Colorectal Cancer

When compared with chemotherapy, patients with microsatellite-instability high/mismatch repair deficient metastatic colorectal cancer saw significant improvement in progression-free survival with the frontline use of pembrolizumab monotherapy, while demonstrating superior safety.

The phase 2 study presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium reported a total of 2 responses at the interim analysis, meeting criteria to continue accrual.

SWOG S1406 evaluated the use of irinotecan and cetuximab (Erbitux) with or without vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in patients with BRAF V600E-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer who had been previously treated with 1 or 2 regimens.

The study assessed the use of irinotecan and cetuximab (Erbitux) with or without vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in patients with BRAF V600E–mutated metastatic CRC who had been previously treated with 1 or 2 regimens.

This new risk estimation model could help physicians determine whether an average risk patient’s specific risk indicates an at-home stool test would be a good screening option or suggests a colonoscopy may be the most appropriate option.

The latest episode of CancerNetwork’s podcast focuses on the rising incidence rates of colorectal cancer in both young and black patients.

The guidance is intended to inform gastroenterologists of how to assess lesions for endoscopic features associated with cancer, discuss how these factors guide endoscopic management, and to outline the factors that frame whether to advise surgery after a malignant polyp has been endoscopically resected.

A study published in JAMA Surgery found that low quantity and low quality of muscle can predict poor outcomes after colon cancer surgery.

These results emphasize the importance of defining patterns of variance in early-onset CRC survival in order to understand the impact of community health behaviors on early-onset CRC outcomes.

Adagrasib demonstrated an acceptable safety profile and promising clinical activity in pretreated patients with non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and other solid tumors with a KRAS G12C mutation.

Medicaid expansion was found to be associated with improved mortality among patients with newly diagnosed breast, colorectal, and lung cancer.

Watch-and-wait in place of surgery was shown to be a safe and feasible treatment approach for patients with nonmetastatic rectal cancer achieving a complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation.

The updated guidelines outlined indications and best practices for pelvic radiation treatments, as well as the integration of radiation with chemotherapy and surgery for patients with stage II to III disease.

For the first time, the draft recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force indicate that screening for colorectal cancer begin at age 45.

“This algorithm could allow us a better shot at personalized medicine and enhance our ability to tailor the treatments to be as appropriate as possible,” said study author Daniel Chang, MD.

This data suggests clinicians should not rely on self-reports from their patients about either their need or the proper interval for a repeat surveillance colonoscopy.

CancerNetwork examines a review article in the September issue of the journal ONCOLOGY discussing precision medicine and molecular profiling for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

According to researchers, a “better understanding of the heterogeneity of mCRC, including primary tumor location, microsatellite instability (MSI) status, and other clinically actionable tumor mutations, is reshaping the therapeutic landscape.”

Frontline pembrolizumab induced clinically meaningful improvements in the health-related quality of life of patients with microsatellite instability-high and/or mismatch repair-deficient metastatic colorectal cancer.

The cancer specialist from Cedars-Sinai spoke about the observed increase of colorectal cancer in younger individuals, as well as the significantly higher incidence and death rates in black people.

This study found black patients were less likely to undergo chemotherapy or surgical resection for colorectal liver metastases and had worse survival compared to other patients.

Researchers suggested that potency enhancing phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor drugs may have the ability to improve a prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer.

With regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers recommended that resection should occur as soon as possible depending on the availability of hospital resources and local disease burden.

A recent study found a 22% lower risk in developing colorectal cancer in the 3 years after patients took hypertension medications to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, or heart disease.

The board-certified gastroenterologist discussed the lack of screenings being conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how many physicians have tried to circumvent this issue.