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Most of the patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are diagnosed with locally advanced disease. Standards of care for curative-intent treatment of this patient group are either surgery and adjuvant radio(chemo)therapy (aRCT) or definitive chemoradiation. Despite these treatments, especially pathologically intermediate and high-risk HNSCC often recur. The ADRISK trial investigates in locally advanced HNSCC and intermediate and high risk after up-front surgery if the addition of pembrolizumab to aRCT with cisplatin improves event-free sur-vival compared to aRCT alone. ADRISK is a prospective, randomized controlled investiga-tor-initiated (IIT)-phase II multicenter trial within the German Interdisciplinary Study Group of German Cancer Society (IAG-KHT). Patients with primary resectable stage III and IV HNSCC of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx with pathologic high (R1, extracapsular nodal extension) or intermediate risk (R0

IntroductionThe objective of this study was to determine whether postoperative additive systemic steroid administration in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) impacted selected endoscopic, subjective and objective outcome measures.MethodsThis was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, noninferiority multicenter trial of n=106 patients with CRSwNP. All patients underwent primary functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) followed by topical nasal steroids. Patients were randomized to a systemic steroid or placebo for 1 month. Patients were followed up for 2 years over 9 time points. The primary outcome measures were the differences between groups with respect to the nasal polyp score (NPS) and sinonasal quality of life (SNQoL). Secondary outcome measures included interactions with respect to the Lund-Kennedy score (LKS), sinonasal symptoms, general quality of life (GQoL), 16-item odor identification test scores, recurrence rates, need for revision surgery and mucus biomarker levels.Results106 patients were randomized to either the placebo or the systemic steroid group (n=53 per group). Postoperative systemic steroids were not superior to placebo with respect to all primary (p= 0.077) and secondary outcome measures (p>0.05 for all). Reported adverse events were similar between the two groups.ConclusionIn conclusion, the addition of postoperative systemic steroids after primary FESS did not confer a benefit over topical steroid nasal spray alone with respect to NPS, SNQOL, LKS, GQOL, sinonasal symptoms, smell scores, recurrence rates, the need for revision surgery or biomarkers over a short-term follow-up of up to 9 months and a long-term follow-up of up to 24 months in CRSwNP patients. Functional endoscopic surgery did, however, show a strong effect on all outcome measures, which remained relatively stable up to the endpoint at 2 years.

BackgroundPembrolizumab and cetuximab are antibodies under investigation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) either as single agents or combined with cisplatin and other chemotherapeutic drugs, e.g., 5-fluorouracil and/or docetaxel. However, also the combination of both antibodies may have potential in recurrent/metastatic (R/M) HNSCC, in particular in cisplatin-resistant or -refractory cases or patients with comorbid disease, e.g. patients with impaired renal function.MethodsTo clarify potential benefit that may result from such combination, we used the FLAVINO assay, a short-time ex vivo assay to compare responsiveness of HNSCC to pembrolizumab, cetuximab and both combined regarding colony formation of epithelial cells of biopsy-derived tumor samples and their cytokine production within three days either without or with stimulation with 10 ng/mL interferon gamma (IFN-γ). Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1 or CCL2), interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, IFN-γ, and interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10 or CXCL10) in supernatants were measured by ELISA.ResultsWe detected huge heterogeneity in response to cetuximab, pembrolizumab and both combined with and without IFN-γ stimulation. Moreover, we detected a link between IFN-γ induced IP-10 release and improved outcome in those HNSCC patients who were capable to respond to IFN-γ and pembrolizumab, cetuximab and both combined with a further increase in IP-10 production. We derived an “IP-10 score” that independent from clinical characteristics of HNSCC patients and therapy regimens applied was able to predict their outcome.ConclusionsThe heterogeneity in the ex vivo response of cetuximab, pembrolizumab and both combined with and without IFN-γ stimulation identifies subgroups of HNSCC patients with deviating OS.

Background: About five to 10% of cancers in the head and neck region are neck squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary (NSCCUP). Their diagnosis and treatment are challenging given the risk of missing occult tumors and potential relapse. Recently, we described human papillomavirus (HPV)-related NSCCUP-patients (NSCCUP-P) as a subgroup with superior survival. However, standardized diagnostic workup, novel diagnostic procedures, decision-making in the multidisciplinary tumor board (MDTB) and multimodal therapy including surgery and post-operative radio-chemotherapy (PORCT) may also improve survival. Methods: For assessing the impact of standardized diagnostic processes simultaneously established with the MDTB on outcome, we split our sample of 115 NSCCUP-P into two cohorts treated with curative intent from 1988 to 2006 (cohort 1; n = 53) and 2007 to 2018 (cohort 2; n = 62). We compared diagnostic processes and utilized treatment modalities applying Chi-square tests, and outcome by Kaplan–Meier plots and Cox regression. Results: In cohort 2, the standardized processes (regular use of [18F]-FDG-PET-CT imaging followed by examination under anesthesia, EUA, bilateral tonsillectomy and neck dissection, ND, at least of the affected site) improved detection of primaries (P = 0.026) mostly located in the oropharynx (P = 0.001). From 66.0 to 87.1% increased ND frequency (P = 0.007) increased the detection of extracapsular extension of neck nodes (ECE+) forcing risk factor-adapted treatment by increased utilization of cisplatin-based PORCT that improved 5-years progression-free and overall survival from 60.4 and 45.3 to 67.7% (P = 0.411) and 66.1% (P = 0.025). Conclusions: Standardized diagnostic workup followed by ND and risk-factor adapted therapy improves survival of NSCCUP-P.

Clinical decision-making for complex diseases such as cancer aims at finding the right diagnosis, optimal treatment or best aftercare for a specific patient. The decision-making process is very challenging due to the distributed storage of patient information entities in multiple hospital information systems, the required inclusion of multiple clinical disciplines with their different views of disease and therapy, and the multitude of available medical examinations, therapy options and aftercare strategies. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) address these difficulties by presenting all relevant information entities in a concise manner and providing a recommendation based on interdisciplinary disease- and patient-specific models of diagnosis and treatment. This work summarizes our research on visual assistance for therapy decision-making. We aim at supporting the preparation and implementation of expert meetings discussing cancer cases (tumor boards) and the aftercare consultation. In very recent work, we started to address the generation of models underlying a CDSS. The developed solutions combine state-of-the-art interactive visualizations with methods from statistics, machine learning and information organization., EuroVis 2021 - Dirk Bartz Prize, 2nd Prize, 7, 11, Juliane Müller, Mario Cypko, Alexander Oeser, Matthäus Stoehr, Veit Zebralla, Stefanie Schreiber, Susanne Wiegand, Andreas Dietz, and Steffen Oeltze-Jafra, CCS Concepts: Human-centered computing --> Visual analytics; Applied computing --> Life and medical sciences

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common malignant tumor among fair-skinned individuals, and its incidence had been steadily rising in the past decades. In order to maintain the highest quality of patient care possible, the German S2k guidelines were updated following a systematic literature search and with the participation of all professional societies and associations involved in the management of the disease. Part 2 addresses issues such as proper risk stratification, the various therapeutic approaches, and prevention as well as follow-up of patients with basal cell carcinoma.

The monitoring and planning of cancer aftercare are commonly based on clinical, physiological and caregiver-reported outcome measures. More recently, patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures, capturing social, psychological, and financial aspects, are gaining attention in the course of establishing a patient-centered healthcare system. PROs are acquired during regular aftercare consultations where patients are asked to fill in questionnaires. We present an interactive visual analysis (IVA) approach to investigating PROs. The approach is applied in clinical routine during the aftercare consultation to assess the development of the particular patient, to compare this development to those of similar patients, and to detect trends that may require an adaptation of the aftercare strategy. Furthermore, the approach is employed in clinical research to identify groups of similarly developing patients and risk factors for poor outcomes, as well as to visually compare patient groups. We demonstrate the IVA approach in analyzing PROs of 1025 head and neck cancer patients. In an evaluation with 20 clinicians, we assessed the usefulness and usability of a prototypical implementation., EuroVis Workshop on Visual Analytics (EuroVA), Applications of Visual Analytics, 78, 82, Juliane Müller, Veit Zebralla, Susanne Wiegand, and Steffen Oeltze-Jafra, CCS Concepts: Applied computing --> Health care information systems; Health informatics

Einleitung: Fortgeschrittene lymphatische Malformationen im Kopf-Hals-Bereich stellen ein komplexes Krankheitsbild dar. Das Wissen um die exakte Morphologie und die Möglichkeit kurativer Interventionen sind weitgehend begrenzt. Andererseits gewinnen endoskopische Zugänge auch im Bereich der[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL], 81. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie