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Top Medical News
Treatment with abiraterone leads to fewer health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and mental health issues than enzalutamide in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), a recent study has found.
High neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio before radical orchidectomy appears to be predictive of worse outcomes in testicular cancer patients, according to a recent Singapore study.
A recent phase Ib study has identified the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of the combination therapy of entinostat, lapatinib and trastuzumab, which provides acceptable tolerability and antitumour activity in heavily pretreated patients with human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic breast cancer. This also supports a confirmatory trial.
A two-step algorithm that incorporates the liver stiffness measurement hepatocellular carcinoma (LSM-HCC) score and enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) score appears to improve the accuracy of predicting HCC in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients after antiviral treatment, according to a study from Hong Kong.
Transgender women (male sex assigned at birth, female gender identity) are at greater risk of breast cancer than cisgender men, while transgender men (female sex assigned at birth, male gender identity) are at lower risk compared with cisgender women, a recent study has shown.
Consuming an average level of 76 g of red and processed meat daily, which meets the current recommendation of ≤90 g/day, nonetheless contributes to an increased risk of colorectal cancer, a UK study has found.
Reoperation among patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is associated with better overall survival (OS) and post-progression survival (PPS), a meta-analysis of 21 studies has demonstrated.
Special Reports
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.
Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) has emerged as a key driving force behind personalized cancer care. With the wealth of data available with CGP, medical oncologists now have in their armamentarium a tool that could enable them to provide patients with the optimum treatment. At a Roche Foundation Medicine-sponsored symposium held at the 2018 European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Munich, Germany, a panel of experts reviewed key data on CGP, with a focus on the treatment of advanced cancers.
Recently, a Roche-sponsored dinner symposium was held in conjunction with the launch of atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Roche) at Royale Chulan, Kuala Lumpur. Important insights into the evolving treatment landscape of anticancer treatment, and the increasingly prominent role of immunotherapy were gathered from a distinguished panel, including Dato’ Dr Mohamed Ibrahim, Professor Dr Rolf A. Stahel, Dr Voon Pei Jye, and Associate Professor Dr Tho Lye Mun. Here are the highlights of the meeting.
In advanced-stage, newly diagnosed classical, CD30-positive Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), front-line therapy has resulted in durable remission rates in up to 70–90% of patients, although approximately 25–30% of advanced stage HL patients are refractory or relapse following first-line treatment with ABVD (adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine) chemotherapy.1–3 The standard of care for patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) classical HL is salvage therapy using second-line high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT), followed by autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (ASCT) in eligible patients, which can induce a complete remission (CR) in about 50% of patients.4 Nevertheless, the prognosis of patients who relapse after the salvage HDCT/ASCT is exceedingly poor, with a median survival duration of approximately 1.2 years.5
At a recent dinner symposium held during the Abstral® Grand Launch at Le Meridien Putrajaya, Dr Michael Überall spoke on the management of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) and highlighted the role of sublingual fentanyl ([SLF], Abstral®; A. Menarini Pte Ltd) in the optimization of BTcP in cancer patients.
At the recent American Society of Haematology Annual Meeting 2017, Professor François-Xavier Mahon reviewed recent studies related to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) cessation in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) who have achieved sustained deep molecular response (DMR).
ABSTRAL - Fentanyl citrate 100 mcg, 200 mcg and 400 mcg SL tab - A. Menarini
Conference Reports
Treatment with the ROS1 inhibitor entrectinib yielded deep and durable responses in patients with ROS1 fusion-positive non–small cell lung cancer (ROS1+ NSCLC), including in those with brain metastases, according to a pooled analysis of three studies.
Continuous chemotherapy confers better survival and quality of life than intermittent scheduling in patients with advanced breast cancer, according to the Stop&Go study presented at EBCC 2019.
Breast cancer in young women tends to be aggressive, according to a study presented at the ESMO Breast Cancer Congress (EBCC) 2019 in Berlin, Germany.
Combination therapy with the MET inhibitor savolitinib and the EGFR inhibitor osimertinib showed robust and durable clinical responses among patients with EGFR-mutated and MET-amplified non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results of the phase Ib TATTON study presented at AACR 2019.
Two studies presented at ELCC 2019 provided contrasting outcomes on the efficacy of immunotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Gilteritinib, a novel inhibitor of the tyrosine kinase FLT3, improves survival outcomes among patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with FLT3 mutations vs standard chemotherapy, according to results of the phase III ADMIRAL trial reported at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2019 held in Atlanta, Georgia, US.
Oral rucaparib as maintenance treatment showed encouraging clinical responses in patients with advanced BRCA1-, BRCA2-, or PALB2-mutated pancreatic cancer, according to an interim analysis presented at AACR 2019.
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