Maintenance treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer: in search of the best strategy.

Over the last 2 decades, the standard fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy backbone for metastatic colorectal cancer has been complemented by the addition of novel biological agents, achieving impressive increases in 5-year survival rates. Nonetheless, these new combinations have also entailed increases in toxicity, leading to evaluation of de-escalated chemotherapy regimens and "drug holiday" periods in attempts to reduce side effects and optimise quality of life without impairing efficacy. Here, we review the current and emerging evidence for maintenance schedules with chemotherapy and targeted agents, versus continuous treatment after induction treatment, in metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

Galician consensus on management of cardiotoxicity in breast cancer: risk factors, prevention, and early intervention.

This Galician consensus statement is a joint oncologists/cardiologists initiative indented to establish basic recommendations on how to prevent and to manage the cardiotoxicity in breast cancer with the aim of ensuring an optimal cardiovascular care of these patients. A clinical screening of the patients before treatment is recommended to stratify them into a determined risk group based on their intrinsic cardiovascular risk factors and those extrinsic arose from breast cancer therapy, thereby providing individualized preventive and monitoring measures. Suitable initial and ongoing assessments for patients with low and moderate/high risk and planned treatment with anthracyclines and trastuzumab are given; also, measures aimed at preventing and correcting any modifiable risk factor are pointed out .

Defining the optimal sequence for the systemic treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Metastatic breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that presents in varying forms, and a growing number of therapeutic options makes it difficult to determine the best choice in each particular situation. When selecting a systemic treatment, it is important to consider the medication administered in the previous stages, such as acquired resistance, type of progression, time to relapse, tumor aggressiveness, age, comorbidities, pre- and post-menopausal status, and patient preferences. Moreover, tumor genomic signatures can identify different subtypes, which can be used to create patient profiles and design specific therapies. However, there is no consensus regarding the best treatment sequence for each subgroup of patients. During the SABCC Congress of 2014, specialized breast cancer oncologists from referral hospitals in Europe met to define patient profiles and to determine specific treatment sequences for each one. Conclusions were then debated in a final meeting in which a relative degree of consensus for each treatment sequence was established. Four patient profiles were defined according to established breast cancer phenotypes: pre-menopausal patients with luminal subtype, post-menopausal patients with luminal subtype, patients with triple-negative subtype, and patients with HER2-positive subtype. A treatment sequence was then defined, consisting of hormonal therapy with tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors, fulvestrant, and mTOR inhibitors for pre- and post-menopausal patien ts; a chemotherapy sequence for the first, second, and further lines for luminal and triple-negative patients; and an optimal sequence for treatment with new antiHER2 therapies. Finally, a document detailing all treatment sequences, that had the agreement of all the oncologists, was drawn up as a guideline and advocacy tool for professionals treating patients with this disease.