Benefit of Continuation of Low-Dose Imatinib for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors despite Adverse Events with Regular-Dose Imatinib.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as imatinib improve the prognosis of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). However, treatment options for GISTs are still limited, and the continuation of TKIs is difficult due to adverse events in some cases. The effectiveness of low-dose imatinib is unclear. We report 2 cases to show effectiveness of low-dose imatinib in patients with adverse events. The first case is a male in his early 60s with a history of intestinal GIST resection who was diagnosed with recurrent GIST with peritoneal dissemination. He was started on low-dose imatinib (300 mg) because of a history of subconjunctival hemorrhage after receiving postoperative imatinib. Follow-up contrast-enhanced ultrasonography revealed that the tumors had shrunk in size and number after 2 months of treatment with 300-mg imatinib. He continued this treatment and showed partial response for 8 months. The second case is a female in her late 70s with rectal GIST who was treated with imatinib 400 mg. Due to a severe skin lesion, she changed her treatment to sunitinib 2 months after initiation. However, new metastasis in the liver was confirmed after 4 months of administration of sunitinib. She underwent surgical esection of the rectal tumor to reduce the volume. After the surgery, low-dose imatinib (300 mg) with oral steroids was adopted. Follow-up confirmed the absence of recurrence at the rectum and no increase in hepatic tumor size for 18 months. Aggressive treatment with low-dose imatinib instead of discontinuation or alteration of treatment may benefit patients with unresectable and postoperative GISTs with sensible mutation to imatinib.

The relationship between peripheral neuropathy and efficacy in second-line chemotherapy for unresectable advanced gastric cancer: a prospective observational multicenter study protocol (IVY).

BACKGROUND: Paclitaxel is used in second-line conventional chemotherapies to manage patients with unresectable advanced gastric cancer (GC). Paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy is a known adverse event leading to treatment discontinuation. Additionally, oxaliplatin which causes irreversible peripheral neuropathy is now commonly used in first-line chemotherapy for advanced GC in Japan. Thus, examining the incidence of peripheral neuropathy with paclitaxel after oxaliplatin is necessary to improve the quality of life and outcomes of patients with advanced GC in the second-line treatment setting. METHODS: This prospective observational multicenter study, (which we named IVY study), will evaluate the degree of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) and the efficacy of second-line chemotherapy for unresectable advanced GC. A patient neurotoxicity questionnaire (PNQ) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity (FACT/GOG-Ntx) will be used to assess CIPN during the second-line treatment. The key eligibility criteria are as follows: 1) unresectable or recurrent GC histologically confirmed to be primary adenocarcinoma of the stomach, 2) age over 20 years, 3) Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score of 0-2, 4) written informed consent following full study information is provided to the patient, 5) progression or intolerance for first-line chemotherapy comprising fluorinated pyrimidine and platinum anticancer drugs (cisplatin or oxaliplatin) for advanced GC. 6) presence of evaluable lesions as confirmed using a computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging. A total of 200 patients is considered to be appropriate for inclusion in this study. DISCUSSION: The results of this study will provide some information on CIPN with the sequential usage of oxaliplatin as first-line chemotherapy to paclitaxel as second-line chemotherapy in clinical practice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial is registered in the University Hospital Medical Information Network's Clinical Trials Registry with the registration number UMIN000033376 (Registered 11 July 2018).

[Incidence of Catheter-Related Thrombosis in Patients with Long-Term Indwelling Central Venous Port Who Received Chemotherapies for Unresectable Advanced Digestive Cancers].

BACKGROUND: Most patients with unresectable advanced digestive cancers require placement of a fully implantable venous access port to facilitate safe delivery of anti-cancer drugs. Anti-VEGF therapies are commonly used even though they increase the risk of thrombosis. The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of radiologically confirmed catheter-related thrombosis(CRT)in patients with advanced digestive cancers. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 88 patients with advanced digestive cancers who had adapted implantable ports placed in our institution for chemotherapy. RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, 26 with gastric cancer, 12 with pancreatic cancer, 8 with esophageal cancer, and 3 with other cancers. During follow-up, 22 patients(25%)received anti-VEGF therapies, while 66 patients(75%)did not. Four out of 88 patients(4.5%)had asymptomatic CRT. The incidence of CRT was the same(4.5%)regardless of whether the patient received anti-VEGF therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with digestive cancers who had implantable venous access ports, the incidence of the CRT was 4.5% with no association with anti-VEGF therapies.

[Introduction].

Time has come when oncology has met immunology. Immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICIs)are being approved as standard cancer treatments, day by day. ICIs, however, have serious immune-related adverse events(irAEs)in a diverse manner, requiring the establishment of team-approach system to manage irAEs. Here, irAEs are summarized and their managements are discussed.

Clinical outcomes of women with ovarian metastases of colorectal cancer treated with oophorectomy with respect to their somatic mutation profiles.

We clarified the clinical prevalence of ovarian metastases from colorectal cancers (CRCs) in 296 female patients with CRC and evaluated clinical outcomes with relation to their mutational profiles, such as BRAF/KRAS mutation and microsatellite instability (MSI) status. The female CRCs were categorised into three subsets: CRCs with ovarian metastases [6.4% (n = 19), 5-year overall survival (OS) = 24.7%], CRCs with extra-ovarian metastases only [32.4% (n = 96), 5-year OS = 34.5%] and CRCs without any recurrence or metastasis [61.2% (n = 181), 5-year OS = 91.3%]. All patients with ovarian metastases underwent oophorectomy; of these, 9 who received preoperative chemotherapy had measurable metastases to extra-ovarian sites and the ovaries. Although 5 of 9 (56%) achieved partial response or complete response at extra-ovarian sites, no patient archived objective response at ovarian sites. Regarding the mutation profiles, in CRCs with extra-ovarian metastases only, the median survival time (MST) after initial treatments to progression to stage IV or recurrence was 13 [95% confidence interval (CI): 7-16 months] in BRAF-mutant and 34 months (95% CI: 22-58 months) in BRAF wild-type (P = 0.0033). Although ovarian metastases demonstrated poor response to systemic chemotherapy in CRCs with ovarian metastases, the MST after initial treatments to progression to stage IV or recurrence was 22 (95% CI: 21-25 months) in BRAF-mutant and 38 months (95% CI: 24-42 months) in BRAF wild-type (P = 0.0398). The outcomes of patients with ovarian metastases could be improved by oophorectomy regardless of their mutation profiles.