Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques to Reduce Mortality and Morbidity in Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the 4th major killer of the women worldwide. Despite primary and advanced medical care and awareness levels in most part of the developed worlds, the mortality remained very high till date.

If it is localized at the time of diagnosis, the five year survival rate would by 61% in UK and if it is in the metastatic, it guarantees only 44% survival rate. Chemotherapy, followed by the radio therapy is the usual treatment procedure for the cervical cancer. Yet it could not reduce the mortality and morbidity and it is leading to hematologic toxicity, the radiation is also affecting the health cells in the body.

Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) and image guided brachytherapy (IGBT) are the recent advancements, capable of strictly confining to the target area. Exciting therapeutic and pharmacological methods are ensuring the improved survival rates due to effective treatment procedures.

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Molecular Targets in Lung Cancer Therapy: A Current Review

Cancer incidence worldwide has been increasing over the years. Lung cancer (LC) is a disease with a poor prognosis once diagnosed. LC is the leading cause of death in men worldwide and the second cause of mortality in women . In Portugal, LC remains as the leading cause of deathdue cancer in men. 

LC origins from oncogenic alterations in tissues from the respiratory epithelium, namely in bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli. This cancer results from multiple morphological, molecular and genetic changes, leading to an accumulation of malignant cells. LC is mainly classified into two categories, according to its histological characteristics: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). NSCLC is categorized into three different categories, namely adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma.  Read More>>>>>>

Exceptional Therapeutic Outcome of Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumor with Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy with Brief Review of Literature

NETs are rare, heterogeneous group of neoplasm presented as chronic oncologic disease. Somatostatin analogue is the standard first line systemic therapy for mainly hormone control.

No standard second line systemic treatment is available except everolimus which has no reported complete response.

PRRT is an innovative molecular targeted treatment based on theragnostic concept for well differentiated NETs. We presented here a 63-year-old lady with grade 1 NET of rectum with lymphnodal and liver metastasis.

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Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping and Dissection in Patients with Endometrial Cancer

In developed countries, endometrial cancer (EC) is the most frequent cancer of the female reproductive system.

According to the recent recommendations and guidelines, systematic surgical staging represents the primary treatment of these patients.

However, the extent of this procedure should be carefully individualized according to the histological type and the patient’s general performance status.

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Personalized Medicine is the Key to Effective Cancer Treatment

Cancer is a disease involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or metastasize to other parts of the body. The most common types of cancer in males are lung cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and stomach cancer, and in females, the most common types are breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and cervical cancer.

In children, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and brain tumors are the most common types of cancer.

The risk of cancer increases significantly with age in addition to the many other risk factors such as the use of tobacco, obesity, lack of physical activity, environmental pollutants, viruses and many others.

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FG-3019, A Human Monoclonal Antibody to Connective Tissue Growth Factor, Combined with Chemotherapy in Patients with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is overexpressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and facilitates local desmoplasia, tumor progression and metastasis in animal models.

This study evaluated safety and initial efficacy of the anti-CTGF antibody FG-3019 in combination with gemcitabine and erlotinib in patients with previously untreated Stage III or Stage IV PDAC.

Eight escalating FG-3019 doses/regimens ranging from 3 to 45 mg/kg Q2W and 17.5 and 22.5 mg/kg QW were evaluated. Toxicity, tumor response by CA19.9 and CT scan RECIST criteria, progression-free and overall survival were assessed.

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Childhood Cancer Care in Developing Countries; Challenge

Dealing with children who have cancer in developing countries is a great human experience not only for the patient and the family but also for persons who are caring them.

The diagnosis of a child as a cancer case is really a great shock to all family members and it is a moment of a dramatic change in their life. First reaction is usually a combination of sadness and denial.

They will start a new style of life with a plenty of investigations, appointments and different treatments decisions and plans. Different negative emotional reactions are the classic feelings of the parents every time they meet the treating physician.

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Medico-legal Aspects of Delay in Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

As a capricious and heterogeneous disease breast cancer may be difficult to diagnose and despite being appropriately treated may relapse unexpectedly.

Governmental pressure to reduce waiting for women with breast cancer may lead some patients to suspect that very short delays may impact adversely on their prognosis. In this supercharged atmosphere of anxiety, communicational skills of breast surgeons may be constantly tested so that minor solecisms may translate into major patient dissatisfaction.

With this background it is unsurprising that more patients are turning to litigation in an attempt to obtain satisfaction for what they perceive as medical negligence.

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Review of Leakage from a Linear Accelerator and Its Side Effects on Cancer Patients

Radiation therapy using external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is playing an important role for effective treatment of all kinds of tumors.

Peripheral dose is the result of leakage and scatter from multileaf collimators devices (MLCs), counts for 2-10% of the maximum dose given to the patient, depending on the machine used and type of treatment.

The present review reveals that despite of the recent advancements in linear accelerators (LINAC) and MLC design and technology, the remaining small amount of leakage (peripheral dose) of these devices still has significant side effects on patient’s life span and quality of life after treatment.

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Squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) are second most common cutaneous malignancy. Exposure to ultraviolet rays remains the single most important etiological factor.

Although SCC can arise in unexposed areas these are typically associated with long standing ulcers and sinuses or immunosuppression. There are no randomized controlled trials on primary cutaneous SCC in general and in these rare subsites in particular.

There is no consensus on the management of these tumours particularly the role of prophylactic lymph node dissection and role of adjuvant radiotherapy.

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Spared Healthy Breast Tissue after Breast Conserving Surgery for Palpable Invasive Ductal Breast Carcinoma; US Guided Versus Traditional Palpation Guided Excision

Breast is still the commonest site of cancer in females. Breast Conserving Surgery is providing long term survival equal to that seen with mastectomy for early stage breast cancer.

The aim of the study was to compare between US guided versus Traditional palpation guided excision in Breast Conserving Surgery for palpable invasive ductal breast carcinoma regarding the volume of spared healthy breast tissue.

This prospective study was carried out on 40 consecutive female patients with early palpable invasive breast cancer. Patients are divided into two groups.

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Nestin: A Biomarker of Aggressive Uterine Cancers

Cancers of the uterine corpus are the most common gynecologic cancers in the United States with incidence and mortality increasing both in the United States of America and globally.

Validated biomarkers with prognostic, predictive, and/or theragnostic value will likely play a vital role in advancing assessments of risk and guiding clinical management decision making.

Nestin is a class VI intermediate filament protein that was first described as a neural stem marker and regulates the TGFβ (transforming growth factor beta) pathway. It plays a critical role in cancer cell migration, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis both in vitro and in vivo.

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Osteoblastic Changes During Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Treatment

Recently, we published an article reporting an example of the potential misinterpretation in the evaluation of osteoblastic changes during tyrosine-kinase inhibitor treatment in metastatic ALKrearranged non-small cell lung cancer.

Bone metastases are common in disseminated NSCLC, occurring in approximately 30% to 40% of patients. In the majority of cases, they present an osteolytic imaging pattern, even though osteoblastic or mixed-type patterns have also been reported in nearly 8% of cases. Generally, in the assessment of objective response to anticancer agents, bone metastases are classified as non-target lesions and therefore “not evaluable” for response.

However, according to the revised Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors guideline, the appearance of new non-target lesions, including lytic or osteoblastic bone metastases, is a criterion for defining progressive disease. Sometimes, the evaluation of bone lesion response may be challenging and misinterpreted.

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Accuracy of MRI for Prediction of Response to Neo-Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Compared to Other Molecular Types

The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of MRI for prediction of response to Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in Triple negative (TN) breast cancer, with respect to other molecular types.

There were a total of 1610 breast cancers diagnosed between March 2009 and August 2014, out of which 82 patients underwent MRI before and after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy but just before surgery.

Triple negative cancers were analysed with respect to others subtypes. Accuracy of MRI for prediction of pathological complete response was compared between different subtypes, by obtaining ROC curves.

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Effective Personalized Treatment of Advanced Hepatic Carcinoma based on Sorafenib

Hepatic carcinoma (HCC) has rised in China because of hepatitis B virus(HBV) effection, it has been famous for devastating malignancy as well as little treatment effect for HCC Sorafenib, has been successfully applied for solid tumors such as renal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma.

Sorafenib used alone or combination with others can induce growth-inhibition and apoptosis in vitro experiment. Sorafenib now was suggested to advanced hepatic carcinoma patient unqualitied for hepatectomy and transplant.

A team of advanced hepatic carcinoma patients were enrolled for Sorafenib monotherapy or combination with HIAC,TACE, systemtic chemotherapy with arsenic trioxide and octreotide on base of personal disease progress CT and level of AFP were used to assess the tumor effect for decision of next treatment plan, An individualization treatment plan was performed ultimately.

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The Era of Individualized Medicine in Cancer

Treatment strategies mostly based on chemoradiotherapy are not efficient for a number of cancer patients. Moreover, targeted therapy has been shown to confer benefits, in some cancer types, for only a subset of patients.

Therefore, there is a consensus among scientists and the medical community that the molecular information of a particular tumor is necessary to support clinical decisions even if considering the limited list of drugs available.

Despite the advances in the development of targeted and immunotherapies, improvement of response also rely on interpretation of tumor profile.

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Childhood Cancer Care in Developing Countries; Challenge

Dealing with children who have cancer in developing countries is a great human experience not only for the patient and the family but also for persons who are caring them.

The diagnosis of a child as a cancer case is really a great shock to all family members and it is a moment of a dramatic change in their life. First reaction is usually a combination of sadness and denial.

They will start a new style of life with a plenty of investigations, appointments and different treatments decisions and plans. Different negative emotional reactions are the classic feelings of the parents every time they meet the treating physician.