About
48
Publications
1,285
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
34
Citations
Introduction
Additional affiliations
December 2017 - June 2019
Publications
Publications (48)
e16232
Background: Pancreatic cancer ranks as the 3 rd leading cause of cancer mortality. Overall more than 50% of patients have metastatic disease at diagnosis. In this study, we evaluated the association between the national level Environmental Quality Index (EQI) and metastatic pancreatic cancer in the US. Methods: Adult patients with pancreatic...
3549
Background: The incidence of early-onset colorectal, stomach, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer, which occur in individuals <50 years of age, is rising worldwide. However, little is known about why rates have been up trending. Previous studies have linked poor diet and nutrition to an increased risk of typical-onset gastrointestinal (GI) malig...
e18678
Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19) has been nominated as a pandemic by the World Health Organization short after has spreaded globally. Unfortunately, even after several effective vaccines approved by FDA, COVID-19 cases are still surging. Compared to the general population, patients with cancer are more susceptible to COVI...
e16161
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignancy of the liver and the 6th most common cancer-related death worldwide with 5-year relative survival of 20.3%. Although portal vein tumor thrombus is deemed as poor risk factor for HCC patients, the association of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and HCC regarding inpa...
Normal T-cells express high levels of BCL2 protein, data regarding BCL2 expression status and its diagnostic utility in T-cell lymphoma is scarce. We evaluated BCL2 expression in a series of mature T-cell lymphoproliferations including indolent and more recently recognized entities (follicular helper T-cell (TFH) lymphomas). Sixty-six neoplastic bi...
Importance:
Gallbladder cancer is uncommon but highly fatal. Surgery remains the only potentially curative treatment for localized or locoregionally advanced gallbladder cancer. The rate of use of neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy in resectable gallbladder cancer is unknown.
Objective:
To assess factors associated with the use of neoadjuvant...
Race and ethnic backgrounds affect the disease characteristics and clinical outcomes in many cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia; however, the association of race/ethnicity on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is still controversial. Therefore, we aimed to study the impact of race/ethnicity on the disease characteristics and survival outcomes in...
75
Background: The factors associated with the rise of young-onset colorectal cancer (YOCRC) remain unclear. In addition to hereditary factors, environmental exposures are believed to be associated with YOCRC. Therefore, we aimed to study the association between the national level Environmental Quality Index (EQI) and YOCRC in the US. Methods: We u...
53
Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) frequently presents with concurrent metastasis to the lung and liver. Metastasectomy may offer extended disease control in a select group of patients but its utilization is unknown. We aimed to investigate the trends in utilization of metastasectomy in CRC patients with concurrent lung and liver metastasis and...
386
Background: Although the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma is rising, little is known about the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with young-onset cholangiocarcinoma (YOCC), diagnosed at age < 50 years. The objective of this study was to compare patients with YOCC, and patients with typical-onset cholangiocarcinoma (TOCC; diagn...
521
Background: Pancreatic cancer ranks as the 3 rd leading cause of cancer mortality. Overall more than 50% of patients have metastatic disease at diagnosis. In this study, we evaluated the association between the national level Environmental Quality Index (EQI) and metastatic pancreatic cancer in the US. Methods: Adult patients with pancreatic ca...
The prevalence of primary liver cancer is rapidly rising all around the world. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer. Unfortunately, the traditional treatment methods to cure HCC showed poor efficacy in patients who are not candidates for liver transplantation. Until recently, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI...
Background:
Ivermectin has been found to inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication in vitro. It is unknown whether this inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 replication correlates with improved clinical outcomes.
Objective:
To assess the effectiveness and safety of ivermectin in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Me...
Background: The age-dependent prognostic impact of KRAS status in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is unknown. Materials & Methods: We used the National Cancer Database to evaluate the survival by KRAS status for age-groups <50, 50–69 and ≥70, adjusting for relevant patient and tumor characteristics. Results: mCRC patients (n = 26,095; 33.5%) ha...
Background:
Vitamin C is an essential water-soluble vitamin required for many redox reactions in our body and its deficiency causes scurvy, a well characterized disease with multiple hematological manifestations. Studies dating back to 1950's demonstrated that patients with myeloid neoplasms tend to have lower plasma levels of vitamin C than health...
Background:
The risk of severe COVID-19 is increased in patients (pts) with hematologic malignancies, with a reported risk of death of 34% (Vijenthira et al, 2020). The ASH-ASTCT COVID-19 vaccine guidelines indicate that certain immunocompromised patient populations could have an attenuated response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. However, most SARS-CoV...
Patients with cancer are a vulnerable population during the COVID-19 pandemic due to underlying immunosuppression, pre-existing comorbidities, and poor nutrition. There is a lack of data describing the disease course of cancer patients with COVID-19 disease. Therefore, we analyzed data from cancer patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to our hos...
e15516
Background: The biology of microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) in elderly colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is attributed to hypermethylation of promoter region of genes coding for mismatch repair proteins. It is unknown if such patients are predisposed to other malignancies. It is also unknown if the presence or absence of multiple prima...
PURPOSE
CNS relapse in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is associated with poor prognosis with a median survival of about 2.5 months. Data demonstrating best prophylactic strategy remain controversial and need further definition.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
We present data of 110 patients with DLBCL treated with standard systemic thera...
Objectives:
Most patients with pancreatic cancer have high symptom burden and poor outcomes. Palliative care (PC) can improve the quality of care through expert symptom management, although the optimal timing of PC referral is still poorly understood. We aimed to assess the association of early PC on health care utilization and charges of care for...
Central nervous system (CNS) tuberculosis is a rare manifestation of all tuberculosis presentations. The incidence of brain tuberculoma is increasing in developed countries due to HIV infection and immigration from tuberculosis-endemic countries. Symptoms and radiologic findings of CNS tuberculosis can be non-specific and lead to misdiagnosis or mi...
The World Health Organization nominated SARS-CoV-2 as the cause of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has been granted as a pandemic. COVID-19 is an emerging threat due to the risk of microvascular, venous, and arterial thrombosis, thereby exacerbating organ injury and mortality. Although the exact mechanism of extensive thromboembolism an...
240
Background: While gastroesophageal cancers with different primary tumor locations can have distinct molecular characteristics and clinical outcomes, the efficacy of palliative chemotherapy in tumors with different locations is unknown. Using primary tumor location as a surrogate for molecular subtype, we investigated the differential efficacy o...
40
Background: Colorectal cancer patients with brain metastases experience poor outcomes; however treatment strategies are understudied. In this study, we investigated the impact of different treatments for colorectal cancer patients with brain metastases. Methods: We identified stage 4 colorectal adenocarcinoma patients with brain metastasis using...
PURPOSE
Young-onset colorectal cancer is an emerging cause of significant morbidity and mortality globally. Despite this, limited data exist regarding clinical characteristics and outcomes, particularly in safety-net populations where access to care is limited. We aimed to study disparities in clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with...
Background:
Colorectal cancer patients with brain metastases experience poor outcomes; however treatment strategies are understudied. In this study, we investigated the impact of different treatments for colorectal cancer patients with brain metastases.
Methods:
We identified stage 4 colorectal adenocarcinoma patients with brain metastasis using th...
Background:
While gastroesophageal cancers with different primary tumor locations can have distinct molecular characteristics and clinical outcomes, the efficacy of palliative chemotherapy in tumors with different locations is unknown. Using primary tumor location as a surrogate for molecular subtype, we investigated the differential efficacy of fi...
Background
Race and ethnic differences affect the disease characteristics and clinical outcomes in many tumors, including acute myeloid leukemia (Byrne et al. AJCO, 2011). While earlier population-based studies reported no significant impact of race on survival outcomes in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) (Ma et al. Cancer, 2007), this study had a l...
Background
Outcomes of older patients (pts) with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ineligible for intensive chemotherapy (IC) remain poor with an overall survival (OS) of <12 months (mo). The combination of venetoclax (ven) and azacitidine (aza) for such newly diagnosed AML pts in the confirmatory VIALE-A trial demonstrated an improvement in OS compared...
Objectives:
Although cure rates for early stage anal squamous cell cancer (ASCC) are overall high, there may be racial disparities in receipt of treatment and outcome precluding favorable outcomes across all patient demographics. Therefore, the authors aimed to assess the time to treatment initiation and overall survival (OS) in Black and White pa...
Simple Summary: The impact of race and ethnicity on survival characteristics in non-pancreatic gastrointestinal tract neuroendocrine tumors is understudied. We evaluated the survival outcomes and racial/ethnic disparities in the gastrointestinal tract neuroendocrine tumors, including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, rectum, and appen...
Background:
The effect of hospital volume on the outcome of stage 4 pancreatic cancer is not well known. We evaluated the effect of hospital volume on time to treatment and survival in patients with stage 4 pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Methods:
We used the National Cancer Database, including 1,319 hospitals to identify the study population. Ad...
Background:
We aimed to study the effect of socioeconomic differences and molecular characteristics on survival in patients with young-onset pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (YOPNET) and typical-onset PNET (TOPNET).
Methods:
We identified the patients with YOPNET (<50 years) and TOPNET (≥50 years) who underwent definitive surgery diagnosed betwe...
Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a chronic cerebrovascular occlusive disease that is characterized by progressive bilateral stenosis of the terminal portion of the internal carotid artery and its main branches. Cerebrovascular events are the primary presenting symptoms and are related both to stenosis and occlusion of the ICAs and their main branches. Det...
Background:
Over the past several years, clinical trials in Oncology have increased in cost and complexity. The SCCC has developed a homegrown staffing model which measures the complexity of protocols to help determine the appropriate amount of staff to handle the workload. The staffing model is utilized across disease sites and studies in a consi...
A 40-year-old Caucasian male presented with a recent diagnosis of stage IV metastatic duodenal adenocarcinoma. Given the metastatic disease, after duodenal stent placement, the patient started on adjuvant mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy. During the second day of the first cycle of chemotherapy, the patient suddenly experienced complete right-sided weakness,...
Background:
KRAS mutation is associated with poor prognosis in metastatic colon cancer (mCC). However, the age-dependent prognostic value of KRAS status is unknown. We aimed to confirm if the prognostic impact of KRAS is dependent on the age of diagnosis in mCC.
Methods:
We identified adult patients with mCC diagnosed between 2004 and 2016 using th...
Background:
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET) is a rare disease. There is a lack of data on the association of age and sociodemographic characteristics on survival in patients with NET. Our study aimed to evaluate clinical, molecular differences, and survival outcomes in young-onset PNET (YOPNET) and late-onset PNET (LOPNET).
Methods:
We used...
Background:
Prior studies have observed under-utilization of adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) in stage III colon cancer. Our aims were to observe the rate of utilization of ACT in very healthy or “ideal candidates”, identify reasons for omission and socioeconomic factors associated with ACT use, and observe patient outcomes.
Methods:
We queried patients...
Background:
Anal Squamous Cell Cancer (ASCC) is a highly curable cancer. Underserved and vulnerable populations are particularly at risk of developing this disease. We aimed to study racial disparities and overall survival (OS) in patients with ASCC who received radiation therapy (RT) or chemo-RT (CRT) using the National Cancer Database.
Methods:
W...
Background:
Anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) is associated with significant symptom burden including pain, bleeding, and obstructive symptoms. However, the proportion of patients requiring palliation-directed treatments in ASCC is unknown. Palliation-directed treatments can control and improve symptoms and affect quality of life. We aimed to stu...
Background:
Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is an uncommon but highly fatal malignancy. Surgery remains the only potentially curative treatment for GBC. The role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced GBC undergoing surgery is unknown. We studied the association of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on survival in locally advanced GBC patient...
Lactobacillus acidophilus is a rod-shaped, Gram-positive bacterium generally found in the normal flora of the oropharynx, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary tracts. It is commonly known as nonpathogen in the human body. Endocarditis due to Lactobacillus is rarely encountered and associated with impaired immunity. Splenic abscess is also an uncommo...
674
Background: Young-onset pancreatic adenocarcinoma (YOPC) is uncommon but there are limited studies for these patients. We used a population based registry to compare the characteristics and outcomes of young-onset vs. older patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Methods: We selected the patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma from the SEER re...
607
Background: There is paucity of data about racial/ethnic disparities in gastrointestinal tract neuroendocrine tumors (GiNET). We aimed to study the race/ethnic differences in disease characteristics and survival in GiNET. Methods: We analyzed the SEER database to identify cases with non-pancreatic GiNET between 2004 and 2015. We evaluated trend...
