Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal solid organ tumors. Due to the rising incidence, late diagnosis, and limited treatment options, it is expected to be the second leading cause of cancer ...deaths in high income countries in the next decade. The multidisciplinary treatment of this disease depends on the stage of cancer at diagnosis (resectable, borderline, locally advanced, and metastatic disease), and combines surgery, chemotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, and supportive care. The landscape of multidisciplinary pancreatic cancer treatment is changing rapidly, especially in locally advanced disease, and the number of treatment options in metastatic disease, including personalized medicine, innovative targets, immunotherapy, therapeutic vaccines, adoptive T-cell transfer, or stemness inhibitors, will probably expand in the near future. This review summarizes the current literature and provides an overview of how new therapies or new therapeutic strategies (neoadjuvant therapies, conversion surgery) will guide multidisciplinary disease management, future clinical trials, and, hopefully, will increase overall survival.
In this trial, daily oral sunitinib was associated with a median progression-free survival of 11.4 months, as compared with 5.5 months for placebo (hazard ratio, 0.42; 95% confidence interval, 0.26 ...to 0.67; P<0.001), in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are uncommon tumors arising from endocrine cells of the pancreas.
1
Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for resectable disease,
2
and therapy directed to the liver may have some palliative benefit for metastases that occur predominantly in the liver.
3
,
4
Somatostatin analogues relieve symptoms resulting from hormone hypersecretion in functioning tumors and may delay disease progression in selected patients.
5
–
7
Streptozocin alone or in combination with doxorubicin remains the only chemotherapeutic agent approved for the treatment of advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors,
8
–
11
though the magnitude of benefit has been challenged.
12
,
13
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a . . .
For patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), surgical resection remains the only potentially curative treatment. Surgery is generally followed by postoperative chemotherapy associated ...with improved survival, yet neoadjuvant therapy is a rapidly emerging concept requiring to be explored and validated in terms of treatment options and oncological outcomes. In this context, stereotactic body radiation (SBRT) appears feasible and can be safely integrated into a neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen of modified FOLFIRINOX (mFFX) with promising benefits in terms of R0 resection, local control and survival. However, the optimal therapeutic sequence is still not known, especially for borderline resectable PDAC, and the role of adding SBRT to chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting needs to be evaluated in randomised controlled trials. The aim of the STEREOPAC trial is to assess the impact and efficacy of adding isotoxic high-dose SBRT (iHD-SBRT) to neoadjuvant mFFX or Gemcitabine/Nab-Paclitaxel (Gem/Nab-P) in patients with borderline resectable PDAC.
This is a randomised comparative multicentre phase II trial, planning to enrol patients (n = 256) diagnosed with a borderline resectable biopsy-confirmed PDAC. Patients will receive 4 cycles of mFFX (or 6 doses of Gem/Nab-P). After full disease restaging, non-progressive patients will be randomised for receiving either 4 additional mFFX cycles (or 6 doses of Gem/Nab-P) (Arm A), or 2 mFFX cycles (or 3 doses of Gem/Nab-P) + iHD-SBRT (35 to 55 Gy in 5 fractions) + 2 mFFX cycles (or 3 doses of Gem/Nab-P) (Arm B). Then curative surgery will be performed followed by adjuvant chemotherapy according to patient's condition. The co-primary endpoints are R0 resection and disease-free survival after the complete sequence strategy. The secondary endpoints include resection rate, overall survival, locoregional failure / distant metastasis free interval, pathologic complete response, toxicity, postoperative complications and quality of life assessment.
This trial will help define the best neoadjuvant treatment sequence for borderline resectable PDAC and aims to evaluate if a total neoadjuvant treatment integrating iHD-SBRT improves the patients' oncological outcomes.
The study was registered at ClinicalTrails.gov (NCT05083247) on October 19th, 2021, and in the Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) EU CT database (2022-501181-22-01) on July 2022.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) is part of the treatment strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Strong clinical data demonstrated the effectiveness of this therapy in HCC with a ...significant improvement in patient outcomes. Recent studies demonstrated a strong correlation between the tumor response and the patient outcome when the tumor-absorbed dose was assessed by nuclear medicine imaging. Dosimetry plays a key role in predicting the clinical response and can be optimized using a personalized method of activity planning (multi-compartmental dosimetry). This paper reviews the main clinical results of SIRT in HCC and emphasizes the central role of dosimetry for improving it effectiveness. Moreover, some patient and tumor characteristics predict a worse outcome, and toxicity related to SIRT treatment of advanced HCC patient selection based on the performance status, liver function, tumor characteristics, and tumor targeting using technetium-99m macro-aggregated albumin scintigraphy can significantly improve the clinical performance of SIRT.
Full text
Available for:
IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
The diagnostic role of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in children has only recently been demonstrated, and that also to a lesser extent than in adults. Data on the technique's ...therapeutic indications remain scarce. We therefore sought to evaluate diagnostic and interventional EUS indications, safety, and impact in children with pancreaticobiliary disorders.
Methods:
We retrospectively reviewed our single pediatric center records, covering a 14‐year period.
Results:
From January 2000 to January 2014, 52 EUS procedures were performed in 48 children (mean age: 12 years; range: 2–17 years) with pancreaticobiliary disorders for the following indications: suspected biliary obstruction (n = 20/52), acute/chronic pancreatitis (n = 20), pancreatic mass (n = 3), pancreatic trauma (n = 7), and ampullary adenoma (n = 2). EUS was found to have a positive impact in 51 of 52 procedures, enabling us to avoid endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) (n = 13 biliary; n = 6 pancreatic), focusing instead on endotherapy (n = 7 biliary; n = 14 pancreatic) or reorienting therapy toward surgery (n = 7). EUS‐guided fine‐needle aspiration was carried out on 12 patients for pancreatic tumor (n = 4), pancreatic cyst fluid analysis (n = 4), autoimmune pancreatitis (n = 2), and suspicion of biliary tumor (n = 2). A total of 13 therapeutic EUS procedures (11 children) were conducted, including 9 combined EUS–ERCP procedures (7 children, mean age: 8 years, range: 4–11 years), 3 EUS‐guided pseudocyst drainage (2 children), and 1 EUS‐guided transgastric biliary drainage.
Conclusions:
Our study reports on a large pediatric EUS series for diagnostic and therapeutic pancreaticobiliary disorders, demonstrating the impact of diagnostic EUS and affording insights into novel EUS and combined EUS–ERCP therapeutic applications. We suggest considering EUS as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the management of pediatric pancreaticobiliary diseases.
Full text
Available for:
FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Background:
Currently, nanoliposomal irinotecan (nal-IRI) + 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid (5-FU/LV) is the only approved second-line treatment for patients suffering from metastatic pancreatic ductal ...adenocarcinoma (mPDAC). However, also other chemotherapeutic regimens are used in this setting and due to the lack of clear real-world data on the efficacy of the different regimens, there is no consensus on the optimal treatment sequence for mPDAC patients.
Objectives:
To provide information on the safe and efficacious use of nal-IRI + 5-FU/LV in clinical practice in Belgium, which is needed for healthcare professionals to estimate the risk–benefit ratio of the intervention.
Methods:
Medical data of adult patients with mPDAC who were treated with nal-IRI + 5-FU/LV in one of the participating Belgian hospitals were retrospectively collected. Kaplan–Meier analysis was performed to obtain survival curves to estimate the median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). All other results were presented descriptively.
Results:
A total of 56 patients median age at diagnosis: 69 years (range 43 years), 57.1% male were included. Patients received a median of 5 (range 49 cycles) nal-IRI + 5-FU/LV cycles, extended over 10 weeks (range 130.8 weeks). The median start dose for nal-IRI was 70 mg/m² (range 49.24 mg/m²) and chemotherapy dose reduction and delay occurred in, respectively, 42.8% and 37.5% of the patients. The median OS was 6.8 months (95% CI: 5.6–8.4 months) with a 6-month survival rate of 57.4% and a 1-year survival rate of 27.8% in the overall study population. The median OS for patients treated with nal-IRI as second-line therapy or as later-line treatment was, respectively, 6.8 months (95% CI: 5.9–7.0 months) and 5.6 months (95% CI: 4.2–no upper limit). In the overall study population, a median PFS of 3.1 months (95% CI: 2.4–4.6 months) and a disease control rate of 48.3%, comprising 30.4% stable disease, 16.1% partial and 1.8% complete response, was observed. The median PFS for patients treated with nal-IRI as second-line therapy was 3.9 months (95% CI: 2.8–4.8 months) while this was 2.4 months (95% CI: 1.9–9.1 months) for those that received nal-IRI in a later-line treatment. In terms of safety, gastrointestinal problems occurred most (64.3% of the patients) and from all reported treatment emergent adverse events, 39.2% were grade 3 or 4.
Conclusion:
Nal-IRI + 5-FU/LV is a valuable, effective, and safe sequential treatment option following gemcitabine-based therapy in patients with mPDAC.
Trial details:
Retrospective study on the efficacy and tolerability of liposomal irinotecan (NALIRI); ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0509506 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05095064?term=naliri&draw=2&rank=2).
Various prognostic factors are associated with overall survival (OS) after resection of distal cholangiocarcinoma (dCCA). The objective of this study was to develop and validate a prediction model ...for 3-year OS after pancreatoduodenectomy for dCCA.
The derivation cohort consisted of all patients who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for dCCA in the Netherlands (2009-2016). Clinically relevant variables were selected based on the Akaike information criterion using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model, with model performance being assessed by concordance index (C-index) and calibration plots. External validation was performed using patients from the Belgium Cancer Registry (2008-2016), and patients from two university hospitals of Southampton (U.K.) and Verona (Italy).
Independent prognostic factors for OS in the derivation cohort of 454 patients after pancreatoduodenectomy for dCCA were age (HR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03), pT (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.07-1.90) and pN category (pN1: HR 1.78, 95% CI 1.37-2.32; pN2: HR 2.21, 95% CI 1.63-3.01), resection margin status (HR 1.79, 95% CI 1.39-2.29) and tumour differentiation (HR 2.02, 95% CI 1.62-2.53). The prediction model was based on these prognostic factors. The optimism-adjusted C-indices were similar in the derivation cohort (0.69), and in the Belgian (0.66) and Southampton-Verona (0.68) validation cohorts. Calibration was accurate in the Belgian validation cohort (slope = 0.93, intercept = 0.12), but slightly less optimal in the Southampton-Verona validation cohort (slope = 0.88, intercept = 0.32). Based on this model, three risk groups with different prognoses were identified (3-year OS of 65.4%, 33.2% and 11.8%).
The prediction model for 3-year OS after resection of dCCA had reasonable performance in both the derivation and geographically external validation cohort. Calibration slightly differed between validation cohorts. The model is readily available via www. pancreascalculator.com to inform patients from Western European countries on their prognosis, and may be used to stratify patients for clinical trials.
Full text
Available for:
EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Background
Tumor equivalent uniform dose (EUD) is proposed as a predictor of patient outcome after liver radioembolization (RE) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and can be evaluated with
90
...Y-TOF-PET. The aim is to evaluate the correlation between PET-based tumors EUD and the clinical response evaluated with dual molecular tracer (
11
C-acetate and
18
F-FDG) PET/CT post-RE.
Methods
34 HCC tumors in 22 patients were prospectively evaluated. The metabolic response was characterized by the total lesion metabolism variation (ΔTLM) between baseline and follow-up. This response allowed to compute a tumor control probability (TCP) as a function of the tumor EUD.
Results
The absorbed dose response correlation was highly significant (
R
= 0.72,
P
< 0.001). With an absorbed dose threshold of 40 Gy, the metabolic response was strongly different in both groups (median response 35% versus 100%,
P
< 0.001). Post-RE TCP as a function of the EUD was very similar to that observed in external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), with TCP values equal to 0.5 and 0.95 for a EUD of 51 Gy and 100 Gy, respectively. The TCP was perfectly predicted by the Poisson model assuming an inter tumor radiosensitivity variation of 30% around the HCC cell in vitro value.
Conclusions
EUD-based
90
Y TOF-PET/CT predicts the metabolic response post-RE in HCC assessed using dual molecular PET tracers and provides a similar TCP curve to that observed in EBRT. In vivo and in vitro HCC radiosensitivities are similar. Both TCPs show that a EUD of 100 Gy is needed to control HCC for the three devices (resin spheres, glass spheres, EBRT). Observed absorbed doses achieving this 100 Gy-EUD ranged from 190 to 1800 Gy!