Citations

PURPOSE: ASCO is the premier and largest global professional society for oncology care professionals. In 2015, ASCO launched a longitudinal Learning Cohort Pilot Project to catalog and better understand the learning behaviors and preferences of oncology health care providers. A secondary goal was to assess learner preferences and utilization related to ASCO’s portfolio of educational resources. METHODS: The Learning Cohort Pilot Project was conducted between November 2015 and August 2016 with 49 ASCO members. Participants were selected via convenience sampling and stratified random sampling to generate a cohort that mirrored the demographic distribution of overall ASCO membership. Participants completed a different ASCO resource-specific feedback activity each month, which measured professional educational needs, sources sought, and preferences for educational resources. Responses were organized by demographic variables in our participant pool to identify trends in provider learning preferences. Fisher’s exact test was used to assess the association between participant demographics and practice setting and responses. Holm’s procedure was used to adjust for multiple testing. RESULTS: The Learning Cohort Pilot Project revealed statistically significant relationships between participant demographic variables and learning preferences. Age and practice setting were the demographic variables most consistently associated with the different preferences explored throughout the targeted activities. CONCLUSION: The results of this pilot cohort reinforced the hypothesis that oncology care providers have different professional educational needs and preferences that can be potentially anticipated and met with tailored resources. Delivering solutions to meet these needs represents an opportunity for further research and resource development.

Introduction: In 2015, the US Alzheimer’s Disease Centers (ADC) implemented Version 3 of the Uniform Data Set (UDS). This paper describes the history of Version 3 development and the UDS data that are freely available to researchers. Methods: UDS Version 3 was developed after years of coordination between the National Institute on Aging-appointed Clinical Task Force (CTF), clinicians from ∼30 ADCs, and the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC). The CTF recognized the need for updates to align with the state of the science in dementia research, while being flexible to the diverse needs and diseases studied at the ADCs. Version 3 also developed a nonproprietary neuropsychological battery. Results: This paper focuses on the substantial Version 3 changes to the UDS forms related to clinical diagnosis and characterization of clinical symptoms to match updated consensus-based diagnostic criteria. Between March 2015 and March 2018, 4820 participants were enrolled using UDS Version 3. Longitudinal data were available for 25,337 of the 37,568 total participants using all UDS versions. Discussion: The results from utilization of the UDS highlight the possibility for numerous research institutions to successfully collaborate, produce, and use standardized data collection instruments for over a decade.

The risk of viral infections and reactivation occurring in the setting of pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a concern in the pediatric patient, especially with the use of Alemtuzumab (Campath) as a conditioning agent. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of Epstein-Barr virus posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (EBV-PTLD), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and adenovirus among pediatric recipients of alemtuzumab at our institution. We found that EBV-PTLD occurred in 2.1% of transplants (1 matched unrelated donor [MUD] recipient), CMV reactivation occurred in 12.5% of transplants (4 MUD and 2 matched related donor [MRD] recipients) with disseminated CMV in 2.1% of cases (1 MRD recipient), and adenovirus infection occurred in 8.3% of the total transplants (2 MUD and 2 MRD recipients). Alemtuzumab continues to be used as a method of graft-versus-host disease and graft failure prevention among pediatric recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and seems to be safer than previously reported. At our institution, alemtuzumab has not increased the risk for EBV-PTLD, CMV infection, or adenovirus.

High-dose methotrexate has been a treatment for osteosarcoma; however, its nephrotoxic effects are considerable. Carboxypeptidase-G2 (glucarpidase) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2012 for treatment of toxic methotrexate levels. We report our experience using glucarpidase under compassionate use before Food and Drug Administration approval in 2 patients who had delayed methotrexate clearance and prolonged kidney injury despite glucarpidase administration. Our results show that patients with methotrexate toxicity may require repeated doses of glucarpidase in addition to supportive measures, such as dialysis.