important breast cancer studies. For hormone receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer, ESMO 2020 featured conflicting results on the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in the adjuvant treatment of patients with hormone-receptor positive (HR+) early breast cancer. In HR+ metastatic breast cancer, final overall survival data were presented of the SOLAR-1 trial evaluating alpelisib in PIK3CA mutant patients. In triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), new data on immune therapy were presented. In early-stage TNBC, the addition of atezolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy resulted in a significant increase in the rate of pathological complete responses (pCR). In the metastatic setting, final results of the IMpassion130 trial confirmed the benefit of atezolizumab combined with nab-paclitaxel as first-line treatment for metastatic PD-L1 positive TNBC. Unexpectedly, the IMpassion131 trial evaluating atezolizumab plus paclitaxel in first-line treatment of patients with metastatic TNBC failed to meet its primary endpoint. Finally, the phase III randomized controlled ASCENT trial identified the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) sacituzumab govitecan as a safe and highly effective treatment option for heavily pre-treated metastatic TNBC patients.

Clinical management of first-line advanced triple-negative breast cancer patients

SUMMARY

Chemotherapy has represented the main treatment option for patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer for a long time. However, due to our better understanding of tumour biology, recent clinical trials led to a change in the treatment paradigm of this disease, identifying clinically relevant subgroups with different therapeutic options. Both clinical and biological factors have become relevant and need to be considered in the treatment decision algorithm of this heterogeneous disease.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(7):333-38)

Highlights in geriatric oncology

Summary

Cancer is primarily a disease of older adults, and as a result improving the care for older patients with cancer is becoming increasingly important. In this respect, the 2020 virtual ASCO meeting featured a fascinating and very important session entitled “You’re only old once: improving outcomes for older adults with cancer.” In this session, positive results were presented of four randomised controlled trials evaluating whether or not geriatric assessment has the potential to improve treatment outcomes in older patients with cancer. Three of these trials focused on the geriatric management of patients receiving chemotherapy or other cytotoxic agents, while a fourth study evaluated to what extent perioperative oncogeriatric management could improve the outcome of patients undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal cancer. Overall, all these studies indicate that an integrated geriatric oncology assessment provides an important clinical benefit to older cancer patients.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(5):218-21)

Highlights in breast cancer

Summary

During the 2020 Virtual ASCO meeting, no less than 226 presentations were dedicated to breast cancer. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss all these abstracts, but instead we try to focus on the data that are most relevant for your daily clinical practice.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(5):191-200)