Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) is a complex group of malignancies, posing several challenges to treating physicians. Most patients are diagnosed with a locally advanced disease and treated with strategies integrating surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. About 50% of these patients will experience a recurrence of disease. Recurrent/metastatic SCCHN have poor prognosis with a median survival of about 12 months despite treatments. In the last years, the strategy to manage recurrent/metastatic SCCHN has profoundly evolved. Salvage treatments (surgery or re-irradiation) are commonly employed in patients suffering from locoregional recurrences and their role has gained more and more importance in the last years. Re-irradiation, using some particularly fractionating schedules, has the dual task of reducing the tumor mass and eliciting an immune response against cancer (abscopal effect). In this review, we will analyze the main systemic and/or locoregional strategies aimed at facing the recurrent/metastatic disease, underlining the enormous importance of the multidisciplinary approach in these types of patients.

Rituximab in combination with chemotherapy improves CR rate, DFS and OS. Further prospective trials are needed to confirm our results.

IntroductionProstate cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world and the second most common in men, with 679,000 new cases per year.1 Historically, hormone-refractory advanced prostate cancer (HRPC) has been considered a "chemo-resistant" disease and the role of chemotherapy has been limited to palliation. Recently it was demonstrated that 3-weekly schedule of docetaxel (DTX) and prednisone is the standard first-line chemotherapy for patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer and has a positive impact on overall survival (OS) and time to progression (TTP).2,3 Despite these advances, response duration with current therapies is often short, and many patients do not respond at all. Therefore, novel therapeutic agents are needed.Background: docetaxel (dtX) and zoledronic acid (ZOl) are effective in patients with hormone resistant prostate cancer (HRPC) with bone metastases. a phase i clinical trial of metronomic administration of Zoledronic acid and taxoterE combination (ZantE trial) in 2 different sequences was conducted in HRPC.Results: the maximum tolerated dose was not achieved with sequence a. two patients at third level of sequence B developed dose limiting toxicity. a disease control was obtained in six out of nine patients treated with sequence a, where a decrease of biological markers and PSa were also observed. no evidence of antitumor activity was observed in patients treated with sequence B.Patients and Methods: twenty-two patients enrolled into the study (median age: 73 years; range: 43-80) received one of three escalated doses of dtX (30, 40 and 50 mg/m

Serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) is widely used in ovarian cancer to monitor the effectiveness of therapy both in first line and recurrence. It is also widely used during follow-up, where it is able to identify a percentage of patients with asymptomatic recurrence. Although a recent Medical Research Council (UK)/European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer trial has demonstrated that early chemotherapy in asymptomatic patients based only on CA125 increase does not prolong survival, we still believe that CA125 monitoring should be prescribed to patients during follow-up. In fact, it can help to identify patients who should undergo radiology in order to select those that can benefit from surgery or from early treatment before the onset of symptoms, which are usually related to an excessive disease burden. The delay of disease symptoms, such as those associated with the appearance of ascites or bowel occlusion, is in our view an important goal of our treatment of recurrence. Moreover, research should be done in patients with asymptomatic CA125 increase in order to identify more effective therapies that will improve survival. Finally, the reliability of CA125 as a surrogate of response under treatment with biological agents should be validated in prospective trials.

The survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is improved with advancements in various diagnostic tools and treatment modalities. Consequently, bone metastases from HCC are diagnosed more frequently. Aims of the present st udy was to describe the clinical features and treatment of HCC patients presenting with bone metastases. In particular, we evaluated the role of zoledronic acid in these patients especially as concerns pain reduction, analgesic drug consumptions and safety.