Clinical Outcomes of Adolescent and Young Adult Patients with Sarcoma
Mentor: Julia Glade Bender
While more than half of sarcoma cases occur in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) population, there are not clear guidelines stating whether these patients should be treated according to a pediatric or adult sarcoma protocol. This dilemma is partially because AYA patients are underrepresented in clinical trials investigating new therapies and optimal dosage of sarcoma therapies. Consequentially, whether an AYA patient with sarcoma is treated by a pediatric or medical oncology group may be arbitrary and not fully evidence-based.
To best serve our Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) sarcoma patients, we need to research the differences in clinical, developmental, and psychosocial outcomes of patients who are treated according to pediatric protocols versus adult protocols. There are limited retrospective studies showing that adult patients with rhabdomyosarcoma treated following pediatric protocols had improved outcomes, but to our knowledge, there are no studies that have analyzed the differences in outcomes between pediatric and adult protocols exclusively in AYA populations.
Julia will be working on a retrospective review investigating whether there is a difference in clinical outcomes between Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) patients with rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, desmoplastic small round cell tumor, osteosarcoma, and other soft tissue sarcomas who were treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center dependent on whether they were treated according to pediatric or adult protocols. The outcome measures Julia will investigate include overall survival, event-free survival, treatment-related toxicities, and several measures of psychosocial outcomes. The results of this research will help us make standardized, evidence-based guidelines for care—a necessary first step in improving outcomes for the AYA population.
