Endoscopic endonasal approaches for pituitary adenomas are associated with improved clinical and quality of life (QOL) outcomes. However, the necessity of middle turbinate resection to optimize surgical exposure remains controversial, particularly regarding its potential impact on postoperative nasal and tumor-related QOL.

This prospective cohort study included adult patients undergoing endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal resection of pituitary adenomas between 2014 and 2021 at a tertiary center. Patients were divided into those undergoing bilateral middle turbinectomy and those with turbinate preservation. Tumor-related QOL was assessed using the Anterior Skull Base Disease-Specific Questionnaire (ASBS-Q), and nasal QOL using the Sinonasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22), at baseline and multiple postoperative time points up to >6 months. Clinical and surgical variables were collected and compared between groups.

Our study included 73 patients, 51 (69.9.%) of whom underwent middle turbinate resection and 22 (30.1%) who did not. The difference in overall ASBS-Q scores did not alter significantly between both groups during the long-term postoperative course (>6 months). SNOT-22 score differences also did not alter significantly throughout the entire postoperative course.

Middle turbinectomy during endoscopic endonasal resection of pituitary adenomas was not associated in our cohort to adversely affect long-term nasal or tumor-related QOL.

Post cancer treatment, many young people often live with ongoing emotional, social, and physical difficulties, but support is not always accessed when it is needed. This study aimed to co-produce a conceptual model of support-seeking after cancer treatment with young people with lived experience of cancer, to better understand the triggers, timing, and pathways influencing engagement with support. This co-design work, informed by Bird et al.'s generative framework for co-production, built upon a prior study involving interviews and co-design workshops with young people and healthcare/allied health professionals, and informed a preliminary model of support-seeking. The current work involved two further co-production stages through an online survey and workshop to refine this model. Data were analysed using a thematic approach to support conceptual model development. Four interconnected themes shaped support-seeking: (1) readiness to engage: recognition, emotional readiness, and relational safety; (2) access and appraisal of support: visibility, fit, feasibility, and burden; (3) pathways to support: multi-modal, layered, and non-linear engagement; and (4) support trajectory: changing needs and recurrent engagement. Engagement in support-seeking depended on the alignment of readiness, recognition of need, and relational safety. This model offers a framework to improve how post-treatment support is designed and delivered in practice.

Renal involvement is an uncommon but clinically important manifestation of B-cell neoplasms, and direct comparisons between indolent and aggressive entities remain limited. This single-center retrospective biopsy-confirmed and tissue-selected study compared 28 biopsy-confirmed patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma/high-grade B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL/HGBL), with 14 patients in each group, treated at Peking University First Hospital between June 2010 and June 2025. The aggressive comparator group included 13 DLBCL cases and one case annotated as HGBL with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements. Clinical features, timing of renal involvement recognition, dominant clinical entry points, pathological patterns, treatment strategies, and hematologic and renal responses were analyzed. CLL/SLL was associated with higher white blood cell and absolute lymphocyte counts, whereas DLBCL/HGBL showed higher lactate dehydrogenase and β2-microglobulin levels. The interval to renal involvement recognition was longer in CLL/SLL than in DLBCL (24.00 vs. 2.00 months, p = 0.007). At renal involvement recognition or biopsy, 24 h urinary protein excretion was nominally higher in the CLL/SLL group than in the DLBCL/HGBL group (3.90 vs. 1.58 g/24 h). CLL/SLL more often presented with proteinuria/edema, hematuria, or renal dysfunction and showed heterogeneous infiltrative lesions with concurrent glomerular or vascular involvement. DLBCL/HGBL more frequently presented with flank pain or renal mass-related manifestations and was dominated by direct infiltrative or mass-forming lesions. Treatment patterns differed markedly, whereas no significant difference in the distribution of renal responses was detected; however, this comparison was underpowered and should be interpreted descriptively. In this biopsy-confirmed, tissue-selected cohort, CLL/SLL and DLBCL/HGBL showed different observed patterns of renal involvement recognition, tissue acquisition, and renal pathological presentation. These findings support tissue-based evaluation of renal abnormalities in B-cell neoplasms but should be interpreted as descriptive and hypothesis-generating in view of the small sample size and the influence of diagnostic and biopsy pathways.

The prognostic significance of myelodysplasia-related gene mutations (MDS-RGMs), defined by the ELN 2022 classification and Mutation-Enhanced International Prognostic Score System high-risk mutations (MIPSS70-HRM), in accelerated-phase (AP) and blast-phase (BP) myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) remains unclear. We conducted a retrospective study of 101 AP/BP MPN patients with intermediate-risk cytogenetics, excluding TP53 mutations and adverse-risk karyotypes. We evaluated whether MDS-RGM or MIPSS70-HRM predicted treatment response, overall survival (OS), or disease-free survival (DFS) and whether treatment intensity affected OS. Patients included AP (29.7%) and BP (70.3%), with 55% receiving intensive therapy. Allogeneic stem cell transplant (ASCT) significantly improved OS (HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.19-0.50; p < 0.0001), as did AP versus BP at transformation (HR: 0.43, 95% CI 0.26-0.73; p = 0.0016). Among patients ≤ 70 years with ECOG 0-1 (N = 77), ASCT and reversion to chronic-phase MPN (cMPN) were associated with longer OS (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0475). Treatment intensity alone did not significantly affect OS (p = 0.1991).

Clinical research has evolved into a multidisciplinary field integrating Medical Devices (MD), In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), governed by a modernized European regulatory framework including the Clinical Trial Regulation (CTR), the Medical Device Regulation (MDR), and the In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR). In 2021, the Istituto Oncologico Veneto (IOV) IRCCS established the Clinical Trial Quality Team (CTQT) to provide support for non-profit trials and ensure high-quality standards.

A descriptive analysis of trials managed between 2021 and 2025 was conducted using the REDCap platform. A team of 15 professionals assessed performance via Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) categorized into: ethical-regulatory compliance, operational efficiency and data quality.

The CTQT manages 18 studies (83% interventional, 50% multicentre), primarily focused on brain (17%) and genitourinary (23%) tumours. The mean time from internal feasibility to Ethics Committee discussion is 13 days. Total approval time (ethical and administrative) is 107 days. Operational metrics are strong, with Site Initiation Time averaging 27 days and First Patient In (FPI) at 41 days.

A centralized, multidisciplinary structure effectively supports non-profit research in a complex regulatory environment. While operational speed is high, challenges such as staff turnover and query management variability remain. Future efforts will focus on standardizing post-approval administrative phases and optimizing data management to further improve trial efficiency and integrity.

Focal therapy (FT) for localized prostate cancer induces architectural changes that complicate post-treatment multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) surveillance. The Prostate Imaging after Focal Ablation (PI-FAB) system was developed to standardize the evaluation of in-field recurrence on mpMRI. This study assessed the diagnostic performance and inter-reader agreement of PI-FAB following focal cryoablation for localized prostate cancer. In this retrospective study (October 2019 to January 2024), 85 patients (140 lesion sites) underwent post-FT mpMRI and biopsy. Two radiologists (11 and 4 years of experience) independently scored mpMRIs using the three-point PI-FAB scale. Metrics included sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy. Inter-reader agreement was measured via quadratic weighted Cohen's kappa (κ). Reader 1 (more experienced) demonstrated 83.9% sensitivity, 84.4% specificity, 60.5% PPV, and 94.8% NPV. Reader 2 demonstrated 71.4% sensitivity, 87.5% specificity, 58.8% PPV, and 92.5% NPV. Both achieved 84.3% accuracy. Inter-reader agreement was moderate (κ = 0.60). PI-FAB provides good diagnostic performance for detecting in-field recurrence after cryoablation. While reader experience may impact sensitivity, moderate agreement across experience levels supports PI-FAB's validity and potential clinical utility in standardizing post-FT surveillance.

The prognostic significance of next-generation sequencing (NGS) findings during the hormone-sensitive phase of prostate cancer remains incompletely characterized. This retrospective cohort study included 92 patients who underwent NGS analysis on tumor tissue between 2019 and 2025. The primary endpoint was time to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) from androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) initiation; secondary endpoints were overall survival from ADT initiation (OS-ADT) and from diagnosis. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed. CRPC developed in 66 patients (71.7%) at a median of 21.1 months. The most frequently altered genes were ATR (35.9%), PTEN (28.3%), TP53 (26.1%), and BRCA2 (15.2%). KMT2C alteration (5.4%) was the strongest independent genomic predictor of shorter time to CRPC (HR = 6.804, p = 0.003) and OS-ADT (HR = 4.730, p = 0.019). TP53 alteration independently predicted shorter OS-ADT (HR = 1.810, p = 0.038). High genomic burden independently predicted shorter time to CRPC (HR = 1.917, p = 0.032). Homologous recombination repair deficiency was not associated with outcomes, attributable to high ATR alteration frequency introducing pathway heterogeneity. Mismatch repair deficiency showed a borderline association with shorter OS-ADT (20.7 vs. 44.0 months; p = 0.060). An exploratory composite risk score stratified patients into three prognostic groups with markedly different outcomes (HR = 7.904, p = 0.001). NGS analysis during the hormone-sensitive phase identifies independent predictors of castration resistance, supporting its integration at ADT initiation for risk stratification and biomarker-guided treatment planning.

Immune fitness (IF) reflects the body's ability to mount appropriate immune responses. Monitoring IF could improve tailored treatment in oncological rehabilitation. The Immune Status Questionnaire (ISQ) and the Single-Item Scale (SIS) were developed to assess IF, but their clinimetric properties in cancer rehabilitation remain unknown.

To evaluate the construct validity, responsiveness, and correlation between the ISQ and the SIS in oncological rehabilitation.

The study population included people participating in oncological rehabilitation during or within one year after medical treatment. Data were collected prospectively via questionnaires. Construct validity and responsiveness were assessed through predefined hypotheses, including correlations with fatigue, sleep problems, malnutrition risk, activity impairment, and physical functioning.

In total, 97 individuals were included in the analyses. Median ISQ and SIS scores were 8/10 and 7/10, respectively. Correlations ranged from r = -0.21 to r = -0.50. Only the SIS correlations with fatigue and physical functioning, and the ISQ correlation with fatigue, met the predefined thresholds. Responsiveness hypotheses were not confirmed.

The ISQ and the SIS demonstrated low construct validity and responsiveness in this population. IF scores were higher than expected. Correlations showed links between fatigue, physical functioning, and IF. Future research should develop tools tailored to the complex immune disturbances experienced by cancer survivors.

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (cSCC) of the head and neck district are among the most common non melanocytic malignant skin carcinomas. The proposal to differentiate, within the N stage, parotid metastases from lateral cervical metastases, originates from the different prognostic value of the metastatic region involved.

We retrospectively evaluated 61 patients, surgically treated for parotid metastases from cSCC between January 2002 and June 2023, in four Departments of Surgery, to assess the geographic distribution of parotid metastases and to describe their recurrence patterns, to evaluate the prognostic value of the number of affected lateral cervical lymph nodes (LN) and the number of positive intra-glandular lymph nodes (IGLN) and to identify the main prognostic histopathological factors.

Our results did not show significant differences between participating centers in the distribution of parotid metastases, nor in their recurrence rates. However, our results highlight how adjuvant radiotherapy is deeply associated with the Overall Survival (OS), improving survival rates in patients with advanced-stage neoplasms (Odds Ratio 5.0), although causality cannot be inferred because of the retrospective study design. Moreover, a statistically significant correlation was found between the major inflammatory biomarkers and the OS. The presence of IGLN was identified as one of the main factors associated with recurrence and poor prognosis in patients with cSCC and in particular, in patients with N3b nodal stage.

our findings suggest that both LN and IGLN could be used to propose an additional staging stratification for the N parameter, thereby guiding the treatment strategy and postoperative follow-up for patients with parotid metastases from cSCC of the head and neck district.

Genomic testing is a key component of precision oncology; however, Black patients receive genomic testing at lower rates. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify individual and health system drivers of genomic testing disparities at a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. We conducted interviews with 15 oncology providers and 11 Black cancer patients between September 2023 and October 2024. These patients were eligible for genomic testing based on National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, being diagnosed within last 10 years (2014-2023), at least 18 years old, and English-speaking. Providers included oncologists and oncology patient navigators. Topics included motivators, barriers, and knowledge of genomic testing and factors influencing decision-making. The Penchansky and Thomas theoretical framework of healthcare access (e.g., availability, accessibility, accommodation, affordability, and acceptability) guided thematic analysis. Among patients eligible for genomic testing, most participants (n = 7) received genomic testing as part of their cancer treatment based on EMRs, however many patients (n = 7) could not recall discussing genomic testing with their oncologist. Most patients and all providers highlighted affordability as a challenge: patients were concerned about unexpected costs associated with testing, while providers were concerned about costs of matched molecular targeted therapy. Both patients and providers highlighted patient-centered communication to mitigate mistrust and promote patient engagement in care. Despite limited awareness, Black patients view genomic testing positively. Addressing multiple dimensions of access is key to improving system-level processes and ensuring that more patients benefit from lifesaving targeted therapy.