J B Vermorken

..The activity of cetuximab was compared with that of commonly used treatments in this setting...

..However, in all circumstances other aspects such as toxicity (and earlier experienced toxicity), clinical condition, convenience of administration, costs, and patient preference should be considered in the final selection of treatment...

..In the present study, the relation between deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) activity and the radiosensitising effect of gemcitabine was investigated in eight different human tumour cell lines...

..In this study, the treatment effects of the angiogenesis inhibitor Cilengitide and gemcitabine were compared with gemcitabine alone in patients with advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer...

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..We investigated the efficacy of cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy as first-line treatment in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck...

..In addition, in front of every patient, the physician will need to raise important questions such as whether the patient should be treated, should receive surgery and also what is his prognosis. The different options are described here...

..Novel therapies are needed to improve the poor prognosis of patients with recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (SCCHN)...

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..We compared TPF with PF as induction chemotherapy in patients with locoregionally advanced, unresectable disease...

..Gemcitabine (GEM) is a potent radiosensitizer and in addition has activity as an anticancer agent in SCCHN...

..CONCLUSIONS: The combination of docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-FU associated with prophylactic ciprofloxacin is feasible and active in patients with SCCHN. Dose level I is recommended for phase III testing...

..CMV infection should therefore be included in the differential diagnosis of GI disease in all patients, and when suspected, the clinician should pursue appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic interventions...

..In conclusion, ET-743 has moderate cell line-dependent radiosensitising properties; however, only when cytotoxic concentrations of ET-743 are used. In one of the four cell lines tested, no radiosensitisation was observed...

..In this review, the role of the red blood cell in storage, transport and metabolism of different anti-cancer drugs is described...

..Also, amifostine may reduce toxic effects of combination chemotherapy regimens that include paclitaxel...

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..SCH66336 had no effect on the pharmacokinetics of gemcitabine. Randomised trials should be undertaken to clarify the role of SCH66336 in combination with gemcitabine in cancer treatment...

..Although activity has been shown, no data from randomized comparative trials are available to allow a judgement on its potential advantages...

..Direct sequencing was used to confirm and characterise HRMA results...

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..It is important that the final conclusions of these studies are based on long-term survival data, not just on the assessment of median differences in survival...

..Therefore, HPV detection can be equally well used in the management and follow-up of elderly cervical cancer patients...

..The most common grade 3-4 non-haematological toxicity was infection in 8.5% of patients. OSI-211 administered on d1 and d8, every 3 weeks, is well tolerated, but shows only minimal activity in locally advanced/metastatic SCCHN...

..Two developed milder encephalopathy; one had no CNS depression at all. We conclude that MB is an effective treatment for ifosfamide-induced encephalopathy. Our findings suggest that it may also be used as a prophylactic agent...

..12% rinse, intermittent antibiotics, and careful sequestrectomy) are unknown. Design: In all, 33 ONJ patients were studied for OS and ONJ outcome...

..The other toxicities were limited and manageable. S-1 is active in advanced colorectal cancer, but in order to establish a safer dose the drug should be subject to further investigations...

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..This report illustrates that it is mandatory to have a histologic diagnosis of chemoresistant gestational trophoblastic neoplasia before performing definitive surgery...

..It is associated with substantial haematological toxicity, but this is feasible provided prophylactic antibiotics are used...

..The next challenge will be to sort out which of them have a clinically meaningful activity and find out how to incorporate them into existing treatment regimens...

..To summarize the recent literature on the treatment of recurrent and metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck...

..Independent predictors for recurrence included size, margin width, pathologic class, and age, but none of the molecular markers were part of it. Overexpression of HER4 in the presence of HER3 was associated with a better DFS...

..Secondary objectives were to assess the pharmacokinetics of pemetrexed when it is combined with cisplatin as well as to evaluate the safety profile and document antitumor activity associated with this combination...

..This review presents new data on the role of taxanes and targeted therapies in the management of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck...

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..However, a survival benefit was observed when cetuximab was combined with platinum-5-fluorouracil...

..3% (range 2.7-26%). The MTD of BM in the present dose schedule was 180 mg m(-2) on day 1+2. Thrombocytopaenia was dose limiting. The recommended dose for future phase II trials with this schedule is 160 mg m(-2) per day...

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..It is concluded that both EPI and PLD can be recommended as a reasonable single-agent treatment option for relapsed patients, with a preference for PLD taking into account its more favorable toxicity profile...

..A review of the literature on small cell carcinoma of the ovary is given and the findings of our patient are brought into perspective in terms of both histopathogenesis and treatment outcome...

..Adding a taxane to PF in the IC regimen confers a better outcome. Sequential treatment (ST) of IC followed by CRT is therefore under active investigation in multiple phase III trials...

..It is in accordance with some reports that a short disease-free interval, numerous lung metastases, or recurrence after the first metastasectomy should not preclude patients from operation...

..This was accidentally performed with the patient in upright position. A CT scan of the brain demonstrated air in the sinus cavernosus bilaterally and at the posterior wall of the foramen magnum...

..Drugs for symptom control in the terminal phase of palliative patients may be used in pump systems...

..Isolated lung perfusion combination therapy with melphalan-gemcitabine resulted in the best survival either in vitro or in vivo...

..This article presents an overview of the recent phase I trials and a summary of ongoing clinical trials...

..However, this Index is not evidence-based, using a relatively small retrospective series of patients. The validity of the modified VNPI must be prospectively confirmed with large numbers of DCIS patients...

..Since there is a growing interest in preclinical research on interactions between radiation and cytotoxic agents, this study focused on the development of an alternative to the very laborious clonogenic assay (CA)...

..The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of microsatellite instability in cervical cancer and to see whether there is a relation between MSI, HPV and clinicopathological characteristics in the study population...

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..In that sense, mitoxantrone appears to be a valuable alternative to methotrexate in cases of hepatotoxicity in patients with breast cancer. An overview of the literature regarding methotrexate hepatotoxicity is presented...

..Fatigue and cardiac toxicity were dose limiting. The plasma pharmacokinetics data of bendamustine and its metabolites were in accordance with previous reports. The recommended dose for future trials is 260 mg/m2 every 3 weeks...

..These findings were correlated with clinical and pathological prognostic factors of CRC...

..Prognostic relevance was assessed by survival analysis...

..No responses were observed. MEN-107555 at a dose of 30 mg/m2/week in pretreated patients and 40 mg/m2/week in chemotherapy-naive patients for three consecutive weeks followed by 1 week rest is recommended for phase II testing...

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..Dose-limiting toxicity occurred at a dose of 60 mg of MN at 37 degrees C, and the maximum tolerated dose was set at 45 mg of MN at 42 degrees C...

..Finally, we address the need for a careful consideration of potential benefits of bisphosphonate therapy and the risk for osteonecrosis of the jaw, a recently recognized late-toxicity of their use...

..Next, we sketch an overview of preclinical and clinical research on radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and chemoradiation under hypoxic conditions...

..In the present study, a direct comparison was made between vinflunine and vinorelbine regarding their radiosensitizing and cell cycle effects...

..05 to 0.2 micromol/L (t(C > 0.05-0.2)) predicts neutropenia. The objective of this study was to build a population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model of paclitaxel/carboplatin in ovarian cancer patients...

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..Adjuvant chemotherapy has been suggested as a possible strategy to improve survival in women with early-stage ovarian cancer; however, all randomized studies to date have been too small to answer this question reliably...

..This approach is promising and may have a survival advantage over chemoradiotherapy alone. Both TPF induction and sequential therapy are considered appropriate platforms upon which the new molecularly targeted agents can be tested...

..We performed a prospective unblinded, randomized phase III trial to test the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage ovarian cancer, with emphasis on the extent of surgical staging...

..These include the monoclonal antibody (MAb) cetuximab and the tyrosine kinase inhibitors, erlotinib and gefitinib. Clinical data for the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor, bevacizumab, are also presented...

..This article reviews of both docetaxel and paclitaxel data in this patient population. Taxanes do not yet have a a license for use in the standard treatment of patients with head and neck cancer in Europe...

..006) for patients aged 55-70 years, while over 70 years, MAI was not significant (P=.11). The prognostic value of proliferation was age-dependent. Prognostic breast cancer studies must clearly indicate the age group being studied...

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..To validate the independent strong prognostic value of mitotic activity index (MAI) in lymph node (LN) -negative invasive breast cancer patients younger than 55 years in a nationwide multicenter prospective study...

..0001; HR=0.32, 95% CI 0.18-0.58). CONCLUSION: MAI is the strongest predictor of adjuvant systemic chemotherapy success. In patients with MAI < 3 (31% of all patients), ASCT does not improve survival...

..Administration of 1650 microg/m(2) ET-743 over 3 h seemed clinically feasible; pharmacokinetics were linear with this schedule. Hepatic and hematological toxicities correlated with exposure to ET-743...

..In the current review, the preclinical data that support the use of gemcitabine as a radiosensitizing agent and the clinical trials that have been conducted to date are summarized...