Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response and Genetic Susceptibility in Recently Parous Women with Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis.

Background: Women with recent parity are at increased short-term breast cancer (BC) risk and face a worse prognosis. The effect of parity on response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is unstudied, and the influence of inherited susceptibility on parity-related short-term risk remains unclear.

Methods: A retrospective case-cohort study analyzed women age 50 years or younger with non-metastatic BC diagnosed between 2010 and 2020 who underwent genetic testing and were treated at Northwestern Medicine.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy response and genetic susceptibility in recently parous women with breast cancer.

Introduction: Women with recent parity are at increased short-term breast cancer (BC) risk and face a worse prognosis. The effect of parity on response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is unstudied, and the influence of inherited susceptibility on parity-related short-term risk remains unclear.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-cohort study among women aged ≤50 with non-metastatic BC diagnosed between 2010 and 2020 who underwent genetic testing and were treated at Northwestern Medicine.

Enhancing Catchment Area Tools: A De-Identification Method for Integrating Clinical Trial Data with Cancer InFocus.

Background: National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer centers are entrusted with assessing the cancer burden within their catchment areas and using this information to guide research and outreach efforts. Data visualizations, like Cancer InFocus, have emerged as essential tools for facilitating this effort. Integrating clinical trial accrual data can further enhance our understanding of the catchment area.

Outcomes of Cancer Patients with COVID-19 in a Hospital System in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.

Patients with a history of malignancy have been shown to be at an increased risk of COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality. Poorer clinical outcomes in that patient population are likely due to the underlying systemic illness, comorbidities, and the cytotoxic and immunosuppressive anti-tumor treatments they are subjected to. We identified 416 cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection being managed for their malignancy at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, between March and July of 2020.

The association of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors with the biochemical recurrence-free and overall survival of patients with prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy.

Purpose: To determine whether phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor documentation is associated with biochemical relapse-free and overall survival of patients with prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy.

Materials And Methods: We undertook a retrospective cohort analysis of 3,100 patients with prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy between 2003 and 2015. The patients were categorized as a phosphodiesterase- 5- inhibitor user or non-user.

Statin use and risk of prostate cancer biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy.

Background: Multiple studies have investigated the role of statins in prostate cancer (CaP), the leading cause of cancer related death in men. Retrospective cohort studies investigating the correlation between statin use and biochemical recurrence free (BCRF) survival in men with CaP have been inconclusive.

Objectives: In the largest reported surgical cohort to date, we investigated the effect of statin therapy on BCRF and overall survival in patients with CaP who have undergone radical prostatectomy (RP).

Standardized Observational Cancer Research Using the OMOP CDM Oncology Module.

Observational research in cancer requires substantially more detail than most other therapeutic areas. Cancer conditions are defined through histology, affected anatomical structures, staging and grading, and biomarkers, and are treated with complex therapies. Here, we show a new cancer module as part of the OMOP CDM, allowing manual and automated abstraction and standardized analytics.

HemOnc: A new standard vocabulary for chemotherapy regimen representation in the OMOP common data model.

Systematic application of observational data to the understanding of impacts of cancer treatments requires detailed information models allowing meaningful comparisons between treatment regimens. Unfortunately, details of systemic therapies are scarce in registries and data warehouses, primarily due to the complex nature of the protocols and a lack of standardization. Since 2011, we have been creating a curated and semi-structured website of chemotherapy regimens, HemOnc.

Generation of "virtual" control groups for single arm prostate cancer adjuvant trials.

It is difficult to construct a control group for trials of adjuvant therapy (Rx) of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy (RP) due to ethical issues and patient acceptance. We utilized 8 curve-fitting models to estimate the time to 60%, 65%, … 95% chance of progression free survival (PFS) based on the data derived from Kattan post-RP nomogram. The 8 models were systematically applied to a training set of 153 post-RP cases without adjuvant Rx to develop 8 subsets of cases (reference case sets) whose observed PFS times were most accurately predicted by each model.

Development and evaluation of a new fully automatic motion detection and correction technique in cardiac SPECT imaging.

Background: In cardiac SPECT perfusion imaging, motion correction of the data is critical to the minimization of motion introduced artifacts in the reconstructed images. Software-based (data-driven) motion correction techniques are the most convenient and economical approaches to fulfill this purpose. However, the accuracy is significantly affected by how the data complexities, such as activity overlap, non-uniform tissue attenuation, and noise are handled.