Clinical Colorectal Cancer

BACKGROUND: It remains unclear whether radiation therapy (RT) has an impact on the development of secondary primary cancer (SC) in rectal cancer (RC) patients, especially within the true pelvis. AIM: To examine the incidence of SC in a population-based cohort of RC after surgical treatment with or without radiation therapy (RT, NRT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The epidemiological cohort consisting of 13,919 RC patients with primary M0 stage diagnosed between 1998 and 2019 was collected from cancer registry data of Upper Bavaria...

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) is the standard of care in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). However, radiation therapy is thought to increase operative difficulty due to induction of fibrosis. Total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) protocols increase the time between completion of radiation and surgical resection which may lead to increased operative difficulty and complications. METHODS: A single institution retrospective review of patients ≥18 years with LARC undergoing nCRT from 2015 to 2022...

In pulmonary oligometastases from colorectal cancer (POM-CRC), metastasectomy is the primarily recommended treatment. Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been suggested as a viable alternative therapy. SBRT efficacy for POM-CRC is poorly delineated compared to selected non-CRC primaries. This perspective article aims to critically summarize the existing evidence regarding efficacy of SBRT in terms of overall survival (OS) and local control (LC), and factors modulating this, in the treatment of POM-CRC...

BACKGROUND: In patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) treated with preoperative (chemo) radiotherapy and surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy is poorly feasible and its benefit is questionable. In the last years, several total neoadjuvant treatment (TNT) strategies, moving the adjuvant chemotherapy to the neoadjuvant setting, have been investigated with the aim of improving compliance to systemic chemotherapy, treating micrometastases earlier and then reducing distant recurrence...

INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in both genders and often presents as a metastatic, unresectable, or recurrent disease in early follow-up. It is uncertain the benefit of oxaliplatin-based palliative chemotherapy (CT) in the first line of treatment in patients with compromised performance status (PS), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 3 and 4. These patients are systematically excluded from clinical trials but may be treated in clinical practice...

BACKGROUND: Intensive surveillance of colon cancer by using the abdominopelvic computed tomography (AP-CT) is common in real world practice; however, it is still unclear whether high-frequency surveillance using AP-CT in patients with these risk factors is superior to that in the low-frequency surveillance. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 1803 patients with stage II-III colon cancer receiving curative surgery between January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2015...

BACKGROUND: For patients with initially unresectable colorectal liver metastasis (IU-CRLM) receiving conversion therapy, disease relapse after conversion hepatectomy is common. However, few studies have focused on the assessment and management of relapse following conversion hepatectomy for IU-CRLM. METHODS: In the retrospective cohort study, 255 patients with IU-CRLM received conversion therapy and underwent subsequent R0 resection. The treatment effects of repeated liver-directed treatment (RLDT) versus non-RLDT for liver relapse were examined...

INTRODUCTION: Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a rare, slow growing tumor, traditionally considered chemoresistant. The only curative approach is cytoreductive surgery (CRS) followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). At disease relapse, or in patients with inoperable disease at diagnosis, no standard treatment has been defined, though nonrandomized series showed promising results with fluoropyrimidine-based regimens. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective study in patients with relapsed or unresectable PMP and confirmed disease progression at baseline...

INTRODUCTION: Microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer (MSS mCRC) is largely refractory to immune checkpoint inhibition. We hypothesized that a combination of intratumoral TLR9 agonist, radiosurgery and dual PD-1 and CTLA-4 blockade would induce a local focus of immune stimulation, evoking a systemic immune response. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this phase I single-institution study, patients with MSS mCRC were treated with a priming dose of s.c vidutolimod, 3 intratumoral injections of vidutolimod and radiosurgery, combined with nivolumab and ipilimumab...

INTRODUCTION: The International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant Therapy (IDEA) collaboration in 2017 established 3 months of adjuvant therapy as an alternative to 6 months of therapy for stage III colon cancer. We determined the association between the IDEA publication, changes in clinical practice, and prescriber variation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using linked databases, we identified Ontarians aged ≥18 years at diagnosis of stage III colon cancer between 2007 and 2019 who received oxaliplatin-containing adjuvant therapy...

INTRODUCTION: Both quantitative and molecular changes in ctDNA can hold important information when treating metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), but its clinical utility is yet to be established. Before conducting a large-scale randomized trial, it is essential to test feasibility. This study investigates whether ctDNA is feasible for detecting patients who will benefit from treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors and the prognostic value of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) response...

Survival rates in early-stage rectal cancer patients have increased over the past few decades. Societies such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), American Cancer Society (ACS), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) have proposed guidelines related to cancer survivorship care including formal recommendations to address the needs in early-stage rectal cancer survivors. These guidelines, in addition to new clinical research findings in survivorship will be reviewed, specifically looking at physical, psychosocial, and financial concerns in rectal cancer survivorship...

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) preferentially affects older adults. Modifiable factors, such as anxiety, can be measured as part of cancer-specific geriatric assessments (GA) completed prior to the start of treatment. We hypothesized that anxiety is prevalent among older adults with CRC and is associated with increased depression, increased frailty, and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients ≥60 years old with newly diagnosed CRC completed a cancer-specific GA called the Cancer and Aging Resilience Evaluation (CARE)...

The number of colon cancer survivors in the United States is increasing due to improved early detection, better treatments that extend survival, and the growing aging population who are at high risk for cancer. Following initial active treatment, colon cancer survivors experience a wide range of long-term physical, psychological, and socio-economic effects that impact their overall well-being. Healthcare providers caring for survivors need to prioritize not only monitoring for cancer recurrence but also optimizing their overall health through addressing these long-term effects; managing their comorbidities; promoting healthy behaviors (like exercise, nutrition, and weight loss); and screening for a second primary cancer depending on their risk...

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is the standard treatment for advanced rectal cancer. Yet, the response to CRT varies from complete response to zero tumor regression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The impact of intratumoral budding (ITB) and intratumoral CD8+ cell density on response to CRT and survival were evaluated in biopsy samples from 266 patients with advanced rectal cancer who were treated with long-course neoadjuvant CRT. The expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers was compared between patients with high and low ITB, using data from 174 patients with RNA sequencing...

INTRODUCTION: Waiting until a person is very near end of life to discuss limited life expectancy risks lower goal-concordant care and increased utilization of medical interventions with lower likelihood of benefit at the end of life. Medical training on communication skills in serious illness often focuses on early and late conversations regarding prognosis, with no guidance on navigating the conversations occurring in the middle of the illness course. GOAL OF THE REVIEW: We propose a new framework for identifying and discussing prognosis at various points along the cancer course, as a continuum from beginning to end, that is prompted by changes in clinical status and number of available remaining cancer directed interventions...

Patients cope in different ways when living with an incurable cancer. These varied coping styles impact how oncology providers communicate with patients. If providers do not tailor communication with a general understanding of how a patient is coping, this risks miscommunication with the patient, inaccurate disease understanding, and suboptimal care. This review explores the spectrum of coping patterns that influence a patient's behaviors and communication with their oncology team throughout a cancer course...

BACKGROUND: Neither TP53 mutation nor DNA methylation status has been established as a biomarker alone of metastatic colorectal cancer. We analyzed the association between TP53 mutation functional subtypes and genome-wide DNA methylation status (GWMS) as combined prognostic markers. METHODS: Patient clinical data were obtained from the TRICOLORE study, a randomized phase III trial. The TP53 mutations were classified into wild-type, gain-of-function (GOF) mutations, and non-gain-of-function (non-GOF) mutations...

Upper gastrointestinal tract tumors historically have a poor prognosis. The decision to treat esophageal or gastric cancers by surgery, radiotherapy, systemic therapy, or a combination of these treatment modalities should always be discussed multidisciplinary. The introduction of immunotherapy has drastically transformed the treatment landscape of multiple solid malignancies. Emerging data from early and late phase clinical trials suggests that the use of immunotherapies that target immune checkpoint proteins such as PD-1/PD-L1 result in superior overall survival in advanced, metastatic, or recurrent esophageal and gastric cancer, whether or not with specific molecular characteristics such as PD-L1 expression level or microsatellite instability...

BACKGROUND: Patients with unresectable Colorectal Liver Metastases (CLM) receiving palliative chemotherapy have a 5-year overall survival (OS) of less than 30%. Liver transplantation (LT) can improve OS up to 60%-83% (SECA-I and SECA-II trials). The aim of the study is to assess the efficacy of LT in liver-only metastatic CRC compared with a matched cohort of patients included in a phase III trial on triplet chemotherapy + antiEGFR. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The COLT trial is an investigator-driven, multicenter, non-randomized, open-label, controlled, prospective, parallel trial (ClinicalTrials...