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For the first time, fluoroquinolone exposure was tied to aortic complications in patients with established aortic disease in a large study.
In the cohort study from Taiwan, people with an existing aortic dissection (AD) or aortic aneurysm (AA) were at higher risk of adverse outcomes during the periods they were exposed to fluoroquinolones:
All-cause death: adjusted HR 1.61 (95% CI 1.50-1.73)
Aortic death: adjusted HR 1.80 (95% CI 1.50-2.15)
Aortic open surgery: adjusted HR 1.49 (95% CI 1.24-1.79)
Aortic stent placement: adjusted HR 1.64 (95% CI 1.30-2.06)
By contrast, amoxicillin (Amoxil) exposure was not associated with any of these outcomes over follow-up averaging 3.5 years, according to Shao-Wei Chen, MD, PhD, of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Medical Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan, and colleagues.
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Patients with progressive mesothelioma obtained a first-ever survival improvement with nivolumab (Opdivo) as second-line therapy, a randomized trial showed.
Median overall survival (OS) increased by almost 40%, and the progression-free interval also improved significantly with the immune checkpoint inhibitor as compared with placebo. In particular, a significant clinical benefit was evidence in patients with epithelioid subtype, the predominant mesothelioma histology.
PD-L1 expression status did not influence response to treatment, although only a third of patients tested positive for the biomarker, reported Dean Fennell, MD, of the University of Leicester in England, at the virtual World Conference on Lung Cancer.