2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

In the final surgical salvage results of the phase III OPERA* trial, boosting a neoadjuvant external beam chemoradiotherapy (EBCRT) regimen with contact X-ray brachytherapy (CXB) led to better organ preservation (OP) rates than with EB radiotherapy (EBRT) in individuals with rectal cancer.

Treatment with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) followed by sorafenib results in better overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), with no increase in adverse events (AEs), compared with sorafenib monotherapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as shown in a phase III study presented at the 2023 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium.

A combination of trifluridine/tipiracil (FTD/TPI) and bevacizumab provided significant survival benefit when used as third-line treatment for refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) than FTD/TPI alone, findings from the phase III SUNLIGHT study suggest.

A combination regimen comprising zolbetuximab and mFOLFOX6* chemotherapy (CT) regimen showed potential as first-line treatment for claudin-18.2-positive**/HER2-negative (CLDN18.2+/HER2–) locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) adenocarcinoma, according to the primary findings of the phase III SPOTLIGHT trial.

The addition of bevacizumab (BVZ) to the standard regimen for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) appears to increase the risk of cardiovascular events, suggest the results of a meta-analysis presented at the recent ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI 2023).

Adding the anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody tislelizumab to chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of PD-1-positive advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma appears to produce significant and clinically meaningful improvements in survival outcomes while having an acceptable safety profile, according to interim data from the phase III RATIONALE 305 trial.

Treatment with single fraction radiation therapy (RT) results in lesser hepatic pain in most patients with end-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or liver metastases, according to a study presented at the recent ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI 2023).