Stalin Bala

<b>Context:</b> Advent of trastuzumab has brought tremendous changes in the survival of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2)-positive breast cancer patients. Despite the availability of the drug, it is still out of reach for many patients. There is very limited real world data regarding treatment challenges and survival analysis of these patients. Aims and Objectives: Primary objective is disease-free survival (DFS) and secondary objective is overall survival (OS) and toxicity profile. <b>Statistics:</b> Statistical analysis is done using GraphPad Prism 7.02. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> This is a retrospective study of all patients diagnosed with Her2-positive (Her2+) nonmetastatic invasive breast cancer from January 2007 to December 2013. <b>Results:</b> In the period of this study, 885 patients are diagnosed with carcinoma breast, of which 212 are Her2/neu positive (23.9%). Of the 212 patients, only 76 (35.8%) patients received trastuzumab along with chemotherapy. Patients receiving trastuzumab with chemotherapy have longer 5-year DFS compared to those receiving chemotherapy alone, 92% and 52.6%, respectively (<i>P</i> = 0.0001). Five-year OS is 90.5% and 41.7% in those patients who received chemotherapy with and without trastuzumab, respectively (<i>P</i> = 0.0001). Seven patients (9.45%) developed Grade II reversible diastolic dysfunction. Grade II/III peripheral neuropathy due to paclitaxel is the main adverse effect seen in 21 patients. <b>Conclusion:</b> In spite of improvement in DFS and OS with trastuzumab, the number of patient receiving targeted therapy is very low due to financial constraints which need to be addressed to bridge the gap in survival of Her2+ patients.

Abstract Context: In acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most important prognostic factors are age, leukocyte count at presentation, immunophenotype, and cytogenetic abnormalities. The cytogenetic abnormalities are associated with distinct immunologic phenotypes of ALL and characteristic outcomes. Aims: The present study was primarily aimed at analyzing the impact of cytogenetics on postinduction responses and event-free survival (EFS) in pediatric patients with ALL. The secondary objective was to study the overall survival (OS). Subjects and Methods: A total of 240 patients with age &lt;18 years and diagnosed with ALL between January 2011 and June 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Cytogenetics was evaluated with conventional karyotyping or reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Based on cytogenetic abnormalities, the patients were grouped into five categories, and the outcomes were analyzed. Results: Of the 240 patients, 125 (52%) patients had evaluable cytogenetics. Of these, 77 (61.6%) patients had normal cytogenetics, 19 (15.2%) had t(9;22) translocation, 10 (8%) had unfavorable cytogenetics which included t(9;11), hypodiploidy, and complex karyotype, 10 (8%) had favorable cytogenetics which included t(12;21), t(1;19), and high hyperdiploidy, 9 (7.2%) had miscellaneous cytogenetics. Seventy-one percent of patients were treated with MCP 841 protocol, while 29% of patients received BFM-ALL 95 protocol. The 3-year EFS and OS of the entire group were 52% and 58%, respectively. On univariate analysis, EFS and OS were significantly lower in t(9;22) compared to normal cytogenetics (P = 0.033 and P = 0.0253, respectively) and were not significant for other subgroups compared to normal cytogenetics. On multivariate analysis, EFS was significantly lower for t(9;22) and unfavorable subgroups. Conclusions: Cytogenetics plays an important role in the molecular characterization of ALL defining the prognostic subgroups. Patients with unfavorable cytogenetics and with t(9;22) have poorer outcomes.