Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology
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The following study was conducted to explore patients' information needs and preferences with a special focus on doctor-patient communication. ⋯ This study underlines the need to give patients with breast cancer the full details on treatment options and cancer management. The results provide a suitable basis for a broader interdisciplinary discussion of the patient-physician relationship and should be useful in generating hypotheses for subsequent prospective studies.
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Multicenter Study
Phase II study of cetuximab in combination with FOLFIRI in patients with untreated advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (FOLCETUX study).
The purpose of this phase II study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of cetuximab combined with FOLFIRI as a first-line treatment of advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. ⋯ The combination of cetuximab and FOLFIRI is active in gastric and GEJ adenocarcinoma. The higher toxicity appears to be limited to neutropenia.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Thrombosis-related complications and mortality in cancer patients with central venous devices: an observational study on the effect of antithrombotic prophylaxis.
Recent guidelines do not recommend antithrombotic prophylaxis (AP) to prevent catheter-related thrombosis in cancer patients with a central line. ⋯ Current AP schedules do not appear to prevent catheter-related thrombosis. Systemic VTE and mortality, however, appeared lower after prophylaxis.
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Multicenter Study
Treatment of anthracycline extravasation with Savene (dexrazoxane): results from two prospective clinical multicentre studies.
The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of i.v. dexrazoxane [Savene (EU), Totect (US)] as acute antidote in biopsy-verified anthracycline extravasation. ⋯ Dexrazoxane proved to be an effective and well-tolerated acute treatment with only one out of 54 assessable patients requiring surgical resection (1.8%).
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Comparative Study
A comparative study on the value of FDG-PET and sentinel node biopsy to identify occult axillary metastases.
Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) has become a standard treatment in staging axillary lymph nodes in early breast cancer. SNB, however, is an invasive procedure and is time-consuming when the sentinel node is analysed intra-operatively. Breast cancer is frequently characterised by increased 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake and many studies have shown encouraging results in detecting axillary lymph node metastases. The aim of this study was to compare SNB and -positron emission tomography (-PET) imaging, to assess their values in detecting occult axillary metastases. ⋯ The high specificity of PET imaging indicates that patients who have a PET-positive axilla should have an ALND rather than an SNB for axillary staging. In contrast, FDG-PET showed poor sensitivity in the detection of axillary metastases, confirming the need for SNB in cases where PET is negative in the axilla.