<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Intraspinal extradural primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNET) represent a rare entity that almost always carry a poor prognosis. A recent literature research revealed only four cases reported in adults. The tumours have mainly thoracic and lumbar location. We report the only case with cervical location and with the longest survival. Urgent laminectomy was performed resulting in a rapid pain relief for the patient. The patient was followed up with craniospinal irradiation and several cycles of chemotherapy. The patient died due to dissemination of the disease 31 months after the diagnosis. Intraspinal PNET tumours have a rapidly progressive course, and there is no current consensus on the optimal therapeutic approach.</abstract>

Department of Radiation Oncology, Aretaieio University Hospital, Athens, 11528 Greece

Department of Medical Oncology, Aretaieio University Hospital, Athens, 11528 Greece

Department of Pathology, Aretaieio University Hospital, Athens, 11528 Greece

Department of Radiology, Aretaieio University Hospital, Athens, 11528 Greece

Cervical intraspinal extradural primitive neuroectodermal tumour in an adult

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In our centre, among 1965 registered cancer patients between May 2011 and December 2013, we report three cases with multiple primary malignant neoplasms. One of them was excluded due to lack of data, and so we present the remaining two cases. The first case is an 82-year-old female patient with colon and thyroid cancer and the second case is a 61-year-old female patient with colon and breast cancer. Both cases were metachronous and discovered accidently during the regular follow up, and managed with a curative intent. Conclusion: It is important for the clinicians to keep in mind that individuals with cancer are at increased risk for subsequent primary malignancies, which must be differentiated from recurrent or metastatic disease.</abstract>

Oncology Center, King Abdullah Medical City - Holy Capital, Saudi Arabia.

Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt

Double primary cancers registered in a tertiary care hospital: review of two cases

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Patients receiving palliative care may deteriorate suddenly due to their illness or another acute medical or surgical problem. Management options depend on life expectancy, level of intervention needed, and an assessment of risks, benefits, side effects and likely outcome. Symptom control and supportive care may be the most appropriate management if the patient is dying. Treatment options are to be discussed with the patient and family; if possible, discussion and documentation of the patient’s wishes should be made in advance including those about resuscitation, hospital admission and transfer to an intensive care unit.</abstract>

Oncology Center, King Abdullah Medical City-Holy Capital, Saudi Arabia

Medical Oncology department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt

Scope of management of emergencies in palliative care

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Newly diagnosed invasive breast cancers should be evaluated for Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) status by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and/or in situ hybridisation (ISH) to determine eligibility for trastuzumab or other HER2-targeted therapies. Previous reports of high discordance rates between IHC and ISH have raised concerns over the accuracy of HER2 testing, especially when IHC is conducted locally. This study aimed to determine the rate of false-negative IHC results at three pathology centres (one central, two local) in Greece by central retesting of 240 prospectively collected invasive breast cancers scored as IHC 0/1+ at initial testing. All samples were from female patients (median age 58.0 years). Initial IHC tests utilised either the CB11 (159/239; 66.5%) or 4B5 (80/239; 33.5%) antibodies and were scored as 0 in 105/240 cases (43.8%) and 1+ in 135/240 cases (56.3%). All samples were centrally retested by automated silver in situ hybridisation (SISH). Of 237 samples with SISH staining suitable for assessment, 223 (94.1%; 95% confidence interval 90.3–96.5%) were classed as SISH-negative (<italic>HER2</italic>:chromosome enumeration probe 17 (CEP17) &lt;1.8). Eight tested SISH-positive (<italic>HER2</italic>:CEP17 >2.2), providing a false-negative rate of 3.4%. A further four samples (1.7%) exhibited equivocal amplification status (<italic>HER2</italic>:CEP17 1.8–2.2) and two (0.8%) showed polysomy of chromosome 17. The proportion of SISH-negative results did not significantly differ between the IHC 0 and 1+ subgroups (95.2% vs. 93.2%; <italic>p</italic>=0.505). In conclusion, the low observed rate of false-negative IHC results in this study supports the use of IHC for initial HER2 status assessment in local or central laboratories in Greece.</abstract>

Pathology Department, Hygeia Hospital, Athens, Greece

Pathology Department, METAXA Anticancer Hospital, Piraeus, Greece

Pathology Department, General Maternity District Hospital “Helena Venizelou”, Athens, Greece

Roche Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland

Central retesting of breast cancer with HER2 immunohistochemistry score of 0 or 1+ using silver-enhanced in situ hybridisation: a multicentre, prospective study in Greece

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Purpose: Patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) are well known to have poor response to chemotherapy. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of new chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of Egyptian MPM patients.Patients and methods: The first study was a non-randomised, open-label trial. It included 34 eligible patients who were assigned to receive either cisplatin–pemetrexed or pemetrexed alone if cisplatin was contraindicated for a maximum of eight cycles. In the second trial, 21 chemo-naive patients with histologically proven advanced MPM were included. They received cisplatin and raltitrexed for a maximum of six cycles.Results: In the first trial, the median age was 43.5 years (range 25–69), partial response (PR) was achieved in 37.5%, stable disease (SD) in 50%. Median time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were 7 and 14 months, respectively. Survival at 1 year was 64.7%. No toxicity was observed in 17.6% of patients and grade 3–4 toxicity was evident in 11.8% (neutropenia), 8.8% (anaemia) and 2.9% (vomiting and diarrhoea) of patients. In the second trial, median age was 46 years (range 19–71), PR was achieved in 23.2% and one CR was reported. SD was noticed in 61.9% of patients. Median TTP and OS were 6 and 12 months, respectively. Survival at 1 year was 51.6%.Conclusion: Both cisplatin–pemetrexed and cisplatin–raltitrexed are effective and safe regimens in the treatment of MPM.</abstract>

Impact of relatively new chemotherapeutic agents on the outcome of Egyptian patients with advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 14 (2023): Issue 1 (December 2023)

Volume 13 (2022): Issue 3 (December 2022)

Volume 13 (2022): Issue 2 (December 2022) 6TH HELLENIC CONGRESS OF ONCOLOGY

Volume 13 (2022): Issue 1 (December 2022)

Volume 12 (2021): Issue 3 (December 2021)

Volume 12 (2021): Issue 2 (December 2021) Supplementary Issue: 27th Hellenic Conference of Clinical Oncology

Volume 12 (2021): Issue 1 (May 2021)

Volume 11 (2020): Issue 3 (December 2020)

Volume 11 (2020): Issue 2 (July 2020)

Volume 11 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020)

Volume 10 (2019): Issue 2 (December 2019)

Volume 10 (2019): Issue 1 (April 2019)

Volume 9 (2018): Issue 1 (December 2018)

Volume 8 (2017): Issue 1 (June 2017)

Volume 7 (2016): Issue 2 (June 2016)

Volume 7 (2016): Issue 1 (March 2016)

Volume 6 (2015): Issue 4 (December 2015)

Volume 6 (2015): Issue 3 (September 2015)

Volume 6 (2015): Issue 2 (June 2015)

Volume 6 (2015): Issue 1 (March 2015)

Volume 5 (2014): Issue 2 (December 2014)

Volume 5 (2014): Issue 1 (July 2014)

Forum of Clinical Oncology

 Why subscribe and read  We would like to present to you the Forum of Clinical Oncology (FCO), the official scientific journal of the Hellenic Society of Medical Oncology.In the Hellenic Society of Medical Oncology we want FCO to serve as a forum, for us all, to communicate clinical and research achievements in English; to share thoughts, opinions, facts, problems and solutions.We envision the journal to be the means, by which our efforts in the fight against cancer will become known to a wider audience, thus establishing our presence in the global setting. FCO publishes original and translational research articles relevant to diagnosis and treatment of cancer, state-of-the-art reviews, case reports, research articles, statements of opinion and comments, all related to clinical practice and basic research. A large number of eminent Greek and Foreign colleagues who participate in the National and International Editorial Boards, with their continuum direction and support, guarantee the high quality of the work published in FCO. In every issue published there will be something new, enjoyable and exciting to be read.  Why submit  We would like to welcome you to the Forum of Clinical Oncology (FCO), the official scientific journal of the Hellenic Society of Medical Oncology.In the Hellenic Society of Medical Oncology we share the view that there are many issues we deal with in our everyday clinical and research practice that are common to our colleagues geographically closer to us, in the Balkans and the Mediterranean basin, but also to those in other parts of the world. That led us to dare "the great leap forward": to broaden the scope of our Greek scientific journal for oncology, published in Greek for the last 10 years, and develop Forum of Clinical Oncology a web based open access journal in English.  FCO will serve as a forum for us all to communicate clinical and research achievements. One of the innovations of the journal is its online management from submission of an article to its publication. Online is more efficient: submitting, reviewing, proofreading, filing and indexing. However, the most important benefit of all is easy universal access.  English has become the common language amongst scientists from around the globe. This is the reason why we chose English as the official language of the journal. Many Greek colleagues have already published work in English in distinguished journals or have studied or worked abroad. We believe that the language change will not be an impediment for our Greek colleagues to present their work in FCO, whereas on the other hand it will allow our colleagues from other countries to participate.  The Forum of Clinical Oncology publishes original and translational research articles relevant to diagnosis and treatment of cancer, state-of-the-art reviews, case reports, research articles, statements of opinion and comments, all related to clinical practice and basic research.  We share the view that there should be no barriers to knowledge and thus, we decided Forum of Clinical Oncology to be an open-access journal, i.e., any work submitted to the journal and accepted for publication shall be made immediately available to the scientific community and the general public, via the journal's website and printed version. Authors are requested to adjust accordingly the information regarding their work they wish to make public. It is the desire of the editorial team to make this journal an interactive educational tool to acquire knowledge and it is addressed to scientists working with oncology.  Please join us in our effort and submit your work to the FCO.  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 