Gastrointestinal Cancer

The NDA for Blueprint Medicines' agent avapritinib will be split into two separate submissions for patients with GIST.

Results from the randomized phase 3 POLO trial are in, and the quality of life data shows promise for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who harbor a germline BRCA gene mutation.

Popular noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test, Cologuard, recently received permission from the FDA to expand its test.

When one of your patients is diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer, it can be difficult for them to cope with their diagnosis. However, as their Oncology nurse, you can help guide them to reliable patient resources on stomach cancer, like Debbie’s Dream Foundation.

The frontline combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) showed a robust and durable clinical benefit in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) whose tumors are microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H)/mismatch repair deficient (dMMR)—a population with a historically poor prognosis, said Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP.

The FDA approved entrectinib for pediatric and adult patients with certain subtypes of solid tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer.

PARP inhibitors have shown success in breast and ovarian cancer, and now they may be moving into the pancreatic cancer paradigm, too.

Certain racial groups had a higher incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer, according to recent research.

After her sister passed away from hepatocellular carcinoma, Andrea Wilson started Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association.

At the 2019 Annual ASCO meeting in Chicago, Oncology Nursing News got the chance to speak with Martha Raymond, CEO and founder of the Raymond Foundation, and executive director at the GI Cancers Alliance.

The Food and Drug Administration approved bevacizumab-bvzr (Zirabev) – a biosimilar for bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer; unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic NSCLC; recurrent glioblastoma; metastatic renal cell carcinoma; and persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.

Pancreatic cancer mortality is on the rise compared with other gastrointestinal malignancies, spurring an abundance of novel treatment approaches to combat the disease.

Implementation of a referral tool designed to enhance family history screening during doctor’s visits may play a crucial role in identifying those at risk for cancer.

Maintenance therapy with olaparib (Lynparza) significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with placebo among patients with germline BRCA-mutated metastatic pancreatic cancer, according to results from the phase III POLO trial presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Healthcare providers should not base cancer care with immune checkpoint inhibitors on gender, according to recent study findings.

Trebek's current outcome could offer a source of hope for patients with pancreatic cancer, who typically have poor prognoses.

The broadcast journalist discusses how her colleagues rallied together when her husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

Investigators are working on expanding immunotherapy use for this patient population, and genetic testing will be more important than ever.

While Lynch syndrome may be more common than originally thought, research continues to move forward to improve the outcomes of this patient population.

The FDA approved ramucirumab (Cyramza) as a single-agent treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with an alpha fetoprotein (AFP) of ≥ 400 ng/mL and have been previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar).

Healthcare providers of all disciplines should work together to educate individuals about the symptoms of colorectal cancer.

Certain patients with colorectal cancer may see a cure thanks to new, tailored approaches.

Wells A. Messersmith, MD, co-director of the developmental therapeutics program at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, said work in this area is needed to fill the knowledge gaps in metastatic CRC, which has a 5-year survival rate of just 11%.

The FDA has granted an approval to PF-05280014 (Trazimera; trastuzumab-qyyp), a trastuzumab (Herceptin) biosimilar, to treat patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer as well as HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma

Alex Trebek, the long-time host of the popular game show Jeopardy!, announced that he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Many younger patients see more than one doctor and face misdiagnoses before being given a diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), according to recent research presented during a webcast ahead of the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting.

The Food and Drug Administration approved TAS-102 (Lonsurf; trifluridine/tipiracil) for the treatment of patients with pretreated metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma or gastroesophageal junction cancer.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was found to reduce the risk of death by 31% in patients with PD-L1–positive (combined positive score [CPS] ≥10) advanced or metastatic esophageal or esophageal junction carcinoma who progressed on standard therapy, according to phase III findings of the KEYNOTE-181 trial.

Patients with previously untreated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) lived twice as long if they responded to TKI therapy vs. patients who did not achieve an objective response.

Overall survival in metastatic gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer improved significantly with the use of TAS-102 combination therapy.