Efficacy of ramucirumab combination chemotherapy as second-line treatment in patients with advanced adenocarcinoma of the stomach or gastroesophageal junction after exposure to checkpoint inhibitors and chemotherapy as first-line therapy.

FOLFOX plus nivolumab represents a standard of care for first-line therapy of advanced gastroesophageal cancer (aGEC) with positive PD-L1 expression. The efficacy of second-line VEGFR-2 inhibition with ramucirumab (RAM) plus chemotherapy after progression to immunochemotherapy remains unclear. Medical records of patients with aGEC enrolled in the randomized phase II AIO-STO-0417 trial after treatment failure to first-line FOLFOX plus nivolumab and ipilimumab were retrospectively analyzed.

Difficulties of Cancer Patients' Relatives in End-of-Life Discussions: Validation of a Questionnaire.

Context: Despite the potential benefits and the desire for end-of-life communication, it rarely occurs in the familial context. Relatives play a significant role in the communication process; thus, it is crucial to understand the difficulties that they face.

Objectives: To develop and evaluate the relatives' version of the Difficulties in End-of-Life Discussions - Family Inventory (DEOLD-FI-r) regarding its factor structure, reliability and validity.

Ramucirumab plus irinotecan / leucovorin / 5-FU versus ramucirumab plus paclitaxel in patients with advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the stomach or gastroesophageal junction, who failed one prior line of palliative chemotherapy: the phase II/III RAMIRIS study (AIO-STO-0415).

Background: Paclitaxel in combination with ramucirumab is the standard of care second-line therapy in gastro-esophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA). As the number of taxane pretreated patients in the perioperative or first-line setting is increasing, it is unknown whether these patients benefit from re-applying a taxane in using the combination of paclitaxel and ramucirumab. Furthermore, the rates of neurotoxicity with first-line FOLFOX or FLOT range from 30%-70%, making second-line taxane-containing therapy less suitable to a meaningful portion of patients.

Awareness and use of psychosocial care among cancer patients and their relatives-a comparison of people with and without a migration background in Germany.

Purpose: We examined how migration background is associated with awareness and usage of psycho-oncology services.

Methods: Oncologists in community-based practices and outpatient clinics asked their patients and their relatives to complete a questionnaire. Migrants were purposely over-sampled.

The Difficulties in End-of-Life Discussions - Family Inventory (DEOLD-FI): Development and Initial Validation of a Self-Report Questionnaire in a Sample of Terminal Cancer Patients.

Context: Open end-of-life communication is especially important within the patient-family unit of care and can positively affect their medical, psychological, and relational outcomes. Nevertheless, end-of-life discussions are often perceived as difficult and avoided.

Objectives: To develop and validate the Difficulties in End-of-Life Discussions - Family Inventory (DEOLD-FI) to allow a systematic assessment of reasons why people shy away from end-of-life discussions.