Treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer

Treatment of medically refractory cancer pain with a combination of intrathecal neuromodulation and neurosurgical ablation: case series and literature review

OBJECTIVE

Up to 90% of patients with advanced cancer experience intractable pain. For these patients, oral analgesics are the mainstay of therapy, often augmented with intrathecal drug delivery. Neurosurgical ablative procedures have become less commonly used, though their efficacy has been well-established. Unfortunately, little is known about the safety of ablation in the context of previous neuromodulation. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present the results from a case series in which patients were treated successfully with a combination of intrathecal neuromodulation and neurosurgical ablation.

DESIGN

Retrospective case series and literature review.

SETTING

Three institutions with active cancer pain management programs in the United States.

METHODS

All patients who underwent both neuroablative and neuromodulatory procedures for cancer pain were surveyed using the visual analog scale prior to the first procedure, before and after a second procedure, and at long-term follow-up. Based on initial and subsequent presentation, patients underwent intrathecal morphine pump placement, cordotomy, or midline myelotomy.

RESULTS

Five patients (2 male, 3 female) with medically intractable pain (initial VAS = 10) were included in the series. Four subjects were initially treated with intrathecal analgesic neuromodulation, and 1 with midline myelotomy. Each patient experienced recurrence of pain (VAS ≥ 9) following the initial procedure, and was therefore treated with another modality (intrathecal, N = 1; midline myelotomy, N = 1; percutaneous radiofrequency cordotomy, N = 3), with significant long-term benefit (VAS 1-7).

CONCLUSION

In cancer patients with medically intractable pain, intrathecal neuromodulation and neurosurgical ablation together may allow for more effective control of cancer pain.

Quality-adjusted survival with combination nab-paclitaxel + gemcitabine vs gemcitabine alone in metastatic pancreatic cancer: a Q-TWiST analysis

OBJECTIVES

To use the Quality-Adjusted Time Without Symptoms or Toxicities (Q-TWiST) methodology to compare the quality-of-life and survival benefits associated with the combination of albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel and gemcitabine vs gemcitabine alone in the first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

METHODS

Total survival time through 45 months was partitioned into time before disease progression without toxicity grade ≥3 (TWiST), time with adverse event grade ≥3 (TOX), and time of disease progression (REL). Mean Q-TWiST was calculated by multiplying time spent in each health state by its respective utility (i.e., TWiST = 1.00; TOX/REL = 0.50, 0-1 in sensitivity analyses). Non-parametric bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (CI) were derived to assess the significance of between-treatment differences in TOX, TWiST, REL, and Q-TWiST. A relative gain in Q-TWiST (vs mean overall survival of gemcitabine) of ≥10% and ≥15% was defined as clinically important and clearly clinically important, respectively.

RESULTS

Patients on nab-paclitaxel + gemcitabine spent a significantly longer time in every state and experienced significantly greater overall Q-TWiST (+1.7 months [95% CI = 0.8, 2.7]) than those receiving gemcitabine alone (8.2 months [95% CI = 7.5, 8.9] vs 6.5 months [95% CI = 5.8, 7.0]), assuming base-case utilities of TOX/REL = 0.50. This Q-TWiST gain ranged from 1.0 month (95% CI = 0.1, 1.9), when REL/TOX utilities were both 0, to 2.5 months (95% CI = 1.3, 3.7), when REL/TOX utilities were both 1. Relative gains in Q-TWiST were 21% in favor of nab-paclitaxel + gemcitabine in the base case, and ranged from 12-30% in sensitivity analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

There are limitations to Q-TWiST analyses, e.g., imprecision when defining duration/severity of TOX and lack of prospective collection of utilities. This analysis addressed these issues via sensitivity analyses and conservative assumptions to show that nab-paclitaxel + gemcitabine results in statistically significant and clinically important gains in quality-adjusted survival, when compared to gemcitabine alone, in treatment-naive metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients.

Prevention and Treatment of Bone Metastases in Breast Cancer

In breast cancer patients, bone is the most common site of metastases. Medical therapies are the basic therapy to prevent distant metastases and recurrence and to cure them. Radiotherapy has a primary role in pain relief, recalcification and stabilization of the bone, as well as the reduction of the risk of complications (e.g., bone fractures, spinal cord compression). Bisphosphonates, as potent inhibitors of osteoclastic-mediated bone resorption are a well-established, standard-of-care treatment option to reduce the frequency, severity and time of onset of the skeletal related events in breast cancer patients with bone metastases. Moreover bisphosphonates prevent cancer treatment-induced bone loss. Recent data shows the anti-tumor activity of bisphosphonates, in particular, in postmenopausal women and in older premenopausal women with hormone-sensitive disease treated with ovarian suppression. Pain is the most frequent symptom reported in patients with bone metastases, and its prevention and treatment must be considered at any stage of the disease. The prevention and treatment of bone metastases in breast cancer must consider an integrated multidisciplinary approach.

Correlation between B7-H3 expression and matrix metalloproteinases 2 expression in pancreatic cancer

BACKGROUND

B7-H3 and matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP-2) are reported highly expressed in malignant tumor, we investigate the relationship between B7-H3 expression and MMP-2 on malignant behavior and prognosis predictable value in pancreatic cancer.

METHODS

We tested the expressions of B7-H3 and MMP-2 protein in 45 pancreatic surgical resected cancer samples; meanwhile, the clinicopathological data of enrolled patients were obtained for correlation analysis to obtain their relationship with pancreatic cancer progress.

RESULTS

The expression of B7-H3 was up-regulated with infiltrating depth, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage (P < 0.01). Positive expression rate of MMP-2 in pancreatic cancer tissues was 44.35%, whereas negative in normal pancreatic tissues. Multivariate analysis of Logistic regression showed B7-H3 and MMP-2 expressions were hazardous makers correlated with infiltrating depth (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our study showed combined detections of B7-H3 and MMP2 protein expression could identify patients at high risk in disease recurrence and prognosis more efficiently.