Secondary pneumothorax as a potential marker of apatinib efficacy in osteosarcoma: a multicenter analysis

Osimertinib-induced severe bilateral pneumothorax: A case report

RATIONALE

Osimertinib is the third-generation, pyrimidine-based, irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that received approval from the FDA in November 2015 and has become the standard approach in patients with advanced, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially with brain metastases. Osimertinib is beneficial in terms of progression-free and overall survival in patients with EGFR-mutated NSCLC. However, the rarity of bilateral pneumothorax among adverse events necessitates further research on its potential fatality rate.

PATIENT CONCERNS

A 72-year-old man diagnosed with stage IV (T2NxM1) NSCLC with the 21L858R mutation of the EGFR gene received osimertinib treatment. Unfortunately, 10 weeks after osimertinib treatment, the patient developed severe interstitial lung disease and pneumothorax. Thus, osimertinib treatment was discontinued, and prednisolone (160 mg/day) and supportive treatment were administered.

DIAGNOSES

Osimertinib-induced severe interstitial lung disease and pneumothorax.

INTERVENTIONS

Osimertinib treatment was discontinued, and prednisolone (160 mg/day) and supportive treatment were administered.

OUTCOMES

The bilateral pneumothorax was difficult to correct and the patient eventually died.

LESSONS

Osimertinib-induced pneumothorax occurred approximately 10 weeks after receiving the drug and had severe cough and chest tightness as initial symptoms. In addition, the incidence of drug-induced pneumothorax increases in patients treated with osimertinib when combined with underlying respiratory diseases.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in pediatric sarcoma: Prognostic implications of pulmonary metastatic cavitation

PURPOSES

This study aims to ascertain the prevalence of cavitations in pulmonary metastases among pediatric and young adult patients with sarcoma undergoing tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, and assess whether cavitation can predict clinical response and survival outcomes.

METHODS

In a single-center retrospective analysis, we examined chest computed tomography (CT) scans of 17 patients (median age 16 years; age range: 4-25 years) with histopathologically confirmed bone (n = 10) or soft tissue (n = 7) sarcoma who underwent TKI treatment for lung metastases. The interval between TKI initiation and the onset of lung nodule cavitation and tumor regrowth were assessed. The combination of all imaging studies and clinical data served as the reference standard for clinical responses. Progression-free survival (PFS) was compared between patients with cavitating and solid nodules using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank test.

RESULTS

Five out of 17 patients (29%) exhibited cavitation of pulmonary nodules during TKI therapy. The median time from TKI initiation to the first observed cavitation was 79 days (range: 46-261 days). At the time of cavitation, all patients demonstrated stable disease. When the cavities began to fill with solid tumor, 60% (3/5) of patients exhibited progression in other pulmonary nodules. The median PFS for patients with cavitated pulmonary nodules after TKI treatment (6.7 months) was significantly longer compared to patients without cavitated nodules (3.8 months; log-rank p-value = .03).

CONCLUSIONS

Cavitation of metastatic pulmonary nodules in sarcoma patients undergoing TKI treatment is indicative of non-progressive disease, and significantly correlates with PFS.

A Cohort Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Value of CT Perfusion Imaging in Patients with Metastatic Osteosarcoma after Chemotherapy

Objective

A case-control study was conducted to explore the efficacy of cohort study and value of CT perfusion imaging in patients with metastatic osteosarcoma after chemotherapy.

Methods

Eighty patients with metastatic osteosarcoma treated in our hospital from March 2020 to December 2021 were divided into two groups. According to their different treatment methods, the chemotherapy+antiangiogenesis group had 36 cases and the chemotherapy group had 44 cases. All patients were scanned by 64-slice spiral CT before and after treatment. The differences of tumor volume and perfusion parameters before and after treatment were compared, and the correlation between perfusion parameters and tumor microvessel density (MVD) was analyzed. The receiver working curve (ROC curve) was used to evaluate the efficacy of the two groups after chemotherapy.

Results

Blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), Pallak blood volume (PBV), and time to start (TTS) in the antitumor angiogenesis+chemotherapy group were significantly lower than those before treatment (P < 0.05). Microvessel density was positively correlated with PS, BF, BV, and PBV (P < 0.05). The reduction rate of BV and BF in the remission group after treatment was significantly higher than that in the nonremission group. When the BV and BF decline rates were 47.37% and 21.53% and the areas under the curve were 0.968 and 0.916, respectively, the diagnostic effect was the best. When the decrease rate of BV was 47.48% and the decrease rate of BF was 21.55%, the sensitivity was 94.72% and 89.56% and the specificity was 91.31% and 91.31%.

Conclusion

The reduction rate of BV and BF in CT perfusion imaging is of high value in evaluating the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in patients with NSCLC and can provide more objective basis for observing the changes and judging the prognosis of osteosarcoma after treatment.

Efficacy and Response Biomarkers of Apatinib in the Treatment of Malignancies in China: A Review

Apatinib is a multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor marketed in China for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer (GC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It has also been used off-label for the treatment of many other malignancies. To comprehensively evaluate the efficacy of apatinib as a targeted therapy in the treatment of malignancies, we conducted systematic online and manual searches of the literature on apatinib in the treatment of malignancies. In this review, we first summarized the efficacy of apatinib against various malignancies based on clinical trials where results have been reported. In prospectively registered trials, apatinib has been proven to be effective against GC, HCC, lung cancer, breast cancer, sarcoma, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and differentiated thyroid cancer. The response biomarkers for apatinib were also reviewed. This review will serve as a good reference for the application of apatinib in clinical studies and the design of clinical trials.

Clinical study on the safety, efficacy, and prognosis of molecular targeted drug therapy for advanced gastric cancer

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the safety, efficacy, and prognosis of advanced gastric cancer patients treated with molecular targeted drug therapy.

METHODS

A total of 200 patients with metastatic gastric cancer admitted to our hospital from March 2018 to December 2018 were randomly selected and divided into the control group, group A, group B and group C, with 50 patients in each group. Patients in the control group received surgical treatment combined with conventional chemotherapy. Patients in group A were provided with surgical treatment combined with bevacizumab, patients in group B received surgical treatment combined with apatinib, and patients in group C received surgical treatment combined with recombinant human endostatin (RHE). Clinical efficacy, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) levels, Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), sentinel lymph node (SLD) metastasis, and adverse reactions were compared among different groups of patients with metastatic gastric cancer.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in treatment efficiency, VEGF and VEGFR-2 levels, RECIST, SLD metastasis value and adverse reactions among group A, group B and group C, and the results were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The levels of VEGF, VEGFR-2, SLD metastasis, and adverse reactions in group A, B, and C were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The effective rate of treatment and RECIST in group A, B and C were significantly higher than those in the control group, and the comparison results were statistically significant (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Molecular targeted drug therapy is effective and safe in patients with advanced gastric cancer, and the prognosis of patients is satisfactory, without the proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells.