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The 8-year European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer has determined that adjuvant chemotherapy for periampullary neoplasms prolongs survival compared with surgery alone. Is now the time to implement social networks or other web-based applications to assist investigators and clinicians to find the optimal treatment faster?
The small EVEREST trial has shown that the concept of guiding cetuximab dose escalation using the clinical parameter of acneiform skin rash is safe. However, as no significant increase of cetuximab efficacy could be observed, data from the ongoing EVEREST II trial must be awaited before dose escalation can be considered for clinical use.
Compared with anastrozole alone, the combination of fulvestrant and anastrozole significantly improved time without disease progression and extended the median overall survival of women with endocrine-responsive metastatic breast cancer; offering a new standard-of-care for these women. Unfortunately, information about the efficacy of the combination in the adjuvant setting is not available.
Convincing data have shown that human papillomavirus (HPV)-DNA testing predicts the development of high-grade cervical cancer better than cytology. However, for HPV-positive women, triage with cytology testing should be performed before colposcopy. The question on how to proceed if the cytology test in HPV-positive women is negative remains unclear.
Aspirin has been widely reported to be associated with cancer prevention, and now its use as a cancer therapy option is being explored. In this Review, the authors discuss evidence from trials that suggest that aspirin initiation after the diagnosis of colorectal cancer improves survival. The issues of dosage, duration, toxicity and patient selection are also described.
The needs and treatment requirements of older patients with cancer are different to their younger counterparts. However, few data are available on which to base important clinical decisions for the treatment of this patient population. This Review article outlines the issues and some of the solutions associated with treating cancer in older patients and uses three case studies to illustrate the practical problems that clinicians face.
Allogeneic haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is frequently applied as part of treatment in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia in their first or subsequent remission. In this Review, the authors propose risk assessment as a dynamic process during treatment, incorporating both disease-related and transplant-related factors for the decision to proceed either to allogeneic HSCT or to apply a nontransplant strategy.
Many patients who present with stage III NSCLC are in their 70s with multiple comorbidities who are generally unfit to receive the standard chemoradiotherapy regimen. In this Perspectives article, the author puts forth proposals to advance research within shorter timescales to improve outcomes for patients for whom standard treatment is unavailable.
Nature Reviews Clinical Oncologypresents a new form of article, a Viewpoint, which provides a forum for a number of researchers to discuss important ongoing issues in oncology. In this Viewpoint article, experts from the field of breast cancer screening discuss and offer insight into the controversy regarding the efficacy and optimal methods of screening.
