Claudio Flores

Introduction Cancer is one of the leading causes of disease burden in Peru, with significant regional disparities in incidence and mortality. The Moquegua region has experienced a sustained increase in risk factors and cancer burden without systematic studies to characterize its epidemiological profile. The objective of this study was to estimate the temporal trend in cancer incidence and describe its characteristics in the population insured by Social Health Insurance in Moquegua between 2000 and 2020. Methods A retrospective study was conducted based on institutional records of patients with cancer confirmed by pathological anatomy at Hospital Base II, Moquegua. Crude and age-adjusted incidence rates were calculated. Additionally, a joinpoint regression model was applied to analyze temporal trends. The analysis was stratified by sex and anatomical location. Furthermore, five-year overall survival was calculated for the most common neoplasms. Results A total of 545 new cancer cases were identified during the study period. The overall age-adjusted incidence rate was 30.2 per 100 000 insured individuals, with a higher prevalence among women (55.2%). A significant upward shift was observed between 2013 and 2017. The most common sites were: breast (19.4%), prostate (18.0%), cervix (7.5%), colorectal (7.3%), and thyroid (7.0%). Breast cancer had the highest incidence rate; thyroid cancer had a survival rate close to 100%, while prostate cancer had the lowest overall survival rate. Conclusions The incidence of cancer in Moquegua has shown an upward trend since 2013, possibly associated with improvements in diagnostic capacity. Rates were higher among women, with a predominance of neoplasms common at the national level. These findings underscore the need to strengthen cancer surveillance through a territorial approach and to improve access to early-diagnosis services and timely treatment.

Introducción: El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar las características clínicas y pronóstico de los pacientes con Leucemia/Linfoma de Células T del Adulto (ATL) en el Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas (INEN) de Perú. Metodología: Se realizó un estudio transversal, que incluyó por Se revisaron 188 historias clínicas y estudio patológico de pacientes con infección por HTLV-1 diagnosticados en el INEN durante 10 años, de quienes 150 tuvieron ATL. Resultados: 62% de los pacientes tuvieron el subtipo ATL linfoma, 37% subtipo agudo y 1% crónico. La mediana de edad fue 53 años (20-89); 51% fueron mujeres. Dentro de las características clínicas: ECOG > o = 2 (56%); estadio clínico III-IV (80%), síntomas B (58%); incremento de la deshidrogenasa láctica, LDH, (74%); leucocitosis (50%); hipercalcemia (46%) y anemia (36%). 122 pacientes (81,3%) recibieron tratamiento, 79% con quimioterapia (QT) y 4,6% radioterapia complementaria (RT); CHOP fue el esquema de QT más frecuente (89%). De los pacientes con QT tuvieron 18% RC, 32% RP, 7% EE y 13% PE. Conclusión: En este reporte en pacientes con ATL, la forma linfoma es el subtipo más frecuente, existe alta prevalencia de inmunofenotipo atípico y pobre respuesta al CHOP.

Lung cancer is still a prevalent and fatal neoplasm in developing countries. In the last decades, chemotherapy (CHT) maintenance occupied an important role in the treatment, as well as targeted therapies. We aimed to evaluate the survival impact of targeted therapy in advanced lung cancer at a private Peruvian institution (Oncosalud - AUNA). We reviewed retrospectively medical records of patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLS) (clinical stage III-IV) who received CHT and maintenance treatment with target therapy (TT) or CHT. The impact was assessed by progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) using the Kaplan–Meier method, and comparisons of survival curves were performed using log-rank or Breslow test and Cox model. The median age of the patients was 65 years. Clinical characteristics, as well as the treatment type, showed no significant difference between the two groups. The maintenance schedule in those receiving CHT was generally pemetrexed (70%) and in those receiving TT was erlotinib (60.7%). In patients receiving TT, the median PFS was 13 months compared to 7 months in those receiving CHT; likewise, the median OS was 45 and 17 months, respectively. The PFS and OS curves showed significant differences (P < .05), achieving a better survival in subjects treated with TT. Progression-Free Survival and OS were superior in patients who received targeted therapy than those treated only with CHT, the 2 years rate of PFS and OS was nearly double to those who received only CHT-based treatments.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to produce significant emotional consequences at the individual, community, societal, and global levels. This study describes the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) in Peruvian medical students. Data were collected by a convenience sampling method, resulting in a total of 1238 medical students from different medical schools in Peru. Our analyses suggest that a two-factor model explains the underlying two-dimensional structure of the FCV-19S. The results indicated that the Spanish version of the FCV-19S scale was found to have adequate psychometric properties.

OBJECTIVE: To report the design, methodology and initial results of the National Socioeconomic Survey of Access to Health of the EsSalud Insured. RESULTS: There were interviews in 25,000 homes, surveying 79,874 people, of which 62,659 were affiliated to EsSalud. The insured people are mainly males (50.6%) with a higher technical education level (39.7%). The insured population has mostly independent (95.0%) and own (68.1%) home. Only 34.5% of the insured practice some sport or physical exercise; 14.0% of the population suffers from a chronic disease; 3.5% have diabetes; and 7.1%, arterial hypertension. In the last three months, 35.4% of the members needed medical attention; of these, only 73.1% received health care and the remaining 10.9% were treated in pharmacies or non-formal health care services. RESULTS: The 25,000 homes were interviewed, surveying 79,874 people, of which 62,659 were affiliated to EsSalud. The insured people are mainly males (50.6%) with a higher technical education level (39.7%). The insured population has mostly independent (95.0%) and own (68.1%) home. Only 34.5% of the insured practice some sport or physical exercise; 14.0% of the population suffers from a chronic disease; 3.5% have diabetes; and 7.1%, arterial hypertension. In the last three months, 35.4% of the members needed medical attention; of these, only 73.1% received health care and the remaining 10.9% were treated in pharmacies or non-formal health care services. CONCLUSIONS: This survey is the first performed in the population of EsSalud affiliates, applied at the national level, and has socio-economic and demographic data of the insured, their distribution, risk factors of health, prevalence of health problems and the degree of access to health services.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive form of breast cancer with limited options of targeted therapy. Recent findings suggest that the clinical course of TNBC may be modified by the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and chemokine’s expression, such as CCL5. Diverse studies have shown that CCL5 suppresses anti-tumor immunity and it has been related to poor outcome in different types of cancer while in other studies, this gene has been related with a better outcome. We sought to determine the association of CCL5 with the recruitment of TILs and other immune cells. With this aim we evaluated a retrospective cohort of 72 TNBC patients as well as publicly available datasets. TILs were correlated with residual tumor size after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and CCL5 expression. In univariate analysis, TILs and CCL5 were both associated to the distant recurrence free survival; however, in a multivariate analysis, TILs was the only significant marker (HR = 0.336; 95%IC: 0.150–0.753; P = 0.008). CIBERSORT analysis suggested that a high CCL5 expression was associated with recruitment of CD8 T cells, CD4 activated T cells, NK activated cells and macrophages M1. The CD8A gene (encoding for CD8) was associated with an improved outcome in several public breast cancer datasets.

Ecancermedicalscience is the peer-reviewed open access cancer journal founded by the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. We consider articles on all aspects of research relating to cancer, including molecular biology, genetics, pathophysiology, epide

Background There are well-known differences in gender outcome in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other cancers. In this work, we evaluated several randomised clinical trials to explore the gender influence in the outcome of patients with NSCLC treated with targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Methods We performed a series of meta-analysis to compare the gender outcome in the routine setting for overall survival and progression-free survival (PFS) in phase III randomised clinical trials comparing EGFR inhibitors versus chemotherapy (OPTIMAL, LUX-lung 3, LUX-lung 6, EURTAC, ENSURE and WTJOG); ALK inhibitors versus chemotherapy (ASCEND 4, ASCEND 5, PROFILE 1014 and NCT009323893) and anti-PD1 checkpoint inhibitors versus chemotherapy (CheckMate 017, CheckMate 026, CheckMate 057, KEYNOTE 010 and KEYNOTE 024). Results Female patients with NSCLC have a reduced risk of death compared with men (HR=0.73; 95% CI 0.67 to 0.79; pConclusions In this exploratory study, some targeted treatments were influenced by gender. Despite differences in outcomes that could be attributed to different histology, EGFR and smoking status, gender should be evaluated more deeply as prognostic variable in patients with NSCLC.