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MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE
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intermediate- and poor-risk groups in the first-line setting
and the only TKI with preferred status for patients who
have progressed on prior therapy,” The NCCN Clinical Practice
Guidelines are the recognized standard for clinical
policy in cancer care and are developed through review
of evidence and recommendations from physicians and
oncology researchers. The NCCN kidney cancer panel’s decision
to include cabozantiib as a Category 2A preferred
option for the treatment of patients with previously
untreated advanced RCC with poor- or intermediate-risk
disease was based on the results of the phase 2 CABOSUN
trial.
Hospitals Specializing in Cancer Treatment
Ranked in Report
Along with its 2018-19 Best Hospitals Honor Roll rankings,
U.S. News & World Report released its rankings for the
top hospitals across several specialties. For the 2018-19
rankings, U.S. News analyzed data from nearly 5,000 hospitals
and survey responses from more than 30,000 physicians
to rank the top hospitals across 16 specialties.
Among the factors considered for the rankings were
survival rates, patient safety, specialized staff and hospital
reputation. An estimated 158 hospitals were ranked in at
least one specialty. For cancer these hospitals were ranked
in the top 10:
1. MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston)
2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York
City)
3. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.)
4. Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center
(Boston)
5. Cleveland Clinic
6. The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore)
7. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at UW Medical Center
8. Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, Fla.)
9. UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco)
10. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn
Presbyterian (Philadelphia)
Kidney Cancer Worldwide Hot Spots?
Eastern Europe Highest in Rates
Eastern European countries have the highest rates of kidney
cancer, according to a study by the American Institute
for Cancer Research and its Continuous Update Report.
Rates in these countries were significantly higher than
countries elsewhere, with the highest rate in Belarus with
16.8 per 100,000 population. Among 20 countries ranked,
the US was 13th on the list with 10.9 cases per 100,000.
The list of rates:
1. Belarus 16.8
2. Latvia 15.2
3. Lithuania 14.8
4. Czech Republic 14.7
5. Estonia 14.6
6. Slovakia 13.4
7. France (metropolitan) 12.5
8. Hungary 12.4
9. Iceland 11.9
10. Croatia 11.7
11. Urugay 11.4
12. Ireland 11.3
13. US 10.9
14. Slovenia 10.5
15. Canada 10.2
16. Norway 10.2
17. UK 10.2
18. Russia 10.0
19. Australia 9.8
20. Belgium, Singapore 9.4
Artificial-Intelligence Smartphone App
Significantly Reduced Severity of Cancer
Patients’ Pain and Hospital Admissions
A study of 112 people with metastatic solid tumors found
that the use of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based smartphone
app reduced both the severity of patients’ reported
pain and hospital admissions. After an 8-week period,
patients who used the AI-powered app to monitor and
address pain experienced a 20% reduction in the severity
of pain and had nearly 70% lower risk of pain-related hospital
admissions than patients not using the app. The findings
were presented at the 2018 Palliative and Supportive Care
in Oncology Symposium in San Diego.
“There is a significant shortage of palliative care
providers, which will only worsen in the future as our population
ages,” said lead study author Mihir M. Kamdar, MD,
Associate Director of the Division of Palliative Care and an
interventional pain physician at Massachusetts General
Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “This is one of the reasons
why technology solutions to help manage palliative care
challenges, such as cancer pain, are so important.”
According to the researchers, this is one of the first
mobile apps to utilize both patient-reported outcomes and
AI clinical algorithms to significantly decrease pain and
reduce overall inpatient hospitalizations in patients with
cancer-related pain. The app, named ePAL, was designed
and studied as part of a collaboration between Partners
HealthCare Pivot Labs, the Massachusetts General Hospital
Division of Palliative Care, and the Massachusetts General
Hospital Cancer Center. Fifty-six patients in the study were
assigned to use the ePAL app, while an equal number were
assigned to usual care. Patients using ePAL received alerts
on their smartphones with daily pain management tips and
were prompted to submit their pain levels three days a week.
The AI in ePAL was able to distinguish urgent from non-
urgent pain and provide appropriate patient-facing education
in real time. If cancer pain was severe or worsening,