The review by Dr. Akhtari outlines the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and touches on the current challenges in treating patients suffering from MDS.
The incidence of metabolic syndrome is rapidly increasing. Metabolic syndrome is associated with elevated morbidity and mortality secondary to cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and hepatic dysfunction. A body of evidence has already implicated metabolic syndrome as a cancer risk factor; emerging evidence now suggests that cancer survivors themselves may be at risk for developing metabolic syndrome as a result of their anti-cancer therapy. Treatment of both breast cancer and prostate cancer often involves hormone-modifying agents that have been linked to features of metabolic syndrome. Androgen suppression in men with prostate cancer is associated with dyslipidemia, increasing risk of cardiovascular disease, and insulin resistance. Anti-estrogen therapy in women with breast cancer can affect lipid profiles, cardiovascular risk, and liver function. Similar findings have been noted in men with testicular cancer treated with chemotherapy. In addition, several emerging therapies, including mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors and targeted kinase inhibitors, are increasingly associated with some features of metabolic syndrome. As the number of cancer survivors continues to grow, consideration of these factors and of the risk of metabolic syndrome will become increasingly important when choosing between therapy options and managing long-term follow-up.
This video examines current research on the use of vaccines in low-grade glioma for the prevention of high-grade disease.
A phase II study of combined-modality treatment consisting of uracil and tegafur (in a molar ratio of 4:1 [UFT]) plus cisplatin (Platinol) and concurrent radiotherapy was conducted to evaluate the activity of this regimen in
This article represents the consensus opinion of an expert panel and may be used to inform clinical recommendations in vaginal cancer management.
A 70-year-old man presented at our institution for a second opinion regarding diagnosis of a urinary bladder mass. He had a 3-year history of worsening urinary incontinence and urgency, for which he had undergone colonoscopy, as well as testing for prostate issues; all test results were negative.
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN-2) is characterized by medullary thyroid carcinoma in combination with pheochromocytomas and, sometimes, parathyroid adenomas. Since 1993, the psychosocial implications of DNA analysis for MEN-2 have been studied in the Netherlands. This article summarizes the first results of that study. Individuals who applied for DNA analysis cited the need to reduce uncertainty as the major reason for wanting the test. An unfavorable test outcome resulted in anxiety and depression but also relief.
Over the past 3 decades, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has become a lifesaving art that is applied to a variety of malignant and nonmalignant disorders.[1] In the 1970s, several groups demonstrated that advanced leukemia and aplastic anemia patients were cured using sibling-matched allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. By the 1980s, many published reports confirmed that relapsed and refractory lymphoma patients could attain long-term disease-free survival as a result of utilizing autologous bone marrow transplantation.
Dr. Newman has written a comprehensiveand judicious reviewon the highly topical subjectof ductal lavage, and is to becongratulated. We would like to giveparticular emphasis to several of theissues she raises.
In this review, the authors discuss past attempts at lung cancer screening, the results of the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial, and innovative tests for lung cancer screening currently being evaluated.
Obesity is a complex, chronic disease that has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Obesity is now linked with numerous health conditions, including many oncologic diagnoses. Its association with prostate cancer, the most prevalent cancer in men, has also been investigated, with studies suggesting a direct relationship between increasing obesity and prostate cancer mortality. Outcomes data for specific interventions in obese patients with prostate cancer have only recently begun to emerge. Surgery, while feasible even in the very obese, may result in less than optimal cancer control rates. Brachytherapy data are emerging, and are promising. No outcomes data are available for the use of external-beam radiation in obese patients. Long-term data for external-beam radiation, as well as for surgery and brachytherapy, are required to determine the most appropriate treatment for obese patients with prostate cancer. These data, coupled with a more thorough understanding of the biochemical relationship between obesity and prostate cancer, will be necessary to make optimal management decisions for obese patients with prostate cancer in the future.
Cure rates for non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain low and the prognosis for patients with even stage IA disease is poor. Complete surgical resection is still the first-line treatment for NSCLC, but many investigators
A prospective randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of maintenance chemotherapy after surgical treatment of head and neck carcinoma was performed at 67 institutions. A comparison was made between the following two groups: the treatment group, which received 1-year oral administration of UFT at 300 mg/d following curative surgical treatment (UFT arm), and the nontreatment group, which received curative surgery alone (control arm).
A phase II study of combined-modality treatment consisting of uracil and tegafur (in a molar ratio of 4:1 [UFT]) plus cisplatin (Platinol) and concurrent radiotherapy was conducted to evaluate the activity of this regimen in
In a step toward a clinical trial, the tumor response and survival of a weekday-on/weekend-off schedule of UFT was compared with its conventional daily schedule in a cancer-bearing rat model. The dose-intensive schedule-600 mg of UFT for 5 days followed by 2 drug-free days-amounts to a weekly dose similar to the conventional schedule of 400 mg/day. The weekday-on/weekend-off schedule provided increased survival and significantly greater antitumor activity than the conventional daily schedule, with no difference in adverse reactions.
In the United States and Europe, the combination of oral UFT plus leucovorin has been reported to produce objective responses and survival rates similar to those achieved with standard intravenous 5-fluorouracil plus leucovorin in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, with reduced toxicity.
In the United States and Europe, the combination of oral UFT plus leucovorin has been reported to produce objective responses and survival rates similar to those achieved with standard intravenous 5-fluorouracil plus leucovorin in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, with reduced toxicity.
A single-institution phase II study indicated that combination chemotherapy using UFT (tegafur and uracil) plus cisplatin (Platinol) in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer was active with less host toxicity than other cisplatin-
Approximately 10% of all epithelial ovarian carcinoma cases are associated with inheritance of an autosomal-dominant genetic mutation conferring a predisposition to cancer with variable penetrance. Two such manifestations
Soft-tissue sarcomas comprise approximately 7% of all pediatric malignancies. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy have significantly improved survival.
Minimizing late treatment toxicities in these patients remains an important priority due to both the young age of the patients and the high cure rate that can be achieved.
Adjuvant therapy, almost bydefinition, overtreats patients.It is the holy grail of those ofus involved in adjuvant therapy to definethe patients who are going to failso that we can decrease the incidenceof tumor recurrence and avoid givingadditional therapy to patients who havebeen cured by their primary treatment.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. There was rapid progress in the treatment of lung cancer during past decades, but local control and survival rates are still poor.
UFT (uracil and tegafur in a 4:1 molar ratio) plus calcium folinate treatment has favorable activity and tolerable toxicity in patients with advanced gastric carcinoma. High response rates have been reported in patients with
Leading experts in the breast cancer field highlight the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors, antibody-drug conjugates, and other treatment modalities.
Complication rates in 1,000 consecutive patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer between November 1989 and January 1992 were assessed and compared to complication rates in a historical group of patients operated on by primarily the same surgeons prior to 1987. In the contemporary series, there were no operative deaths, only 22% of patients required blood transfusion, and only six (0.6%) patients suffered rectal injuries. Early complications, including myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, bacteremia, and wound infection, occurred in less than 1% of patients. Vesical neck contracture, the most common late complication, developed in 87 patients (8.7%). At 1 year post-surgery, 80% of patients were completely continent, and fewer than 1% were totally incontinent. [ONCOLOGY 9(5):379-389, 1995]
Hossein Borghaei, DO, MS, discussed where investigators may drive future research following the phase 2 Lung-MAP trial examining pembrolizumab and ramucirumab in previously treated advanced non–small cell lung cancer.
Howard A. Burris, MD, highlighted previous findings of the phase 3 TOPAZ-1 trial assessing durvalumab plus gemcitabine and cisplatin vs placebo plus gemcitabine and cisplatin in advanced biliary tract cancer and patient-reported outcomes data that were presented at 2022 ASCO.
Among the most exciting new anticancer products presented at the 2001 ASCO meeting were new drugs that block the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). About 30% to 90% of carcinomas express high levels of EGFR. These include, among others, head and neck cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and bladder cancer.
Of particular relevance for clinicians is the possible recommendation of omitting concurrent chemotherapy with CSI in adults, due to the lower marrow reserves and overall lack of data for clear efficacy of concurrent chemotherapy in adults. Additional refinement of these therapeutic regimens for adult medulloblastoma awaits further advances in both the molecular prognostic associations for these tumors and the potentially exciting development of targeted therapies for specific molecular subtypes.