Podcasts about resected

Designed with the help of artificial intelligence to recognize multiple genetic features of each patient's tumor, a small clinical trial of a personalized therapeutic vaccine has shown durable tumor-specific immune responses in patients with surgically resected HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell cancer. The vaccine also prevented relapse in some patients. At the AACR Annual Meeting 2024, Olivier Lantz, MD, PhD, Head of the Clinical Immunology Laboratory at the Institut Curie Hospital in Paris, reported data using a “neoantigen-based vaccine” specifically designed to recognize multiple genetic features unique to each patient's tumor. During the conference, Lantz called into the OncTimesTalk studio to tell Peter Goodwin about the clinical options that could develop from such highly personalized vaccines.

In the wake of the FDA's approval of alectinib for resected non-small cell lung cancer, Lung Cancer Considered host Dr. Narjust Florez and Dr. Benjamen Solomon discuss this development and take a deeper look at the ALINA trial, which played an important role in the drug's approval.

Full article: https://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.23.30504  Shruti Kumar, MD study that investigates the outcomes of patients with pure ground-glass nodules, heterogeneous ground-glass nodules, and part-solid nodules. It shows that pure ground-glass nodules have better surgical outcomes and may be monitored noninvasively, whereas nodules with increased density may need surgery. 

Dr Weber discusses the FDA approval of adjuvant nivolumab for patients with completely resected stage IIB/C melanoma, key efficacy data from the CheckMate76K trial, and potential future directions for PD-1 inhibitor–based combinations in the melanoma treatment paradigm.

Please visit answersincme.com/VET860 to participate, download slides and supporting materials, complete the post test, and obtain credit. In this activity, experts in oncology discuss the use of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with early-stage non–small-cell lung cancer. Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Describe the rationale for adjuvant immunotherapy in patients with early-stage non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following surgery and chemotherapy; Review the clinical profiles of approved and emerging adjuvant immunotherapy regimens in early-stage NSCLC; and Outline factors that optimize integration of adjuvant immunotherapy regimens for early-stage NSCLC into clinical practice.

CME credits: 1.00 Valid until: 17-07-2024 Claim your CME credit at https://reachmd.com/programs/cme/which-resected-stage-ii-melanoma-patients-benefit-from-adjuvant-ici-therapy/15779/ This program is designed to improve clinicians' knowledge of the latest clinical trial data surrounding the use of immunotherapy for the adjuvant treatment of patients with melanoma. The program addresses clinical challenges faced by oncologists/surgeons, including selecting appropriate patients, determining optimal treatment schedules and dosing, and managing toxicity.

Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh invites Dr. Todd Scarbrough for a #MedEd special on the once controversial topic of adjuvant radiotherapy for resected N2 non-small lung cancer. Should we listen to the science or is  it an... ART?Here are some papers that were discussed during the show:Lally et al. SEER studyPORT Meta-analysis ANITA PORT sub-studyThe LungART trial The PORT-C trialPodcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Paolo Antonio Ascierto, MD - Emerging Data on Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Resected Melanoma: What Changes?

Paolo Antonio Ascierto, MD - Emerging Data on Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Resected Melanoma: What Changes?

Paolo Antonio Ascierto, MD - Emerging Data on Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Resected Melanoma: What Changes?

Paolo Antonio Ascierto, MD - Emerging Data on Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Resected Melanoma: What Changes?

CME credits: 0.75 Valid until: 30-09-2023 Claim your CME credit at https://reachmd.com/programs/cme/neoadjvuant-versus-adjuvant-pembrolizumab-for-resected-stage-iii-iv-melanoma-swog-s1801/14452/ tbd

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.09.07.506982v1?rss=1 Authors: Garza, R., Sharma, Y., Atacho, D., Hamdeh, S. A., Jonsson, M. E., Ingelsson, M., Jern, P., Hammell, M. G., Englund, E., Jakobsson, J., Marklund, N. Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of persistent functional brain impairment and results in a robust, but poorly understood, neuroinflammatory response that contributes to the long-term pathology. Here, we used single-nuclei RNA-sequencing to study transcriptomic changes in different cell populations from human brain tissue obtained acutely after severe, life-threatening TBI. We found a unique transcriptional response in several cell types, including the activation of an interferon response in oligodendrocytes coupled with the transcriptional activation of MHC-class I and class II related genes. Thus, oligodendrocytes undergo a transformation to an immune-like cell state immediately after TBI, indicating an important role for these cells in the initiation of neuroinflammation. Notably, the activation of immune-related genes correlated with the expression of endogenous retroviruses in oligodendrocytes, linking these ancient viral sequences to neuroinflammation. In summary, this work provides a unique insight into the initiating events of the neuroinflammatory response in TBI, which has new therapeutic implications. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by PaperPlayer

Adjuvant Therapy for Patients With Resected Melanoma: Finessing Care to Improve Survival in High-Risk Patients

An interview with Dr. Mark Kris from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, author on “Adjuvant Systemic Therapy and Adjuvant Radiation Therapy for Stage I to IIIA Completely Resected NSCLC: ASCO Guideline Rapid Recommendation Update.” Dr. Kris discusses the results and impact of two recently published RCTs, and the updated recommendations on the use of osimertinib and atezolizumab. For more information, visit, www.asco.org/thoracic-cancer-guidelines.

5hats the love reserection by angels --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Opdivo (nivolumab) for patients w/ resected esophageal/GEJ cancer w/ residual pathologic disease who have received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy & Rybrevant (amivantamab-vmjw) for adult patients with locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC w/ epidermal growth factor receptor exon 20 insertion mutations

On today's episode, we have a short monologue for you on the recent CheckMate 577 study that was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The title of the paper is "Adjuvant Nivolumab in Resected Esophageal or Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer". CheckMate 577: doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2032125 Back us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/plenarysession Check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUibd0E2kdF9N9e-EmIbUew

Interview with Douglas B. Johnson, MD, author of Chronic Immune-Related Adverse Events Following Adjuvant Anti–PD-1 Therapy for High-risk Resected Melanoma

Interview with Douglas B. Johnson, MD, author of Chronic Immune-Related Adverse Events Following Adjuvant Anti–PD-1 Therapy for High-risk Resected Melanoma

Faculty panel moderated by Dr. Daniel Tan discusses the latest data on adjuvant use of EGFR TKIs in early-stage NSCLC. Earn Credit / Learning Objectives & Disclosures: https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/940688?src=mkm_podcast_addon_940688

This Beat episode, featuring Joel Dunning, cardiothoracic surgeon at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, UK, as the host, discusses:if the tide is turning on EXCEL and the European guidelinesa meta-analysis of percutaneous interventions with coronary bypass surgerya document on the triage and management of aortic emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemicosimertinib in positive resected cancer

TRANSCRIPT The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast series. My name is Shannon McKernin, and today I'm interviewing Dr. Rachna Shroff from the University of Arizona Cancer Center, lead author on "Adjuvant Therapy for Resected Biliary Tract Cancer: ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline." Thank you for being here today, Dr. Shroff. Thank you so much for having me. So what does this guideline recommend? This is a guideline that is basically looking at the role of post-operative therapy in patients who undergo surgical resection for biliary tract cancers. Biliary tract cancers are a somewhat heterogeneous group of malignancies that include intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and gall bladder cancer. And so the question always in most cancers are, if you are able to undergo surgical and curative treatment, is there a role for post-operative chemotherapy or radiation therapy to help improve the chance of cure and decrease the risk of recurrence? So that is exactly what we investigated as an expert panel. So our recommendations are actually twofold. The first one is that we are clearly recommending that patients with resected biliary tract cancer should be offered adjuvant chemotherapy with capecitabine for a total of six months. Within that recommendation, we do acknowledge that this is based on the BILCAP phase III randomized controlled trial and that there was a specific dosing and treatment schedule that was done in that study, but that we are allowing for institutional and regional variances that we've noted in terms of dosing of capecitabine. And so as a result, we're recommending adjuvant capecitabine, and we're allowing practitioners to determine what the best and safest dosing would be, based on their experience. The second recommendation is more specifically for patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma or gallbladder cancer who undergo resection and have a microscopically positive surgical margin, which is an R1 resection. And in those patients, we are recommending that we could consider offering these patients chemoradiation therapy. Now, again, this is not as strong of a recommendation, because we do not have prospective randomized phase III data to support it. This was based more on a prospective single-arm study out of the Southwest Oncology Group, as well as some other retrospective studies. And so we do go on to qualify that that recommendation should really be made in a shared decision-making approach, with a multidisciplinary conversation to decide the risks and benefits of radiation in these patients-- and that we acknowledge that a prospective study would really help clarify that question a little bit more. So can you tell us about the research that informed these recommendations? There have been a number of studies that have looked at the role of adjuvant therapy in biliary cancers. And up until very recently, a lot of these studies were small retrospective series, single-institution or multi-institution, but everything in retrospect-- no prospective or randomized data. And so I think a lot of the reasons that we decided to have these guidelines come out now is that in the last two to three years we do finally have prospective randomized data that helps guide the recommendations. And the majority of the recommendations that we made are based on one randomized phase III, which is BILCAP study. This was a study that was done in the UK and was presented at ASCO in 2018 and is currently in press. And it is basically a randomized controlled trial that compares adjuvant capecitabine by itself versus surveillance alone in patients who undergo surgery for biliary tract cancers. And so our recommendations, which include that study as well as a couple others, is primarily hinged on that, since that is the largest prospective data we have so far. And based on that study, we did in fact recommend that there was a role for adjuvant chemotherapy with capecitabine after complete resection for biliary tract cancers. And based on that research that was done in that trial that was completed, we do believe that the role for capecitabine for six months is pretty strong and that the data supports that now. So why is this guideline so important, and how will it change practice? Well, I think it's going to be practice-changing because up until now there has not been a clear consensus on how we approach these patients. And I will say that even now, it's really just this one study that has helped guiding these recommendations. There were a number of other studies that we looked at as part of the expert panel. And these were all prospective studies as well that looked at things like gemcitabine and oxaliplatin in the adjuvant setting, or single-arm phase II studies that came out of the Southwest Oncology Group that also explored the role of radiation. But really, nothing was a positive study other than the BILCAP study. And so up until now, I would say it was a little bit all over the place in terms of how medical oncologists approached resected biliary cancers. I think the majority of us felt that there was probably a role for adjuvant chemotherapy or perhaps chemoradiation. But there was no rules that we could follow, and there was no clear study that we could turn to that would tell us what we should give, how long we should give it for, and whether it should be a combination of chemotherapy or chemoradiation. And so I think it will be practice-changing because now, as part of the expert panel, we are making a very clear recommendation that patients with resected biliary tract cancer should be offered adjuvant capecitabine chemotherapy for a total of six months, hopefully eliminating that kind of regional or specialist-based variation that has been happening up until this point. And finally, how will these guideline recommendations affect patients? Again, I think that the main way it's going to affect them is that there's going to be a little bit less gray area, in terms of medical oncologists having conversations with the patients and saying, well, you know, I think that there's probably a role for agent therapy here, but I can't show you the data that supports why I think that. And as a result, I would hope that patients will have a little bit more faith and confidence in knowing that there is a large study that has looked at and proven the benefit of adjuvant capecitabine and that that decreases the chance of recurrence and improves overall survival. The improvement in overall survival was dramatic in this study. And we had not seen a survival of 51 months, which is what we saw in this study, in a very long time. So for patients, not only does it make clear what they should be doing after surgery, but I would hope it also gives them additional hope that we have really changed the bar by doing this adjuvant capecitabine, and that the chance for cure is even higher when we can offer adjuvant chemotherapy. I think the only other thing that may still be a gray area, and that is kind of what we allude to in our second recommendation, and that is in patients who undergo resection and have a microscopically positive margin or an R1 resection. And that's typically patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma or gall bladder cancer. In those patients, we suggest that they could be offered chemoradiation therapy, but the evidence is not as strong there. Again, it's more retrospective studies that we looked at. There is no prospective study that answers the question of whether or not there's a role for radiation. And so as a result for patients, I think that is still the one area that's a little bit of a gray zone in terms of knowing whether chemoradiation would benefit them if they undergo surgery and have a microscopically positive resection. But I do think that there is a definitive benefit to giving adjuvant chemotherapy, and that, hopefully, will clarify things not only from the physician perspective but also from the patient perspective. Great. Thank you for your work on these important guidelines, and thank you for your time today, Dr. Shroff. Thank you. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning into the ASCO Guidelines Podcast series. To read the full guideline, go to www.asco.org/gastrointestinal-cancer-guidelines. And if you've enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast and refer this show to a colleague.

The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast series. My name is Shannon McKernin, and today I'm interviewing Dr. Rachna Shroff from the University of Arizona Cancer Center, lead author on "Adjuvant Therapy for Resected Biliary Tract Cancer: ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline." Thank you for being here today, Dr. Shroff. Thank you so much for having me. So what does this guideline recommend? This is a guideline that is basically looking at the role of post-operative therapy in patients who undergo surgical resection for biliary tract cancers. Biliary tract cancers are a somewhat heterogeneous group of malignancies that include intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and gall bladder cancer. And so the question always in most cancers are, if you are able to undergo surgical and curative treatment, is there a role for post-operative chemotherapy or radiation therapy to help improve the chance of cure and decrease the risk of recurrence? So that is exactly what we investigated as an expert panel. So our recommendations are actually twofold. The first one is that we are clearly recommending that patients with resected biliary tract cancer should be offered adjuvant chemotherapy with capecitabine for a total of six months. Within that recommendation, we do acknowledge that this is based on the BILCAP phase III randomized controlled trial and that there was a specific dosing and treatment schedule that was done in that study, but that we are allowing for institutional and regional variances that we've noted in terms of dosing of capecitabine. And so as a result, we're recommending adjuvant capecitabine, and we're allowing practitioners to determine what the best and safest dosing would be, based on their experience. The second recommendation is more specifically for patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma or gallbladder cancer who undergo resection and have a microscopically positive surgical margin, which is an R1 resection. And in those patients, we are recommending that we could consider offering these patients chemoradiation therapy. Now, again, this is not as strong of a recommendation, because we do not have prospective randomized phase III data to support it. This was based more on a prospective single-arm study out of the Southwest Oncology Group, as well as some other retrospective studies. And so we do go on to qualify that that recommendation should really be made in a shared decision-making approach, with a multidisciplinary conversation to decide the risks and benefits of radiation in these patients-- and that we acknowledge that a prospective study would really help clarify that question a little bit more. So can you tell us about the research that informed these recommendations? There have been a number of studies that have looked at the role of adjuvant therapy in biliary cancers. And up until very recently, a lot of these studies were small retrospective series, single-institution or multi-institution, but everything in retrospect-- no prospective or randomized data. And so I think a lot of the reasons that we decided to have these guidelines come out now is that in the last two to three years we do finally have prospective randomized data that helps guide the recommendations. And the majority of the recommendations that we made are based on one randomized phase III, which is BILCAP study. This was a study that was done in the UK and was presented at ASCO in 2018 and is currently in press. And it is basically a randomized controlled trial that compares adjuvant capecitabine by itself versus surveillance alone in patients who undergo surgery for biliary tract cancers. And so our recommendations, which include that study as well as a couple others, is primarily hinged on that, since that is the largest prospective data we have so far. And based on that study, we did in fact recommend that there was a role for adjuvant chemotherapy with capecitabine after complete resection for biliary tract cancers. And based on that research that was done in that trial that was completed, we do believe that the role for capecitabine for six months is pretty strong and that the data supports that now. So why is this guideline so important, and how will it change practice? Well, I think it's going to be practice-changing because up until now there has not been a clear consensus on how we approach these patients. And I will say that even now, it's really just this one study that has helped guiding these recommendations. There were a number of other studies that we looked at as part of the expert panel. And these were all prospective studies as well that looked at things like gemcitabine and oxaliplatin in the adjuvant setting, or single-arm phase II studies that came out of the Southwest Oncology Group that also explored the role of radiation. But really, nothing was a positive study other than the BILCAP study. And so up until now, I would say it was a little bit all over the place in terms of how medical oncologists approached resected biliary cancers. I think the majority of us felt that there was probably a role for adjuvant chemotherapy or perhaps chemoradiation. But there was no rules that we could follow, and there was no clear study that we could turn to that would tell us what we should give, how long we should give it for, and whether it should be a combination of chemotherapy or chemoradiation. And so I think it will be practice-changing because now, as part of the expert panel, we are making a very clear recommendation that patients with resected biliary tract cancer should be offered adjuvant capecitabine chemotherapy for a total of six months, hopefully eliminating that kind of regional or specialist-based variation that has been happening up until this point. And finally, how will these guideline recommendations affect patients? Again, I think that the main way it's going to affect them is that there's going to be a little bit less gray area, in terms of medical oncologists having conversations with the patients and saying, well, you know, I think that there's probably a role for agent therapy here, but I can't show you the data that supports why I think that. And as a result, I would hope that patients will have a little bit more faith and confidence in knowing that there is a large study that has looked at and proven the benefit of adjuvant capecitabine and that that decreases the chance of recurrence and improves overall survival. The improvement in overall survival was dramatic in this study. And we had not seen a survival of 51 months, which is what we saw in this study, in a very long time. So for patients, not only does it make clear what they should be doing after surgery, but I would hope it also gives them additional hope that we have really changed the bar by doing this adjuvant capecitabine, and that the chance for cure is even higher when we can offer adjuvant chemotherapy. I think the only other thing that may still be a gray area, and that is kind of what we allude to in our second recommendation, and that is in patients who undergo resection and have a microscopically positive margin or an R1 resection. And that's typically patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma or gall bladder cancer. In those patients, we suggest that they could be offered chemoradiation therapy, but the evidence is not as strong there. Again, it's more retrospective studies that we looked at. There is no prospective study that answers the question of whether or not there's a role for radiation. And so as a result for patients, I think that is still the one area that's a little bit of a gray zone in terms of knowing whether chemoradiation would benefit them if they undergo surgery and have a microscopically positive resection. But I do think that there is a definitive benefit to giving adjuvant chemotherapy, and that, hopefully, will clarify things not only from the physician perspective but also from the patient perspective. Great. Thank you for your work on these important guidelines, and thank you for your time today, Dr. Shroff. Thank you. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning into the ASCO Guidelines Podcast series. To read the full guideline, go to www.asco.org/gastrointestinal-cancer-guidelines. And if you've enjoyed what you've heard today, please rate and review the podcast and refer this show to a colleague.

Drs. Ben Solomon, Leora Horn, & Jack West review trial result and implications of ECOG 1505 trial that showed no benefit to addition of Avastin (bevacizumab) to adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage NSCLC.

Drs. Ben Solomon, Leora Horn, & Jack West review trial result and implications of ECOG 1505 trial that showed no benefit to addition of Avastin (bevacizumab) to adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage NSCLC.

Drs. Ben Solomon, Leora Horn, & Jack West review trial result and implications of ECOG 1505 trial that showed no benefit to addition of Avastin (bevacizumab) to adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage NSCLC.

Jennifer Quint, Thorax’s Journal Club editor, talks to David Jablons, University of California San Francisco, and consultant for Life Technologies, about his assay to predict survival in resected non-squamous, non-small-cell lung cancer.See also:http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2961941-7/abstract

Dr. Joel Neal summarizes preliminary results of the SELECT trial of adjuvant Tarceva (erlotinib) for patients with resected EGFR mutation-positive early stage non-small cell lung cancer. 

Dr. Joel Neal summarizes preliminary results of the SELECT trial of adjuvant Tarceva (erlotinib) for patients with resected EGFR mutation-positive early stage non-small cell lung cancer. 

This podcast discusses adjuvant therapy in elderly NSCLC patients.

This slide presentation by Dr. Heather Wakelee, medical oncologist at Stanford University, describes the current evidence supporting post-operative treatment of resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and leading trials in the field.

This slide presentation by Dr. Heather Wakelee, medical oncologist at Stanford University, describes the key clinical research issues being addressed in post-operative treatment of resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

This slide presentation is part of a lecture by medical oncologist and lung cancer expert Dr. Jack West, in which he discusses the evidence supporting the current standard of adjuvant (post-operative) chemotherapy to improve survival for patients with early stage, resected NSCLC.

Background: In patients undergoing surgery for resectable pancreatic cancer prognosis still remains poor. The role of adjuvant treatment strategies (including chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy) following resection of pancreatic cancer remains controversial. Methods: A Medline-based literature search was undertaken to identify randomized controlled trials that evaluated adjuvant chemotherapy after complete macroscopic resection for cancer of the exocrine pancreas. Five trials of adjuvant chemotherapy were eligible and critically reviewed for this article. A meta-analysis (based on published data) was performed with survival (median survival time and 5-year survival rate) being the primary endpoint. Results: For the meta-analysis, 482 patients were allocated to the chemotherapy group and 469 patients to the control group. The meta-analysis estimate for prolongation of median survival time for patients in the chemotherapy group was 3 months (95% CI 0.3-5.7 months, p = 0.03). The difference in 5-year survival rate was estimated with 3.1% between the chemotherapy and the control group (95% CI -4.6 to 10.8%, p > 10.05). Conclusion: Currently available data from randomized trials indicate that adjuvant chemotherapy after resection of pancreatic cancer may substantially prolong disease-free survival and cause a moderate increase in overall survival. In the current meta-analysis, a significant survival benefit was only seen with regard to median survival, but not for the 5-year survival rate. The optimal chemotherapy regimen in the adjuvant setting as well as individualized treatment strategies (also including modern chemoradiotherapy regimens) still remain to be defined. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

After surgical intervention with curative intention in specialised centres the five-year survival of patients with carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas is only 15%. The ESPAC-1 trial showed an increased five-year survival of 21% achieved with adjuvant chemotherapy. Investigators from the Virginia Mason Clinic have reported a 5-year survival rate of 55% in a phase II trial evaluating adjuvant chemotherapy, immunotherapy and external-beam radiation. Design: The CapRI study is an open, controlled, prospective, randomised multi-centre phase III trial. Patients in study arm A will be treated as outpatients with 5-Fluorouracil; Cisplatin and 3 million units Interferon alpha-2b for 5 1/2 weeks combined with external beam radiation. After chemo-radiation the patients receive continuous 5-FU infusions for two more cycles. Patients in study arm B will be treated as outpatients with intravenous bolus injections of folinic acid, followed by intravenous bolus injections of 5-FU given on 5 consecutive days every 28 days for 6 cycles. A total of 110 patients with specimen-proven R0 or R1 resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma will be enrolled. An interim analysis for patient safety reasons will be done one year after start of recruitment. Evaluation of the primary endpoint will be performed two years after the last patients' enrolment. Discussion: The aim of this study is to evaluate the overall survival period attained by chemo-radiotherapy including interferon alpha 2b administration with adjuvant chemotherapy. The influence of interferon alpha on the effectiveness of the patients' chemoradiation regimen, the toxicity, the disease-free interval and the quality of life are analysed. Different factors are tested in terms of their potential role as predictive markers.

Introduction: Intraoperative bleeding, one of the major complications of conventional transurethral resection of the prostate ( TURP), has led to a search for various alternative methods of tissue ablation in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. In 1996, we introduced the newly designed Band Electrode, which combines a high degree of resection efficiency with a better hemostasis. Material and Methods: 265 consecutive patients with prostatism underwent TURP with the Band Electrode. This modified loop electrode does not consist of a thin wire but is rather a flat metal band with a width of 1.2 mm. International prostate symptom score (IPSS), Life Quality Index ( L), peak urine flow and postvoid residual urine were evaluated pre- and postoperatively. Additionally, electrical parameters have been recorded with a specially designed high-frequency generator. Results: Median IPSS decreased from 23 preoperatively to 8 and 9 at 12 (n = 194) and 24 months ( n = 172), respectively (p < 0.001). Life Quality Index ( L) dropped from 4 to 2 and 2, respectively (p < 0.001). Peak urine flow increased from 8.2 ml/s to 18.2 (at postoperative day 3), 17.8 and 17.4 ml/s, respectively (p < 0.001). Median postvoid residual urine decreased from 77 to 15, 22 and 21 ml, respectively (p < 0.001). Resected tissue mass averaged 25 (8 - 102) g, resection time was 36.5 ( 18 - 82) min. Indwelling catheters were removed 32 ( 24 - 72) h postoperatively. None of the patients required blood transfusions or showed signs of a TUR syndrome. Despite a 1.3 times higher power need, the total energy application in vivo was comparable to conventional TURP. Conclusions: This simple exchange of active electrodes leads to a superior hemostasis and thus safety in TURP. Resection speed, tissue ablation and total energy need remain identical. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel.