Presents recipients of the 2018 MTT-S Graduate Student Fellowship Awards.

e12623Background: Breast cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in women. The management and prognosis of breast cancer depend on the size and histologic grade of the tumor, hormonal ...

43 Background: Palliative chemotherapy and radiation are often used in patients with advanced stage of cancer. To weigh the risks and the benefits of this treatment, patients need to be adequately informed about all treatment aspects including the side effects and potential benefits. Unfortunately, many patients are not well informed about the goal of their treatment, and many are under the impression that this treatment can be curative. Methods: This is a prospective survey based study that enrolled 46 patients with stage IV disease of all solid malignancies, who are being treated with palliative intent at the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center. Patients were given a questionnaire designed to test their level of knowledge of their current treatment goals, and to evaluate the efforts of health care team to educate patients. Results: 35% of patients had lung cancer, 34% had GI cancer, 14% had breast cancer and 13% had GU cancers. 37% of patients were under the impression that they are receiving curative treatment, 28% were not sure about the goals of the treatment, while only 35% of patients understood that the treatment was not curative. 91% of patients received written educational material. 93% of patients chose personal communication with the physician as their preferred method of getting educated about their disease. Conclusions: Our data shows that most of the patients at our local cancer center who are actively receiving treatment with palliative intent are satisfied with amount of time spent with physician and have received written educational material. Despite these efforts, a majority of patients are still not clear on the treatment goal. Most patients chose personal discussion as the preferred method of education. Hence, physicians on staff were informed about the results and further emphasis on treatment goal during counseling is being undertaken. [Table: see text]

Mycobacterium neoaurum (M. neoaurum) is an infrequently encountered cause of infection in humans. It is a member of the rapidly growing mycobacteria family. It predominately afflicts those with a compromised immune status and a chronically indwelling vascular access. Isolation of this organism is challenging yet the advent of 16s ribosomal sequencing paved the way for more sensitive detection. No treatment guidelines are available and treatment largely depends on the experience of the treating physician and nature of the isolate. We report a case of M. neoaurum bacteremia in an immune competent host, with a chronically placed peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line).

This review focuses on clinical diagnosis and both pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapeutic options in early stages of the autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative Huntington’s disease (HD). The available literature has been reviewed for motor, cognitive, and psychiatric alterations, which are the three major symptom domains of this devastating progressive disease. From a clinical point of view, one has to be aware that the HD phenotype can vary highly across individuals and during the course of the disease. Also, symptoms in juvenile HD can differ substantially from those with adult-onset of HD. Although there is no cure of HD and management is limited, motor and psychiatric symptoms often respond to pharmacotherapy, and nonpharmacological approaches as well as supportive care are essential. International treatment recommendations based on study results, critical statements, and expert opinions have been included. This review is restricted to symptomatic and supportive approaches since all attempts to establish a cure for the disease or modifying therapies have failed so far.

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is gaining popularity as a standalone procedure for the surgical treatment of obesity in the superobese because of higher failure with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. We report a single-institution experience with LSG as the procedure of choice in all obese groups and comparing weight loss in the nonsuperobese and superobese patients. LSGs performed between February 2009 and June 2011 were reviewed. Body mass index (BMI), percentage excess weight loss (%EWL), and percentage excess BMI loss were analyzed for two groups of nonsuperobese (Group I) and superobese (Group II) at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperative visits. Two-sample t tests were used to compare groups. At each postoperative visit, reductions in BMI and amount of weight loss were higher in Group II but %EWL was statistically similar in both groups. The %EWL was 29.5 versus 29.9 per cent at 3 months (P = 0.9246), 51.7 versus 47.5 per cent at 6 months (P = 0.9800), and 52.8 versus 52.6 per cent at 12 months (P = 0.9755). Both groups demonstrated satisfactory resolution of most preoperative comorbidities. Success rate of weight loss after LSG as a standalone procedure is comparable in the superobese and nonsuperobese patients.