Articles related to Oncology, Radiation

A 56-year-old man with no significant medical history, who previously refused colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening, visited his primary care physician. Despite the physician’s recommendations, the patient declined colonoscopy and instead preferred a less invasive screening test. The patient had no symptoms of colorectal issues but had a family history of his father dying from colorectal cancer at age 80. The patient’s hemoglobin level was within the normal range at 13.7 g/dL.

The author explains that a nursing strike can have a significant impact on oncology practices, which rely heavily on nursing staff for patient care. The article suggests that practices should have a contingency plan in place in the event of a strike, including identifying alternative sources of nursing staff, communicating with patients about the potential impact on their care, and ensuring that all staff members are trained on how to handle the situation. The article also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a respectful and open dialogue with nursing staff throughout the negotiation process to minimize the likelihood of a strike.

A total of 1,643 men with localized prostate cancer were enrolled in a trial to assess treatment efficacy, with 545 randomly assigned to active monitoring, 553 to prostatectomy, and 545 to radiotherapy. Prostate cancer-specific mortality was low after 15 years of follow-up, regardless of treatment. Thus, deciding on therapy entails weighing the benefits and drawbacks of treatments for localized prostate cancer.

This study analyzed 147 patients with hormone receptor-positive and HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (HR+/HER2+ MBC) who received first-line chemotherapy and dual anti-HER2 therapy using a real-world registry dataset. The efficacy of adding endocrine therapy to dual anti-HER2 therapy after chemotherapy discontinuation was studied retrospectively. The researchers discovered that endocrine therapy resulted in statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in both PFS and overall survival outcomes. In the first-line treatment of HR+/HER2+ MBC, the current standard practice is to administer a CLEOPATRA trial-based regimen that includes taxane, pertuzumab, and trastuzumab until the best response is achieved and then discontinue chemotherapy. These findings, with a hazard ratio of 0.52 for overall survival with the addition of endocrine therapy, confirm that all patients with HR+/HER2+ MBC should receive endocrine therapy after achieving the best response with chemotherapy.

Immunotherapy combinations with activity in patients with microsatellite stable (MSS) metastatic colorectal cancer are needed, and the recommended phase 2 dose of RIN had a manageable safety profile and an overall response rate of 27.6%, a median progression-free survival of 4 months, and a median overall survival of 20 months in this nonrandomized clinical trial of 39 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Patients with no liver metastases received responses (overall response rate, 36.4%; median overall survival not reached).

The findings of this retrospective dual-center cohort study of diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (DMPM) patients suggest that pembrolizumab had clinical activity regardless of PD-L1 status or histology, though patients with nonepithelioid histology may have benefited more. The partial response rate of 21.0% and median OS of 20.9 months in this cohort with 75.0% epithelioid histology call for additional research to identify those most likely to respond to immunotherapy.