Background Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is characterized by diffuse thickening of the arterial intima. Statins reduce the incidence of CAV, but despite the use of statins, CAV remains one of the leading causes of long-term death after heart transplant. Inhibitors of proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9 (PCSK9) substantially reduce cholesterol levels but have not been tested in heart transplant recipients. Methods The Cholesterol lowering with EVOLocumab to prevent cardiac allograft Vasculopathy in De-novo heart transplant recipients (EVOLVD) trial ( Identifier: NCT03734211) is a randomized, double-blind trial designed to test the effect of the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab on coronary intima thickness in heart transplant recipients. Adults who have received a cardiac transplant within the past 4-8 weeks are eligible. Exclusion criteria include an estimated glomerular filtration rate <20 mL/min/1.73 m(2), renal replacement therapy, or contraindications to coronary angiography with intravascular ultrasound. 130 patients will be randomized (1:1) to 12-month treatment with evolocumab or matching placebo. The primary endpoint is the coronary artery intima thickness as measured by intravascular ultrasound. Conclusion The EVOLVD trial is a randomized clinical trial designed to show whether treatment with the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab can ameliorate CAV over the first year after heart transplant.

Background A low level of evidence exists regarding the choice of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) for immunosuppression after lung transplantation (LTx). Therefore, we designed a randomized clinical trial according to good clinical practice rules to compare tacrolimus with cyclosporine after LTx. Methods The ScanCLAD study is an investigator-initiated, pragmatic, controlled, randomized, open-label, multicenter study evaluating if an immunosuppressive protocol based on anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) induction, once-daily tacrolimus dose, mycophenolate mofetil, and corticosteroid reduces the incidence of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) after LTx, compared to a cyclosporine-based protocol with all other immunosuppressive and prophylactic drugs being identical between groups. All patients will be followed for 3 years to determine the main endpoint of CLAD. The study is designed for superiority, and power calculations show that 242 patients are needed. Also, the study is designed with more than 10 substudies addressing other important and unresolved issues in LTx. In addition, the ScanCLAD study enabled the synchronization of the treatment and follow-up protocols of the lung transplantation programs of all five Scandinavian lung transplantation centers. Planned Outcomes Recruitment started in 2016. At the end of April 2019, 227 patients were randomized. We anticipate the last patient to be randomized in autumn 2019, and thus the last patient visits will be in 2022. The ScanCLAD study is enrolling and investigates which CNI is to be preferred from a CLAD perspective after LTx. Trial Registry Number ScanCLAD trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov before patient enrollment (NCT02936505). EUDRACT number 2015-004137-27.

Background: The appearance of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies after solid organ transplantation predisposes recipients to graft dysfunction. In theory, vascular homografts, which are widely used in children with congenital heart defects, may cause allosensitization. Material/Methods: In this single-center retrospective study, the presence of pre-existing HLA antibodies in pediatric heart trans- plant (HTx) recipients with a vascular homograft was evaluated in a cohort of 12 patients. HLA antibodies were screened before and after HTx and positive screening results were confirmed and identified using the Luminex (R) single antigen bead method. Endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) and coronary angiography studies were re-evaluated to assess the prevalence of acute rejections and coronary artery change in these patients. Results: At the time of HTx, 8 patients (67%) had HLA antibodies detected by the Luminex assay, none of which were heart donor specific (DSA). All patients had negative leukocyte crossmatch. One patient developed DSAs against homograft donor prior to HTx. After the HTx, 5 patients (42%) developed DSAs against the heart donor and 4 patients (40%) against the homograft donor. In 2 patients (17%), the antibodies were against both heart and homograft donors. The rejection rate or prevalence of coronary artery vasculopathy did not differ significantly between the homograft cohort and our historical controls. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the prevalence of DSAs against homograft donor prior to HTx is relatively rare. However, almost half of the patients developed DSAs against homograft post-HTx. The clinical importance of these antibodies warrants further studies.

Background: ECCO essential requirements for quality cancer care (ERQCC) are checklists and explanations of organisation and actions that are necessary to give high-quality care to patients who have a specific type of cancer. They are written by European experts representing all disciplines involved in cancer care. ERQCC papers give oncology teams, patients, policymakers and managers an overview of the elements needed in any healthcare system to provide high quality of care throughout the patient journey. References are made to clinical guidelines and other resources where appropriate, and the focus is on care in Europe. Oesophageal and gastric: essential requirements for quality care: Oesophageal and gastric (OG) cancers are a challenging tumour group with a poor prognosis and wide variation in outcomes among European countries. Increasing numbers of older people are contracting the diseases, and treatments and care pathways are becoming more complex in both curative and palliative settings. High-quality care can only be a carried out in specialised OG cancer units or centres which have both a core multidisciplinary team and an extended team of allied professionals, and which are subject to quality and audit procedures. Such units or centres are far from universal in all European countries. It is essential that, to meet European aspirations for comprehensive cancer control, healthcare organisations implement the essential requirements in this paper, paying particular attention to multidisciplinarity and patient-centred pathways from diagnosis, to treatment, to survivorship. Conclusion: Taken together, the information presented in this paper provides a comprehensive description of the essential requirements for establishing a high-quality OG cancer service. The ERQCC expert group is aware that it is not possible to propose a one size fits all' system for all countries, but urges that access to multidisciplinary units or centres must be guaranteed for all those with OG cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate usefulness of cutting needle biopsy (CNB) to recognize pediatric renal tumors and to predict the evolution of histology during preoperative chemotherapy of Wilms tumors. Methods: Ninety pediatric patients were operated for renal tumors at our institution in 1988-2015. We included all 64 patients who had undergone CNB at diagnosis and whose CNB and nephrectomy samples were available for re-evaluation. Results: The CNB was diagnostic in all 59 Wilms tumors but only in two out of live non-Wilms tumors. Anaplasia was missed by CNB in one of three with diffuse anaplasia in nephrectomy specimens. In Wilms tumors the proportions of the blastemal, stromal and epithelial components were 55% (IQR 25-85), 28% (IQR 10-58) and 2% (IQR 0-10) in CNB samples and 5% (IQR 0-64), 15% (IQR 0-50) and 15% (IQR 0-44) in the nephrectomy specimens (p-values 0.002,0.599 and 0.005 respectively). The degree of tumor necrosis was in median 80% (IQR 21-97), after preoperative chemotherapy. The degree of tumor necrosis after chemotherapy had a positive correlation with the proportion of blastemal component (p = 0.008) and a negative correlation with proportion of epithelial component in pre-chemotherapy CNB samples (p <0.001). Conclusions: Wilms tumors are usually recognizable unlike non-Wilms tumors in CNB at diagnosis. In Wilms tumors, high blastemal cell content is associated with significant tumor necrosis during pre-operative chemotherapy. Our results do not support routine use of CNB in diagnosis of renal tumors. Type of study: Retrospective review. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Simple Summary Bowel cancer is one of the leading cancer-types in both sexes worldwide. Despite that most new cases and deaths occur in people aged 70 years or older, few clinical trials have investigated the best way to administer chemotherapy in older or frail patients. The NORDIC9-study established that moderately dose-reduced combination chemotherapy improved survival without extra side-effects compared to full dose single drug therapy. However, many older patients with incurable cancer seem to prefer preserved quality of life rather than longer survival. Therefore, our aim with the current quality of life analysis of the NORDIC9-study was to assess that the more effective chemotherapy was not at the expense of decreased quality of life. Our analyses showed that moderately dose-reduced combination chemotherapy-maintained quality of life, physical functioning, and resulted in less symptoms than treatment with full dose single drug in older patients not tolerating standard combination chemotherapy usually provided to young and fit patients. Quality of life data from randomized trials are lacking in older patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). In the randomized NORDIC9-study, reduced-dose S1+oxaliplatin (SOx) showed superior efficacy compared to full-dose S1 monotherapy. We hypothesized that treatment with SOx does not result in inferior quality of life. Patients with mCRC aged >= 70 years and that were not a candidate for standard combination chemotherapy were included and randomly assigned to receive either S1 or SOx. The EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire was completed at baseline, after 9, and 18 weeks. The primary endpoint was global Quality of Life (QoL) at 9 weeks. For statistical analysis, a non-inferiority design was chosen applying linear mixed effects models for repeated measurements. The results were interpreted according to statistical significance and anchor-based, clinically relevant between-group minimally important differences (MID). A total of 160 patients aged (median (Interquartile range (IQR))) 78 years (76-81) were included. The QLQ-C30 questionnaire was completed by 150, 100, and 60 patients at baseline, at 9, and 18 weeks, respectively. The difference at 9 weeks in global QoL was 6.85 (95%CI-1.94; 15.65) and 7.37 (0.70; 14.05) in the physical functioning domain in favor of SOx exceeding the threshold for MID. At 18 weeks, the between-group MID in physical functioning was preserved. Dose-reduced combination chemotherapy may be recommended in vulnerable older patients with mCRC, rather than full-dose monotherapy.