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In a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of bevacizumab added to standard temozolomide and radiation therapy for patients with glioblastoma multiforme, progression-free survival but not overall survival was enhanced.
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In a well-controlled retrospective analysis of patients who presented with metastatic colorectal cancer, primary tumor resection was associated with improved overall survival.
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Bevacizumab added to chemotherapy, particularly paclitaxel and cisplatin, was efficacious in all response outcomes (objective response, progression-free survival, and overall survival) without diminution in quality of life or unacceptable toxicity.
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The FDA has approved the first nasally administered flu vaccine to be marketed in this country. Medimmunes FluMist is also the first influenza vaccine to use live virus.
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Following radiation therapy, adjuvant extrafascial hysterectomy decreased the risk of relapse for patients with bulky stage IB cervical cancer without improving survival.
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Since the introduction of the 3-weekly CHOP (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, prednisone) chemotherapy 25 years ago, many efforts have been undertaken to improve the efficacy of multicycle polychemotherapy for patients with aggressive lymphoma.
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The development of an isolated supraclavicular node recurrence of breast cancer after primary surgical resection (including axillary node dissection) was found, upon review of the tumor registries of 8 community hospitals in The Netherlands, to occur very uncommonly (less than 1%). Examination of clinical outcomes for these patients indicates that isolated supraclavicular recurrence is an antecedent of disseminated disease, in that, even with local control (as achieved by radiation therapy), the great majority of patients soon develop systemic disease.
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Women who survive breast cancer may be at a lower risk of developing coronary artery disease compared with women without a history of breast cancer.
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There has been some controversy on the role of taxanes in combination with platinum for the treatment of ovarian cancer. In the current report, patients who relapsed after a disease-free interval of 6 months or more were randomized in 2 large, multicenter trials conducted in Europe to receive either platinum (or typical platinum-based regimens) or paclitaxel plus platinum.
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In a retrospective tumor registry (SEER) analysis of outcomes for rectal-cancer patients treated over a 14-year period with either presurgical or postsurgical radiation therapy, the importance of pathological lymph node status was found to be significantly more adverse for patients who had presurgical treatment. These patients define a subgroup for whom aggressive post-surgical treatment would seem warranted.
