Gastrointestinal Cancer News

CHICAGO — Patients with stage III colon cancer who stopped chemotherapy after 3 months had similar DFS at 3 years as those who continued chemotherapy for 6 months, according to a prospective analysis of six clinical trials presented during the plenary session of the ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — Routine genomic testing of tumor samples appears feasible and enabled more personalized treatment, according to the results of the ProfiLER study conducted in France and presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — ASCO’s big-data initiative CancerLinQ announced a long-term partnership with the FDA to use patient data to evaluate the real-world use of newly approved cancer therapies, according to a press release.

CHICAGO — Larotrectinib — the first selective small-molecule pan-tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor — demonstrated clinical activity in adults and children with various tumors that had neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase gene fusions, according to study results presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Carl H. June, MD, received this year’s David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award.

CHICAGO — The addition of abiraterone acetate with prednisone to standard hormonal therapy led to a 38% lower risk for death in men with high-risk, metastatic prostate cancer, according to results of the phase 3 LATITUDE trial presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — An 8-week, web-based stress management program improved quality of life and relieved the distress of patients with cancer, according to a prospective study presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — Patients with metastatic spinal canal compression who received a single radiation dose achieved ambulatory status and OS comparable to those who received a multifraction dose administered over 1 week, according to results of a prospective randomized phase 3 noninferiority trial presented at ASCO Annual Meeting.

CHICAGO — A psychological intervention called Conquer Fear more effectively reduced cancer survivors’ fear of recurrence than relaxation training, according to long-term results of a randomized phase 2 trial presented at ASCO Annual Meeting.

National Cancer Survivors Day, recognized annually on the first Sunday in June, provides free education and networking to hospitals, support groups and other cancer-related organizations to help improve the quality of life of cancer survivors.