Drug safety evaluation of vemurafenib in the treatment of melanoma.

Introduction: Nearly 50% of melanomas harbor a BRAF mutation, and vemurafenib has shown a clinical response rate of approximately 50% and a median progression-free survival duration of ∼ 6 - 7 months in patients with V600 BRAF-mutant advanced melanoma. Based on a Phase III study demonstrating a survival advantage over dacarbazine, vemurafenib was approved by the regulatory agencies for the treatment of V600 BRAF-mutant advanced melanoma in 2011. Although vemurafenib does not induce life-threatening toxicity frequently associated with conventional chemotherapy.

Catheter-directed thrombolysis with argatroban and tPA for massive iliac and femoropopliteal vein thrombosis.

Purpose: Catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) is a highly effective approach in the treatment of deep venous thrombosis (DVT). There are no data on the primary use of CDT with argatroban and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in patients without heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combined administration of argatroban and tPA during CDT for massive DVT in patients without HIT.