Articles related to Oncology, Surgical

The case reported is based on a 53-year-old woman who presented to her gastroenterologist with symptoms of bowel obstruction and right upper quadrant pain. Based on her age and excellent performance status, aggressive treatment with a triplet chemotherapy regimen of oxaliplatin, irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin (FOLFOXIRI) in combination with the anti–vascular endothelial growth factor receptor antibody bevacizumab was begun.

According to a study published online in Neurology, in the 6 months after a colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have an increased risk of all-cause and cancer-specific death. Data were included for 338 MS cases and 1,352 controls without MS, matched for birth year, sex, cancer diagnosis year, and region.

Having a child with cancer is one of the most stressful events for any parent to endure. And, according to a report in JAMA Network Open, that stress contributes to often fractious relationships between parents and the medical teams treating their cancer-stricken children. JAMA reports that a quarter of parents have a difficult, or challenging, relationship with their pediatric oncologist and related medical team. The study also found that the tense feelings are mutual between parents and doctors. Among physicians surveyed, 37.6% reported that they felt the relationships they had with parents of the children they treated were challenging.

Bowing to criticism from doctors, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has again updated its guidelines for prostate cancer. The previous update, released this past September, had changed the recommendation about active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer to state that active surveillance was no longer the “preferred” management option for patients with low-risk prostate cancer and a life expectancy of 10 years or more. Many physicians criticized this change, saying it could lead to overtreatment of low-risk patients by implying that active surveillance, surgery, and radiation are equivalent management options. As a result, NCCN has further revised its guidelines to now state that active surveillance is preferred for most patients with low-risk prostate cancer and a life expectancy of 10 years or more.

This new study found that patients who underwent radiotherapy to treat head and neck cancer experienced accelerated biological aging of as much as 4.9 years in the period immediately post therapy, with further accelerated aging following over time. The study was conducted at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Chronological age is a strong risk factor for chronic health problems, including greater inflammation and fatigue.

Adults with confirmed R/R aNHL within 12 months after first-line (1L) chemo-immunotherapy were eligible for the randomized Phase III study, which demonstrated that tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel) as second-line (2L) treatment in R/R aNHL patients did not have a higher event-free survival (EFS) vs. the standard-of-care (SOC). Read this late-breaking abstract from the ASH Annual Meeting & Exhibition to discover the contributing factors leading to the results, as well as how insights from this study will inform use of cellular treatment in the 2L R/R aNHL setting and the design of future CAR-T trials.