Publications by authors named "H M W van Laarhoven"
Purpose Of The Review: This narrative review aims to provide an overview of recently completed randomized trials and expert consensus recommendations, and their implications for clinical practice and future trial design in patients with de-novo esophagogastric oligometastatic disease (OMD).
Recent Findings: The IKF-575/RENAISSANCE phase III trial showed no significant overall survival difference between systemic therapy alone and systemic therapy combined with local therapy for patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer and de-novo OMD, except for patients with retroperitoneal lymph node metastases only. The ESO-Shanghai 13 phase II trial demonstrated superiority of adding local therapy to systemic therapy for progression-free and overall survival in oligometastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
To explore "the lived experience" of patients with cancer through narratives, in-depth interviews with 20 patients were conducted in the patients' homes-"at the kitchen table." Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) methodology. Thematic Analysis was used to explore themes in the narratives.
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- Many patients with advanced cancer are initially unaware of their limited prognosis, but awareness increases significantly in the last year of life, rising from 15% to 40%.
- The study involved 801 deceased patients who completed follow-up questionnaires, revealing that most changes in prognosis perception occur in the last 6 months of life.
- Understanding their prognosis can encourage patients to engage in end-of-life discussions, emphasizing the need to explore individual preferences for care, even if some prefer not to know their prognosis.
Article Synopsis
- - The study examined survival scenarios for pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) patients over 16 years, highlighting best-case, typical, and worst-case survival estimates based on data from the Netherlands Cancer Registry.
- - Patients with localized PAC showed statistically significant improvements in best-case and typical survival scenarios, with gains averaging 1.54 and 0.24 months annually, respectively, while those with metastatic PAC experienced smaller but significant improvements.
- - Factors like age, aggressive treatments, and fewer comorbidities were linked to better survival outcomes, suggesting that recent advancements in care may offer hopeful prospects for PAC patients, despite small absolute survival gains.
Background: The FLOT4 trial demonstrated superior survival of perioperative chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel (FLOT) compared to anthracycline triplets for resectable gastric cancer. These results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) congress in June 2017 and published in April 2019. However, adoption of novel treatments in clinical practice often encounters delays.
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