Low anterior resection syndrome and its impact on quality of life of ovarian carcinoma patients: A prospective longitudinal study

OBJECTIVES

Bowel dysfunction is frequently reported in patients with ovarian carcinoma (OC). Our aim was to evaluate the incidence of low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) like symptoms in patients with primary OC and its impact on quality of life (QoL).

METHODS

A prospective longitudinal observational cohort study was performed, including patients with newly diagnosed OC treated by primary or interval surgery with residual tumor <1 cm, from 2018 until 2021. Patients with a stoma or recurrence of disease were excluded. Intestinal dysfunction was assessed using the validated LARS score questionnaire pre- and postoperatively. There are 3 subgroups based on the results: no, minor, or major LARS. The impact on QoL was evaluated by an additional question to demonstrate the severity of patient's life impairment.

RESULTS

The questionnaire was answered by 78 patients pre- and post-operatively. LARS like symptoms were reported preoperatively in 34.6% (24.4% minor/10.2% major) and significantly increased postoperatively to 47.4% (28.2% minor/19.2% major; p = 0.011). Moderate to severe impairment of QoL correlated with LARS scores pre- (80%) and post-operatively (90%). Patients with two bowel anastomoses (mean score 18.6 pre- and 24.9 post-operatively, p = 0.041) showed a significant increase of the questionnaire score.

CONCLUSIONS

Major LARS like symptoms appear in 10% of OC patients preoperatively and significantly increase to almost two-fold postoperatively. Multiple bowel anastomoses had a significant risk for higher postoperative LARS score. QoL impairment correlates linearly with LARS positive scoring, independent on the timing of the complaints.

Incidence and Prognostic Impact of Deleterious Germline Mutations in Primary Advanced Ovarian Carcinoma Patients

Data on deleterious variants in genes other than BRCA1/2 remain limited. A retrospective cohort study was performed, including primary OC cases with TruRisk^® germline gene panel testing between 2011 and 2020. Patients with testing after relapse were excluded. The cohort was divided into three groups: (A) no mutations, (B) deleterious BRCA1/2 mutations, and (C) deleterious mutations in other genes. A total of 702 patients met the inclusion criteria. Of these 17.4% (n = 122) showed BRCA1/2 mutations and a further 6.0% (n = 42) in other genes. Three-year overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort was significantly longer in patients with germline mutations (85%/82.8% for cohort B/C vs. 70.2% for cohort A, p < 0.001) and 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) only for cohort B (58.1% vs. 36.9%/41.6% in cohort A/C, p = 0.002). In multivariate analysis for the subgroup of advanced-stages of high-grade serous OC, both cohorts B/C were found to be independent factors for significantly better outcome, cohort C for OS (HR 0.46; 95% CI 0.25-0.84), and cohort B for both OS and PFS (HR 0.40; 95% CI 0.27-0.61 and HR 0.49; 95% CI 0.37-0.66, respectively). Germline mutations were detected in a quarter of OC patients, and a quarter of those in genes other than BRCA1/2. Germline mutations demonstrate in our cohort a prognostic factor and predict better prognosis for OC patients.

Treatment strategies in patients with gynecological sarcoma: Results of the prospective intergroup real-world registry for gynecological sarcoma in Germany (REGSA-NOGGO RU1)

OBJECTIVE

Gynecological sarcomas account for 3% of all gynecological malignancies and are associated with a poor prognosis. Due to the rarity and heterogeneity of gynecological sarcomas there is still no consensus on optimal therapeutic strategies. This study's objective was to describe the treatment strategies used in patients with gynecological sarcomas in the primary course of disease.

METHODS

The German prospective registry for gynecological sarcoma (REGSA) is the largest registry for gynecological sarcomas in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Primary inclusion criteria for REGSA are histological diagnosis of sarcoma of the female genital tract, sarcoma of the breast or uterine smooth muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential (STUMP). We evaluated data of the REGSA registry on therapeutic strategies used for primary treatment from August 2015 to February 2021.

RESULTS

A total of 723 patients from 120 centers were included. Data on therapeutic strategies for primary treatment were available in 605 cases. Overall, 580 (95.9%) patients underwent primary surgery, 472 (81.4%) of whom underwent only hysterectomy. Morcellation was reported in 11.4% (n=54) of all hysterectomies. A total of 42.8% (n=202) had no further surgical interventions, whereas an additional salpingo-ophorectomy was performed in 54% (n=255) of patients. An additional lymphadenectomy was performed in 12.7% (n=60), an omentectomy in 9.5% (n=45) and intestinal resection in 6.1% (n=29) of all patients. Among 448 patients with available information, 21.4% (n=96) received chemo- or targeted therapies, more commonly as single-agent treatment than as drug combinations. Information about anti-hormonal treatment was available for 423 patients, among which 42 (9.9%) received anti-hormonal treatment, 23 (54.8%) of whom with low-grade endometrial stroma sarcomas. For radiotherapy, data of 437 patients were available, among which 29 (6.6%) patients underwent radiotherapy.

CONCLUSION

Our study showed that treatment of patients with gynecologic sarcomas is heterogeneous. Further trials are needed along with more information on treatment modalities, therapy response and patient-reported outcomes to implement new treatment strategies.

Re-treatment with PARPi in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer: A single institutional experience

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Real-life data support prospective evidence that 2nd PARPi therapy can be beneficial.

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Patients who do not meet OREO criteria might also benefit from a PARPi rechallenge.

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Patients should be well informed about the limitations and risks of this option.

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Further trials are needed to understand the mechanisms of PARP resistance.

Introduction

We aimed to evaluate real-life experiences with the re-challenge of poly(ADP-Ribose)Polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPi) after a prior PARPi therapy in patients with recurrent EOC.

Methods

A retrospective descriptive study was conducted at a tertiary care center of excellence for ovarian cancer. Demographic, pathological, and therapeutic data were collected for patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer who were re-treated with PARPi in their therapy course.

Results

Twenty-nine patients were included in the study. Twenty-six patients received the second PARPi as maintenance therapy after two different lines of therapy and three patients received the second PARPi as upfront therapy after progression. Most of the patients (57.7%) were exposed to first PARPi after a second-line therapy. The median progression-free survival under the first and second PARPi therapy was estimated at 15 and 7 months respectively. PFS under the second PARPi after platinum-based chemotherapy was better after a complete remission with a median PFS of 8.5 months, compared to patients with partial remission (5.5 months). A better PFS was noted in case of negative BRCA status under the second PARPi therapy (median PFS of 7.4 vs. 4.5 months, p = 0.11). The second PARPi therapy was mainly discontinued due to disease progression (84.6% of the cases). Discontinuation of treatment with the second PARP due to toxicity was needed in one case who developed a myelodysplastic syndrome.

Conclusion

Real-life data support prospective evidence that patients with recurrent EOC may derive benefit of the re-treatment with PARPi in case of clear response to the last platinum-based therapy.

Impact of hormone-associated resistance to activated protein C on the thrombotic potential of oral contraceptives: a prospective observational study

Introduction

The increased thrombotic risk of oral contraceptives (OC) has been attributed to various alterations of the hemostatic system, including acquired resistance to activated protein C (APC). To evaluate to what extent OC-associated APC resistance induces a prothrombotic state we monitored plasma levels of thrombin and molecular markers specific for thrombin formation in women starting OC use. Elevated plasma levels of thrombin have been reported to characterize situations of high thrombotic risk such as trauma-induced hypercoagulability, but have not yet been studied during OC use.

Patients and Methods

Blood samples were collected prospectively from healthy women (n = 21) before and during three menstruation cycles after start of OC. APC resistance was evaluated using a thrombin generation-based assay. Plasma levels of thrombin and APC were directly measured using highly sensitive oligonucleotide-based enzyme capture assay (OECA) technology. Thrombin generation markers and other hemostasis parameters were measured additionally.

Results

All women developed APC resistance as indicated by an increased APC sensitivity ratio compared with baseline after start of OC (p = 0.0003). Simultaneously, plasma levels of thrombin, prothrombin fragment 1+2, and of thrombin-antithrombin complexes did not change, ruling out increased thrombin formation. APC plasma levels were also not influenced by OC use, giving further evidence that increased thrombin formation did not occur.

Conclusions

In the majority of OC users no enhanced thrombin formation occurs despite the development of APC resistance. It cannot be ruled out, however, that thrombin formation might occur to a greater extent in the presence of additional risk factors. If this were the case, endogenous thrombin levels might be a potential biomarker candidate to identify women at high thrombotic risk during OC treatment. Large-scale studies are required to assess the value of plasma levels of thrombin as predictors of OC-associated thrombotic risk.