Leah Lawrence

Assigning patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) to undergo surgical resection of residual tumor after disease control with maintenance imatinib was beneficial to patient survival, according to the results of a retrospective study presented at the ASCO 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

The use of imatinib mesylate preoperatively for a maximum of 12 months resulted in a high rate of complete microscopic resection in a group of patients with marginally resectable gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), according to the results of a phase II trial.

The anti–cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) antibody tremelimumab failed to achieve a significant improvement in survival among patients with metastatic melanoma compared with the standard of care treatments used in the comparator arm, according to the results of a phase III study.

The mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) has been found to significantly reduce the size of angiomyolipomas, the slow-growing benign tumors commonly associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) and sporadic lymphangioleiomyomatosis, according to the results of the phase III EXIST-2 study.

No improvement in overall survival was seen in patients with metastatic melanoma who were assigned treatment with sorafenib in combination with carboplatin/paclitaxel for the treatment of their disease, according to the results of a double-blind, phase III study.

A new technique of robotic partial nephrectomy has the potential for better preservation of kidney function and better cancer control during partial nephrectomy by allowing surgeons more time to perform the procedure compared with traditional open surgery, according to the results of a recently published case series.

Initiating discussions about end-of-life care with patients with incurable cancers early in their disease was associated with a decrease in late-stage aggressive cancer treatments such as chemotherapy or acute care, and with an increase in the use of hospice care at the end of life.

Screening patients with renal masses with iodine-124-girentuximab had both a high specificity and sensitivity for identifying clear cell renal cell carcinoma, according to the results of a newly published open-label multicenter study.

A phase II study indicates that cabozantinib has strong antitumor activity in advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer and improves bone scan lesions.

Giving patients at the end of life regular parenteral hydration of 1 L of saline per day did not improve symptoms associated with hydration, quality of life, or survival, according to a randomized, placebo controlled study.

In mid-October, Pfizer announced that its phase III study being conducted examining axitinib (Inlyta) in treatment-naive patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma failed to meet its primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival compared with sorafenib.

The addition of adjuvant chemotherapy using doxorubicin, ifosfamide, and cisplatin, to pelvic radiation therapy for the treatment of uterine sarcomas increased 3-year disease-free survival in a group of women with localized disease, but also resulted in two toxic deaths among the study group.

Decreasing the time between cycles of standard chemotherapy for Ewing’s sarcoma from 3 weeks to 2 weeks increased event-free survival without an associated increase in toxicity, according to the results of a Children’s Oncology Group report.

Although the number of metastatic cancer patients receiving radiation in the last year of life did not significantly change from 2000 to 2007, a new study has found a shift in radiation use from the simplest radiation treatments to more advanced treatment.

Black patients diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma had worse survival than white patients regardless of several patient and tumor characteristics including tumor stage and size, according to data from 39,350 patients in the National Cancer Institute’s SEER program.

A new study in the United Kingdom has found an increasing trend in opioid prescribing by general practitioners for cancer pain during a patient’s last 3 months of life. However, data also revealed that older patients had a significantly lower chance of receiving opioids to address cancer pain compared with patients aged 50 years or younger.

A phase I study of the use of stereotactic radiosurgery as a therapeutic option for patients with localized, inoperable primary renal cancer showed that the treatment modality effectively stabilized or decreased disease in a large percentage of patients.

Despite its place in standard practice, the performance of pulmonary metastasectomy in patients with sarcoma and lung metastases may not improve the survival rate of these patients, according to information from a systematic review of studies investigating the procedure in this patient population.

Adolescents and young adults want to be more involved in specific aspects of their end-of-life care and found a planning document to aid in those decisions helpful, according to the results of a recently published study.

Treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with regorafenib after prior treatment failure with both imatinib and sunitinib resulted in a PFS survival benefit for patients across all prespecified subgroups.

When facing decisions involving children with cancer at the end of life, three themes drove parental decision making--communication, extending time, and understanding prognosis, according to a recent meta-analysis.

Treating resected grade II-III soft-tissue sarcoma with an adjuvant chemotherapy regimen of doxorubicin, ifosfamide, and lenograstim did not result in any increase in relapse-free survival or overall survival.

Patients with node-negative melanoma undergoing sentinel lymph node excision who were given preoperative imaging with SPECT/CT experienced a higher frequency of metastatic involvement and a longer disease-free survival compared to those without preoperative SPECT/CT.

A new epigenetic hallmark of melanoma has been identified, which has a critical function in disease development, and may serve as a potential target for reversing melanoma progression.