BACKGROUND: Childhood cancer treatment can lead to subfertility in adulthood. Fertility tissue preservation offers a way to safeguard future fertility, especially for prepubescent children, whose preservation options are limited. While this is a significant technological advance, it also presents unique challenges compared to other methods of fertility preservation. Clinical consensus is that all childhood cancer patients should receive high-quality, personalised survivorship care and that healthcare policy and practice must address the expectations and priorities of care recipients. We report the available information on the experiences of cancer survivors who preserved tissue for future fertility, to support the development of survivorship care informed by recipients\' perspectives and experiences to identify future research priorities.
METHODS: We conducted a scoping review following the recommendations of the Joanna Briggs Institute and the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR). We searched for research that included patient reported outcomes from patients who underwent fertility tissue preservation (FTP) in childhood and early adulthood, following a cancer diagnosis, including outcomes reported by parents. Our search terms aimed to identify literature reporting on both ovarian and testicular tissue preservation. We searched Embase, Cinahl, PsycInfo, Medline, Scopus and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews alongside sources of grey literature, for relevant articles including all time-frames between 1980-2023, with support from an independent information specialist at the University of Leeds. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data and we present the results in tabular form to summarise the key information.
RESULTS: From 1956 unique records, 5 met our inclusion criteria. No literature was found reporting on the experiences of people who stored testicular tissue. The available literature only included reports from people who had stored ovarian tissue. We found that young women who had stored ovarian tissue faced complex emotional and ethical dilemmas in reproductive decisions post cancer and strongly desired their own biological children.
CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review is the first to report beyond clinical outcomes by focusing specifically on the self-reported outcomes of patients who preserved ovarian tissue in early life after a cancer diagnosis. It provides valuable insights into their experiences and highlights that ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) presents distinct challenges compared to other forms of fertility preservation. We recommend separate consideration of the needs of patients with stored fertility tissue and call for further research to enable personalized survivorship care. To develop tailored care pathways for long-term well-being, patient-reported outcomes are also needed from individuals with stored testicular tissue, parents who consented to their child\'s tissue storage, and the healthcare professionals involved in their care. This review underscores a significant evidence gap between rapid FTP advancements and the availability of comprehensive care addressing these advancements. As FTP science evolves, patients need detailed information for informed decisions and ongoing support for their unique reproductive and endocrine health concerns throughout their survivorship journey.

BACKGROUND: Cancer stage at diagnosis is an important prognostic indicator for patient outcomes, with detection at later stages associated with increased mortality and morbidity. The impact of cancer stage on patient-reported outcomes is poorly understood. This research aimed to understand symptom burden and health related quality of life (HRQoL) impact by cancer stage for ten cancer types: 1) ovarian, 2) lung, 3) pancreatic, 4) esophageal, 5) stomach, 6) head and neck, 7) colorectal, 8) anal, 9) cervical, and 10) liver and bile duct.
METHODS: Ten narrative literature reviews were performed to identify and collate published literature on patient burden at different stages of disease progression. Literature searches were conducted using an AI-assisted platform to identify relevant articles published in the last five (2017-2022) or ten years (2012-2022) where articles were limited. Conference abstracts were searched for the last two years (2020-2022). The geographic scope was limited to the United States, Canada, Europe, and global studies, and only journal articles written in English were included.
RESULTS: A total of 26 studies with results stratified by cancer stage at diagnosis (and before treatment) were selected for the cancer types of lung, pancreatic, esophageal, stomach, head and neck, colorectal, anal, and cervical cancers. Two cancer types, ovarian cancer, and liver and bile duct cancer did not return any search results with outcomes stratified by disease stage. A general trend was observed for worse patient-reported outcomes in patients with cancer diagnosed at an advanced stage of disease compared with diagnosis at an earlier stage. Advanced disease stage was associated with greater symptom impact including general physical impairments such as pain, fatigue, and interference with functioning, as well as disease/region-specific symptom burden. Poorer HRQoL was also associated with advanced disease with commonly reported symptoms including anxiety and depression.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the general trend for greater symptom burden and poorer HRQoL seen in late stage versus early-stage disease across the included cancer types supports the importance for early diagnosis and treatment to improve patient survival and decrease negative impacts on disease burden and HRQoL.

METHODS: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

The Setting International Standards in Analyzing Patient-Reported Outcomes and Quality of Life Endpoints Data (SISAQOL) initiative was established in 2016 to assess the quality and standardization of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data analysis in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on advanced breast cancer. The initiative identified deficiencies in PRO data reporting, including nonstandardized methods for handling missing data. This study evaluated the reporting of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Japanese cancer RCTs to provide insights into the state of PRO reporting in Japan. The study reviewed PubMed articles published from 2010 to 2018. Eligible studies included Japanese cancer RCTs with ≥50 adult patients (≥50% were Japanese) with solid tumors receiving anticancer treatments. The evaluation criteria included clarity of the HRQOL hypotheses, multiplicity testing, primary analysis methods, and reporting of clinically meaningful differences. Twenty-seven HRQOL trials were identified. Only 15% provided a clear HRQOL hypothesis, and 63% examined multiple HRQOL domains without adjusting for multiplicity. Model-based methods were the most common statistical methods for the primary HRQOL analysis. Only 22% of the trials explicitly reported clinically meaningful differences in HRQOL. Baseline assessments were reported in most trials, but only 26% reported comparisons between the treatment groups. HRQOL analysis was based on the intention-to-treat population in 19% of the trials, and 74% reported compliance at follow-up; however, 41% did not specify how missing values were handled. Although the rates of reporting clinical hypotheses and clinically meaningful differences were relatively low, the current state of HRQOL evaluation in the Japanese cancer RCT appears comparable to that of previous studies.

BACKGROUND: Adding corticosteroids to intraoperative periarticular injections (PAIs) have become a current trend in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Periarticular corticosteroid injections (PACSIs) intend to improve postoperative pain and function. However, preoperative corticosteroid injections for symptomatic arthritis increase the rates of prosthetic joint infection (PJI) when given months prior to TKA. The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether the addition of corticosteroids to PAIs during TKA improves patient outcomes and whether such practice increases the risk of PJI?
METHODS: A systematic review of the current literature following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines screened 1025 abstracts. Thirteen studies meeting specific eligibility criteria were included for further analysis.
RESULTS: Among the studies comparing the PACSIs versus nonsteroidal PAIs, 36% showed a significant reduction in postoperative pain scores, 20% showed significant improvement in range of motion (ROM), and 16% showed a significant reduction in total morphine equivalence (TME). While 100% of the studies comparing PACSI to saline or no injections showed significant improvement in pain, ROM and TME. In total, there were 3 infections in 576 TKA cases receiving PACSIs and 2 infections in 534 cases not receiving a PACSI. However, studies were not powered specifically to assess for infection.
CONCLUSIONS: The addition of corticosteroids to intraoperative PAIs do not demonstrate a significant benefit in the majority of studies, and tend to not have an effect on PJI risk; however, studies were not specifically powered to assess PJI risk.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the clinical impact of electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) monitoring apps/web interfaces, aimed at symptom-management, in cancer patients undergoing outpatient systemic antineoplastic treatment. Additionally, it explores the advantages offered by these applications, including their functionalities and healthcare team-initiated follow-up programmes.
METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted using a predefined search strategy in MEDLINE. Inclusion criteria encompassed primary studies assessing symptom burden through at-home ePRO surveys in adult cancer patients receiving outpatient systemic antineoplastic treatment, whenever health outcomes were evaluated. Exclusion criteria excluded telemedicine-based interventions other than ePRO questionnaires and non-primary articles or study protocols. To evaluate the potential bias in the included studies, an exhaustive quality assessment was conducted, as an additional inclusion filter.
RESULTS: Among 246 identified articles, 227 were excluded for non-compliance with inclusion/exclusion criteria. Of the remaining 19 articles, only eight met the rigorous validity assessment and were included for detailed examination and data extraction, presented in attached tables.
CONCLUSIONS: This review provides compelling evidence of ePRO monitoring\'s positive clinical impact across diverse cancer settings, encompassing various cancer types, including early and metastatic stages. These systems are crucial in enabling timely interventions and reducing communication barriers, among other functionalities. While areas for future ePRO innovation are identified, the primary limitation lies in comparing clinical outcomes of reviewed articles, due to scale variability and study population heterogeneity. To conclude, our results reaffirm the transformative potential of ePRO apps in oncology and their pivotal role in shaping the future of cancer care.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the burden of endometriosis-associated pelvic pain (EAPP) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among women living in similar socio-economic conditions.
METHODS: Searches were performed in PubMed and Embase on September 26, 2022. The review was performed in conformity with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis protocol (PRISMA-P) and was registered on PROSPERO (ID: CRD42023370363).
METHODS: Due to the high volume of eligible publications following initial review, inclusion criteria were restricted to studies undertaken in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This restriction was applied before screening as these countries have broad social and economic similarities, and previous studies in the literature suggest pain reporting and experience are influenced by numerous socio-cultural factors. Eligible studies were those published between 2013 and 2022 and include a sample size of ≥50 participants. The search strategy identified all relevant publications relating to the burden of illness due to EAPP. A variety of terms are used in the literature to describe pain associated with endometriosis, and this was considered in the design of the search strategy and screening procedure.
RESULTS: The database searches resulted in a total of 6139 records. After removal of duplicates, 3855 records were assessed further. A total of 27 publications were identified as eligible. Fourteen (52%) were from Italy, 5 (19%) were multinational studies, 4 (15%) were from the United States, 3 (11%) were from Spain, and 1 (4%) was from Germany. Most studies were cross-sectional (n = 15; 56%); 7 (26%) were case-control studies; 3 (11%) were cohort studies; and 2 (7%) were longitudinal studies. These publications collectively highlighted an association between EAPP and reduced HRQoL. Several studies showed that EAPP was associated with lower HRQoL when compared with endometriosis without pain and potentially with chronic pelvic pain caused by other conditions, although the evidence is limited in this case. Moreover, the studies reported detrimental effects on general HRQoL, mental health functioning, and sexual functioning, culminating in reduced work productivity and difficulties in performing everyday activities. The associations were generally similar across study populations, including adolescents, as well as younger and older women. Results were consistent across the range of different patient-reported outcome tools used to assess HRQoL.
CONCLUSIONS: The existing literature suggests that, among women in selected European countries and the United States, EAPP is associated with reduced HRQoL, including impaired mental and sexual functioning, as well as reduced work performance and productivity; each of which may contribute to the societal burden of endometriosis.

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) uses computer systems to simulate cognitive capacities to accomplish goals like problem-solving and decision-making. Machine learning (ML), a branch of AI, makes algorithms find connections between preset variables, thereby producing prediction models. ML can aid shoulder surgeons in determining which patients may be susceptible to worse outcomes and complications following shoulder arthroplasty (SA) and align patient expectations following SA. However, limited literature is available on ML utilization in total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reverse TSA.
METHODS: A systematic literature review in accordance with PRISMA guidelines was performed to identify primary research articles evaluating ML\'s ability to predict SA outcomes. With duplicates removed, the initial query yielded 327 articles, and after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 12 articles that had at least 1 month follow-up time were included.
RESULTS: ML can predict 30-day postoperative complications with a 90% accuracy, postoperative range of motion with a higher-than-85% accuracy, and clinical improvement in patient-reported outcome measures above minimal clinically important differences with a 93%-99% accuracy. ML can predict length of stay, operative time, discharge disposition, and hospitalization costs.
CONCLUSIONS: ML can accurately predict outcomes and complications following SA and healthcare utilization. Outcomes are highly dependent on the type of algorithms used, data input, and features selected for the model.
METHODS: III.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to explore the impact of age on physical functioning post-treatment for early-stage, locally advanced, or locally recurrent breast cancer, as measured by patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), identify PROMs used and variations in physical functioning terms/labels.
METHODS: MEDLINE, EmBase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and AMED were searched, along with relevant key journals and reference lists. Risk of bias (quality) assessment was conducted using a Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist. Data was synthesised through tables and narrative.
RESULTS: 28,207 titles were extracted from electronic databases, resulting in 44 studies with age sub-groups, and 120 without age sub-groups. Of those with findings on the impact of age, there was variability in the way findings were reported and 21 % found that age did not have a significant impact. However, 66 % of the studies found that with older age, physical functioning declined post-treatment. Comorbidities were associated with physical functioning declines. However, findings from sub-groups (breast cancer stage, treatment type and time post-treatment) lacked concordance. Twenty-eight types of PROM were used: the EORTC QLQ-C30 was most common (50.6 %), followed by the SF-36 (32.3 %). There were 145 terms/labels for physical functioning: \'physical functioning/function\' was used most often (82.3 %).
CONCLUSIONS: Findings point towards an older age and comorbidities being associated with more physical functioning declines. However, it was not possible to determine if stage, treatment type and time since treatment had any influence. More consistent use of the terminology \'physical functioning/function\' would aid future comparisons of study results.

BACKGROUND: In progressive collapsing foot deformity (PCFD), the goal of surgery is to obtain a well-balanced plantigrade foot. It remains unclear if restoration of the alignment and subsequent improvement in radiological parameters is associated with improved patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). The aim of the current systematic review was to investigate whether there is a correlation between radiographic assessment and PROMs in patients treated surgically for flexible PCFD.
METHODS: The study was conducted in compliance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement guidelines. A comprehensive literature search was performed in Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trails (CENTRAL), and KINAHL. We included all the studies reporting both PROMs and radiological outcomes in patients treated surgically for PCFD. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal tool.
RESULTS: Six retrospective studies were included. Radiological parameters related to forefoot plantarflexion were associated with statistically significant differences in postoperative PROMs. A neutral hindfoot and midfoot position was positively correlated with postoperative PROMs but a statistically significant difference could not be established in all studies. The medial arch height was positively correlated with PROMs, but in one study this was the case only in revision surgeries.
CONCLUSIONS: The literature so far suggests restoration of the alignment may be associated with improved PROMs. Future prospective studies that investigate possible radiological and clinical correlations in PCFD surgery are needed.
METHODS: III.