Long-Term Nerve Damage Possible after Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer

https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2017/peripheral-neuropathy-chemotherapy-breast-cancer

	doxorubicin + docetaxel	doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide + docetaxel (ACT)	doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel (AC→T)
* Neuropathy can also be associated with common medical conditions, such as diabetes, or other medical procedures, including some types of surgery.
Before treatment*	19.1%	20.7%	15.8%
At 6-month follow-up	33.3%	37.7%	68.2%
At 12-month follow-up	31.2%	37.1%	56.4%
At 24-month follow-up	34.7%	41.4%	49.8%

What it is ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

Doctors also call this type of carcinoma in situ intraductal carcinoma. It is one of the most common types of breast cancer, according to the American Cancer  Society. Ductal means that cells are growing in the milk ducts of the breasts. There is an estimated 20 percent of breast cancers diagnosed annually in the United States are DCIS, equivalent to about 60,000 cases.

Ibrutinib now FDA-approved for treatment of chronic Graft versus Host Disease  after a hematopoietic stem cell transplant

A drug previously approved for adults with certain types of lymphoma or leukemia has become the first FDA approved medication for chronic graft-vs-host disease (GVHD).

Ibrutinib, marketed as Imbruvica, inhibits Bruton tyrosine kinase, a protein that plays a role in the survival and spread of malignant B cells. The medication is indicated for adults who develop chronic GVHD after a hematopoietic stem cell transplant but don’t respond to systemic therapy. An estimated 30% to 70% of patients who undergo these transplants subsequently develop chronic GVHD.

The drug’s approval is based on an ongoing, single-arm Phase I and Phase 2 trial that evaluated ibrutinib’s safety and efficacy in 42 patients with chronic GVHD who didn’t respond to first-line corticosteroid therapy.

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2654365?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social_jn&utm_term=1089176912&utm_content=content_engagement|article_engagement&utm_campaign=article_alert&linkId=42700319

 

Worldwide Cancer Death Continue raising

Full Radiation Dose May Not Be Necessary for Some Early-Stage Breast Cancers

Five-year results from a U.K. study suggest that treating just the area around where the cancer used to be with radiation may be as good as treating the whole breast with radiation.

The research was published on Sept. 9, 2017 by The Lancet.

The study included 2,016 women age 50 or older who had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer between 2007 and 2010. All the cancers were 3 cm or smaller, and all the women had three or fewer positive lymph nodes. All the women had lumpectomy to remove the breast cancer.

After surgery, the women were randomly assigned to one of three radiation regimens.

After 5 years of follow-up, local recurrence rates (breast cancer coming back in the same breast) were:

• 1.1% for women who got the standard dose of radiation
• 0.2% for women who got the full dose of radiation to the area where the cancer was and a slightly lower dose further away
• 0.5% for women who got the standard full dose of radiation only to the area where the cancer was

While these results are very promising, they are still early results. Doctors need longer follow-up information to see whether radiation to just the area where the cancer was offers the same local recurrence rates 7, 9, or 10 years after treatment.

A new blood test shows promise for detecting pancreatic cancer at its earliest stage

https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2017/blood-test-pancreatic-cancer

FDA Approves Pembrolizumab for PD-L1+ Gastric Cancer

The FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of patients with PD-L1–positive recurrent or advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma who have received 2 or more lines of chemotherapy, including fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy, and, if appropriate, HER2/neu-targeted therapy.
The approval is based on findings from the phase II KEYNOTE-059 study. In the study, 143 of 259 patients had PD–L1-positive tumors (combined positive score ≥1) and microsatellite stable tumor status or undetermined microsatellite instability or mismatch repair status. The overall response rate (ORR) in these patients was 13.3% (95% CI, 8.2-20.0), including a complete response (CR) rate of 1.4% and a partial response (PR) rate of 11.9%.The duration of response among the 19 responding patients ranged from 2.8+ to 19.4+ months. Responses were 6 months or longer in 11 (58%) patients and 12 months or longer in 5 (26%) patients.

http://www.onclive.com/web-exclusives/fda-approves-pembrolizumab-for-pdl1-gastric-cancer

RARECAREnet

US Cancer Health Disparities by the Numbers

Cancer patients need better care, not just more technology

http://www.nature.com/news/cancer-patients-need-better-care-not-just-more-technology-1.22644

A rapid progress in the development of novel and efficient anticancer drugs

Quote of the day Maybe… there aren't any such things as good friends or bad friends — maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for, too, if that's what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart. ~ Stephen King ~

CANCER HELP ONLINE: CAR T-Cell Therapy Approved for Some Children and...

CANCER HELP ONLINE:
CAR T-Cell Therapy Approved for Some Children and...: CAR T-Cell Therapy Approved for Some Children and Young Adults with Leukemia https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/201...

CAR T-Cell Therapy Approved for Some Children and Young Adults with Leukemia

https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2017/tisagenlecleucel-fda-childhood-leukemia

Treatment Beyond Progression With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors—Known Unknowns

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2634499?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=content-shareicons&utm_content=article_engagement&utm_medium=social&utm_term=070617#.WV44Jl68vng.twitter

CANCER HELP ONLINE: Androgen Blockade and Salvage ­Radiation Therapy i...

CANCER HELP ONLINE: Androgen Blockade and Salvage ­Radiation Therapy i...: Androgen Blockade and Salvage ­Radiation Therapy in Prostate Cancer: Cautious Optimism Amid Unanswered Questions http://www.ascopost.com...

Androgen Blockade and Salvage ­Radiation Therapy in Prostate Cancer: Cautious Optimism Amid Unanswered Questions

http://www.ascopost.com/issues/june-10-2017/androgen-blockade-and-salvage-radiation-therapy-in-prostate-cancer-cautious-optimism-amid-unanswered-questions/

The recent report of results of RTOG 9601 by Shipley et al in The New England Journal of Medicine—reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—strongly supports the variably used practice of adding “androgen blockade” to salvage radiation therapy in men with a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) after radical prostatectomy. The findings show a clear reduction in prostate cancer–specific and overall mortality with the addition of 2 years of bicalutamide to salvage radiation therapy. Another likely (although not demonstrated) benefit is the reduction in the need to treat patients with subsequent life-long continuous or intermittent androgen blockade at the expense of treating all men with 2 years of bicalutamide.
RTOG 9601’s results further strengthen the growing concept that inhibition of androgen signaling can work in synergy with radiotherapy by inhibiting DNA repair and functioning as a potent radiosensitizer.These data are consistent with the large number of trials in intermediate- and high-risk localized prostate cancer in which the addition of androgen suppression to radiotherapy improved overall survival. However, one should be cautious about extrapolating all methods of androgen blockade as equal, as one of the only trials of radiotherapy in localized prostate cancer that did not show a benefit from androgen blockade was when bicalutamide monotherapy was used.

Intertumoral Heterogeneity within Medulloblastoma Subgroups

http://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(17)30201-5

CANCER HELP ONLINE: Our thoughts and prayers are with Mexico, speciall...

CANCER HELP ONLINE: Our thoughts and prayers are with Mexico, speciall...: Our thoughts and prayers are with Mexico, specially our colleagues, their friends & families.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mexico, specially our colleagues, their friends & families.

Exercise is the best cure for fatigue caused by cancer

It's usually impossible to know why one person develops cancer and another doesn’t. But there are known risk factors

Precision Diagnosis and Treatment for Advanced Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Original article available online: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1703413

Prof Reck is the co-author of the publication and one of the greatest investigators who actively collaborate with QuintilesIMS in clinical trials. 

Alectinib is an exceptional drug against CNS metastases!

Alectinib (produced by Roche) has shown an extraordinary efficacy never seen before by any other new-targeted therapies in development. In the ALEX trial, which explored the agent in the frontline setting in ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer patients, the CNS-specific objective response rate (ORR) with alectinib was 36% compared with 28.6% with crizotinib (Xalkori) in patients treated with prior radiotherapy. For those without prior radiotherapy, alectinib showed a CNS ORR of 74.4% versus just 24.3% with crizotinib.
In those with CNS metastases treated with radiotherapy, the median PFS was not reached with alectinib versus 12.7 months with crizotinib (HR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.15-0.78; P = .0078). Those without prior radiotherapy had a median PFS of 14.0 months with alectinib versus 7.2 months with crizotinib (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.25-0.78; P = .0041).

“This is another important goal reached in the field of thoracic oncology. A drug which has this activity on brain metastases can allow to modify treatment and reduce the need for whole brain radiotherapy."

All of science is nothing more than the refinement of everyday thinking.

              Albert Einstein!

Who invented the stethoscope?

Rene Laennec was a French physician. He invented the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the  Necker Hospital, and pioneered its use in diagnosing various chest conditions. Dr Laennec coined the term mediate auscultation (indirect listening), as opposed to the popular practice at the time of directly placing the ear on the chest. He named his instrument the stethoscope, from the Greek words [stethos] (chest), and [skopos] (examination).

Photo of a moderm stethoscope

A new hope for patients with deadly malignant melanoma using a combined treatment of novel drugs

New study combining Incyte’s immune-oncology drug Epacadostat and Merck’s Keytruda cancer treatment in patients with advanced melanoma (deadly skin cancer) showed increased effectiveness.

A combination of Incyte’s oral pill and Merck’s injectable medicine shrank metastatic melanoma tumors, or caused the tumors to disappear, in 56 percent of the 65 patients in the Phase 1-2 study. With Keytruda alone, tumors shrank or disappeared in 33 percent of patients, based on Merck’s past studies.

Among other findings presented at the ESMO 2017 meeting in Spain last week were that the advanced melanoma did not progress, or get worse, in half the patients given Epacadostat plus Keytruda for 12.4 months. The disease progressed within four months to six months with Keytruda alone.

Among patients who had no previous treatment for advanced melanoma, the disease did not progress for up to 22.8 months when the patients were given the Merck-Incyte drug combination.

As far as adverse side effects, the most serious were rashes, elevated liver enzymes, fatigue, and body aches and pains in about 20 percent of the patients. With Keytruda

Merck and Incyte have initiated a large Phase 3 study with 700 patients, in which half are taking only Keytruda and the other half the combination Keytruda-Epacadostat. The study will conclude next May.

Amazing video of immune cells (neutrophil) chasing bacteria in the blood and engulfing them afterwards. It is extraordinary the mobilization of the neutrophil to kill the infecious agent.

Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:

1. Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
2. Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.

 

Marcus Tullius Cicero

 

AstraZeneca Immunotherapy offers new hope for patients with stage III locally advanced lung cancer 

During the Presidential Symposium In the ASCO 2017 (9 September 2017) , Dr Luis Paz-Ares from Hospital Universitario 12 de Octobre, Madrid, Spain presented a potentially practice-changing data from the phase III Pacific study up to 12-month immunotherapy with durvalumab (PDL-1 inhibitor).  In 709 patients with locally advanced unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without progression after platinum-based treatment and radioterpy, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 16.8 months with durvalumab vs 5.8 months with placebo . Adverse events were comparable in both arms. Although overall survival data is still immature, these impressive results must surely prefigure maintenance immunotherapy becoming part of the standard practice in locally advanced NSCLC. The Pacific study is was one the largest studies ever conducted in stage III NSCLC. QuinitlesIMS was the CRO that run the trial.  

History of the eye cataract surgery

Cataract surgery is one of the oldest surgical procedures known, first documented in the fifth century BC. The earliest method known was couching. This method involved applying pressure digitally or via a sharp needle to the cataract and dislocating it into the posterior part of the eye known as the vitreous. There was no replacement of the lens and patients were left with a large focussing error known as aphakia. There was little regard for the prevention of infection by sterilisation of instrumentation and no anaesthesia. Complications such as chronic inflammatory scarring were common and patients were often left blinded. Couching is still performed in some parts of rural Africa and Asia today.