Our observations indicate that cardiac damage from TKI treatment is a largely underestimated phenomenon but is manageable if patients have careful cardiovascular monitoring and cardiac treatment at the first signs of myocardial damage.

The incidence and severity of oral mucositis is influenced by the type of antineoplastic treatment administered and by patient-related factors. Severe courses of oral mucositis are observed during simultaneous radiochemotherapy, which Oral Mucositis Complicating Chemotherapy and/or Radiotherapy: Options for Prevention and TreatmentWolfgang J. Köstler, MD; Michael Hejna, MD; Catharina Wenzel, MD; and Christoph C. Zielinski, MD 290 CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians ABSTRACT Chemotherapy-and radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis represents a therapeutic challenge frequently encountered in cancer patients. This side effect causes significant morbidity and may delay the treatment plan, as well as increase therapeutic expenses.The pathogenesis of this debilitating side effect can be attributed to the direct mucosal toxicity of cytotoxic agents and ionizing radiation and to indirect mucosal damage caused by a concomitant inflammatory reaction exacerbated in the presence of neutropenia, and the emergence of bacterial, mycotic, and viral infections. affects virtually all patients with head and neck cancer who receive this therapeutic modality. 8 However, up to 40% of patients treated with conventional chemotherapy and the more than 70% of patients undergoing conditioning therapy for bone marrow transplantation also experience oral treatment-related complications. 9,10The pathogenesis of oral mucositis is not fully understood, yet it is thought to involve direct and indirect mechanisms. Direct mucosal injury by radiation and chemotherapy interfere with the average 5-to 14-day turnover time of the oral epithelium 11 and induce apoptosis. Indirect stomatotoxic effects that result from the release of inflammatory mediators, loss of protective salivary constituents, and therapyinduced neutropenia have been postulated to contribute to the development of oral mucositis and also promote the emergence of bacteria, fungi, and viruses on damaged mucosa.12 Although a linear relationship among the occurrence of oral mucositis, oral and systemic granulocyte counts, and a coincidence of resolution of mucositis with neutrophil recovery, has been demonstrated, 10,[13][14][15] significant mucositis can occur in the absence of myelotoxicity. 16,17 In addition, the prophylactic or therapeutic elimination of the pathogenic mucosal flora frequently observed in patients developing oral mucositis by various antiseptic and antimicrobial agents can at most alleviate the course of oral mucositis (see Antimicrobal Agents p. 302).Based upon these considerations, newer pathophysiologic concepts have emerged characterizing oral mucositis as having an initial inflammatory/vascular phase, an epithelial phase, a (pseudomembraneous) ulcerative/bacteriological phase and a healing phase.18 During the inflammatory phase, tissue injury induces release of free radicals, modified proteins and proinflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1β, prostaglandins and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) by epithelial, endothelial, and connective tissue cells. These ...

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Metastasis involves several distinct steps, including one in which the tumor cell, after entry into the bloodstream, comes to rest in a capillary located at the distant site where a metastatic tumor will ultimately form. Components of the blood-clotting pathway may contribute to metastasis by trapping cells in capillaries or by facilitating adherence of cells to capillary walls. Conceivably, anticoagulants could interfere with this step in the metastatic process. In this review, we have summarized current knowledge on the interaction of malignant cells, clotting factors, and anticoagulants. We used computerized (MEDLINE) and manual searches to identify studies done in humans, in animals, and in in vitro systems that were published in English between 1952 and 1998. We found many reports that the formation of metastatic tumors could be inhibited by heparin, a vitamin K antagonist (warfarin), and inhibitors of platelet aggregation (prostacyclin and dipyridamole). Despite these encouraging preliminary results and a compelling biochemical rationale, only limited information exists on the clinical use of anticoagulants for the prevention or treatment of metastatic cancer because there have been so few controlled and prospectively randomized studies on this topic. In view of the preliminary results, anticoagulants may hold promise for the prevention and treatment of metastases. We believe that larger controlled investigations are strongly warranted to evaluate the clinical potential of anticoagulants for the prevention and treatment of metastases in humans.

Analysis of results shows chemotherapy to be superior to best supportive care alone. Combination chemotherapy compared with monochemotherapy is associated with significantly higher overall (complete plus partial) response rates but nevertheless results in similar survival. ECF (epirubicin, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil) currently represents one of the most effective regimens for advanced gastric cancer, whereas among the newer combinations, irinotecan- or taxane-based regimens have also given promising results. In patients with a poor performance status, consideration could be given to leucovorin-modulated 5-fluorouracil alone. Prognosis for the majority of patients, however, remains poor, as increases in survival were moderate at best.

Despite significant correlations, these results indicate that Hb values only partially explain subjectively experienced fatigue and quality of life in cancer patients. It is suggested therefore that the treatment of fatigue must be multidimensional and involve all areas which contribute to the syndrome.

The objective of this article was to review clinical trials that used antineoplastic second-line chemotherapy and/or targeted therapies in patients with esophageal cancer after first-line therapy. Computerized (MEDLINE) and manual searches were performed to identify articles published on this topic between 1996 and 2011. Twenty-five published trials and four abstracts presented at scientific meetings were identified. A total of 10 trials included only patients with squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), four focused exclusively on adenocarcinoma (AC), the remaining 15 studies included both SCC and AC. The majority of trials (17 of 29) used docetaxel in combination with platinum analogs, eight used single-agent cytotoxic chemotherapy, and six evaluated targeted therapies. The numbers of patients were relatively small, ranging from eight to 55 patients. The response rates were generally low (between 0% and 39%), with only two small studies reporting objective responses of 50% and 63%, respectively. Time to progression ranged from 1.4 to 6.2 months, and the overall survival was disappointing at 4.0 to 11.4 months. Approximately 40% of patients who experience progressive disease after first-line chemotherapy are able to undergo second-line treatment. On the basis of data published so far, no standard second-line therapy has emerged. Future research will need to focus on individual therapy strategies such as genetic receptor mutations to increase the therapeutic outcome.

Purpose: The present pilot study was performed to elucidate whether early changes in serum Her-2/neu extracellular domain (ECD) levels during trastuzumab-based treatment would predict the clinical course of disease in patients with metastatic breast cancer.Experimental Design: Sera from 55 patients with Her-2/neu-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer obtained immediately before each weekly administration of trastuzumab were analyzed by a serum Her-2/neu ELISA.Results: Whereas response rates were significantly higher in patients with elevated (>15 ng/ml) ECD levels before initiation of treatment (35% versus 7%, P ‫؍‬ 0.045), progression-free and overall survival did not differ significantly between patients with normal and elevated ECD levels. In patients responding to treatment, ECD levels decreased significantly as early as from day 8 of treatment onwards (all P for weekly measurements versus baseline <0.001). In contrast, no significant change in ECD levels was observed in patients with progressive disease. Multiple logistic regression analyses identified kinetics of ECD levels as the only factor that allowed for the accurate prediction of response likelihood as early as from day 8 of trastuzumabbased treatment onwards (P ‫؍‬ 0.020). In addition, determination of serial ECD levels allowed for the prediction of the risk for disease progression within the observed period as early as day 15 of treatment (P ‫؍‬ 0.010).Conclusions: Serial monitoring of the ECD may represent a valuable tool for early prediction of the probability of response and progression-free survival to trastuzumabbased treatment and is thus likely to contribute to an optimization of treatment and resource allocation.