Randomized, placebo-controlled, phase III study of oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin with or without PTK787/ZK 222584 in patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: Treatment options for patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) are limited, and treatments with differing mechanisms of action are needed. PTK787/ZK 222584 (PTK/ZK) is a novel oral angiogenesis inhibitor with therapeutic potential for the treatment of solid tumors.

Methods: Patients (N = 855) were randomly assigned to treatment with PTK/ZK or placebo once daily in combination with oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin (FOLFOX4).

Phase II clinical trial results involving treatment with low-dose daily oral cyclophosphamide, weekly vinblastine, and rofecoxib in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Purpose: Preclinical studies indicate that conventional chemotherapeutic agents given continuously at low doses (metronomic chemotherapy) may provide an improved therapeutic index. Cyclophosphamide and vinblastine have been best studied in experimental models, where tumor growth inhibition is achieved, at least in part, through antiangiogenic mechanisms.

Experimental Design: Fifty patients with advanced solid tumors were enrolled in this phase II trial, 43 of whom had received at least one prior chemotherapy regimen.

Mining time-dependent patient outcomes from hospital patient records.

We describe REMIND, a data mining framework that accurately infers missing clinical information by reasoning over the entire patient record. Hospitals collect computerized patient records (CPR's) in structured (database tables) and unstructured (free text) formats. Structured clinical data in the CPR's is often poorly recorded, and information may be missing about key outcomes and processes.