Patients treated with androgen deprivation therapy experience more symptoms and have worse fatigue than controls, but this study did not detect any effect on physical or cognitive function.

The study demonstrates that survivors from localized prostate cancer treated with an association of BT and EBI have good global health status. Major problems that persist are sexual disorders, urinary incontinence and cystitis while digestive disorders were rare. This association could be an alternative to standard EBI in patients with localized prostate cancer. Whatever the treatment choice, patients should be involved in the therapeutic decision which should consider not only expected survival rate but also quality of life.

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Taurine deficiency in patients on long-term parenteral nutrition may be involved in cholestasis. We aimed to assess plasma taurine and tauro-conjugated bile acids in adults with short-bowel syndrome and their response to intravenous taurine. Thirty-two adult patients, who had been on taurine-free parenteral nutrition for a mean of 59 (SE 14) months for short-bowel syndrome, were studied retrospectively. In a second study, a subgroup of ten patients with chronic cholestasis received taurine-enriched (6·0 (SE 0·6) mg/kg per d) parenteral nutrition for 55 (SE 13) months. Post-absorptive plasma taurine and bile acid concentrations were measured and liver function tests routinely sampled. At baseline, plasma taurine was lower in patients with a jejunal length of less than 35 cm (group A, n 16) than in those with a jejunal length of 35 cm or more (group B, n 16): 43 (SE 3) v. 58 (SE 4) mmol/l (P¼ 0·01). The groups were no different in terms of chronic cholestasis (12/16 v.13/16 patients), total bile acids (26 (SE 13) v.14 (SE 5) mmol/l) or the ratio of tauro-conjugated:glyco-conjugated bile acids (5 (SE 2) v.8(SE 4) %, usual range 30-60 %). After supplementation, there was an increase in plasma taurine level (63 (SE 8) v. 43 (SE 4), P¼0·007) but was no change in either total bile acids or the ratio of tauro-conjugated: glyco-conjugated bile acids. There was a significant decrease in aspartate aminotransferase level. Long-term parenteral nutrition for short-bowel syndrome is associated with an impaired tauroconjugation of bile acids (enterohepatic pool), irrespective of plasma taurine level (systemic pool) and despite long-term taurine intravenous supplementation.

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LBA5006 Background: ICON7 was designed to investigate safety and efficacy of adding bevacizumab to standard chemotherapy in women with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer. Analyses of mature progression-free survival (PFS) data suggest a PFS benefit from bevacizumab (p=0.0041, a 15% improvement at 12 months and 1.5 months overall), and a trend for overall survival (OS) improvement, hazard ratio (HR)=0.81, 95%CI=0.63 to 1.04, p =0.098. The final analysis of OS will be performed when 715 deaths have occurred. An interim analysis with at least 365 deaths was requested by regulatory authorities considering licensing. This was approved by the independent data monitoring and steering committees. A subgroup analysis for poor prognosis patients (FIGO III debulked to >1.0cm or FIGO IV with debulking) was performed in an exploratory manner. Methods: Eligible women with high-risk early (FIGO stage I or IIa (grade 3 or clear cell), capped ≤10%) or advanced (stage IIb-IV) epithelial ovarian, primary peritoneal or fallopian tube cancer were randomised (1:1) to 6 cycles of 3 weekly chemotherapy (carboplatin AUC 5 or 6 and paclitaxel 175mg/m2) alone, or the same chemotherapy given concurrently with bevacizumab (7.5mg/kg) for 5 or 6 cycles followed by continued 3-weekly single-agent bevacizumab for 12 additional cycles or until progression whichever was the earlier. Results: From December 2006 to February 2009, 1,528 women were randomised from 263 centres in 7 GCIG groups. Baseline characteristics were balanced between arms: median age (57 years); ECOG PS 0-1 (47%); high-risk early-stage disease (9%); poor prognosis patients (30%); histology (69% serous, 8% endometrioid, 8% clear cell). Overall OS analysis: median follow-up 28 months, 377 deaths (200 standard, 177 bevacizumab), HR=0.84, 95%CI=0.69 to 1.03, p=0.099. Exploratory subgroup analysis of poor prognosis patients: 188 deaths (109 standard, 79 bevacizumab), HR=0.64, 95%CI=0.48 to 0.85, p=0.0022 with p=0.015 for test for interaction (treatment/risk group). Conclusions: The overall trend for improvement in OS from bevacizumab continues with a numerically larger benefit in poor prognosis patients.

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