Targeted Therapies for Targeted Populations: Anti-EGFR Treatment for -Amplified Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma.

Previous anti-EGFR trials in unselected patients with gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA) were resoundingly negative. We identified amplification in 5% (19/363) of patients at the University of Chicago, including 6% (8/140) who were prospectively screened with intention-to-treat using anti-EGFR therapy. Seven patients received ≥1 dose of treatment: three first-line FOLFOX plus ABT-806, one second-line FOLFIRI plus cetuximab, and three third/fourth-line cetuximab alone.

The Many Faces of Medication-Related Injury in the Gastrointestinal Tract.

Every year many new medications are approved for clinical use, several of which can cause clinically significant gastrointestinal tract toxicity. This article emphasizes the histologic features and differential diagnosis of drug-induced injury to the gastrointestinal mucosa. Ultimately, clinical correlation and cessation of a drug with resolution of symptoms are needed to definitively confirm a drug as a causative factor in mucosal injury.

Interobserver variability in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm subtypes and application of their mucin immunoprofiles.

Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm is considered a precursor lesion to pancreatic adenocarcinoma. These are further classified into four histologic subtypes: gastric, intestinal, pancreatobiliary, and oncocytic. The first aim of this study was to assess the interobserver variability among five gastrointestinal pathologists in diagnosing intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm subtypes by morphology alone.