The search for a melanoma-tailored chemotherapy in the new era of personalized therapy: a phase II study of chemo-modulating temozolomide followed by fotemustine and a cooperative study of GOIM (Gruppo Oncologico Italia Meridionale).

Background: It is frequently asked whether chemotherapy can still play a role in metastatic melanoma considering the effectiveness of the available drugs today, including antiCTLA4/antiPD1 immunotherapy and antiBRAF/antiMEK inhibitors. However, only approximately half of patients respond to these drugs, and the majority progress after 6-11 months. Therefore, a need for other therapeutic options is still very much apparent.

A model of an inflammatory bowel disease population-based registry: The Forlì experience (1993-2013).

Background And Aims: The article presents a population-based registry designed to estimate incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the area of Forlì (north-eastern Italy).

Methods: The registry included all patients with IBD ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) in the Forlì area from 1993 to 2013. A data manager matched records from various sources.

Long-term survival, prevalence, and cure of cancer: a population-based estimation for 818 902 Italian patients and 26 cancer types.

Background: Persons living after a cancer diagnosis represent 4% of the whole population in high-income countries. The aim of the study was to provide estimates of indicators of long-term survival and cure for 26 cancer types, presently lacking.

Patients And Methods: Data on 818 902 Italian cancer patients diagnosed at age 15-74 years in 1985-2005 were included.

Survival after cancer in Italian persons with AIDS, 1986-2005: a population-based estimation.

Background: Cancer survival in persons with AIDS (PWA) after introduction of antiretroviral therapies remains poorly characterized. The aim is to provide population-based estimates of cancer survival, overall and for the most important cancer types in PWA, and a comparison with persons without AIDS (non-PWA) affected by the same cancer.

Methods: PWA with cancer at AIDS diagnosis or thereafter were individually matched with non-PWA by type of cancer, sex, age, year of diagnosis, area of living, and, for lymphomas, histological subtype.

Role of 18FDG PET/CT in patients treated with 177Lu-DOTATATE for advanced differentiated neuroendocrine tumours.

Purpose: The prognostic value of FDG PET for neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) has been reported. In this study we evaluated the role of FDG PET in predicting response and progression-free survival (PFS) after (177)Lu-DOTATATE peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (Lu-PRRT) in patients with advanced well-differentiated grade 1/2 NETs.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 52 patients with progressive advanced NETs overexpressing somatostatin receptors and treated with Lu-PRRT with a cumulative activity up to 27.

Ipilimumab in advanced melanoma: reports of long-lasting responses.

Patients with metastatic melanoma have a poor prognosis; the results of chemotherapy remain unsatisfactory. Ipilimumab, an anticytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 antibody, has shown promising results in several clinical trials. In this report, advanced melanoma patients receiving ipilimumab were scored according to novel immune-related response criteria (irRC) in an attempt to capture additional response patterns and to avoid premature treatment cessation.

Randomized phase III trial of adjuvant epirubicin followed by cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) versus CMF followed by epirubicin in patients with node-negative or 1-3 node-positive rapidly proliferating breast cancer.

Adjuvant cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) have proven highly effective in rapidly proliferating breast cancer (RPBC). It has also been seen that sequential administration of doxorubicin and CMF is superior to their alternation, especially in indolent tumors. In a phase III study, we evaluated whether adjuvant epirubicin (E) followed by CMF is superior to the inverse sequence in RPBC.

Incidence of thyroid cancer in Italy, 1991-2005: time trends and age-period-cohort effects.

Background: In Italy, some of the highest incidence rates (IRs) of thyroid cancer (TC) worldwide have been reported.

Patients And Methods: TC cases <85 years of age reported to Italian cancer registries during 1991-2005 were included. Age-standardized IRs were computed for all TC and age-period-cohort effects were estimated for papillary TC.

Pathogenesis of osteoblastic bone metastases from prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men. A typical feature of this disease is its ability to metastasize to bone. It is mainly osteosclerotic, and is caused by a relative excess of osteoblast activity, leading to an abnormal bone formation.

Reversible, PET-positive, generalized lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly during high-dose interferon-alpha-2b adjuvant therapy for melanoma.

A patient with resected stage III nodular melanoma treated with high-dose interferon-alpha-b2 adjuvant therapy went on to develop generalized lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly. The total body positron emission tomography showed a high F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake (standardized uptake values >9), indicating possible lymph node and spleen malignancies. Histologic examinations of an axillary lymph node biopsy and an osteomedullar biopsy were negative, excluding both melanoma metastases and hematopoietic tumors.