Explanipedia

Mediators of Racial Disparities in Head and Neck Cancer Survival Open

Uchechukwu C. Megwalu, Yifei Ma, Vasu Divi, Lü Tian · 2025

Objective To evaluate and quantify the mediation effects of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), insurance status, and quality of care on racial disparities in HNC survival. Methods Retrospective cohort study of data from the Californi…

VISTA immune checkpoint blunts radiotherapy-induced antitumor immune response Open

Dhanya K. Nambiar, Sainiteesh Maddineni, Jimpi Langthasa, Hongbin Cao, Vignesh Viswanathan , et al. · 2025

Radiotherapy (RT) is a key treatment for solid neoplasms like head and neck cancer (HNC), but it can also activate and recruit immunosuppressive myeloid cells, causing treatment failure. In this study, we examine the role of V-domain immun…

Association of race and ethnicity with quality of care among head and neck cancer patients in California Open

Uchechukwu C. Megwalu, Yifei Ma, Vasu Divi · 2024

There are significant racial and ethnic disparities in quality of care for patients with HNC. Our findings suggest that differential access to high-quality care may account for some of the racial disparities in HNC survival, and highlight …

Neoadjuvant Atezolizumab in Patients With Surgically Resectable Advanced Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Open

Vasu Divi, Sumaira Z. Aasi, Saad A. Khan, Lily Lam, Luis F. Martinez-Ramirez , et al. · 2024

PURPOSE To evaluate the feasibility of administering three doses of neoadjuvant atezolizumab before curative surgical resection in patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS This single-arm phase …

Insurance Disparities in Quality of Care Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer Open

Uchechukwu C. Megwalu, Yifei Ma, Vasu Divi, Lü Tian · 2024

Importance Significant insurance status disparities have been demonstrated in head and neck cancer (HNC) outcomes. The effects of insurance status on HNC outcomes may be explained by differential access to high-quality care. Objective To e…

Toll-like Receptor Agonists Are Unlikely to Provide Benefits in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Open

Sainiteesh Maddineni, Michelle Chen, Fred M. Baik, Vasu Divi, John B. Sunwoo , et al. · 2023

Background: Recurrent and metastatic (R/M) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has poor survival rates. Immunotherapy is the standard of care for R/M HNSCC, but objective responses occur in a minority of patients. Toll-like recep…

Oral cavity cancer in young, non-smoking, and non-drinking patients: A contemporary review Open

Quân Tran, Sainiteesh Maddineni, Ethan Hunter Arnaud, Vasu Divi, Uchechukwu C. Megwalu , et al. · 2023

Supplementary Figures from Determination of Tumor Margins with Surgical Specimen Mapping Using Near-Infrared Fluorescence Open

Rebecca W. Gao, Nutte Teraphongphom, Nynke S. van den Berg, Brock A. Martin, Nicholas J. Oberhelman , et al. · 2023

1. Supplementary Figure 1: Patient and tumor characteristics. 2. Supplementary Figure 2: Flow diagram of tumor-mapping analysis. The primary tumor specimen (A) is imaged using a closed-field fluorescence imaging device (B) and sectioned in…

Minimally Invasive Surgery in the United States, 2022: Understanding Its Value Using New Datasets Open

Aviva S. Mattingly, Michelle Chen, Vasu Divi, F. Christopher Holsinger, Anirudh Saraswathula · 2022

Head and Neck Oncology Is on the National Quality Sidelines No Longer—Put Me in, Coach Open

Evan M. Graboyes, Vasu Divi, Brian A. Moore · 2022

This Viewpoint examines the approval of the first quality metric for head and neck oncology and potential outcomes for improving quality of care for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Clinician Attitudes and Beliefs About Deintensifying Head and Neck Cancer Surveillance Open

Michelle Chen, Nicole M. Mott, Jacquelyn Miller, Ruby J. Kazemi, Michael D. Stover , et al. · 2021

In this qualitative study, clinicians revealed a willingness to consider altering cancer surveillance but expressed a need to maintain patient and clinician peace of mind, maintain the patient-clinician relationship, and ensure adequate mo…

Post-Treatment FDG-PET/CT Hopkins Criteria Predict Locoregional Recurrence After Definitive Radiotherapy for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Open

Jacob A. Miller, Farshad Moradi, Rachel Liang, C. Zhang, Nam Nguyen Van , et al. · 2021

Timing of postoperative oral feeding after head and neck mucosal free flap reconstruction Open

Joshua A. Stramiello, Brian Nuyen, Anirudh Saraswathula, Liza Blumenfeld, Vasu Divi , et al. · 2021

Objective Fistula remains a common complication of upper aerodigestive tract reconstruction. Optimal timing of oral feeding is unknown and the impact of early feeding on swallow function and fistula rates remains controversial. The purpose…

Landscape of innate lymphoid cells in human head and neck cancer reveals divergent NK cell states in the tumor microenvironment Open

Uriel Y. Moreno‐Nieves, Joshua K. Tay, Saumyaa Saumyaa, Nina B. Horowitz, June Ho Shin , et al. · 2021

Significance NK cells have been observed to be present within most solid tumors, but the antitumor activity of the intratumoral NK cells has been unclear. In this study, we examined the entire spectrum of innate lymphoid cells within prima…

Development of a Mobile Health App (TOGETHERCare) to Reduce Cancer Care Partner Burden: Product Design Study Open

Ingrid Oakley‐Girvan, Sharon Davis, Allison W. Kurian, Lisa G. Rosas, Jena Daniels , et al. · 2021

Background Approximately 6.1 million adults in the United States serve as care partners for cancer survivors. Studies have demonstrated that engaging cancer survivors and their care partners through technology-enabled structured symptom co…

Development and validation of a Surgical Prioritization and Ranking Tool and Navigation Aid for Head and Neck Cancer (SPARTAN‐HN) in a scarce resource setting: Response to the COVID‐19 pandemic Open

John R. de Almeida, Christopher W. Noel, David Forner, Han Zhang, Anthony C. Nichols , et al. · 2020

Background In the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, access to surgical care for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) is limited and unpredictable. Determining which patients should be prioritized is inherently s…

Correction to: Compensatory motion scaling for time-delayed robotic surgery Open

Ryan K. Orosco, Benjamin Lurie, Tokio Matsuzaki, Emily K. Funk, Vasu Divi , et al. · 2020

Development of a Mobile Health App (TOGETHERCare) to Reduce Cancer Care Partner Burden: Product Design Study (Preprint) Open

Ingrid Oakley‐Girvan, Sharon Davis, Allison W. Kurian, Lisa G. Rosas, Jena Daniels , et al. · 2020

BACKGROUND Approximately 6.1 million adults in the United States serve as care partners for cancer survivors. Studies have demonstrated that engaging cancer survivors and their care partners through technology-enabled structured symptom c…

Radiographic surveillance of abdominal free fat graft in complex parotid pleomorphic adenomas: A case series Open

Y.-J. Lee, Nancy J. Fischbein, Uchechukwu C. Megwalu, Fred M. Baik, Vasu Divi , et al. · 2020

Effect of Medical Scribes on Outpatient Oncology Visits at a Multidisciplinary Cancer Center Open

Rebecca W. Gao, Anisia Dugala, Janelle Maxwell, Patricia Falconer, Andrew C. Birkeland , et al. · 2019

PURPOSE: The use of medical scribes has emerged as a strategy to increase clinic workflow efficiency and reduce physician burnout. While oncology clinics may be ideally suited to scribe integration because of the high burden of documentati…

Optical molecular imaging can differentiate metastatic from benign lymph nodes in head and neck cancer Open

Naoki Nishio, Nynke S. van den Berg, Stan van Keulen, Brock A. Martin, Shayan Fakurnejad , et al. · 2019

Assessing Care Value for Older Patients Receiving Radiotherapy With or Without Cisplatin or Cetuximab for Locoregionally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer Open

Anirudh Saraswathula, Michelle Chen, A. Dimitrios Colevas, Vasu Divi · 2019

In this cohort study, no survival difference, a higher rate of ED visits but not of inpatient admissions, and higher spending were observed in patients receiving radiotherapy with cetuximab compared with patients receiving radiotherapy onl…

Radioactive iodine in differentiated thyroid cancer: a national database perspective Open

Ryan K. Orosco, Timon Hussain, Julia E. Noel, David C. Chang, Chrysoula Dosiou , et al. · 2019

Radioactive iodine (RAI) is a key component in the treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer. RAI has been recommended more selectively in recent years as guidelines evolve to reflect risks and utility in certain patient subsets. In this …

Optimal Dosing Strategy for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery with Panitumumab-IRDye800CW in Head and Neck Cancer Open

Naoki Nishio, Nynke S. van den Berg, Stan van Keulen, Brock A. Martin, Shayan Fakurnejad , et al. · 2019

Impact of lymph node sampling on survival in cN0 major salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma Open

Z. Jason Qian, Michelle Chen, Vasu Divi, Uchechukwu C. Megwalu · 2019

Background The role of elective neck dissection in the management of major salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma is unclear. Methods Data were retrospectively extracted from the National Cancer Center Database. The study cohort included …

Digital Solutions for Cancer Survivorship Care (Preprint) Open

Ingrid Oakley‐Girvan, Sharon Davis, Dale O’Brien, Lidia Schapira, Allison W. Kurian , et al. · 2018

BACKGROUND Both the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Academy of Medicine have stressed the importance of survivorship care plans (SCP) for cancer survivors and discussed the significance of input from survivors and their a…

Reducing the Time from Surgery to Adjuvant Radiation Therapy: An Institutional Quality Improvement Project Open

Vasu Divi, Michelle Chen, Wendy Hara, Deepa Shah, Kristina Narvasa , et al. · 2018

Objective The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend an interval between surgery and adjuvant radiation therapy of less than 6 weeks, but only 44% of patients meet this metric nationally. We sought to identify key compo…

Panitumumab-IRDye800 as an Optical Agent for Image-Guided Surgery in Patients With Squamous Cell Carcinoma Open

Rebecca W. Gao, Nutte Teraphongphom, Nynke S. van den Berg, Sunga Hong, Brock A. Martin , et al. · 2018

Survival Benefit of Postoperative Chemotherapy for Intermediate-Risk Advanced Stage Head and Neck Cancer Open

M.M. Chen, A. Dimitrios Colevas, Uchechukwu C. Megwalu, Vasu Divi · 2018

The Negative Impact of Longer Delays to Starting Radiation after Surgery for Head and Neck Cancer Patients in the United States Open

Jeremy P. Harris, M.M. Chen, Ryan K. Orosco, Davud Sirjani, Vasu Divi , et al. · 2018

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