Colorectal Cancer

Pontchartrain Cancer Center was founded in 2005 to serve an area of Louisiana that lacked the necessary resources for cancer care. This community cancer center, with 2 locations in Southeast Louisiana, accommodates any patient to walk through its doors, filling a major unmet need for the community in this rural area.

Ronit Yarden, PhD, MHSA, has joined the Colorectal Cancer Alliance as its new director of medical affairs, where she will work to develop the organization’s funding initiatives and act as liaison to its medical scientific advisory committee with the goal of promoting patient education and disease prevention.

Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP, discusses recent data in <em>BRAF</em>-mutant colorectal cancer and the importance of molecular subtyping.

Adding selective internal radiation therapy to chemotherapy improved overall survival by 5 months compared with &nbsp;chemotherapy alone for patients with liver-only or liver-dominant right-sided primary metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results from a post hoc analysis of 2 randomized, controlled trials.

Two oncologists from the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University reviewed data for and against the use of chemotherapy for patients with resectable colorectal cancer liver metastases. Mehmet Akce, MD, spoke in favor of chemotherapy, while Shishir K. Maithel, MD, argued against it.

According to findings from the&nbsp;phase IIIb CONSIGN trial, now published in <em>The Oncologist</em>, safety and efficacy findings&nbsp;for regorafenib in patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer were consistent with previous phase III results.

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD,&nbsp;shares his insights on the results from the ReDOS trial, as well as the IMblaze370 trial for patients with mCRC

Checkpoint inhibitors have provided practice-changing therapeutic targets for clinicians by regulating host immune response. The treatment landscape in colorectal cancer has significantly changed as a result, but more research is necessary for certain subtypes, particularly the microsatellite stable patient population.

Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP, associate professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the importance of molecular testing in colorectal cancer.

No one doubts that molecular testing has rapidly improved care for patients with colorectal cancer, Stanley R. Hamilton, MD, told his audience at the 2nd Annual International Congress on&nbsp;Oncology Pathology.

Results from a prospective study involving 15,045 tumor samples that underwent next-generation sequencing using MSK-IMPACT and microsatellite-instability testing demonstrate that MSI-high and DNA mismatch-repair deficient tumors are predictive of Lynch syndrome across all tumor types. The results suggest that LS-associated cancers may be more heterogeneous than previously suspected.

John L. Marshall, MD, chief of the&nbsp; Division of Hematology/Oncology at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancer, discusses the use of chemotherapy in patients with colorectal or other gastrointestinal cancers. He also highlights the importance of understanding each individual patient&rsquo;s needs before making a treatment decision.&nbsp;

The triplet combination of&nbsp;the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib, the MEK inhibitor binimetinib, and the EGFR inhibitor cetuximab has been granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for the&nbsp;treatment of patients with <em>BRAF</em> V600E&ndash;mutant metastatic colorectal cancer following 1 or 2 prior lines of treatment in the metastatic setting.&nbsp;The designation will expedite the development and review of the novel triplet in this setting.

The FDA issued several approvals in July, including in colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia.&nbsp;Here&rsquo;s a look back on the FDA happenings for the month of July 2018.

Richard Kim, MD, recently shared his treatment considerations and decisions he makes when treating patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal cancer. Kim explained his treatment decisions based on 2 gastrointestinal case scenarios during a <em>Targeted Oncology</em> live case-based peer perspectives program.

An accelerated approval has been granted by the FDA for the combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab for the treatment of both adult and pediatric patients, over the age of 12 years, with microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient metastatic colorectal cancer, following progression on treatment with a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan.&nbsp;

General Cancer

Consistent benefits and safety were seen with TAS-102&nbsp;(trifluridine/tipiracil; Lonsurf) in a real-world treatment setting for patients with&nbsp;refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, according to preliminary data from the phase IIIb open-label PRECONNECT trial.&nbsp;

A strategy of escalating regorafenib from 80 mg to 160 mg per day was superior to starting at a dose of 160 mg per day in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results from the regorafenib dose optimization study presented at the 2018 World Congress on GI.

According to findings from the&nbsp;IMblaze370 study, atezolizumab alone or in combination with cobimetinib did not demonstrate superior overall survival when compared with regorafenib for the treatment of&nbsp;patients with chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Findings from the study were presented at the 2018 World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer.