Poor compliance with adjuvant chemotherapy use associated with poorer survival in patients with rectal cancer: An NCDB analysis.

BACKGROUND: National Comprehensive Cancer Network treatment guidelines for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer include neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by total mesorectal excision and adjuvant chemotherapy. The objective of the current study was to examine the rate of adjuvant chemotherapy and associated survival in patients with stage II/III rectal cancer. METHODS: The 2006 to 2011 National Cancer Data Base was queried for patients with AJCC clinical stage II/III rectal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgical resection. A mixed effects multivariable logistic regression identified factors associated with the receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy. A mixed effects Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the adjusted effect of receiving adjuvant therapy on 5-year overall survival (OS). RESULTS: A total of 14,742 patients were included; 68% of the cohort did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy. When controlled for clinical stage of disease, patients who were aged >70 years, had a higher comorbidity score, and had a pathologic complete response had lower odds of receiving adjuvant therapy. There was a 22-fold difference in the risk-adjusted rate of adjuvant therapy use among hospitals (3.1%-67.7%). Adjuvant therapy was associated with increased 5-year OS when controlled for patient factors, stage of disease, and pathologic response (hazard ratio, 0.65; 95% confidence interval, 0.59-0.71). The greatest survival benefit was noted among patients who achieved a pathologic complete response (hazard ratio, 0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-0.67). CONCLUSIONS: There is poor compliance to National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgery. Adjuvant therapy appears to be independently associated with improved OS regardless of stage of disease, pathologic response, and patient factors. The greatest survival benefit was observed in patients who were complete responders. Age and comorbidities were found to be significantly associated with nonreceipt of adjuvant therapy. Improved rehabilitation and physical conditioning may improve the odds of patients receiving adjuvant therapy. Cancer 2017;52-61. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: does chemotherapy work?

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) are rare well-differentiated neoplasms which can be functional or non-functional. They tend to have a worse prognosis than their counterpart carcinoid tumors. Current systemic treatment options for advanced, unresectable disease include somatostatin analogs, everolimus and sunitinib. Low response rates and toxicity profiles have, thus far, limited the widespread use of cytotoxic chemotherapy in this setting. In this update, we review three abstracts from the 2014 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium that present outcomes of the use of combination capecitabine and temozolomide in patients with advanced pNET. We summarize their results and discuss the role of this regimen in treatment algorithms for metastatic pNET.