‘The Power of Periwinkle’ encourages global recognition of Stomach Cancer Awareness Month
November marks Stomach Cancer Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about risk factors, prevention and early detection of stomach cancer, which is expected to result in more than 11,000 deaths in 2023.
According to the National Cancer Institute, new cases of stomach cancer are estimated to reach 26,500 this year, and with a 5-year relative survival of about 35%, funding and research for early diagnosis and treatment is critical.
To boost global awareness, the Stomach Cancer Foundation of Canada encourages participation in its annual initiative, “The Power of Periwinkle,” on Nov. 30, during which more than 120 landmarks in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia will be illuminated in periwinkle blue, the color for stomach cancer awareness.
In recognition of Stomach Cancer Awareness Month, Healio revisits the latest news and research on stomach cancer, including new data supporting the cost-effectiveness of laparoscopic gastrectomy, the efficacy of pembrolizumab and a new marker of distant metastases and poor survival.
Laparoscopic, open gastrectomy yield similar cost-effectiveness for gastric cancer
Cost-effectiveness analysis revealed limited differences between laparoscopic vs. open gastrectomy at 1-year follow-up among a cohort of Dutch patients with gastric cancer, according to results published in JAMA Surgery.
“Open gastrectomy has long been the criterion standard worldwide. However, application of laparoscopic gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer is estimated to have increased,” Arjen van der Veen, MD, PhD, of the department of surgery at University Medical Center Utrecht, and colleagues wrote. “Costs of the laparoscopic operation itself (the unit costs) are expected to be higher compared with open gastrectomy owing to longer operating times and surgical materials or disposables.” Read more.
High inflammatory markers tied to poor prognosis, survival in patients with gastric cancer
Elevated baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was associated with distant metastases and poor survival in patients with gastric cancer, according to a presenter at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting.
The study is one of the first to assess the predictive value of these inflammatory markers in detecting distant metastases in patients with gastric cancer, Osama Abu-Shawer, MD, MS, an internal medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, said. Read more.
Pembrolizumab regimen extends survival in advanced gastric, gastroesophageal cancer
The addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy significantly extended survival among patients with advanced HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, according to results of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-859 study.
The findings, presented during an ESMO Virtual Plenary session Thursday, also showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in PFS and overall response rate with the first-line pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) regimen. Moreover, researchers observed no new safety signals. Read more.
Bariatric surgery tied to ‘significant reduction’ in risk for esophageal, gastric cancer
Bariatric surgery was associated with a decreased incidence of esophageal and gastric cancer as well as in-hospital mortality in a cohort of patients with severe obesity, according to results published in JAMA Surgery.
“Little information is available on the incidence of esophagogastric cancer after bariatric surgery in large cohorts,” Andrea Lazzati, MD, PhD, of the department of general surgery at the Intercommunal Hospital Center of Creteil in France, and colleagues wrote. “Therefore, using a national administrative database, we performed a study on a nationwide scale comparing the incidence of esophageal and gastric cancer between patients with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery and those who did not (control group).” Read more.
New tool outperforms previous models in predicting esophageal, gastric cardia cancer
A new machine-learning tool accurately predicted incident esophageal and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma using electronic health record data, according to a report published in Gastroenterology.
“We designed this study because most providers are unfamiliar with guidelines recommending which patients should be considered for screening for esophageal adenocarcinoma, and previously available prediction tools are not easily accessible at the point of care,” Joel H. Rubenstein, MD, MSc, research scientist at the VA Center for Clinical Management Research and professor of gastroenterology at Michigan Medicine, told Healio. “We envisioned developing a prediction tool that could be seamlessly integrated into electronic health records, using only data from those records to give providers the estimated risk of cancer in their patient in real-time.” Read more.
Laparoscopic gastrectomy could become ‘standard treatment’ for advanced gastric cancer
Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection was noninferior to open distal gastrectomy in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer, according to 5-year follow-up data published in JAMA Surgery.
“For advanced gastric cancer (AGC), laparoscopic gastrectomy is considered technically difficult owing to the large tumor size and lymph node metastasis. To clarify the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) with D2 lymph node dissection for AGC, outcomes of several prospective studies have been reported recently,” Tsuyoshi Etoh, MD, of the department of gastroenterological and pediatric surgery at Oita University in Japan, and colleagues wrote. “Although these secondary analyses seem informative for clinical practice, a primary endpoint on a longer follow-up period is clearly more robust for verifying noninferiority of LADG for locally AGC.” Read more.
Tislelizumab regimen new first-line option for gastric, gastroesophageal cancer subgroup
Tislelizumab plus chemotherapy demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in OS vs. chemotherapy alone among patients with PD-L1-positive, advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
The findings, presented at ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, additionally showed first-line treatment with tislelizumab (BGB-A317, BeiGene), a humanized immunoglobulin G4 anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, combined with chemotherapy appeared safe, with no new adverse events observed. Read more.
References:
- Stomach Cancer Awareness Month. https://nostomachforcancer.org/get-involved/stomach-cancer-awareness-month/. Accessed Oct. 26, 2023.
- Cancer Stat Facts: Stomach Cancer. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/stomach.html. Accessed Oct. 26, 2023.
- Stomach Cancer Awareness Day. https://www.mygutfeeling.ca/mgf365. Accessed Oct. 26, 2023.