Cancer

Pfizer has voluntarily expanded its recall of Chantix 0.5 mg and 1 mg tablets because of the presence of the nitrosamine N-nitroso-varenicline at or above the FDA interim acceptable intake limit.

According to projections in JAMA Oncology, it will take over 25 years to slow increasing oropharynx cancer incidence by human papillomavirus vaccinations because the disease will be observed in older population not yet vaccinated.

There is no increased risk for cancer overall associated with the long-term use of TNF inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in Rheumatology.

Patients with newly diagnosed cancer were more likely to develop kidney failure than a group of controls without cancer who exhibited similar characteristics in terms of age, sex, eGFR and the presence of diabetes or hypertension.

Frequent drinking and not the amount of alcohol consumed per occasion was a more significant risk factor for incident gastrointestinal cancers, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

For patients with recurrent and metastatic pancreatic cancer who received chemotherapy as a first-line treatment, early tumor shrinkage correlated with an improved rate of progression-free survival and overall survival.

In patients with atrial fibrillation and cancer, non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants outperformed warfarin in thrombotic and bleeding endpoints, according to findings published in Stroke.

A recent report revealed accelerated declines in melanoma and lung cancer deaths from 2014 to 2018; however, mortality declines for prostate, colorectal and female breast cancers seem to have slowed or stopped.

Patients with cancer have a five- to sevenfold increased risk for venous thromboembolism compared with patients without cancer, and chemotherapy increases the risk by 6.5-fold.

Transforming growth factor beta mutation biomarkers may help identify patients at high risk for cancer of the liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal system, according to data published in Gastroenterology.