Compassionate use of sorafenib in FLT3-ITD-positive acute myeloid leukemia: sustained regression before and after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations in the Fms-like tyrosine-3 (FLT3) gene have a dismal prognosis. Here we report compassionate-use results with the multikinase and FLT3-ITD inhibitor sorafenib for the treatment of relapsed or refractory FLT3-ITD-positive AML. Sorafenib induced clinically meaningful and very rapid responses in all 6 patients treated either before (n = 2), after (n = 3), or both before and after (n = 1) allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT).

[Quality management in oncology].

Quality management (QM) is the intention to achieve an achievable quality of care. QM means collecting, comparing and analysing data, a prerequisite for quality to be translated into quantifiable outcome indicators. In the field of oncology with chronic courses of the disease, longterm results are hard to obtain due to the open channels of cancer care.

[Quality of life as a catch phrase and promoter in the pharmaceutical industry].

Quality of life (QL) is an expression of the degree to which a tumor patient is satisfied and copes with his life and the therapy which is being administered. QL is influenced by physical, psychological and social factors as well as by time. During the individual course of a malignant disease and its therapy, changes in QL need to be assessed with the appropriate "measuring instruments".