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Oncology

Carbon monoxide may have potent anti-breast cancer effects

4 hours ago

Women who have a history of carbon monoxide poisoning (COP) appear to be at a lower risk of developing breast cancer, a recent Taiwan study has found. This points to a potential protective effect of CO against breast cancer.

Fat-dissociation method speeds up CRC lymph node detection without accuracy trade-off

Yesterday

A new fat-dissociation method (FM) of examining positive lymph nodes (LNs) from surgically removed mesentery reduces the overall time required for detection without sacrificing accuracy, a recent study has found.

Late diagnosis, early menopause predict bone metastasis in breast cancer patients

Tristan Manalac, 2 days ago

Breast cancer patients face a high risk of skeletal-related events (SREs), particularly when diagnosed at advanced stages, reports a new Indonesia study presented at the recently concluded 2020 Asia Virtual Congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO Asia 2020). Oncological and reproductive factors seem to affect this risk and may be worth monitoring for.

Subgroup findings boost ribociclib-letrozole potential in Asians with HR+, HER2– advanced breast cancer

Audrey Abella, 3 days ago

In a subgroup analysis of the phase IIIb CompLEEment-1 trial, ribociclib plus letrozole showed a manageable safety profile in Asian patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative (HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC).

Lung cancer not uncommon after kidney transplant

Tristan Manalac, 3 days ago

While lung cancer is relatively rare among kidney transplant recipients, it remains a dangerous complication, carrying high rates of metastasis and mortality, according to a Philippine case series presented at the recently concluded 2020 Asia Virtual Congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO Asia 2020)

Inflammatory markers tied to better HCC outcomes after nivolumab treatment

3 days ago

Following treatment with nivolumab, a programmed death (PD)-1 inhibitor, the expression of inflammatory markers seems to correlate with better survival and treatment response in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, a recent study has shown. This suggests that antitumour inflammatory mechanisms play a role in the action of nivolumab.

Carfilzomib-based triplet regimen a potential upfront treatment for high-risk MM

Pearl Toh, 22 Oct 2020

The combination therapy comprising carfilzomib, cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone (KCd) is effective, with a tolerable safety profile, in an Asian cohort with high-risk multiple myeloma (MM) — thus providing a more economical alternative as a potential upfront regimen in resource-limited settings, according to leading experts during a myeloma education webinar.

Immunotherapy sparks hope for paediatric ALL

Audrey Abella, 14 Oct 2020

Despite a 90-percent cure rate after first treatment for children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), approximately 10–15 percent of patients with paediatric ALL will experience relapse. [Expert Rev Anticancer Ther 2017;17:725-736] A recent webinar on the current landscape of ALL highlighted the potential of immunotherapy for paediatric patients with relapsed or refractory ALL, thus providing hope for this high-risk patient group.

Ribociclib offers survival benefit in premenopausal women with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer

12 Jun 2020

Drawing from experience as a key investigator in landmark clinical trials (including PALOMA, MONALEESA and MONARCH), and his clinical experience with CDK4/6 inhibitors, Dr Rafael Villanueva Vázquez shares his insights into the current evidence of using CDK4/6 inhibitors to treat HR+/HER2- ABC.

Targeted therapy for haematological malignancies

13 Feb 2020

At the recent National Haematology Expert Meeting 2019, a panel of experts was convened to discuss the role of targeted therapy in the management of haematological malignancies. Highlights of their lectures are summarised below.

Relationship between tumour response to systemic therapy and overall survival in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Dr Raghav Sundar, 09 Sep 2019

Overall survival (OS) is currently the primary criteria in assessing the efficacy of a cancer treatment. Dr Raghav Sundar, a consultant medical oncologist at the National University Hospital, Singapore, details the crucial role played by tumour response in evaluating treatment efficacy, with a focus on the multiple kinase inhibitor lenvatinib in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Optimizing Treatment Adherence in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Case Study

14 Aug 2019

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common primary tumour arising from the kidney, constituting approximately 80–85% of primary renal neoplasms. According to the Malaysian National Cancer Registry Report 2007–2011, RCC accounts for 62.8% of all kidney cancers nationwide. RCC typically occurs approximately 50% more commonly in men compared with women, and predominantly occurs in the sixth to eighth decade of life.

Excerpts from the MY-COMPASSION Expert Meeting

30 Jan 2019

In March 2018, sublingual fentanyl citrate (SLF; Abstral®, Menarini) was made available in Malaysia. SLF is a rapid-onset opioid (ROO) indicated for the management of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) episodes in patients that are opioid-tolerant. In July 2018, Menarini organized an expert meeting, aptly named Malaysian Collaborative Meeting of Pain Specialists to Improve Oncology Management (MY-COMPASSION), comprising of key figures in anaesthesiology, palliative care and oncology to discuss current insights into local BTcP management. Below are highlights from the meeting.

Precision therapy for prostate cancer – at last

Natalia Reoutova, 25 Nov 2020

Precision therapy for prostate cancer (PC) is becoming reality, with recent studies demonstrating efficacy of this approach in patients with metastatic castration-resistant PC (mCRPC) with certain DNA damage repair (DDR) alterations or PTEN loss.

Complete response to neoadjuvant treatment improves survival in early breast cancer

Roshini Claire Anthony, 12 Nov 2020

Women with HER2+ early breast cancer who achieved pathologic complete response (pCR) on neoadjuvant treatment had improved overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) outcomes, according to final analysis results of the phase III NeoALTTO, BIG 1-06 trial.

Pre-radiotherapy CT scan may help identify CVD risk in women with breast cancer

Roshini Claire Anthony, 11 Nov 2020

The use of an algorithm to identify the presence of coronary artery calcifications (CAC) during radiotherapy-planning CT scans may help assess cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in women with breast cancer, according to a study from the Netherlands.

Frontline apatinib plus gefitinib improves survival in EGFR-mutant NSCLC

Dr Margaret Shi, 10 Nov 2020

A combined regimen of apatinib plus gefitinib as first-line treatment improves progression-free survival (PFS) vs placebo plus gefitinib in patients with advanced EGFR-mutant (EGFRm) non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), results of the phase III ACTIVE study have shown.

First-line nivolumab-cabozantinib improves PFS, OS, ORR in advanced clear cell RCC

Roshini Claire Anthony, 09 Nov 2020

The combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib in the first-line setting conferred greater survival outcomes and responses compared with sunitinib in patients with clear cell advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), results of the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial showed.

Abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy: A new hope for high-risk early breast cancer?

Roshini Claire Anthony, 06 Nov 2020

Adding abemaciclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) resulted in improved invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) and distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) in women with hormone receptor (HR)+, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence, results of the phase III monarchE* trial showed.

Final PFS2 analysis shows sustained PFS benefit of maintenance olaparib in ovarian cancer

Audrey Abella, 04 Nov 2020

The initial progression-free survival (PFS) improvement obtained with the addition of olaparib to bevacizumab was sustained beyond first progression, as reflected by the significant PFS2 benefit in women with newly diagnosed, advanced high‐grade ovarian cancer, according to the final PFS2 analysis of the phase III PAOLA-1*/ENGOT-ov25 trial.

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