There is new evidence that initiating palliative care consults in the ED results in shorter hospital lengths of stay (LOS).
In a Phase 2 study, Ahmadi and colleagues demonstrate reasonably high response rates in rituximab-resistant indolent lymphoma patients sequentially treated with lenalidomide/dexamethasone (Part 1; 2 monthly cycles) followed by lenalidomide/dexamethasone + weekly rituximab (Part 2; 3 monthly cycles).
Patients with progressive advanced esophagogastric adenocarcinoma treated with docetaxel in addition to active symptom control (ASC) survived 44% longer than those who received ASC alone.
In a Phase 2 trial, Ludwig and colleagues present data on 79 patients with relapsed or refractory myeloma who were treated with bendamustine in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone.
In a Phase 3, randomized clinical trial of primary systemic therapy for patients with early, locally advanced breast cancer, the addition of capecitabine to each of six 3-weekly cycles of epirubicin-docetaxel resulted in a 1.64 fold increase in the possibility of primary tumor pathologic complete response.
The association between oral contraceptive use and ovarian or breast cancer in BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers are qualitatively similar to associations reported in the general population.
