Corrected QT prolongation among chemotherapy: Treated patients, a study of a Romanian center.

e24053 Background: Chemotherapy cardiotoxicity sometimes occurs as QTc prolongation, which may lead to ventricular arrhythmia. We assessed incidence of QTc prolongation among chemotherapy-treated patients. Methods: We enrolled 396 consecutive patients receiving chemotherapy in the Oncology Institute of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 870 ECGs were performed at baseline and every 2 months, for 5 assessments, during 2016. Results: Most patients were diagnosed with gastro-intestinal tumors and received regimens containing more than one drug. Maximum QTc was recorded after 4 months, when we also found the maximum incidence of increased QTc (>470msec), of 3,73% and of increased ΔQTc (>60msec), of 4%. Female gender was associated with a higher baseline QTc=421 msec, ± 26,9 (p=0.02). No particular chemotherapy regimen was proved to significantly increase QTc. Age was associated with higher QTc and is also an independent variable predicting QTc prolongation (for QTc >480msec, p=0.02), as well as increase of ΔQTc (p<0.001). The number of prior chemotherapy lines correlates with baseline QTc (p<0.0001), with QTc prolongation after 2 months (p=0.01) and predicts higher ΔQTc after 2 months (p=0.01), although within normal range. There was no additive effect during all the 5 assessments. Conclusions: Our results confirm QTc prolongation with chemotherapy and a special attention should be paid to previously treated patients and to elderly patients. Key words: chemotherapy, cardiotoxicity, QTc prolongation.

Management of Recurrent Retroperitoneal Sarcoma

Retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPSs) are a heterogeneous group of mesenchymal tumors. The mainstay of treatment of RPS is curative surgical resection, which often involves a multivisceral resection. The predominant pattern of failure in RPS is local recurrence, which poses significant management challenges and limits survival. There is a paucity of high-level evidence to guide the management of primary and recurrent RPS, mainly due to the rarity of the disease. This review highlights the challenges and decision making in the diagnosis and management of recurrent RPS. This review contains 6 figures, 5 tables and 50 references Key words: chemotherapy, distant recurrence, leiomyosarcoma, liposarcoma, local recurrence, radiation therapy, retroperitoneal sarcoma, surgical resection

Management of Recurrent Retroperitoneal Sarcoma

Retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPSs) are a heterogeneous group of mesenchymal tumors. The mainstay of treatment of RPS is curative surgical resection, which often involves a multivisceral resection. The predominant pattern of failure in RPS is local recurrence, which poses significant management challenges and limits survival. There is a paucity of high-level evidence to guide the management of primary and recurrent RPS, mainly due to the rarity of the disease. This review highlights the challenges and decision making in the diagnosis and management of recurrent RPS. Key words: chemotherapy, distant recurrence, leiomyosarcoma, liposarcoma, local recurrence, radiation therapy, retroperitoneal sarcoma, surgical resection