BACKGROUND: The targeted therapy cetuximab [directed at the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)] in combination with 5-fluorouracil and platinum-based chemotherapy (the EXTREME regimen) has shown substantial efficacy for patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M SCCHN). Thus, this scheme has been established as the preferred first-line option for these patients. However, more recently, a new strategy combining platinum, taxanes, and cetuximab (the TPEx regimen) has demonstrated similar efficacy with a more favorable toxicity profile in clinical trials. AIM: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the TPEx scheme as first-line therapy in advanced SCCHN in a multicenter cohort study. METHODS: This retrospective multicenter cohort study included patients with histologically confirmed recurrent or metastatic SCCHN treated with first-line TPEx at five medical centers in Argentina between January 1, 2017 and April 31, 2020. Chemotherapy consisted of four cycles of docetaxel, cisplatin, and cetuximab followed by cetuximab maintenance therapy. Clinical outcomes and toxicity profiles were collected from medical charts. Treatment response was assessed by the investigator in accordance with Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (version 1.1). Adverse events were graded according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.0). RESULTS: Twenty-four patients were included. The median age at diagnosis was 58 years (range: 36-77 years). The majority of patients (83.3%) received at least four chemotherapy cycles in the initial phase. In the included group, the overall response rate was 62.5%, and 3 patients achieved a complete response (12.5%). The median time to response was 2.4 mo [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3-3.5]. With a median follow-up of 12.7 mo (95%CI: 8.8-16.6), the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.9 mo (95%CI: 6.5-7.3), and the overall survival rate at 12 mo was 82.4%. Patients with documented tumor response showed a better PFS than those with disease stabilization or progression [8.5 mo (95%CI: 5.5-11.5) and 4.5 mo (95%CI: 2.5-6.6), respectively; P = 0.042]. Regarding the safety analysis, two-thirds of patients reported at least one treatment-related adverse event, and 25% presented grade 3 toxicities. Of note, no patient experienced grade 4 adverse events. CONCLUSION: TPEx was an adequately tolerated regimen in our population, with low incidence of grade 3-4 adverse events. The median PFS were consistent with those in recent reports of clinical trials evaluating this treatment combination. This regimen may be considered an attractive therapeutic strategy due to its simplified administration, decreased total number of chemotherapy cycles, and treatment tolerability.
BACKGROUND: The role of the molecular tumour board (MTB) is to recommend personalised therapy for patients with cancer beyond standard-of-care treatment. A comprehensive molecular analysis of the tumour in a molecular pathology laboratory is important for all targeted therapies approaches. Here we report the 1-year experience of the Instituto Alexander Fleming Molecular Tumour Board. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The MTB of the Instituto Alexander Fleming was launched in December 2019 in a monthly meeting. In each interactive monthly session, five cases were presented and discussed by the members. These cases were referred by the treating oncologists. The MTB recommendations were sent to each physician individually, and to the rest of the meeting participants. This was discussed with the patients/families by the treating oncologist. The final decision to choose therapy was left to the treating physicians. Of the 32 patients presented at MTB, 28 (87.5%) had potentially actionable alterations and only 4 (12.5%) had no actionable mutation. Six (19%) patients received a local regulatory agency approved drug recommendation, nine (28%) patients received an off-label approval treatment recommendation and three (9%) patients did not receive the treatment due to access and reimbursement of the drug. CONCLUSION: In most of the cases evaluated, the MTB was able to provide treatment recommendations based on targetable genetic alterations. Molecular-guided extended personalised patient care is effective for a small but clinically significant proportion of patients in challenging clinical situations. We believe that the implementation of a MTB is feasible in the Latin America (LATAM) region.
La neoplasia sólida pseudopapilar de páncreas es una neoplasia maligna de bajo grado, relativamente poco frecuente, que representa entre 0.9 y 2.7 % de todas las neoplasias malignas pancreáticas. Afecta principalmente mujeres jóvenes (89 % de los casos), con una edad promedio al diagnóstico de 28 años. La mayoría presentan sintomatología inespecífica relacionada a una masa intrabdominal y más de un tercio suelen ser descubiertas incidentalmente. Presentamos dos casos (una paciente de 19 años de edad diagnosticada de una neoplasia localizada en cuerpo de páncreas y una paciente de 28 años con tumor en la cabeza, que correspondían a tumor de Frantz. Analizamos las características biológicas de estos tumores, sus formas de presentación y las pruebas complementarias recomendadas para su diagnóstico, así como una búsqueda en la literatura.
The solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas is a low-grade malignancy, relatively rare, representing between 0.9 and 2.7% of all pancreatic malignancies. It mainly affects young women (89% of cases), with a mean age at diagnosis of 28 years. Most have specific symptoms related to intra-abdominal mass and more than one third are usually discovered incidentally. We report two cases ( a 19-years-old woman diagnosed of a neoplasm in the tail and another 28 years old woman , with neoplasm in the head of the pancreas which could be classified as Frantzs tumor. We analyze the biological characteristics of these tumors, their forms of presentation and the recommended explorations for the diagnostic.
Female , Humans , Adult , Pancreatic Neoplasms/diagnosis , Pancreatic Neoplasms/surgery
