[Erlotinib plus Gemcitabine in metastatic pancreatic cancer: Results from a non-interventional trial].

Metastatic pancreatic cancer has the worst prognosis of all cancers. With nab-Paclitaxel/gemcitabine, FOLFIRINOX, and gemcitabine/erlotinib, several treatment options are available which improve the patient's overall survival. Especially for patients who develop rash under erlotinib treatment can benefit from gemcitabine/erlotinib combination therapy.

AVAiLABLE NIS - AVASTIN® in lung cancer treatment in routine oncology practice in Germany.

Background: Bevacizumab (Avastin®), a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody, in combination with platinum-doublet chemotherapy has become a routine treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The post-authorization, non-interventional study 'AVAiLABLE' assessed the effectiveness and safety of bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment.

Methods: Nine hundred and eighty-seven adult patients (mean age 61.

Impact of performance status and transfusion dependency on outcome of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome, acute myeloid leukemia and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia treated with azacitidine (PIAZA study).

Objective: Azacitidine (Vidaza ) is the standard treatment for patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) not eligible for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. In the noninterventional study PIAZA, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of azacitidine treatment in 149 patients with higher-risk MDS, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in routine clinical practice.

Method: Patients were treated according to physician's discretion.

AIO LQ-0110: a randomized phase II trial comparing oral doxycycline versus local administration of erythromycin as preemptive treatment strategies of panitumumab-mediated skin toxicity in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Background: Dermatologic toxicities, especially akne-like skin rash, are the most common side-effects associated with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy. Preemptive treatment with oral tetracyclines is recommended as a standard. Topical prophylactic options have thus far not been compared to tetracyclines.

Treatment, outcome and quality of life of 1239 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer - final results from the prospective German TLK cohort study.

Objectives: Real-life data on advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are centrally important to complement the results from clinical trials and to improve the standard of care. We present data on the choice of systemic first- and second-line treatment, number of treatment lines, survival and longitudinal data on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients treated by medical oncologists in Germany.

Materials And Methods: 1239 patients with advanced NSCLC were recruited at start of first-line therapy into the prospective German clinical cohort study TLK (Tumour Registry Lung Cancer) by 107 sites between February 2010 and December 2013 and followed-up until January 2016.

A phase III, open label, randomized multicenter controlled trial of oral versus intravenous treosulfan in heavily pretreated recurrent ovarian cancer: a study of the North-Eastern German Society of Gynecological Oncology (NOGGO).

Objective: In recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC), there is a high demand on effective therapies with a mild toxicity profile. Treosulfan is an alkylating agent approved as oral (p.o.

Bendamustin-Rituximab Combination Is a Safe and Effective, Ambulatory Treatment for Elderly Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Retrospective Real-world Analysis by Age from a German Registry and Review of the Literature.

Background: Treatment recommendations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are based upon selected, otherwise healthy study populations mostly under 72 years of age. The Project group Internistic Oncology (PIO) embarked on an analysis of the 'real-world' safety and efficacy of bendamustine with and without rituximab in unselected outpatients.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter, open-label, prospectively stratified, retrospective study was conducted to determine routine feasibility, toxicity, and response rates obtained by bendamustine with and without rituximab in a random population of mostly elderly patients with CLL.

Hemoglobin levels and quality of life in patients with symptomatic chemotherapy-induced anemia: the eAQUA study.

Purpose: To assess hemoglobin (Hb) outcomes and fatigue-related quality-of-life (QoL) (electronic assessment) in patients with solid tumors and symptomatic chemotherapy-induced anemia receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy and darbepoetin alfa (DA) or another erythropoiesis-stimulating agent according to European indication.

Methods: eAQUA was a Phase IV prospective observational study. The primary outcome (assessed in the primary analysis set [PAS]: patients receiving one or more DA dose who had baseline and week 9 assessments for Hb and QoL) was the proportion of patients receiving DA having both Hb increases ≥1 g/dL and improved QoL between baseline and week 9.

Adjuvant therapy reduces the benefit of palliative treatment in disseminated breast cancer - own findings and review of the literature.

Background: Adjuvant treatment concepts have improved the 10-year cure rate of breast and colon cancer, but new treatments for metastatic disease have yielded only incremental benefit. If treatments for disseminated cancer were actually prolonging life rather than only increasing remission rates, this effect should have been documented over the last 30+ years. However, published data concerning advances in treatment for disseminated cancer have been contradictory.

Re-evaluation of laboratory predictors of response to current anemia treatment regimens of erythropoiesis stimulating agents in cancer patients.

Background: Anemia is a major cause of morbidity in cancer. Erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESA) are a mainstay of treatment, although some patients lack response for unknown reasons. Recently, ESA dosing recommendations have changed and iron is increasingly used as an adjunct.

A new concept for the differential diagnosis and therapy of anaemia in cancer patients.

Purpose: This study aimed to prove the usefulness of the diagnostic plot, using the haemoglobin content of reticulocytes as a measure of functional iron deficiency (FID) and the ferritin index as a measure of iron availability, to customise anaemia treatment in cancer patients.

Methods: Based on results of this plot, cancer patients fulfilling practice guideline criteria to receive erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) were allocated to treatment with ESAs alone, iron alone or the combination of both. Primary endpoint was the percentage of patients identified to require iron in addition or as an alternative to ESA therapy.

Detection of JAK2 exon 12 mutations in 15 patients with JAK2V617F negative polycythemia vera.

To further characterize JAK2 exon 12 mutations, we performed molecular screening in 409 patients with polycythemia vera or unclear erythrocytosis with unmutated JAK2V617. The frequency of JAK2exon12 mutations was 10/63 (15.9%) in PV but only 5/346 (1.