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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented substantial challenges to patient care and impacted healthcare delivery, including cardiac electrophysiology practice throughout the globe. Based upon the undetermined course and regional variability of the pandemic, there is uncertainty as to how and when to resume and deliver electrophysiology services for patients with arrhythmia. This joint document from representatives of the Heart Rhythm Society, American Heart Association, and American College of Cardiology seeks to provide guidance for clinicians and institutions reestablishing safe electrophysiological care. To achieve this aim, we address regional and local COVID-19 disease status, the role of viral screening and serological testing, return-to-work considerations for exposed or infected health care workers, risk stratification and management strategies based on COVID-19 disease burden, institutional preparedness for resumption of elective procedures, patient preparation and communication, prioritization of procedures, and development of outpatient and periprocedural care pathways.

Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to date have demonstrated limited activity in advanced ovarian cancer (OC). Folate receptor alpha (FRα) is overexpressed in the majority of OCs and presents an attractive target for a combination immunotherapy to potentially overcome resistance to ICI in OCs. The current study sought to examine clinical and immunologic responses to TPIV200, a multiepitope FRα vaccine administered with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor durvalumab in patients with advanced platinum-resistant OC. Methods Following Simon two-stage phase II trial design, 27 patients were enrolled. Treatment was administered in 28-day cycles (intradermal TPIV200 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for 6 cycles and intravenous durvalumab for 12 cycles). Primary endpoints included overall response rate and progression-free survival at 24 weeks. Translational parameters focused on tumor microenvironment, PD-L1 and FRα expression, and peripheral vaccine-specific immune responses. Results Treatment was well tolerated, with related grade 3 toxicity rate of 18.5%. Increased T cell responses to the majority of peptides were observed in all patients at 6 weeks (p<0.0001). There was one unconfirmed partial response (3.7%) and nine patients had stable disease (33.3%). Clinical benefit was not associated with baseline FRα or PD-L1 expression. One patient with prolonged clinical benefit demonstrated loss of FRα expression and upregulation of PD-L1 in a progressing lesion. Despite the low overall response rate, the median overall survival was 21 months (13.5–∞), with evidence of benefit from postimmunotherapy regimens. Conclusions Combination of TPIV200 and durvalumab was safe and elicited robust FRα-specific T cell responses in all patients. Unexpectedly durable survival in this heavily pretreated population highlights the need to investigate the impact of FRα vaccination on the OC biology post-treatment.

e19538 Background: Chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL) is a rare and aggressive myeloproliferative neoplasm with poor survival. No standard of care exists. Case reports describe allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) as the only curative therapy. Using the National Cancer Database (NCDB), we studied prognostic factors and survival outcomes of CNL. Methods: Patients diagnosed in 2004-2015 were included. 9963/3 was the ICD-O-3 code. Overall survival (OS) was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Hazard ratios (HR) with confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards model. Variables significant in univariate analysis were included in a multivariate analysis. Data on incidence was obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) 21 Registries (2004-2015). The analysis was done with SEER*Stat software. Incidence was age-adjusted to the U.S. 2000 standard population. Results: A total of 121 CNL patients were in NCDB. The median age at diagnosis was 70 years (range 21-90); 74 (61%) were males and 107 (88%) were ≥ 50 years. The median follow up time was 5.8 years (interquartile range [IQR] 2.9-7.4). 32 (26%) had a Charlson Deyo score (CDS) > 1. 80 (70%) had government insurance, while 34 (30%) had private insurance. Median OS was 2.2 years (IQR 0.8-6.7). OS was 70% at 1 year, 29% at 5 years, and 11% at 10 years. The year of diagnosis was not associated with improved OS (HR: 0.95 (95% CI: 0.88-1.02), p =0.14). 71 (59%) patients received chemotherapy. The median time to chemotherapy from the day of diagnosis was 15 days (IQR 7-35). The OS of those who received chemotherapy was 71% at 1 year and 27% at 5 years versus 69% and 32% at 1- and 5- years for those who did not ( p= 0.38). 2 patients received ASCT (age 52 and 61 years) as initial therapy and both were alive at 5 years. Factors predicting inferior OS on univariate analysis were age ≥ 50 years at diagnosis ( p= 0.005), male ( p< 0.001), CDS > 1 ( p= 0.038), and government insurance ( p= 0.004). The table shows the multivariate (MV) analysis. The overall incidence of CNL was 0.1 cases/1,000,000 individuals and did not change significantly from 2004-2015. The incidences by male, female, White, Black, and American Indian/Alaska Native were also 0.1 cases/1,000,000 individuals. Conclusions: OS and incidence of CNL have not changed over the years. Age ≥ 50 years, male gender, and use of government insurance predicted inferior OS. [Table: see text]

Background: With the rising cost of critical care and limited availability of critical care resources, improvements are need in the current cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) triage process. We sought to determine whether the Mayo Clinic Intensive Care Unit Admission Risk Score (M-CARS) could be used to predict which CICU patients will require critical care resources. Methods: Adult patients admitted to our CICU from 2007 to 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The M-CARS was calculated using data from the time of admission. Groups were compared using Wilcoxon test for continuous variables and chi-squared test for categorical variables. Results: We included 12,428 patients with a mean age of 67 ± 15 years (37% females). The mean M-CARS was 2.1 ± 2.1, including 5,890 (47.4%) patients with M-CARS <2 and 644 (5.2%) patients with M-CARS >6. Critical care therapies were frequently used, including mechanical ventilation in 28.0%, vasoactive medications in 25.5%, dialysis in 4.8% and invasive lines in 44.3%. The low-risk cohort with M-CARS <2 was less likely to require invasive or noninvasive mechanical ventilation (8.0% vs. 46.1%), vasoactive medications (10.1% vs. 38.8%), dialysis (1.0% vs. 8.2%) or invasive lines (34.6% vs. 53.0%), as compared to patients with M-CARS ≥2 (all p<0.001). A higher M-CARS was associated with greater use of critical care therapies and longer CICU and hospital length of stay. Conclusions: In addition to predicting hospital mortality, the M-CARS predicts resource utilization during CICU admission and could be used in the triage of critically ill cardiac patients. Patients with M-CARS <2 infrequently require critical care resources and have extremely low mortality, yet account for nearly half of all CICU admissions, suggesting a potential to avoid CICU admission in many patients.

AbstractThe present study investigated the impact of 12 weeks of pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy on peripheral vascular function, blood pressure (BP), and nitric oxide in hypertensive individuals. Thirty hypertensive individuals (SBP > 130 mm Hg and/or MAP > 100 mm Hg) were assigned to either PEMF group (n = 15) or control group (n = 15). During pre‐assessment, participants underwent measures of flow‐mediated dilation (FMD), BP, and blood draw for nitric oxide (NO). Subsequently, they received PEMF therapy 3x/day for 12 weeks and, at conclusion, returned to the laboratory for post‐assessment. Fifteen participants from the PEMF group and 11 participants from the control group successfully completed the study protocol. After therapy, the PEMF group demonstrated significant improvements in FMD and FMDNOR (normalized to hyperemia), but the control group did not (P = .05 and P = .04, respectively). Moreover, SBP, DBP, and MAP were reduced, but the control group did not (P = .04, .04, and .03, respectively). There were no significant alterations in NO in both groups (P > .05). Twelve weeks of PEMF therapy may improve BP and vascular function in hypertensive individuals. Additional studies are needed to identify the mechanisms by which PEMF affects endothelial function.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted all aspects of clinical care, including cancer clinical trials. In March 2020, ASCO launched a survey of clinical programs represented on its Cancer Research Committee and Research Community Forum Steering Group and taskforces to learn about the types of changes and challenges that clinical trial programs were experiencing early in the pandemic. There were 32 survey respondents; 14 represented academic programs, and 18 represented community-based programs. Respondents indicated that COVID-19 is leading programs to halt or prioritize screening and/or enrollment for certain clinical trials and cease research-only visits. Most reported conducting remote patient care where possible and remote visits and monitoring with sponsors and/or contract research organizations (CROs); respondents viewed this shift positively. Numerous challenges with conducting clinical trials were reported, including enrollment and protocol adherence difficulties with decreased patient visits, staffing constraints, and limited availability of ancillary services. Interactions with sponsors and CROs about modifying trial procedures were also challenging. The changes in clinical trial procedures identified by the survey could serve as strategies for other programs attempting to maintain their clinical trial portfolios during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, many of the adaptations to trials made during the pandemic provide a long-term opportunity to improve and transform the clinical trial system. Specific improvements could be expanded use of more pragmatic or streamlined trial designs, fewer clinical trial–related patient visits, and minimized sponsor and CRO visits to trial programs.

In humans, a novel allosteric hemoglobin-oxygen affinity modulator was administered to comprehensively examine the cardiopulmonary consequences of stabilizing a portion of the available hemoglobin in a high-oxygen affinity state during submaximal exercise in normoxia and hypoxia. Oral administration of voxelotor enhanced arterial oxygen saturation during submaximal exercise without altering oxygen consumption and central hemodynamics; however, the partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide was reduced and the partial pressure of arterial oxygen was increased implying that hyperventilation also contributed to the increase in oxygen saturation. The preservation of arterial oxygen saturation and content was particularly evident during hypoxic submaximal exercise, when arterial desaturation typically occurs, but this did not influence arterial-venous oxygen difference.