Interval Metastases After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Patients with Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer: A Multicenter Observational Cohort Study.

Background: Despite trimodality treatment, 10% to 20% of patients with esophageal cancer experience interval metastases after surgery. Restaging may identify patients who should not proceed to surgery, as well as a subgroup with limited metastases for whom long-term disease-control can be obtained. This study aimed to determine the proportion of patients with interval metastases after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and to evaluate treatment and survival.

A multigene RT-PCR assay used to predict recurrence in early breast cancer: two presentations with contradictory results.

During the 2003 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium two studies were presented that were designed to validate a recurrence score, derived from a 21-gene RT-PCR assay, in patients with axillary node-negative breast cancer. This recurrence score was highly predictive for the risk of recurrence in 668 patients treated in a large multicenter trial with adjuvant tamoxifen. However, no prognostic value was found in a small group of patients who were retrospectively selected in a single institution and who did not receive any adjuvant systemic therapy.