The Italian region of Sardinia is the second largest and one of the least populated islands in the Mediterranean Sea. While renowned for its stunning coastline, scientists know it better for the unique genetic features among the local population,1 which have been preserved through millennia of isolation and selective pressure exerted by malaria.
This project aimed to describe variability of local evaluations of off-label cancer drug requests by submitting a list of identical requests to different Italian centers.
In October 2024, oncology unit directors listed in the AIOM Libro Bianco were invited to participate, evaluating 11 clinical cases with solid tumors through their internal approval process. Supporting evidence was retrospective in two cases, based on phase II trials in seven, and phase III trials in two. Inter-rater agreement was measured using Fleiss’ kappa.
Hospital admission is frequently required in the cancer trajectory. In a context of bed shortage, pressure on Emergency Departments and increasing healthcare costs, promoting actions that contain hospital stay is a priority. We studied the variables able to predict longer hospital stays.
We retrospectively retrieved data on consecutive admissions in our cancer inpatient unit in a 6-month period and assessed individual and clinical variables potentially related with duration of hospital stay through univariate and multivariate analysis.