Jun 22nd, 2022 - In patients with solid tumors, the simple process of counting the number of metastatic lymph nodes (LN) offers the best predictor of mortality, a new analysis shows. It turned out to be better than more complicated processes involved in staging the lymph nodes, which involves examining the size of each node, its location, and how far the cancer has spread beyond the lymph node. These factors ar...

Jun 16th, 2022 - Among patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), neoadjuvant nivolumab combined with chemotherapy led to significantly longer event-free survivaland more frequent pathological complete response in patients than chemotherapy alone. “Our data show that three cycles of neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy improved long-term clinical outcomes in patients with resectable stage I...

Jun 15th, 2022 - After 30 minutes of surgery, a woman in Armenia can knit without pain for the first time in over 40 years, thanks to teamwork by a group of specialists who removed a rare glomus tumor from under her fingernail, according to a new case study. Dr Mikhail Dziadzko "The cause of a patient's pain isn't always obvious. In a puzzling case such as this one involving a glomus tumor, which is rare, a mul...

Jun 14th, 2022 - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. In 2020, > 1.9 million cases of CRC were diagnosed, and there were 0.9 million deaths owing to CRC. Its incidence is highest in highly developed countries but is increasing in middle- and low-income countries owing to westernization. Additionally, early-onset CRC is becoming i...

Jun 14th, 2022 - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. In 2020, > 1.9 million cases of CRC were diagnosed, and there were 0.9 million deaths owing to CRC. Its incidence is highest in highly developed countries but is increasing in middle- and low-income countries owing to westernization. Additionally, early-onset CRC is becoming i...

Jun 13th, 2022 - Editor's Note: The Case Challenge series includes difficult-to-diagnose conditions, some of which are not frequently encountered by most clinicians but are nonetheless important to accurately recognize. Test your diagnostic and treatment skills using the following patient scenario and corresponding questions. If you have a case that you would like to suggest for a future Case Challenge, please ...

Jun 10th, 2022 - Results of the largest study of screening colonoscopies in average-risk adults younger than age 50 provide strong support for lowering the screening age to 45 years, by showing a "substantial" prevalence of advanced neoplasia in this age group. "We found that 5% of average-risk persons aged 45-49 years had advanced neoplasia and 28% had adenoma, which supports lowering the screening age to 45 y...

Jun 10th, 2022 - This transcript has been edited for clarity. John L. Marshall, MD: Welcome to Medscape Oncology Insights. I'm Dr John Marshall, director of the Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. Joining me is not only a very good friend, but also an amazing person in the world of GI cancer on so many levels — not only the dat...

Jun 10th, 2022 - The way we treat prostate cancer has changed dramatically in recent years. Advances in MRI imaging have undoubtedly contributed to this change, both in terms of diagnosis — by making targeted biopsies possible — and in terms of our approach to treatment. The emergence of new treatments (next-generation hormone therapy, radionuclide therapy, etc) has also improved the prognosis of patients with ...

Jun 9th, 2022 - Aerobic exercise slows pancreatic cancer growth in animal models and prolongs survival in both animals and patients with pancreatic cancer, say researchers. "Our findings show, for the first time, how aerobic exercise affects the immune microenvironment within pancreatic tumors," noted lead author Emma Kurz, MD, PhD, from at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York. "The work helped to rev...

Jun 9th, 2022 - Despite significant improvements in overall survival for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) over the past few decades, the advances have been incremental, with few large gains, according to a new systematic review. Researchers created two databases to compare statistical results from phase 3 trials of systemic mCRC therapies published between 1986 and 2016 with clinical outcomes ...

Jun 9th, 2022 - As of May 27, the global number of cases of infection with the monkeypox virus had risen to 401, 21 of which were in Germany. No deaths have been reported to date in Europe, North America, Canada, or Australia, but there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the subject. At a press briefing by the Science Center Germany, experts provided an overview of the available knowledge and ventured a predict...

Jun 8th, 2022 - French investigators are warning about using acetaminophen in patients with cancer who are taking immune checkpoint blockers. The team found a strong association between the use of acetaminophen and a decreased response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in a study of three clinical cohorts involving more than 600 patients with advanced cancer. Patients who took acetaminophen at the start of immun...

Jun 7th, 2022 - Biopsy of a colorectal cancer (CRC) is highly unlikely to "seed" another cancer when performed on nontumor sites during the same colonoscopy, according to a large retrospective study. A recent "proof-of-principle" study demonstrated that it is biologically possible that biopsy of noncancerous mucosa during CRC biopsy could "implant" cancer cells in healthy tissue, which, in time, could cause a ...

Jun 7th, 2022 - Based on biomarker findings, some patients may be able to avoid radiation therapy following breast-conserving surgery, suggest results from the LUMINA trial. The women in this trial who skipped radiotherapy, and were treated with breast-conserving surgery followed by endocrine therapy, had an overall survival rate of 97.2%. The local recurrence rate was 2.3%, which was the study's primary endpo...

Jun 7th, 2022 - A combination of high-dose vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, and a simple at-home training program has been proven to reduce the risk of cancer by 61% in healthy people over age 70 years. These were the findings of an exploratory analysis in the international DO-HEALTH study, which observed more than 2000 elderly people over 3 years. The risk of developing cancer increases as you get older. Aside...

Jun 6th, 2022 - CHICAGO —Targeted therapy achieved significantly higher responses rates and longer progression-free survival (PFS) when compared with standard chemotherapy in pediatric patients with BRAF V600-mutant low-grade gliomas, even those as young as 1 year of age. The findings come from a phase 2 trial in pediatric patients (aged 1-18 years)  which compared oral targeted therapy with dabrafenib (Tafinl...

Jun 5th, 2022 - Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer and tumors with deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) have shown a remarkable response to treatment with the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor dostarlimab (Jemperli). So far, the study has involved only 12 patients, but all of them have had a clinical complete response to treatment. They continue to show no signs of cancer (during follow-up ranging...

Jun 5th, 2022 - A suspicion from retrospective data has now been confirmed by a prospective clinical trial: adding panitumumab (Vectibix) to standard chemotherapy in left-sided RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is more effective than adding bevacizumab (Avastin). Patients treated with panitumumab alongside chemotherapy saw a 16% improvement in overall survival versus those given bevacizumab aft...

Jun 4th, 2022 - A "liquid biopsy" that detects circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after surgery for stage 2 colon cancer helps identify patients who are most likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, and also identifies those who are unlikely to benefit allowing them to skip that treatment. The results are from the phase 2 DYNAMIC trial. "The strategy of using ctDNA results to inform treatment almost halved the...