Outcome and fewer indications for adjuvant therapy for patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas under standardized tumor board conditions

Association Between FADS1 Gene Polymorphism (rs174549) and Chronic Periodontitis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction FADS1 (fatty acid desaturase 1) gene polymorphism results in more susceptibility to certain metabolic diseases and chronic inflammatory diseases like periodontitis. This study aims to analyze the association between FADS1 gene polymorphism and various stages of periodontitis. Materials and methods One hundred subjects included in the study were categorized into two groups: group A (n = 50) had healthy periodontium, and group B (n = 50) had ≥stage II periodontitis. They were graded based on the clinical parameters of probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and bleeding on probing (BOP). Five milliliters of venous blood were collected, and DNA isolation was done. Genomic DNA was extracted. The DNA was then subjected to amplification with the help of specific primers flanking the Providencia stuartii I (PstI) polymorphic site of the FADS1 gene. A chi-square test aimed to examine the genotype and allele frequency distributions in both groups; p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The difference in genotype frequency of FADS1 polymorphism was statistically insignificant (p = 0.91). Our study revealed no significant difference (AA vs. AG+GG) between the periodontitis and control groups between homozygous and heterozygous variant genotypes with a p-value of 0.7764. The frequency of AG (28% vs. 30%) and GG (62% vs. 58%) genotypes showed no significant difference between the periodontitis group and healthy control subjects. No significant difference was seen in the G allele (77% vs. 73%) and A allele (23% vs. 27%) between the periodontitis and control groups. Conclusion The study concluded that FADS1 receptor polymorphism is not associated with periodontitis in the study population.

Preliminary experience with a new institutional tumor board dedicated to patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms

PURPOSE

To determine the decision patterns of a neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) tumor board (TB) and the factors behind those.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed all NEN-TB recommendations from 07/2018 to 12/2021 and recorded patient characteristics, TB outcomes and associations between them.

RESULTS

A total of 652 patient entries were identified. Median age of participants was 61 years and an equal number of men and women were presented. Most patients (33.4%) had tumors originating in the small bowel with 16.8% of high grade and 25.9% of pancreatic origin. Imaging was reviewed 97.2% of the time, with most frequently reviewed modalities being PET (55.3%) and CT (44.3%). Imaging review determined that there was no disease progression 20.8% of the time and significant treatment changes were recommended in 36.1% of patients. Major pathology amendments occurred in 3.7% of cases and a clinical trial was identified in 2.6%. There was no association between patient or disease presentation with the tumor board outcomes. There was a slight decrease in number of patients discussed per session, from 10.0 to 8.2 (p < 0.001) when the TB transitioned to a virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic but all other factors remained unchanged.

CONCLUSION

NEN-TB relies heavily on image review, can impact significant treatment changes in patients with rare tumors like NENs, and was not affected by the switch to a virtual format. Finally, none of the examined factors were predictive of the tumor board recommendations.

Evaluating tumour after care in oral squamous cell carcinoma: Insights into patients' health related quality of life

INTRODUCTION

Tumour aftercare (tac) is an essential tool in oncology. The main aim of these follow ups is to diagnose recurrence and second tumours from the beginning. Tac appointments can create a special environment for patients' further concerns. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate tac of patients diagnosed with OSCC and to investigate their health related quality of life (hrql).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A German questionnaire was created by two maxillo-facial surgeons with several years of tac experience. It was handed out to 100 German-speaking OSCC patients during tac. Results were statistically evaluated with SPSS (SPSS version 21.0; SPSS, IBM; Chicago, IL, USA). The inclusion criterion was that diagnosis and surgery were performed at our department and that the patients attended our tac regularly.

RESULTS

Side effects such as difficulties in speaking and swallowing were evaluated as being significantly higher in cases who were administered adjuvant radiochemotherapy (art) compared with the surgical therapy group (stg) (p = 0.03). Anxiety occurred in 80% of all female patients (p = 0.02), 90% of them with a high psychological strain because of the cancer diagnosis (p = 0.04).

DISCUSSION

To date, tac is a rare topic in literature. Moreover, only a few trials have focused on hrql in OSCC. A main result of the current study is that during tac, OSCC patients should be regularly questioned about their symptoms and mental state. Further, the need of the majority of OSCC patients for coping therapies can concomitantly be evaluated.

CONCLUSION

The evaluation of tac is of high relevance. The results of the current study have encouraged us to establish this questionnaire as a routine tool in our tac.