Articles related to CHEMOTHERAPY

The hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone(hyper-CVAD) regimen has undergone many modifications to make administration more palatable and user-friendly for patients and physicians in community and academic settings, including refinements to avoid complications and reduce adverse events. Dr. Elias Jabbour of MD Anderson Cancer Center reviews a number of these modifications in this interview.

In patients with advanced-stage, untreated follicular lymphoma (FL), the RELEVANCE trial demonstrated that rituximab plus chemotherapy (R-chemo) and lenalidomide plus rituximab (R2) had comparable efficacy (FL). After six years of follow-up, a report on the second interim analysis of the RELEVANCE experiment is presented here.

At 12 months, nivolumab plus chemotherapy yielded a PFS of 89.3% versus 60.7% forchemotherapy alone and an OS of 98.2% compared with 82.1%, respectively. Thecombination improved median PFS by 52% compared with chemotherapy alone at amedian follow-up of 26.1 months. (See also NADIM II and IMpower010 Provide Support for Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer)

After receiving a recently confirmed diagnosis of early-stage nodular sclerosing Hodgkin lymphoma, a 27-year-old woman is evaluated. She has not experienced weight loss, night sweats, or fever. She has an unremarkable medical history and doesn’t use any drugs. What is the best course of action after a physical examination, lab tests, and scans?

This is an 8-year follow-up to the author’s initial report of a randomized phase II study in patients with newly diagnosed primary CNS lymphoma treated with high-dose methotrexate-based induction chemotherapy followed by whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) or high-dose chemotherapy (thiotepa-busulfan-cyclophosphamide) with autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT). They conclude that 40 Gy WBRT should be avoided in first-line treatment in this population because of its neurotoxicity and suboptimal efficacy in reducing relapses, while ASCT appears to be highly efficient in preventing relapses.

In this study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with ruxolitinib, approximately 130 patients were randomized to receive dose-dense neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without ruxolitinib, followed by interval debulking and finally three more cycles of dose-dense neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without ruxolitinib. The ruxolitinib group experienced a 3-month difference in progression-free survival.