Gastrointestinal Cancer

Luis A. Diaz, MD, head of the division of Solid Tumor Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the impact of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, discusses a phase I study of napabucasin plus nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) and gemcitabine for the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer.

Although the prognosis for patients with pancreatic cancer is often grim, there have been noteworthy improvements in outcomes through the use of current chemotherapies.

Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH, director, Yale Cancer Center, physician-in-chief, Smilow Cancer Hospital, 2017 Giant of Cancer Care in Gastrointestinal Cancer, discusses immunotherapy in gastric cancer.

Following a second prospectively planned, unblinded analysis, drug manufacturer XBiotech has cancelled the phase III XCITE study of MABp1 (Hutruo; formerly Xilonix) in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, discusses the results of the phase III IDEA project for patients with stage III colon cancer.

R. Kate Kelley, MD, associate professor, University of California, San Francisco, discusses the development of biomarkers for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Manish A. Shah, MD, director of gastrointestinal oncology, Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, discusses risk factors for patients with early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC).

Investigators conducting a small multinational study in Asian patients have concluded that 6 to 9 months of treatment with neoadjuvant imatinib is a promising treatment for patients with large gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Pembrolizumab continued to show promising signs of clinical activity as a treatment for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer in updated findings from the KEYNOTE-059 study.

Most patients with low-risk advanced colon cancer would benefit from a 50% reduction in the oxaliplatin-containing chemotherapy they typically receive after surgery without notably increasing their risk of recurrence and while markedly decreasing the likelihood that they will develop neuropathy, according to an analysis that challenges the current standard of care and paves the way for a more personalized approach.

First-line treatment with lenvatinib (Lenvima) improved progression-free survival by 3.7 months and was noninferior for overall survival compared with sorafenib for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Psychological intervention can substantially lower fear of cancer recurrence in survivors, improving their quality of life, anxiety, and cancer-specific distress, according to a phase II randomized clinical trial presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.