"Baseline physical functioning status of metastatic colorectal cancer patients predicts the overall survival but not the activity of a front-line oxaliplatin-fluoropyrimidine doublet"

BACKGROUND: No differences in response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and quality of life (QoL) were seen in patients randomly treated with biweekly oxaliplatin plus either fluorouracil/folinic acid or capecitabine. METHODS: We investigated the independent effect of baseline clinical characteristics and physical functioning (PF) domain on RR, PFS, and OS in 310 patients who completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Multivariate analyses stratified by treatment were performed. An exploratory analysis was done by grouping patients with a PF score superior or equal to the highest quartile (n = 111), included between the highest and the lowest quartiles (n = …

“Bevacizumab (Bev) with irinotecan (IRI), folinic acid (FA), and 5-fluorouracil (FU) i.v. every 2 weeks (BIFF regimen) as first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC) patients (pts): an observational study of the Southern Italy Cooperative Oncology Group (SICOG)”

Oncogeriatry: Communication, sharing, coordination of an emerging reality. The IIIrd Official Meeting of the AIOM Working Group on Oncogeriatry

The clinical management of the oncological elderly patient represents one of the most important challenges for today's oncology and, above all, for the future. The number of elderly patients with neoplastic pathologies is destined to increase proportionally to the duration of life and therefore a correct management of their conditions becomes an element of priority from the scientific and economic point of view. Close relationships and collaborations between Oncologist and Geriatrics are definitely desirable to be able to guarantee the best way for a good treatment (specific and of support) of these elderly patients. The components of the AIOM Working Group on Oncogeriatry have gathered the…

“Bevacizumab (BEV),irinotecan (IRI), folinic acid (FA) and fluorouracil (FU) every 2 weeks (BIFF regimen) as first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC) patients (pts): the Southern Italy Cooperative Oncology Group (SICOG) experience”

Italian Survey on adjuvant treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (ISA)

Background: A recent pooled analysis of randomized trials indicated significant improvement in overall survival from cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), depending on disease stage (only in stages II and III) and PS (≤1). Post-operative radiotherapy (RT) is optional for pN2 tumours. Patients and methods: To evaluate opinions and daily clinical practice of Italian Oncologists about adjuvant treatment of NSCLC, a 46-item questionnaire was delivered via e-mail. Results: Seventy-eight physicians from 68 Centers (out of 98 contacted) returned their questionnaire. Seventy-four, 86, 94, and 78% of them give the indication for adjuvant chemotherapy for stage…