Gastrointestinal Cancer

Eileen M. O'Reilly, MD, associate director, David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses using nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine versus FOLFIRINOX as treatment for patients with untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Margaret A. Tempero, MD, director, Pancreas Center, University of California, San Francisco, discusses the two main types of hereditary pancreatic cancer.

Markus Renschler, MD, vice president, global head, Hematology Oncology Medical Affairs at Celgene, discusses updated results of the MPACT study, which examined nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine vs gemcitabine for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

A regimen of nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) and gemcitabine is a cost-effective option for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer because it delivers a survival advantage at a price comparable to the cost of an existing combination therapy

A multitude of studies presented over the course of the past year have emphasized the importance of broader RAS mutational analyses outside of traditional KRAS testing for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Andrew Kennedy, MD, physician-in-chief, Radiation Oncology, Sarah Cannon, director, Radiation Oncology Research, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the utilization of radioactive microspheres.

The phase III REACH trial, which examined ramucirumab (Cyramza) for the second-line treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), failed to meet its primary endpoint of overall survival (OS), as announced by Eli Lilly and Company, the sponsor of the study and developer of the drug.

At the recent National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 19th Annual Conference, experts discussed this year's updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. The meeting also included reviews of NCCN Task Force reports on issues in supportive care. We asked eleven NCCN panel members to select the most significant updates and insights presented at the conference.

While the combination of gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) has demonstrated survival benefits for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, oncologists are interested in knowing whether the regimen will transfer well into the adjuvant setting

Johanna Bendell, MD, director of GI Cancer Research Program, associate director, Drug Development Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses two studies in BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer.

Frontline therapy with bevacizumab (Avastin) or cetuximab (Erbitux) combined with either FOLFOX or FOLFIRI yielded a comparable survival benefit of approximately 29 months in patients with KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer

The FDA has expanded the approval of panitumumab to include the frontline treatment of patients with KRAS wild-type mCRC in combination with chemotherapy.

Two recently published clinical studies demonstrated a strong association between higher levels of vitamin D and improved outcomes among patients with various cancers.

For patients whose colorectal cancer has spread to the liver, and confirmed by computed tomography (CT), further imaging scans before surgery added little benefit when compared to patients who did not undergo further imaging.

Johanna Bendell, MD, discusses the rationale of a phase II trial looking at onartuzumab (MetMAb) and bevacizumab for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Treatment with the investigational oral agent TAS-102 significantly improved overall survival in a phase III trial for patients with heavily pretreated metastatic colorectal cancer.

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, Gastrointestinal Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses a retrospective analysis that evaluated embolization versus embolization plus systemic therapy in patients with metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The addition of the investigational agent MM-398 (PEP02) to standard second-line chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival in a phase III trial for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Ramesh K. Ramanathan, MD, describes a phase II study that analyzed gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel followed by consolidation with mFOLFIRINOX in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Pamela L. Kunz, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Oncology, Stanford University Medical Center, discusses the effort to identify molecular subtypes of gastric cancer.

The FDA has approved the VEGFR-2 inhibitor ramucirumab as a treatment for patients with patients with unresectable gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, based on a significant extension in OS.

The use of immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer has had limited exposure, but Aduro BioTech, Inc, has had phase II success with an approach in which two vaccines are administered. The vaccines, GVAX Pancreas and CRS-207, are administered to patients sequentially.

A recently approved indication for nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) in metastatic pancreatic cancer is thought to have similar efficacy to a standard first-line treatment for the disease, but offers several advantages in the eyes of community oncologists and their patients

The FDA's Molecular and Clinical Genetics advisory committee has unanimously supported the safety, efficacy, and positive risk-benefit profile of the noninvasive stool-based DNA test Cologuard in a 10-0 vote.

The blood-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening test Epi proColon passed the scrutiny of the FDA's Molecular and Clinical Genetics advisory panel in a close 5-4 vote with 1 abstention in support of the claim that the test's benefits outweigh its risks