Thomson American Health Consultants is offering an audio conference with the information necessary to help you recognize the ethical and regulatory issues related to working with children in clinical trials.
In an adjuvant breast cancer trial conducted more than 20 years ago, older patients were randomized to treatment with tamoxifen and prednisone or no adjuvant therapy. Now, at 21 years of follow-up, it is clear that disease-free and overall survival remain better for those who received treatment.
In this largest reported series of surgical Stage I UPSC patients, recurrence rates were lower than those published in previous studies, suggesting a potential benefit of comprehensive surgical staging in these patients. The risk of recurrence and the mean overall survival were similar between surgical Stage I UPSC patients who were managed conservatively and those treated with adjuvant radiation therapy.
Patients with elevated bilirubin treated with irinotecan have an increased risk of toxicity, and a dose reduction is recommended. Patients with elevated AST, creatinine or prior pelvic radiation do not appear to have increased sensitivity to irinotecan, but the data are not adequate to support a specific dosing recommendation.
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies worldwide, and, for those with advanced disease, treatment responses have been dismal. The current report of a trial of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin offers some hope. Using 2 different schedules of these agents, this study found an approximate 20% objective response rate with stable disease occurring in an additional 50%.
Merkel cell carcinoma is a tumor of the skin that is well known for its metastatic potential. Because of its scarcity, no trials have been reported. Poulsen and colleagues from Australia conducted a unique multi-institutional Phase II prospective trial of concomitant chemoradiation for patients with high-risk disease and concluded that their regimen resulted in disease control and survival rates that are better than those reported in the literature.
