ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

A study shows that XELOX improves disease-free survival rates for elderly patients with advanced-staged colorectal cancer.

Panitumumab plus chemotherapy significantly improved survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, compared with chemotherapy alone.

Colorectal cancer patients who had wild-type (normal) KRAS gene status, but mutations in the BRAF, had a poor prognosis in spite of treatment with cetuximab.

Patients with high intake of polyamines found in orange juice, corn, red meat, peas and nuts had larger, more advanced adenomas on colonoscopy screening.

For patients with pancreatic cancer, an inhibitor of the insulin-like growth factor receptor led to response rates or stable disease in a majority of patients.

Patients with these two variations experienced recurrence more than three times sooner than those without it.

Sunitinib, approved to treat renal cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors, boosts survival rates in patients with neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors.

The TN category of disease significantly impacts survival, relapse, and colostomy failure in patients with anal cancer treated with concurrent chemoradiation.

Sorafenib was beneficial in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients, but failed to improve outcomes when given after transarterial chemoembolization.

The ASCO Cancer Foundation Merit Awards are designed to promote clinical cancer research by young scientists.

Resection via the abdominal and transhiatal approach is superior to the left thoracoabdominal approach for cardia and subcardia tumors.

Gastric cancer patients with positive peritoneal cytology who convert to negative cytology after systemic chemotherapy see a great improvement in survival.

A novel blood test identifies PAM4 (or clivatuzumab), an antigen that is present in almost 90% of pancreatic cancers and precancers.

To improve early detection of colorectal cancer and adenomas, when survival chances are greatest, researchers tried develop a reliable blood test for detection.