Successful treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma with combination chemotherapy regimens.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Current 5-year survival is less than 4%, highlighting the dire need for effective treatment. We report the case of a 41-year-old woman who was diagnosed with advanced metastatic well-to-moderately differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, involving the liver and peritoneal cavity.

A validation study of a new prognostic index for patients with brain metastases: the Graded Prognostic Assessment.

Object: The purpose of this study was to validate a new prognostic index for patients with brain metastases. This index, the Graded Prognostic Assessment (GPA), is based on an analysis of 1960 patients whose data were extracted from the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) database. The GPA is based on 4 criteria: age, Karnofsky Performance Scale score, number of brain metastases, and the presence/absence of extracranial metastases.