GI CANCERS

Hypofractionation, known as delivering higher doses of radiation in fewer fractions, appears to be feasible and non-inferior compared with conventional fractionated radiotherapy.

Flares of bone pain decreased significantly when the oral corticosteroid dexamethasone was added to radiation therapy in patients with metastatic cancer, according to a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Coordinating radiation therapy teams and palliative care teams based on patient reported outcomes from University of Virginia Health System improved outpatient symptom management and decreased end-of-life hospitalizations, as well as costs of care for patients with late-stage cancer.

The USPSTF recently posted a draft recommendation statement and draft evidence review on screening for colorectal cancer prompting responses from organizations and industry.

A more than 25-month improvement in overall survival was seen with lyso-thermosensitive liposomal doxorubicin (LTLD; ThermoDox) combined with optimized (?45 minutes dwell time) radiofrequency ablation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Patients with advanced lung and gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors had a 52% reduction in risk of progression or death with everolimus compared with placebo.

The oral nucleoside TAS-102 (Lonsurf) has been approved by the FDA for patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) who are not responding to other treatments.

Researchers from United States and Ireland have formed a partnership to advance nanoparticle-based delivery systems that would not only drive sustained-release of cytotoxic agents, but could improve penetration of these treatments within the tumor and allow them to continue working for days or weeks.

A novel basket trial has reported results on the treatment of vemurafenib in variety of nonmelanoma cancers with BRAF V600 mutation.

Recent therapeutic advances have almost doubled the survival of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, and the availability of highly active chemotherapy regimens is making personalized medicine a reality.

Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD, discusses regorafenib for the treatment of patients with chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Andrew Hendifar, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, Cedars Sinai Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine, discusses PEGPH20 with nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer.

Manish A. Shah, MD, medical oncology, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, discusses the results of the METGastric study.

Philip Philip MD, PhD, professor of oncology at Karmanos Cancer Center, Wayne State University School of Medicine, discusses current research on pancreatic cancer, as well as funding, awareness, and treatment options.

John Zalcberg, PhD, medical oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia, discusses a randomized phase II study of regorafenib in refractory advanced oesophago-gastric cancer (AOGC).

Updated findings from the KEYNOTE-012 trial have demonstrated promising antitumor activity with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.

According to findings from a phase II study released by Amgen, monotherapy with blinatumomab (Blincyto) showed promising complete remission (CR) or CR with partial hematological recovery (CRh) rates in adult patients with relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Despite their promise, checkpoint inhibitors are not effective in every patient, and research suggests the STING (stimulator of interferon genes) pathway may hold important clues as to why some tumors fail to respond.

While not appropriate for all patients with ER-positive breast cancer, neoadjuvant endocrine therapy could play an important role in select groups of women with comorbidities or those with ER-rich/luminal A disease.

Growth in healthcare spending in the United States continues to outpace growth in European countries that enjoy a similar standard of living.

A panel of expert clinical investigators discussed details of several treatments and a dozen patient cases involving gastric, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer at a satellite meeting of the 2015 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium.

Representatives Diana DeGette (D, Colorado) and Fred Upton (R, Michigan) recently released a "discussion draft" of the 21st Century Cures Act.

In many cases, prostate cancer grows slowly and causes few symptoms; thus, many men remain unaware that they have the disease.

Metastatic disease accounts for the vast majority of cancer-related deaths. Ensuring a definitive diagnosis and the most effective treatment in a timely fashion is essential for extending life expectancy.

Lanreotide (Somatuline Depot) improved progression-free survival and resulted in more disease control compared with an observation strategy among patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs).