ASCO Audio Journal of Oncology – July 15th 2006

David Cunningham

Kenneth MacDonald

Mark Pomerantz

Jorge Garcia

REFERENCE: N Engl J Med 2006;355:11David Cunningham, Royal Marsden HospitalThe July 6th edition of the New England Journal of Medicine leads with an article from the Royal Marsden Hospital pointing to better survival rates among patients with gastric cancer who received perioperative chemotherapy as compared with those having surgery alone.David Cunninghamtells Peter Goodwin how the study (which took 16 years from design to publication) has provided clinicians with another option for extending life in gastric cancer.

REFERENCE: Abstract 4570Kenneth MacDonald, University of Utah, Salt Lake CityAt the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in AtlantaKenneth MacDonaldfrom the University of Utah in Salt Lake City explained to Sarah Maxwell how registry data has provided guidance that salvage radiotherapy for prostate-specific antigen relapse after radical prostatectomy may yield benefits in greater numbers of patients.

REFERENCE: Abstract 4560Mark Pomerantz, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, BostonThe same prostate cancer session of ASCO also heard fromMark Pomerantzof the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston that premarin – the hormonal therapy known for its use in women – may have value for treating men with androgen-dependent prostate cancer.

REFERENCE: Abstract 4564Jorge Garcia, Cleveland ClinicIn high-risk prostate cancer, neoadjuvant therapy with thalidomide plus granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor appears to be a candidate therapy to prepare some patients for radical prostatectomy by manipulating immunological factors reportedJorge Garciafrom the Cleveland Clinic during the ASCO conference in Atlanta.