Viral Hepatitis in Western Patients with Advanced Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: Retrospective Assessment of Prevalence, Prognostic and Predictive Significance.

Despite a biologically established causative role of viral hepatitis (VH), i.e. HBV and HCV infections, on intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), only few large Western cohorts exploring the association between VH and ICC development are available.

Clinical insights and prognostic factors from an advanced biliary tract cancer case series: a real-world analysis.

Advanced biliary tract cancer (aBTC) comprises a heterogeneous group of rare malignancies with dismal prognosis. Given the scarcity of prospective evidence, the aim of this study was to derive clinically useful insights and prognostic factors from a large, real-world series of aBTC. Clinicopathologic variables and treatment outcomes were retrospectively collected involving 940 patients diagnosed with aBTC between 2001 and 2017, and treated with first-line chemotherapy (CT1) at 14 Italian medical oncology institutions.

Selecting patients for gastrectomy in metastatic esophago-gastric cancer: clinics and pathology are not enough.

Aim: To evaluate the impact on overall survival (OS) of gastrectomy in asymptomatic metastatic esophago-gastric cancer.

Patients & Methods: Five hundred and thirteen patients were included. The role of surgery and other clinico-pathological factors was evaluated by univariate and Cox regression analyses.

Capecitabine with/without mitomycin C: results of a randomized phase II trial of second-line therapy in advanced biliary tract adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: Advanced biliary tract adenocarcinoma (BTA) is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis. Since no standard salvage chemotherapy regimen exists, we explored the activity of capecitabine alone or combined with mitomycin C.

Methods: Patients aged 18-75 years and with KPS >50, with pathological diagnosis of BTA stratified based on site and stage of disease, were randomized to receive capecitabine 2000 mg/m(2) day 1-14 alone (ARM A) or in combination with mitomycin C 6 mg/m(2) day 1 (ARM B) as second-line therapy.

Maintenance Therapy in Colorectal Cancer: Moving the Artillery Down While Keeping an Eye on the Enemy.

The survival improvement in metastatic colorectal cancer, achieved with more intensive chemotherapy regimens, has recently led clinicians to question the optimal duration of therapies and to consider the role of maintenance. Indeed, patients whose disease is controlled after induction chemotherapy may benefit from continuing a less intensive regimen in order to reinforce the results achieved with up-front treatment. In addition, the more favorable toxicity profile of maintenance approaches would ensure a better quality of life.

Timing and extent of response in colorectal cancer: critical review of current data and implication for future trials.

The identification of new surrogate endpoints for advanced colorectal cancer is becoming crucial and, along with drug development, it represents a research field increasingly studied. Although overall survival (OS) remains the strongest trial endpoint available, it requires larger sample size and longer periods of time for an event to happen. Surrogate endpoints such as progression free survival (PFS) or response rate (RR) may overcome these issues but, as such, they need to be prospectively validated before replacing the real endpoints; moreover, they often bear many other limitations.

Panitumumab after progression on cetuximab in KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer patients: a single institution experience.

Aims And Background: Few data describe the activity of panitumumab after cetuximab-irinotecan-based regimen failure in patients with KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (WT MCRC).

Methods: The aim of this study is to assess if panitumumab has some activity in this setting.

Results: We retrospectively analyzed 25 patients with KRAS WT MCRC who received panitumumab from July 2009 to January 2013 after progression on cetuximab.

Bevacizumab and first-line chemotherapy for older patients with advanced colorectal cancer: final results of a Community-based Observational Italian Study.

Background: Although the efficacy and safety of combining first-line chemotherapy with bevacizumab in elderly patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is supported by the results of a phase III trial, real-practice data are limited.

Patients And Methods: Our multi-center, community-based observational study included 233 elderly patients with CRC (median age=73 years, range=70-84 years). Baseline comorbidities and geriatric evaluation were also analyzed.

MGMT promoter methylation status in brain metastases from colorectal cancer and corresponding primary tumors.

Background: Brain metastases (BM) from colorectal cancer are usually associated with poor prognosis. The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate MGMT promoter methylation in BM and their corresponding primary colorectal cancer tumors.

Materials & Methods: MGMT promoter methylation status was assessed by pyrosequencing in 53 consecutive patients resected for BM.

Angiogenic inhibitors in gastric cancers and gastroesophageal junction carcinomas: A critical insight.

Advanced gastric cancer ranks second as the global leading cause of cancer-related death and improvements in systemic chemotherapy have reached a plateau. Advanced molecular sequencing techniques help identifying patients more likely to respond to targeted agents; nevertheless we are still far from major breakthroughs. Although antiangiogenic drugs have produced notable advances, redundant pathways or mechanisms of resistance may limit their efficacy.

Prognostic role of KRAS, NRAS, BRAF and PIK3CA mutations in advanced colorectal cancer.

Aim: To explore the prognostic value of extended mutational profiling for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Materials & Methods: We retrospectively reviewed survival results of 194 mCRC patients that were assigned to four molecular subgroups: BRAF mutated; KRAS mutated codons 12-13 only; any of KRAS codons 61-146, PIK3CA or NRAS mutations and all wild-type. Point mutations were investigated by pyrosequencing.

Basal and bevacizumab-based therapy-induced changes of lactate dehydrogenases and fibrinogen levels and clinical outcome of previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer patients: a multicentric retrospective analysis.

Background: To assess the predictive role of lactate dehydrogenases (LDH) and fibrinogen (FBG) serum levels in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients receiving a first-line bevacizumab-based therapy.

Objectives: The aim of the present analysis was to retrospectively evaluate the role of basal and post-treatment LDH and FBG serum levels in predicting the clinical outcome of 139 mCRC patients receiving first-line chemotherapy in combination with bevacizumab.

Results: A statistically significant association between high pre-treatment LDH and FBG levels and progressive disease was observed with respect to low basal LDH and FBG patients.

Risk of unplanned visits for colorectal cancer outpatients receiving chemotherapy: a case-crossover study.

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of chemotherapy on the risk of unplanned visit in a cohort of colorectal cancer outpatients. Chief complaints for unplanned visits and risk factors for hospital admission were also analyzed.

Patients And Methods: Clinical data of 229 consecutive colorectal cancer patients who were unexpectedly presented to our acute oncology clinic between 2006 and 2009 were reviewed.

Multivariate prognostic factors analysis for second-line chemotherapy in advanced biliary tract cancer.

Background: The role of second-line chemotherapy (CT) is not established in advanced biliary tract cancer (aBTC). We investigated the outcome of aBTC patients treated with second-line CT and devised a prognostic model.

Methods: Baseline clinical and laboratory data of 300 consecutive aBTC patients were collected and association with overall survival (OS) was investigated by multivariable Cox models.

Oxaliplapin and capecitabine (XELOX) based chemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: the right choice in elderly patients.

Purpose: Elderly patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) differ from the general population and are underrepresented in clinical trials. We, retrospectively, analyzed the safety and efficacy of XELOX regimen in the treatment of elderly patients affected by mCRC.

Patients And Methods: One-hundred-eleven consecutive patients, aged 70 years or older, were enrolled in the study.

From trial highlights to clinical context: putting American Society of Clinical Oncology gastrointestinal news into practice.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium is a world class, international conference focused on research and multidisciplinary management of digestive tract malignancies, co-sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the American Gastroenterological Association Institute and the Society of Surgical Oncology. This premium meeting was held from 24 to 26 January 2013 in San Francisco (CA, USA) and, in line with its principal mission, it sought to globally embrace prevention, screening, diagnostics, translational research and multimodal treatment, moving on three major anatomic tracks (upper gastrointestinal cancers, pancreatic/hepatobiliary tumors and colorectal malignancies). Over 2000 healthcare professionals gathered at this valuable 3day scientific event, which included plenary educational sessions and oral presentations of the top-rated abstracts, as well as the exposition of nearly 600 posters.

Unplanned presentations of cancer outpatients: a retrospective cohort study.

Purpose: As a result of the growing cancer incidence and the increasing trend towards chemotherapy treatment, a higher number of cancer outpatients ask for unplanned visits. This study aimed to describe the nature and magnitude of this phenomenon and to identify risk factors for repeated unplanned presentations and hospital admission.

Methods: Unplanned consultations (2,811) of 1,431 cancer patients who accessed our acute oncology clinic over a 2-year period were reviewed.