Medical Oncology
Physician insights on cancer treatment protocols, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, and clinical trial updates.
Recent Discussions
How would you apply the results of CheckMate 204 in an asymptomatic patient with 10-20 metastatic brain lesions on dual immunotherapy for melanoma?
The results of CheckMate 204 showed that systemic therapy with both nivolumab and ipilimumab has clinically meaningful efficacy in patients with asymptomatic, untreated melanoma metastases to the brain. In this phase 2 study, however, only 22% of the patients had 3 or more lesions. Nevertheless, int...
As consolidative thoracic radiation (cTRT) was prohibited on the seminal chemoimmunotherapy trials in ES-SCLC, how do you approach cTRT in practice?
There are two trials showing benefit for TRT for patients with ES-SCLC, one from Yugoslavia and one from the EORTC (though, the primary endpoint was not met). The Yugoslavian trial was not considered practice changing, while the EORTC study has made me consider adding TRT in certain patients, even w...
How would you approach a patient with recurrent grade 3 oligodendroglioma (MGMT-methylated, IDH mutant, 1p/19q co-deleted) 1 year after gross total resection and adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation?
There are multiple options to consider for the recurrence of grade 3 gliomas after prior chemotherapy or radiation. Regardless of whether or not the recurrence overlaps completely or partially with the prior treatment fields, options include systemic therapy (including IDH-targeted therapies for IDH...
What surveillance do you recommend for a patient with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma who had a complete clinical response to total neoadjuvant therapy and declines to undergo surgery?
It is important to watch these patients closely since ~15-20% will have local regrowth/recurrence that are salvageable (Dossa et al Lancet 2017). The OPRA trial, recently presented at ASCO 2020, included 324 patients treated with TNT regimens and WW if complete response. Organ preservation rates wer...
What initial systemic approach will you recommend for metastatic pMMR HER2- esophageal/GEJ/gastric adenocarcinoma with CPS of 0-4?
In such patients, OS does not differ between chemotherapy alone and chemotherapy plus immunotherapy, therefore chemotherapy alone would be an appropriate choice. There is no difference in terms of OS benefit between CPS <1% or CPS 1 to 4%. The benefit that immunotherapy adds to chemotherapy is sligh...
What high risk features for stage IB NSCLC would lead you to consider adjuvant chemotherapy?
Short answer is "no", I would not change practice based on the recently presented (ASCO) a non-randomized analysis of the potential benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with stage I NSCLC in Japan (Tsutani, et al. JCO 37(15S):457s, 2019; abst 8500). Many of these patients received UFT rath...
Do you continue to check tryptase levels in your patients with idiopathic anaphylaxis despite normal levels >5 on repeated checks?
Baseline serum tryptase levels have been reported to be quite stable in the vast majority of patients, but can vary more in people with HaT or mastocytosis. With a bST <8 ng/ml, there is no obvious reason to continue to check it. However, even with normal bST, the Practice Parameters recommend furth...
How do you handle hypogammaglobulinemia detected in patients prior to maintenance rituximab infusion?
That is a good question. Adding on to Dr. @Dr. First Last's response, rituximab has been shown to cause hypogammaglobulinemia that can persist or worsen with ongoing therapy. In a study published by Barmettler and colleagues, 133 patients out of a cohort of 8633 patients had serum IgG levels checked...
How do you handle hypogammaglobulinemia detected in patients prior to maintenance rituximab infusion?
That is a good question. Adding on to Dr. @Dr. First Last's response, rituximab has been shown to cause hypogammaglobulinemia that can persist or worsen with ongoing therapy. In a study published by Barmettler and colleagues, 133 patients out of a cohort of 8633 patients had serum IgG levels checked...
How would you manage T3N0M0 sarcomatoid carcinoma of the prostate with adenosquamous differentiation s/p prostatectomy?
Sarcomatoid prostate cancer is an aggressive histological subtype. It may be locally aggressive, and post-operative PSA monitoring may be less helpful for this histologic subtype, which interferes with the usual trigger for initiation of salvage RT (Grignon, PMID 14976541). Despite the lack of high-...