This Week in Oncology: Distress Management and Recurrence Prediction

A study reported in Supportive care in cancer examined the impact of digital and AI-supported psychosocial interventions on women with breast cancer. ^[1] This systematic review and meta-analysis found that these interventions modestly reduced stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms while improving quality of life. While promising, the authors note that evidence certainty remains moderate due to methodological constraints.

Meanwhile, Journal of medical Internet research published a meta-analysis exploring the use of radiomics-based machine learning models for predicting recurrence risk in non-small cell lung cancer patients. ^[2] The analysis included over 7,900 patients and found high predictive accuracy in both training and validation sets. However, the authors caution that these results should be interpreted as associations rather than proof of clinical utility due to methodological limitations and a lack of standardization.

Elsewhere this week, Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology presented findings from a meta-analysis examining adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in patients with curatively treated hepatocellular carcinoma. ^[3] The analysis of 3,478 patients found that adjuvant ICI treatment significantly improved recurrence-free survival compared to surveillance, with improvements also observed in overall survival. While these observational findings are encouraging, the authors emphasize the need for confirmation in randomized trials before clinical implementation.

In Annals of medicine, a network meta-analysis evaluated various adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for early-stage breast cancer. ^[4] The analysis, which included 17,187 patients, compared different dosing frequencies and sequences to determine efficacy and safety. Results suggest that concurrent six-cycle treatment with taxane and cyclophosphamide at three-week intervals may be optimal, though the evidence requires cautious interpretation.

Finally, PeerJ published a network meta-analysis comparing 5-HT3 antagonists with or without dexamethasone for highly emetogenic chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. ^[5] The analysis included 11,131 patients and found that palonosetron-based regimens may offer advantages over other 5-HT3 antagonists, though further studies are needed to confirm these findings and assess safety.