Gefitinib and celecoxib in advanced metastatic gastrointestinal tumors: a pilot feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: This pilot, open-label study examined the safety and tolerability (primary objective) and efficacy (secondary objective) of gefitinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in combination with celecoxib, a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, in patients with advanced or refractory gastrointestinal (GI) tumors of epithelial origin. METHODS: Patients were administered gefitinib (250 mg/day) plus celecoxib (400 mg twice daily). In the event of toxicity, dose interruptions were permitted and a single celecoxib dose reduction was allowed. RESULTS: Thirty patients (median age 60 years) with primary colorectal (25 patients), pancreatic (3 patients), esophageal (1 patient), or gall bladder (1 patient) tumors were recruited, 29 of whom had received prior chemotherapy. Adverse events (AEs) were generally mild and consisted mainly of acne, diarrhea, and nausea. Few severe AEs were noted. There were no withdrawals or deaths due to AEs. Dose reductions for celecoxib were reported for five patients, in three cases due to toxicity. Stable disease was confirmed in 12 patients (40%), with progressive disease in 18 patients (60%). CONCLUSIONS: After study completion, safety issues relating to the long-term use of COX-2 inhibitors have been raised. However, in this pilot study, the combination of gefitinib and celecoxib was generally well tolerated in patients with advanced GI cancer.

Biweekly gemcitabine-paclitaxel, gemcitabine-carboplatin, or gemcitabine-cisplatin as first-line treatment in metastatic breast cancer after anthracycline failure: a phase II randomized selection trial.

BACKGROUND: The primary objective of this multicenter, open-label, randomized, parallel, phase II selection trial was to compare the objective tumor response to biweekly (every 2 weeks) gemcitabine/paclitaxel, gemcitabine/carboplatin, and gemcitabine/cisplatin as first-line treatment for metastatic breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible patients with stage IV disease who relapsed after anthracycline failure were randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to gemcitabine (2,500 mg/m2) plus paclitaxel 150 mg/m2 (n = 49); plus carboplatin, area under the curve = 2.5 mg/mL × min (n = 47); or plus cisplatin 50 mg/m2 (n = 51). Study therapy continued up until a maximum of 8 cycles and follow-up continued for 24 months. RESULTS: All patients were analyzed for efficacy and one patient was excluded from the safety analyses. The objective response was 26.5% [95% confidence interval (CI) 14.9-41.1] for gemcitabine/paclitaxel, 17.0% (95% CI 7.6-30.8) for gemcitabine/carboplatin, and 15.7% (95% CI 7.0-28.6) for gemcitabine/cisplatin. The adjusted odds ratio for tumor response was 0.33 (95% CI 0.10-1.06), P = 0.063 for gemcitabine/carboplatin versus gemcitabine/paclitaxel; 0.26 (95% CI 0.08-0.86), P = 0.027 for gemcitabine/cisplatin versus gemcitabine/paclitaxel; and 0.77 (95% CI 0.24-2.52), P = 0.671 for gemcitabine/cisplatin versus gemcitabine/carboplatin. There were no significant differences in overall survival or progression-free survival (P > 0.05). Grade 3 or 4 drug-related adverse events varied between groups and the majority of deaths (94.9%; 74/78) were related to disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: The gemcitabine-based treatments had comparable activity and tolerability. Similar survival characteristics and different toxicity profiles suggested that gemcitabine-platinum may be evaluated further in patients after anthracycline failure.

Metotrexato intratecal em carcinomatose do sistema nervoso: apresentaçäo de caso / Intrathecal methotrexate in carcinomatosis of nervous system: case report

É apresentado caso de paciente com metástase de adenocarcinoma no sistema nervoso, que com tratamento intratecal com metotrexato teve regressäo total dos sintomas neurológicos e normalizaçäo do líquido cefalorraquidiano

Tumores de células germinativas extratesticulares / Extragonadal germ cell tumours

Estes tumores constituem neoplasias raras e de origem controversa. Entre as teorias que tentam justificar o seu aparecimento destacam-se a do desenvolvimento a partir de restos de células germinativas e a de metástases de microtumores testiculares. Na propedêutica destas lesöes é de grande importância a ultra-sonografia escrotal visando excluir foco tumoral primário, e a quimioterapia sistêmica constitui a principal medida terapêutica com altos índices de remissäo. Neste estudo foram revistos quatro casos sendo três seminomas que tiveram evoluçäo satisfatória e um misto que näo respondeu ao tratamento, falecendo após cinco meses