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Welcome to Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas (CERCIT)

The goal of CERCIT is to find evidence that will help patients and their physicians make individualized decisions about the best cancer care options, including screening, treatment, and end of life care in cancer. CERCIT is a multidisciplinary consortium of investigators at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), UT Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas (UTSW), and the Texas Department of State Health Services Texas Cancer Registry.

CERCIT News

2018.11.28 - Video: Comparative Effectiveness Research (and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research)

A Geriatric Medicine Conference lecture on Comparative Effectiveness Research (and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research) was presented by James S. Goodwin, MD, George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics on November 28, 2018 at UTMB. Dr Goodwin is the PI of the CERCIT and other aging related grants at UTMB.

2018.07.25 - Video: Exercise Guidance After a Cancer Diagnosis: Evidence and Logistics

A special lecture sponsored by Center for Recovery, Physical Activity, and Nutrition (CeRPAN) with the Department of Nutrition & Metabolism as part of the UTMB School of Health Professions 50th Anniversary lecture series on July 25, 2018. Exercise Guidance After a Cancer Diagnosis: Evidence and Logistics was presented by Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology, Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences; Associate Director of Population Sciences, Penn State Cancer Institute.

2018.05.02 - Video: Sixteen Suggestions to Improve Skills in Scientific Writing

A Pepper Center Investigator's Lecture on Sixteen Suggestions to Improve Skills in Scientific Writing was presented by James S. Goodwin, MD, George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics on May 2, 2018 at UTMB.

2016.11.01 - Data Published: Demographic Variations in Texas

The size and diversity of Texas present substantial challenges to the delivery of cancer care throughout the state. The CERCIT Knowledge Translation Core produced the following report and online resources that map population, economic and health care characteristics of diverse geographic areas in Texas that are relevant to the delivery of cancer care.

Read More: Demographic Variations in Texas

2016.09.01- UTMB-led group wins additional 5-year funding from Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas

A multi-institutional group, led by James S. Goodwin, MD, has been awarded a second five years of funding for "Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas" (CERCIT). The $6 million grant is from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. The CERCIT renewal will build on our analyses of administrative data but expand our methods to better measure individual patient characteristics and include information on patient preferences and patient reported outcomes. Our goal is to generate evidence that will help patients and their physicians make individualized decisions about the best cancer care options for each patient. These choices include screening, treatment and end of life care in cancer.

2016.07.25 - Rice U. study: Texans are no better off in one city versus another for cancer treatment

HOUSTON – (July 25, 2016) – Regions in Texas differ widely in adherence to recommended cancer treatment for elderly patients, according to a study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

These differences are not due to the availability of treatment specialists or the presence of teaching hospitals, the study found. The absence of consistent explanations for these treatment differences suggests that variations like these are likely to occur elsewhere nationwide.

"Texans are no better off in one city versus another in terms of treatment across a broad range of cancers," said Vivian Ho, the chair in health economics at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy and director of the institute's Center for Health and Biosciences, who co-authored the study. "One might have expected Houston residents to receive better treatment because of MD Anderson's presence, but any beneficial effects could be offset by a large number of elderly in Houston not being treated there." The research findings were published in the journal BMC Health Services Research.

CERCIT Publications

2019

Yam C, Murthy RK, Rauch GM, Murray JL Walters RS, et al. A phase II study of imatinib mesylate and letrozole in patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer expressing c-kit or PDGFR-β. Invest New Drugs 2019 Dec;36(6):1103-1109.	PMID30311036
Caudle AS, Smith BD. Do Internal Mammary Nodes Matter? Ann Surg Oncol. 2019;26(4):930-2.	PMID30617872
Taylor JS, Zhang N, Rajan SS, Chavez-MacGregor M, Zhao H, Niu J, et al. How we use hospice: Hospice enrollment patterns and costs in elderly ovarian cancer patients. Gynecol Oncol. 2019;152(3):452-8.	PMID30617872
Fried DA, Sadeghi-Nejad H, Gu D, Zhou S, He W, Giordano SH, et al. Impact of serious mental illness on the treatment and mortality of older patients with locoregional high-grade (nonmetastatic) prostate cancer: retrospective cohort analysis of 49 985 SEER-Medicare patients diagnosed between 2006 and 2013. Cancer Med. 2019;8(5):2612-22.	PMID30946488
Reddy JP, Pan HY, Pasalic D, Edwards T, Smith BD. Implementing an electronic data capture system to improve clinical workflow in a large academic radiation oncology practice. JCO Clin Cancer Inform 2018 Dec;2:1-12. doi: 10.1200/CCI.18.00034.	PMID30652599
Advani PG, Lei X, Swanick CW, Xu Y, Shen Y, Goodwin NA, et al. Local Therapy Decisional Regret in Older Women With Breast Cancer: A Population-Based Study. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2019;104(2):383-91.	PMID30716524
Karuturi MS, Lei X, Giordano SH, Sawnick CW, Smith BD. Long-term decision regret surrounding systemic therapy in older breast cancer survivors: A population-based survey study. J Geriatr Oncol. 2019.	PMID30940493
Shah R, Chou LN, Kuo YF, Raji MA. Long-Term Opioid Therapy in Older Cancer Survivors: A Retrospective Cohort Study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2019;67(5):945-52.	PMID1026356
Suidan RS, He W, Sun CC, Zhao H, Smith GL, Klopp AH, et al. National trends, outcomes, and costs of radiation therapy in the management of low- and high-intermediate risk endometrial cancer. Gynecol Oncol. 2019;152(3):439-44.	PMID30876486
Christopherson K, Lei X, Barcenas C, Buchholz TA, Garg N, Hoffman KE, et al. Outcomes of Curative-Intent Treatment for Patients with Breast Cancer Presenting With Sternal or Mediastinal Involvement. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2019;104(3):574-81.	PMC6548669
Karuturi MS, Holmes HM, Lei X, Johnson M, Barcenas CH, Cantor SB, et al. Potentially inappropriate medications defined by STOPP criteria in older patients with breast and colorectal cancer. J Geriatr Oncol. 2019.	PMID30795923
Ost DE, Zhao H, Giordano SH, Niu J, Grosu H. Quality gaps and comparative effectiveness in lung cancer staging and diagnosis. Chest 2019 Oct 12.	PMID31610159
Fang P, Jagsi R, He W, Lei X, Campbell EG, Giordano SH, et al. Rising and Falling Trends in the Use of Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy Near the End of Life in Older Patients with Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2019;37(20):1721-31.	PMID31141431
Lowenstein LM, Deyter GMR, Nishi S, Wang T, Volk RJ. Shared decision-making conversations and smoking cessation interventions: critical components of low-dose CT lung cancer screening programs. Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2018;7(3):254-71.	PMID30050764
Sharma M, Holmes HM, Mehta HB, Chen H, Aparasu RR, Shih YT, et al. The concomitant use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors and proton pump inhibitors: Prevalence, predictors, and impact on survival and discontinuation of therapy in older adults with cancer. Cancer. 2019;125(7):1155-62.	PMID30605231
Shaitelman SF, Lei X, Thompson A, Schlembach P, Bloom ES, Arzu IY, et al. Three-year outcomes with hypofractionated versus conventionally fractionated whole-breast irradiation: results of a randomized, noninferiority clinical trial. J Clin Oncol 2018 Oct 31: JCO1800317.	PMID30379626
Suidan RS, He W, Sun CC, Zhao H, Rauh-Hain JA, Fleming ND, et al. Total and out-of-pocket costs of different primary management strategies in ovarian cancer. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Aug;221(2):136.e1-136.e9.	PMID30965052
Logan JK, Jiang J, Shih YT, Lei X, Xu Y, et al. Trends in radiation for bone metastasis during a period of multiple national quality improvement initiatives. J Oncol Pract. 2019 Apr;15(4):e356-e368.	PMID30849005
Nishi SPE, Zhou J, Kuo YF, Sharma G, Goodwin JS. Trends in tobacco cessation counseling codes among Medicare beneficiaries, 2001-2014. BMC Health Serv Res. 2019 Aug 5;19(1):548.	PMID31382958
Nishi SPE, Zhou J, Okereke J, Kuo YF, Goodwin JS. Use of imaging and diagnostic procedures after low-dose CT screening for lung cancer. Chest. 2019 Sept 12.	PMID31521671
Nishi S, Zhou J, Kuo YF, Goodwin JS. Use of Lung Cancer Screening with Low-Dose Computed Tomography in the Medicare Population. Mayo Clin Proc Innov Qual Outcomes. 2019;3(1):70-7.	PMID30899910
Goodwin JS, Nishi S, Zhou J, Kuo YF. Use of the Shared Decision-Making Visit for Lung Cancer Screening Among Medicare Enrollees. JAMA Intern Med. 2019 May 1;179(5):716-718.	PMID30640388
Wang JR, Nurgalieva Z, Fu S, Tam S, Zhao H, et al. Utilization of rehabilitation services in patients with head and neck cancer in the United States: A SEER-Medicare analysis. Head Neck. 2019 Sep;41(9):3299-3308.	PMID31240808

More CERCIT Publications

Multi-PI Grants: A Workshop Presented by James S. Goodwin, MD and others at UTMB

Fun with Medicare Part D Data: A CERCIT Workshop presented by James S. Goodwin, MD, August 2014

Shared Decision Making in Cancer Care: A CERCIT Workshop presented by Nina Tamirisa, MD, August 2014

The Use of Surgery in the Elderly for Management of Metastatic Epidural Spinal Cord Compression: A CERCIT Workshop presented by Justin E. Bird, MD, June 2014

Population-Based Assessment of Breast Reconstruction: A CERCIT Workshop presented by Ben Smith, MD, June 2014

Fact Sheets

Prostate Cancer [PDF]: Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Testing in Men Aged 65 & Older

Mammography [PDF]: Mammography in Women Aged 65 & Older

Colonoscopy [PDF]: Colonoscopy in Adults Aged 65 & Older

Reports and Special Publications

Surveillance Patterns Following Lung Cancer Resection [PDF]: This report describes the current population-based trends in surveillance practices and the use of these modalities in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following curative resection.

Comparative Effectiveness of MRI vs. Mammography Alone in Patients Undergoing Breast-Conserving Therapy for Breast Cancer [PDF]: This report compares the effectiveness of MRI vs. mammography alone in patients undergoing breast-conserving therapy for breast cancer.

Hispanic Cancer Report [PDF]: From A quarterly publication of the Texas Public Health Association (TPHA) Supplement, Fall 2013, A Comprehensive Report on Cancer among Hispanics in Texas.

CERCIT Featured in the Texas Public Health Journal Summer 2013

Using research to keep Texans informed about cancer care – that is at the heart of CERCIT (Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas). A description of this project and selected articles from its four research areas are featured in the Spring 2013 issue of the Texas Public Health Journal, a quarterly publication of the Texas Public Health Association (pages 22-55):

CERCIT: Research to Keep Texans Informed About Cancer Care [PDF], p 22-29
Utilization of BRCA testing in older women with breast and/or ovarian cancer in the state of Texas [PDF], p 30-36
Prostate Cancer Treatment Patterns in the State of Texas, 2004-2007 [PDF], p 37-43
The Current Utilization of Breast and Prostate Cancer Screening in Older Adults in Texas [PDF], p 22-29
The Human and Economic Burden of Cervical Cancer in Texas [PDF], p 51-55

Just how much does cancer cost in Texas? [PDF] Texas Public Health Journal, Vol 63, Issue 4, Fall 2011. Findings are reported in the Cost of Cancer in Texas, 2005 [PDF] published by the Texas Cancer Council.

In the first five years of CERCIT, we offered clinician-scientist training in Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas. Trainees attended monthly workshops. A selection of those workshop presentations are now available as resources linked below: