The prognostic impact of additional intrathoracic findings in patients with cancer-related pulmonary embolism

Aim. To assess the prevalence and prognostic significance of additional intrathoracic findings (AIFs) in patients with cancer and pulmonary embolism (PE). AIFs were considered alterations other than the characteristic ones intrinsic to PE or changes in cardiovascular morphology. Methods. Subjects have been taken from a Spanish national multidisciplinary and multicenter study of PE and cancer who were treated between 2004 and 2015. The endpoint was the appearance of serious complications or death within 15 days. Results. The registry contains 1024 eligible patients; 41% diagnosed by computed tomography pulmonary angiography versus 59% by non-angiographic CT. Serious complications occurred within 15 days in 18.9%, [95% confidence interval (CI), 16.6-21.4%] and 9.5% (95% CI 7.9-11.5%) died. At least one AIF was seen in 72.6%. The most common AIFs were as follows: pulmonary nodules (30.9%), pleural effusion (30.2%), tumor progression (28.3%), atelectasis (19.0%), pulmonary infarct (15.2%), emphysema (13.4%), pulmonary lymphangitic carcinomatosis (4.5%), and pneumonia (6.1%). Patients with AIF exhibited a higher complication rate at 15 days: 21.9% versus 13.0%, odds ratio (OR) 1.8 (95% CI 1.2-2.8), P = 0.03, and 15-day mortality: 15.0% versus 7.3%, OR 1.9 (95% CI 1.1-3.2), P = 0.020. Patients with pneumonia, pneumothorax, pulmonary edema, pulmonary nodules, tumor progression, pulmonary fibrosis, and pleural effusion showed an excess of adverse events. Conclusions. Additional intrathoracic findings are highly prevalent and significantly impact prognosis in patients with PE and cancer, making them germane to the classification of this population (AU)

No disponible

Gemcitabine plus capecitabine (Gem–Cape) biweekly in chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer

Purpose: A proportion of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) are still able to continue with active therapy after their progression to fluoropyrimidines, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan regimens. Studies suggest that gemcitabine and fluoropyrimidines are synergic antimetabolites. The purpose was to evaluate gemcitabine–capecitabine (Gem–Cape) in heavily pretreated mCRC and to thus assess possible predictive factors for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Patients and methods: This analysis was performed on 119 evaluable patients pretreated with fluoropyrimidines, oxaliplatin, irinotecan, and biological agents between June 2001 and July 2011. Patients received gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 day 1 and capecitabine 1,000 mg/m2 bid for 7 days every 2 weeks. Results: The general characteristics were ECOG 0–1, 89 %; male, 68 %, and median age 63 years. In total, 61 % had received two chemotherapy lines, while 39 % had received three or more. Objective response rates and stable disease rates at 3 months were 6.72 and 37.81 %, equalling a clinical benefit of 44.53 %. The median PFS and OS were 2.87 months [95 % confidence interval (CI) 2.53–3.17 months] and 6.53 months (95 % CI 5.33–8.77), respectively. The most frequent toxicities were grades 1–2, anemia (22 %), thrombocytopenia (10 %), and hand–foot syndrome (9 %); grade ≥3, diarrhea (2 %), with no treatment-related discontinuations. No treatment-related deaths were reported. Statistical significance was obtained by subgroups, assessing clinical benefits and objective responses for PFS and OS. Moreover, patients under 65 tended to have a better PFS. Conclusion: These data suggest that Gem–Cape is a tolerable and feasible regimen, associated with clinical benefit in non-selected, heavily pretreated, mCRC patients (AU)

No disponible

Erratum to: Gemcitabine plus capecitabine (Gem–Cape) biweekly in chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer

No disponible