Just say Hi from ASCO 2012

Thanks for the update Percy and thanks for being there.  I too hope you have some relaxation time.  Say hi to Marion and give her a big hug from me.

Darla

Thanks for your update. Looking forward to hearing everything you learned.
God bless you.
Jtoro

Hi,
You are welcome my friends, Lainy and Gavin.

In a conversation with the poster presenter of the "FINAL analysis of the BINGO trial "( GEMOX+ cetuximab ,the study that claimed > 60% in PFS) , a stunning surprise to me at least is that , he indicated that the final result is a " NO GO" in his own words. That means GEMOX+cetuximab  is no better than GEMOX alone.( actually IT  is about a month longer in PFS compared to GEMOX alone)
He told me at least for now, he will not spend another five millions dollars or euro(the study was done in France.) on it again.I will report more later .
God bless.

Hi,everyone,
Before I forget :
1. For tumor < 3 cm, RFA is as effective as resection if location of the tumor permit to do so.
2. If everything are equal,the effectiveness  of radioembolization  and chemoembolization  are similar  in general. Most likely will be determined by the institution which the procedure is the practice of that institution.
3. There are no FDA approval of targeted therapy for biliary cancer as of now.Most of the targeted agents are for " off label use" or in clinical trials.
4. Be sure to choose a multidisciplinary team to treat CCA.(that means before treat plans started, it shall include medical,radiation oncologists as well as GI doctor specialized in liver surgery and interventional oncologists.
5. The PET SCAN result suggested by the presenter indicated that besides to have intra and inter institutional cross calibration to standardize the PET imaging technique so every institution will be on the same page when reading the PET scan from different institutions.Also consistent imaging technique such as daily quality control and machine calibration should be performed. Before the PET scan,patient must not eat  6 hour at least prior to scan;the blood sugar level must be <150 and the kidney function as measured by the creatinine level should be<2.0.
it also depends on the injection technique  to avoid  minor potential of misreading the result due to problems such as injection infiltration of the FDG ;forget to measure each time your height and weight and make sure you are fasting at least 6hours before the PET scan,(my suggestion is that use the same radiation  technician if possible to do your PET scan each time and watch whether the above minimum requirement is done or not.) This way ,you can avoid the pitfall of the incorrect PET SUV reading as much as 4-10% in difference. In general, PET scan is about 40% less radiation you will received as compare to a CAT scan of the chest,abdomen and pelvis.
6. HEAT above 60 degree C can always destroy  and kill the cancer without doubt. I was told by an intervention radiologist in his presentation.( Ie:using RFA or microwave,by the way using microwave seems to have a larger penetration effects to the surrounding outer boundary of the tumor, that is good- that means it will be left with a wider margin surrounding the the tumor treated site.)
7. Consider quality of life for older patient( That is 75 or older)and have existed pre-conditions like hypertension and lung and kidney disease.
8. Effective Targeted therapy treatment is still a long way to go,but gain a lot of momentum ; according to the presenter about micro environment of the cancer, that is his prediction that some thing on the horizon will be come out and therefore ,everyone please hang in there until they arrived.
9. They are no adjuvant  chemotherapy that is successful in treating HCC.

God bless.

Hi, everyone,
This is about chemo or targeted agents taken by mouth.(oral) but if you want to do it as the article sugggested;make sure you consult with the doctor first: My guest is that the oncologists will say no more than they will say yes.

http://chicago2012.asco.org/ASCODailyNe … sting.aspx

God bless.

Thanks for this Percy. I hope you won't mind if I take some of the links that you post here and I'll repost some of them over on our Facebook page so that people over there can read them as well.

Now go and put your feet up, relax and have a cold drink! Well deserved after all of your hard work at ASCO!!!

Take care,

Gavin

Hi,everyone,
Here is what I get from the presentation title " Treatment of biliary tract and Gallbladder Cancer" by Dr. Jordan Berlin MD.
There are about 7,500-8,000 new cases per year. ( I believed he means in the States,but I am not 100% sure.)

Currently Gemzar+the platins(cisplatin,Oxaliplatin and Carpoplatin) provide the highest response rate(RR=22-48%);time to disease progress(TTP 7-13months) and overall survival(OS=7-13months).

A 5FU pooled analysis shown  RR=22.6%;TTP=4.1 months & OS=8.2months.

Other chemo agents like irinotecan and  the Taxanes (ie: docetaxel,  Paclitaxel) ;the RR=20%;TTP=6months and OS=8months for a study done for docetaxel involved 25 patients; and there were no RR in a study done for Paclitaxel which involved only 15 patients.
He indicated that there may be  biological and pathological differences  in biliary cancers; and  we are near the limit of where the cytoxic agents can do(ie: traditional chemo agents. );therefore we have look beyond the cytoxics and into the targeted therapies.

For target therapies,we have to look at the pathways first in order to determine where to start ;biliary cancer is a rare cancer and therefore it may be impossible to test every pathways to find new drugs;so we have to choose the pathways wisely. Currently there are  overexpression  in biliary cancer in MAP kinase pathways like EGFR;C-met(ICC=20% overpressed and ECC=16%);Kras mutation is about 50% in ECC and less in other sites.
Erlotinib(single agent study,42patients,RR=7%,17% of patients is PFS=6months ,benefit is modest at best) , cetuximab and panitumumab are EGFR inhibitor examples under study too.
MEK pathway is another pathway. In a study involved 28 patients ,using  Selumetinib as a SINGLE agent in the 28 pts study;RR=12% PFS=3.7month and OS=9.8months; another MEK inhibitor under study is MEK 162 in phase I.
Other pathways are BRAF,PI3kinase;TGF beta etc. currently studies are in development to explore these pathways in order to search for new drugs to combat the biliary cancer;but due to the fact that there are biological and pathological differences in biliary cancer(ie:ICC vs ECC);we should approach the problems by targeting on different tumor sites, the disease as well as targeting the mutations.
Cell cycling is another pathway since our body cells are cycling all the time,and that is why it is dangerous since the cells keep growing.Examples of the cell cycling factors are p27,BcI2.p53 etc. the abnormality are different by site(ie: ICC,distal,Hilar). the agents that potentially useful are WEE1,CHK1etc.
The site of recurrence of biliary cancer in ICC patients : intrahepatic =54%; extrahepatic=24% and Intra+Extra =22%. Overall the recurrence rate is >75%.

Conclusions: The future belong to targeted therapy;currently chemotherapy is still the standard of biliary treatment . The Level 1 evidence standard treatment  is GEM/CIS.  In treating biliary cancer,we have to target the disease as well as the mutations in research and treatment of biliary disease.

Adjuvant  therapies provide NO definitive evidence that will benefit the  patients.It depends on the site of the Primary(ie:ICC,Hilar or distal).
It is  possible that adjuvant treatment like radiation will have differential effect depending on site of the primary
God bless

Hi,
Thanks ,Eli.

BTW, before I forget, here are the key points for those who are interested .
1. There Is no definitive evidence of adjuvant therapy benefit; differential effects and benefits depend on location or site of the primary.
2. For hand foot and skin side effect,apply 10% urea cream at the beginning of the therapy,but not when symptoms occur,will delay the occurrence and severity of the problem.
3. For liver tumor< 3 cm,RFA Or microwave treatment and/or combine with TACE will provide the same benefit of resection. Remember heat kills all cancer (>60C).
4. For liver tumor>5cm or multiple tumors,  the standard treatment is chemoembolization (TACE). Alternative will be bead elute TACE or radioembolization .For RFA,TACE,and other interventional radiation,the choice of local expertise are highly adviced.
5. For systemic therapy, Sorafenib is the only approval targeted agent to treat liver cancer and the single agent use of it has modest benefit at best.
due to the disappointed result of the BINGO trial,(GEMOX+cetuximab vs GEMOX alone) and the result of another trial using panitumumab foe treating colon  cancer has failed the study; safety use of those 2 agents had been in question. It may do more harm than good according to one presenter.
6. The difficulty in using the targeted agents for treatment of diseases is that,they can be effective at first, but during the course of treatment, the agents may start to  mutate , the original pathway the agents intend to use for is no longer works to inhibit the growth of the tumor; or because of the pathway is effectively block by the targeted agents and stop the growth of the tumor, the tumor may  reprogram itself and opens up another new pathway  or developes new steps in the same pathway to bypass and continue to grow.( it just like when you are in traffic and when you notice trouble ahead of the highway,you will find another ways to get around the road block and keep going.) and therefore render the targeted agent ineffective.
7. The use of combined agents therapy is better than single agent  mono therapy (ie:GEM/CIS is better than Gemzar alone.) in general.
8. Quality of life for older cancer  patient  should always be considered especially when patient has other kinds of medical problem pre-existed.
God bless