Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
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Hospice services are designed to meet the needs of patients near the end of life. Although so-called open-access hospice programs and bridge programs are beginning to offer these services to patients who are still receiving treatment, it is not known whether they best meet patients' needs. ⋯ Patients who are receiving active treatment for cancer, and even those who are willing to stop treatment, express a clear preference for alternative supportive care services over traditional hospice services. Supportive care programs for patients with advanced cancer should reconsider the services that they offer and might seek to include novel services in addition to, or perhaps instead of, traditional hospice services.
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The prognostic role of extent of resection (EOR) of low-grade gliomas (LGGs) is a major controversy. We designed a retrospective study to assess the influence of EOR on long-term outcomes of LGGs. ⋯ Improved outcome among adult patients with hemispheric LGG is predicted by greater EOR.
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In the area of anticancer drugs, the legitimate search for effective interventions can be jeopardized by the strong pressure for accelerated approval, which may hinder the full assessment of their benefit-risk profile. We aimed to produce drug-specific recommendations using an explicit approach that separates the judgments on quality of evidence from the judgment about strength of recommendations. ⋯ Because the GRADE system sets out an explicit process going from evaluation of the quality of evidence and benefit-risk profile to the judgment of the strength of recommendations, in this experience, it proved very useful to combine methodologic rigor with the interdisciplinary participation that is important in the definition of evidence based clinical policies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Effect of anastrozole on bone mineral density: 5-year results from the anastrozole, tamoxifen, alone or in combination trial 18233230.
The Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination (ATAC) trial (median follow-up, 68 months) has shown that adjuvant anastrozole has superior efficacy and better tolerability than tamoxifen. However, anastrozole reduces circulating estrogen, and low estradiol levels are associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fracture risk. It is therefore important to understand the effects of long-term aromatase inhibitor therapy on BMD. ⋯ Anastrozole is associated with accelerated bone loss over the 5-year treatment period. However, although patients with pre-existing osteopenia are likely to require monitoring and bone-protection strategies, patients with normal BMD would not appear to require monitoring beyond the recommendation for healthy postmenopausal women. The effect of anastrozole on bone should be weighed against its superior efficacy and better tolerability profile versus tamoxifen in the main ATAC trial.
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Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. Lapatinib, an oral reversible inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human EGFR 2 (HER-2), demonstrated clinical activity in four of five IBC patients in phase I trials. We conducted a phase II trial to confirm the sensitivity of IBC to lapatinib, to determine whether response is HER-2 or EGFR dependent, and to elucidate a molecular signature predictive of lapatinib sensitivity. ⋯ Lapatinib is well tolerated with clinical activity in heavily pretreated HER-2+, but not EGFR+/HER-2-, IBC. In this study, coexpression of pHER-2 and pHER-3 in tumors seems to predict for a favorable response to lapatinib. These findings warrant further investigation of lapatinib monotherapy or combination therapy in HER-2+ IBC.