Articles related to CHEMOTHERAPY

Zev Wainberg, MD, professor of medicine and co-director of the UCLA GI Oncology Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, presented the results of the NAPOLI-3 trial at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium last month, and in this podcast, he discusses the data with Bob Figlin, MD, the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer. In addition, the physicians discuss what advances might be on the horizon in the metastatic setting and in earlier disease, as well as what factors influence Dr. Wainberg’s treatment decisions.

Data on patients with mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) CRC, the majority of whom could not undergo surgery due to various health conditions unrelated to cancer, were presented at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI). Instead of radiation therapy or chemotherapy, the patients received immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors. It should be noted that the patients were treated outside of clinical trials. The overall response rate in this patient group was 74%, with 57% of those who responded experiencing complete tumor regression. Some of the patients have been in complete remission for a year or more after their diagnoses. The data indicate that immunotherapy is an effective treatment for patients who are unable to undergo surgery for a variety of reasons, including advanced age or a variety of health issues.

Patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have had better results thanks to alterations to cytarabine/anthracycline-based intense chemotherapy, including the addition of high-dose cytarabine and adjustments to the dosage schedule or type of anthracycline.

The only effective ways to treat TEC are to stop, delay, or modify your patients’ chemotherapy dose. Supportive medications, such as topical keratolytics, wound care, and high-potency topical corticosteroids, respond differently. These medications cause a 2- to 4-week recovery period following the interruption of chemotherapy, which is a somewhat gradual improvement.

The researchers tested whether a ctDNA-guided strategy could lower the need for adjuvant chemotherapy without increasing the risk of recurrence. Recurrence-free survival at 2 years was the main efficacy end objective. Adjuvant chemotherapy usage was a significant secondary end goal.

The study included 1,306 patients (darolutamide: 651, placebo: 655), with 86.1% having metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. At the primary analysis’s data cutoff date (October 25, 2021), the risk of death in the darolutamide group was 32.5% lower than in the placebo group. Adverse events were comparable in both groups, and the most common adverse events (occurring in 10% of patients) were most common during the overlapping docetaxel treatment period in both groups.