Curable metastatic colorectal cancer.

In the United States and Europe, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related death for men and women. In the course of their disease, many patients will present with metastasis, with the liver and lung being the most common locations. Untreated metastatic disease carries a poor prognosis. However, cure is still possible for selected patients with stage IV CRC. Surgical resection provides the best chance for cure, and chemotherapy can be a valuable adjunct when given in a (neo-)adjuvant fashion or as conversion therapy to downsize initially unresectable tumors. For unresectable metastases, alternative treatment options include radiofrequency ablation and hepatic artery infusion. Additional local therapies are being explored, including chemoembolization, radioembolization, and stereotactic body radiation therapy. Prospective randomized trials are needed to further clarify the roles of these novel treatment options in the clinician's repertoire for metastatic CRC.

Chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung carcinoma: from a blanket approach to individual therapy.

Only one third of patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) present with early-stage disease that is amenable to potentially curative resection and adjuvant therapy. Unfortunately, even in stage I NSCLC, 5-year survival rates are in the range of 55 to 72%. For unresectable disease in stages IIIB and IV, 5-year survival rates are < 5%. Postoperative chemotherapy (adjuvant chemotherapy) using cisplatin-based regimens has become the standard of care for resected stage II to IIIA NSCLC. However, adjuvant chemotherapy may be harmful in stage IA NSCLC, and its role for stage 1B is controversial. There are no conclusive data showing superiority of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (given prior to surgery) over adjuvant chemotherapy (given after surgery) or vice versa in early-stage NSCLC. Several emerging TARGETED therapy agents [e.g., inhibitors of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), or tyrosine kinase], and combination chemotherapy regimens are currently being evaluated in NSCLC. Specific patient subpopulation characteristics (including EGFR mutations) may be prognostically important to identify potential responders (or nonresponders) to therapy. This review will focus on chemotherapeutic approaches to treat both early stage (adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy) and metastatic disease including the use of maintenance therapy and novel agents.

Effectiveness of maintenance treatments for nonsmall cell lung cancer.

Maintenance therapy for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer has shown some clinical benefit for patients by improving progression-free survival and, to a lesser extent, overall survival. Two main strategies exist for maintenance therapy, ie, continuation and switch maintenance. Continuation maintenance involves the continued use of one of the induction drugs beyond 4-6 cycles of initial treatment. Switch maintenance utilizes a third agent initiated after first-line chemotherapy. Both cytotoxic agents and targeted agents have been studied. Switch maintenance therapy with pemetrexed in nonsquamous tumors and erlotinib appear to show the most clear clinical benefit. Continuation maintenance with bevacizumab has shown improvement in progression-free survival. Data concerning the role of cetuximab for maintenance is conflicting. Toxicity, quality of life, and cost are important confounding issues that need to be considered. Several ongoing Phase III trials are investigating strategies to improve on the current agents as well as testing promising new therapies.