Background Cabozantinib inhibits tyrosine kinases, including vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1, 2, and 3, MET, and AXL, which are implicated in the progression of hepatocellul...

Cabozantinib in Patients with Advanced and Progressing Hepatocellular Carcinoma

CONTEXT
There are few randomized controlled trials on the effectiveness of palliative care interventions to improve the care of patients with advanced cancer.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of a nursing-led intervention on quality of life, symptom intensity, mood, and resource use in patients with advanced cancer.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Randomized controlled trial conducted from November 2003 through May 2008 of 322 patients with advanced cancer in a rural, National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in New Hampshire and affiliated outreach clinics and a VA medical center in Vermont.


INTERVENTIONS
A multicomponent, psychoeducational intervention (Project ENABLE [Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends]) conducted by advanced practice nurses consisting of 4 weekly educational sessions and monthly follow-up sessions until death or study completion (n = 161) vs usual care (n = 161).


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Quality of life was measured by the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy for Palliative Care (score range, 0-184). Symptom intensity was measured by the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (score range, 0-900). Mood was measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (range, 0-60). These measures were assessed at baseline, 1 month, and every 3 months until death or study completion. Intensity of service was measured as the number of days in the hospital and in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the number of emergency department visits recorded in the electronic medical record.


RESULTS
A total of 322 participants with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract (41%; 67 in the usual care group vs 66 in the intervention group), lung (36%; 58 vs 59), genitourinary tract (12%; 20 vs 19), and breast (10%; 16 vs 17) were randomized. The estimated treatment effects (intervention minus usual care) for all participants were a mean (SE) of 4.6 (2) for quality of life (P = .02), -27.8 (15) for symptom intensity (P = .06), and -1.8 (0.81) for depressed mood (P = .02). The estimated treatment effects in participants who died during the study were a mean (SE) of 8.6 (3.6) for quality of life (P = .02), -24.2 (20.5) for symptom intensity (P = .24), and -2.7 (1.2) for depressed mood (P = .03). Intensity of service did not differ between the 2 groups.


CONCLUSION
Compared with participants receiving usual oncology care, those receiving a nurse-led, palliative care-focused intervention addressing physical, psychosocial, and care coordination provided concurrently with oncology care had higher scores for quality of life and mood, but did not have improvements in symptom intensity scores or reduced days in the hospital or ICU or emergency department visits.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00253383.

/pdf/effects-of-a-palliative-care-intervention-on-clinical-1fj5fa7hnv.pdf

Effects of a Palliative Care Intervention on Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Advanced Cancer

The introduction of an effective blood test, prostate specific antigen (PSA), has made it possible to diagnose more and more men in an earlier stage where they can be offered potentially curative treatments. The other side of the coin is that if effective diagnostic procedures are used unselectively in elderly men with a short life expectancy, a problem with over diagnosis and over treatment might occur. Thus the same stage of prostate cancer may need different treatment strategies, pending on the patient’s life expectancy. This, and many other issues regarding the disease, is the subject of the EAU guidelines on prostate cancer. G UI DE LI N ES O N P RO ST AT E CA N CE R 10

/pdf/guidelines-on-prostate-cancer-xdnunn4th8.pdf

Guidelines on Prostate Cancer

Predictive and prognostic factors for treatment and survival in 305 patients with advanced gastrointestinal neuroendocrine carcinoma (WHO G3): The NORDIC NEC study

Imatinib mesylate is considered standard of care for first-line treatment of chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP). In the phase III, randomized, open-label International Randomized Study of Interferon vs STI571 (IRIS) trial, previously untreated CML-CP patients were randomized to imatinib (n=553) or interferon-alpha (IFN) plus cytarabine (n=553). This 6-year update focuses on patients randomized to receive imatinib as first-line therapy for newly diagnosed CML-CP. During the sixth year of study treatment, there were no reports of disease progression to accelerated phase (AP) or blast crisis (BC). The toxicity profile was unchanged. The cumulative best complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) rate was 82%; 63% of all patients randomized to receive imatinib and still on study treatment showed CCyR at last assessment. The estimated event-free survival at 6 years was 83%, and the estimated rate of freedom from progression to AP and BC was 93%. The estimated overall survival was 88% -- or 95% when only CML-related deaths were considered. This 6-year update of IRIS underscores the efficacy and safety of imatinib as first-line therapy for patients with CML.

Six-year follow-up of patients receiving imatinib for the first-line treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia.

/pdf/nccn-clinical-practice-guidelines-in-oncology-hepatobiliary-1kpacqqvi8.pdf

Daniel Laheru

Papers

NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology: hepatobiliary cancers.