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The treatment landscape in metastatic renal cell carcinoma has changed fundamentally over the last decade by the development of antiangiogenic agents, mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors and immunotherapy. Outside of the context of a clinical trial, the treatments are used sequentially. We describe results under real‐life conditions of a sequential treatment strategy, before the era of immunotherapy. All patients were treated according to their prognostic score (either Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center or International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium) for advanced renal cell carcinoma. A treatment strategy involving 1 to 4 lines was determined including a rechallenge criterion for the repeat use of a treatment class. Three hundred forty‐four patients were included over 3 years. Overall survival was 57 months in patients with good or intermediate prognosis and 19 months in patients with poor prognosis. In the former group, the proportions of patients treated with 2 to 4 treatment lines were 70%, 38% and 16%, respectively. The best objective response rates for lines 1 to 4 were 46%, 36%, 16% and 17%, respectively. Grade III/IV toxicity did not appear to be cumulative. The recommended strategy was followed in 68% of patients. A large proportion of patients with good or intermediate prognosis who progress after two lines of treatment still have a performance status good enough to receive a systemic treatment, which justifies such a strategy. Overall survival of patients with good and intermediate prognosis was long, suggesting a benefit from the applied approach. These results might be used as selection criterion for the treatment of patients in the era of immune checkpoint inhibitors. What's new? Metastatic renal cancer is a notoriously relapsing disease that can be treated with anti‐angiogenic treatments, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, inhibitors of the mammalian Target of Rapamycin or immune checkpoint inhibitors. The authors performed a "real‐life" study testing a sequential strategy of the first three treatments applied to 344 patients with relapsing metastatic renal cancer before the era of immunotherapy. They found that the overall survival of patients with good and intermediate prognosis was long, almost 5 years, and plan a new study including immunotherapy in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of this study is to explore the impact of PSA nadirs on detection rates of prostate cancer (PCa) recurrence with F-choline (CH) PET/CT after external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). Methods: In this retrospective study, data were collected from 54 patients with suspicion of PCa biochemical recurrence after EBRT (28 patients treated initially with EBRT and 26 as salvage therapy in the absence of PSA decrease after initial treatment), who underwent F-CH PET/CT between 2010 and 2015. PSA nadir and trigger PSA were collected from patient files. Relative PSA was calculated by subtracting the nadir from the trigger PSA. Results: Median PSA nadir was 0.31 (0.01-13.31) ng/mL, trigger PSA was 7.85 (0.47-111.60) ng/mL, and relative PSA was 6.05 (0.24-104.59) ng/mL. Overall, 40 (74%) PET/CT scans were positive: recurrence was local and/or regional in 29 patients, distant in 15 and combined both in four, with no association between PSA values and sites of recurrence. In univariate analysis, trigger ( p = 0.015) and relative ( p = 0.0005) PSA values and PSA velocity ( p = 0.01) were significantly linked to positive PET/CT, but PSA nadir was not. In subgroup analysis, these significant differences were only found in the salvage EBRT group. Akaike Information Criterion multivariate model comparison found that relative PSA was a better predictor of positive PET/CT than trigger PSA (PSAt). F-CH PET/CT detection rates increased with trigger and relative PSA: 0% (0/4 patients), 71% (5/7 patients), and 81% (35/43 patients) for PSAt <2 ng/mL, 2≤ PSAt ≤4 ng/mL, and PSAt >4 ng/mL, respectively, and 14% (1/7 patients), 50% (5/10 patients), and 92% (34/37 patients) when relative PSA was taken into account instead of trigger PSA, with seven (13%) patients changing subgroups. Conclusions: We found a high overall detection rate and an increase in detection rates proportional to trigger and relative PSAs. Although relative PSA, taking into account PSA nadir, was a better predictive factor of PET/CT positivity in univariate analysis, this was most noticeable for high PSAs. For low PSAs, trigger PSA remains most relevant. Larger series with intermediate PSA values need to be studied to fully apprehend nadir impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of music on the human being far exceed the limitations of pleasure. These beneficial effects on human health stem from the very action of sound waves. Structured in the form of musical architecture that applies to the variants of reward, thus causing the activation of complex activity and areas that process speech and logic. Through the psychosomatic complex relay, based on cortico-limbic pathways and the limbic system's integration of emotional function with the visceral processes of all organs and tissues in the human body, music has become a standard psychotherapeutic agent which usually favorably influences the organism as a whole. The author reviews the applications of music therapy (MT). The main fields of medical care exemplifying favorable results have been obtained from dermatology, cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, and psychiatric diseases considering it as a prophylactic in conjunction with medical therapy and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented regarding the efficacy of using high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) chemotherapy and cytarabine among solid-organ transplant patients who had primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL).

The effects of music can have a beneficial impact on the life quality of life of asthma patients. These effects are caused by the harmony of sound waves acting on the human body and producing the activation of a complex mechanism at cortical and limbic level that is not yet fully understood. This study of asthmatic patients has tried to highlight the beneficial sides of musicology. Acting on the central nervous system, music can be a useful tool for an asthma patient. Of course, it is difficult to quantify these benefits that are provided by simply listening to some songs. However, the available tools allow us to evaluate, to some extent, the improvement of respiratory parameters of asthmatic patients who listen to music in order to relax. According to the findings of this study, the effects of music on the human being far exceed only entertainment and relaxation. Even though we cannot say that music is a healing solution, its association with specific treatments of allopathic medicine could significantly reduce the amount of medication that is used, thus leading to a significant improvement in the quality of life of asthma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]