Check out these videos on the iPad edition of this issue by OT reporters Sarah Maxwell and Peter Goodwin:
HCC: Ramucirumab Shown as Alternative to Sorafenib for Patients with High AFP
Andrew X. Zhu, MD, PhD, Director of Liver Cancer Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, describes the Phase III REACH study showing good results for the monoclonal antibody ramucirumab as an alternative to sorafenib as second-line therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and elevated levels of alpha fetoprotein (Abstract 232).
Dysphagia in Advanced Esophageal Cancer: Phase III Study Shows No Advantage for Added Chemotherapy
Michael G. Penniment, MD, Director of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia, discusses his presentation of the full report of the TROG 03.01, NCIC CTG ES2 multinational Phase III study showing that patients with advanced esophageal cancer had more adverse effects when chemotherapy was added to their palliative radiotherapy for dysphagia, without any improvements in outcome (Abstract 6). The trial was conducted in multiple centers throughout the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Although the patients receiving the added chemotherapy had slightly relieved dysphagia response and slightly increased survival, bowel toxicity was worse, he said. He and his coauthors noted that nearly 10 percent of patients in the study were alive at two years, indicating that this is a group who should not be denied active cancer treatment, but it should be tailored to offer maximum symptom relief while minimizing treatment toxicity.
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