Treatment Options

Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy Shows Promise for Glioblastomas Bookmark

Excerpt from Cancer Network:

“Magnetic resonance imaging-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) appears to be safe and effective for glioblastomas in select patients and may add an average of 2 months to life expectancy compared with the current standard of care, according to a new report published in the journal Neurosurgery.

” ‘We showed that the procedure is well tolerated and that recurrent patients had a meaningful clinical benefit that seems to be better when compared with previously published data on the current standard of care,’ said Eric Leuthardt, MD, senior study author and a professor of neurosurgery, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and mechanical engineering & applied science at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.”

Go to full article published by Cancer Network on Sep 7, 2018.

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Studies Confirm Osimertinib Activity in Brain Mets Bookmark

Excerpt from MedPage Today:

“The resistance mutation-targeting EGFR inhibitor osimertinib (Tagrisso) demonstrated superior activity against central nervous system (CNS) metastases as compared with chemotherapy or nonselective EGFR inhibitors, two randomized trials of patients with lung cancer showed.

“In a comparison involving patients with untreated EGFR-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the median CNS progression-free survival (PFS) was not reached in patients who received osimertinib or a first-generation EGFR inhibitor. However, the available data favored the osimertinib arm (95% CI 16.5 months to not reached versus 13.9 months to not reached, HR 0.48, 95% CI 0.26-0.86, P=0.014). Osimertinib also led to a higher response rate.”

Go to full article published by MedPage Today on Aug 31, 2018.

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FDA Approves Nivolumab for Certain Patients With Previously Treated Small Cell Lung Cancer Bookmark

Excerpt from The ASCO Post:

“Today, nivolumab (Opdivo) received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) whose cancer has progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy and at least one other line of therapy. Approval for this indication has been granted under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response.

“This approval for nivolumab had been granted Priority Review from the FDA. It was based on data from the SCLC cohort of the ongoing phase I/II CheckMate-032 study evaluating nivolumab monotherapy in patients who experienced disease progression after platinum-based chemotherapy.”

Go to full article published by The ASCO Post on Aug 17, 2018.

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FDA Approves Pembrolizumab in Combination With Chemotherapy for First-Line Treatment of Metastatic Nonsquamous NSCLC Bookmark

Excerpt from The ASCO Post:

“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta) and platinum as first-line treatment of patients with metastatic, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations.

“Pembrolizumab was previously granted accelerated approval for this indication in May 2017 based on improvements in overall response rate and progression-free survival for patients randomized to pembrolizumab administered with pemetrexed and carboplatin as compared with pemetrexed and carboplatin alone in the KEYNOTE-021 study.”

Go to full article published by The ASCO Post on Aug 20, 2018.

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Small Benefit Seen in Adding Radiation to DCIS Plan for Breast Cancer Bookmark

Excerpt from AJMC:

“Patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are often treated with radiation after lumpectomy, although it has remained unclear whether this can reduce the risk of dying from this noninvasive form of breast cancer. A new study published Friday said that the combination of the 2 treatments was associated with a small benefit in reduced risk of breast cancer death compared with lumpectomy or mastectomy alone.”

Go to full article published by AJMC on Aug 10, 2018.

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FDA Grants Priority Review to Keytruda Plus Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer Subtype Bookmark

Excerpt from Healio:

“The FDA granted priority review designation to a supplemental biologics license application that seeks approval of pembrolizumab for use in combination with chemotherapy as first-line treatment of metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer regardless of PD-L1 expression.

“The agency set a target action date of Oct. 30.”

Go to full article published by Healio on July 2, 2018.

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Deadly Subtype Makes Up 17% of Metastatic Prostate Cancers Bookmark

Excerpt from Healio:

“Treatment-emergent small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer, a particularly deadly subtype of the disease, occurs in nearly one-fifth of all cases of metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer, study data showed.

“Researchers suggested that the subtype should be treated with novel targeted therapies that are currently in the development or testing phase.”

Go to full article published by Healio on July 9, 2018.

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High Marks for HIFU in Early Prostate Cancer Bookmark

Excerpt from MedPage Today:

“Men with newly diagnosed, nonmetastatic prostate cancer had a 5-year failure-free survival (FFS) of 88% when treated with focal high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy, results of a multicenter European clinical experience showed.

“The 625-patient cohort had a 5-year overall survival of 99%, and none of the patients died of prostate cancer during a median follow-up of 56 months. In a subgroup of men who submitted questionnaires on patient-reported outcomes, 98% said they did not require absorbent pads for urinary incontinence.”

Go to full article published by MedPage Today on July 10, 2018.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.