Addition of IV iron to darbepoetin alpha Q3W in patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia was well tolerated, resulting in an improved hematopoietic response rate and lower incidence of transfusions compared with darbepoetin alpha alone.

In this study, we showed that overall both the GFI and the G8 questionnaire were able to separate older patients with cancer with a normal and abnormal CGA. For the G8 questionnaire, an adequate sensitivity and NPV were demonstrated, however at the expense of the specificity. For the GFI, we suggest to lower the threshold with one point to GFI ≥3 to screen patients for a CGA.

No abstract

To assess the efficacy of the combination of long-acting release (LAR) octreotide and tamoxifen (TMX) for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 109 patients with advanced HCC were randomised to receive octreotide LAR combined with TMX (n ¼ 56) (experimental treatment group) or TMX alone (n ¼ 53; control group). The clinical, biological and tumoural parameters were recorded every 3 months until death. Primary end point was patient survival; secondary end points were the impact of therapy on tumour response, quality of life and variceal bleeding episodes. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed for assessment of specific prognostic factors. The median survival was 3 months (95% CI 1.4 -4.6) for the experimental treatment group and 6 months (CI 95% 2 -10) for the control group (P ¼ 0.609). There was no difference in terms of a-foetoprotein (a-FP) decrease, tumour regression, improvement of quality of life and prevention of variceal bleeding between the two groups. Variables associated with a better survival in the multivariate analysis were: presence of cirrhosis, a-FP level o400 ng ml À1 and Okuda stage I. The combination of octreotide LAR and TMX does not influence survival, tumour progression or quality of life in patients with advanced HCC.