Gastrointestinal Cancer

Mean daily step count during the first 2 weeks of treatment with SM-88 (racemetyrosine) was found to correlate with overall self-reported quality of life (QoL) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The FDA approved fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic HER2-postive gastric or gastroesophageal (GEJ) adenocarcinoma who previously received a trastuzumab-based regimen.

The management of patients with colorectal liver metastases is complicated and requires careful assessment from a multidisciplinary tumor board—especially in light of recent advances made with chemotherapy, according to Michael J. Cavnar, MD.

Recent research found that there may be a correlation between opioid use and pancreatic cancer risk.

The FDA has granted priority review to a new supplemental biologics license application for pembrolizumab in combination with platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic esophageal and gastroesophageal junction cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment has entered an era that is both exciting and challenging, according to Nilofer S. Azad, MD, who emphasized that as new strategies continue to be explored, treatment decisions should be informed by tumor location, the alterations present, and tolerability.

A nurse practitioner discusses mutations, cancer sidedness, and treatment duration for patients with colorectal cancer.

The FDA has accepted and granted a priority review designation to a supplemental biologics license application for the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) for use in patients with HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma.

The USPSTF recommends that colorectal cancer screening start at age 45.

Clinical trials should not be viewed as a last resort for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, explained Allyson Ocean, MD, who added that even frontline standards of care should be considered after exhausting all available study options.

With the emergence of several targeted treatments that have shown efficacy in individuals with germline pathogenic variants, specifically in DNA mismatch repair, the need for germline genetic testing has become even more pronounced.

The FDA has granted a fast track designation to DKN-01 for the treatment of patients with gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma whose tumors have high DKK1 expression, who have progressed on or after a fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy, and HER2/neu targeted therapy, if appropriate.

The advent of immunotherapy has revolutionized multiple areas of cancer treatment, said Timothy Cragin Wang, MD, who added that the transformative potential of the modality has been mild at best in the field of colorectal cancer (CRC).

The FDA has approved copper Cu 64 dotatate injection (Detectnet) for the localization of somatostatin receptor–positive neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), according to an announcement from RadioMedix Inc. and Curium Pharma.

The management of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) continues to become more personalized, with care decisions being based on factors ranging from the patient’s primary tumor location, to performance status, to the presence of specific mutations, according to Axel Grothey, MD, and novel approaches emerging in later lines are helping to further improve outcomes.

Following a period of stagnation, rapid advances have been made in the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to Bradley G. Somer, MD, but as more options emerge in all lines of treatment, sequencing approaches will require careful consideration.

Nivolumab in combination with chemotherapy as a frontline treatment demonstrated a significant survival benefit in patients with metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, or esophageal adenocarcinoma.

The novel multimodal FirstSightCRC test has shown promise in identifying colorectal cancer (CRC), as well as precancerous polyps and advanced adenomas, said Shai Friedland, MD, who added that results from the blood-based assay can inform whether a patient should undergo a colonoscopy.

The FDA granted an orphan drug designation to the oral investigational modified proprietary tyrosine derivative SM-88 as a treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer.

Although pancreatic cancer has been a historically difficult disease to treat, the emergence of novel combinations have allowed for more patients to receive later lines of therapy, and recent advances have inspired a shift to more personalized treatment approaches to improve outcomes, according to Syma Iqbal, MD.

A recent study found a 22% lower risk in developing colorectal cancer in the 3 years after patients took hypertension medications to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, or heart disease.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many elective surgical procedures had been cancelled or rescheduled to maximize hospital capacity and prevent unnecessary exposure for patients, but surgical delays might lead to worse outcomes for certain patients with gastrointestinal cancers.

The combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and bevacizumab (Avastin) demonstrated comparable clinical activity and safety versus sorafenib (Nexavar) in older and younger patients with previously untreated, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic microsatellite instability–high or mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer. This marks the first immunotherapy approved for this patient population as a first-line treatment and which is administered to patients without also giving chemotherapy.