Gastrointestinal Cancer

Two-thirds of patients with untreated metastatic HER2-positive esophagogastric adenocarcinoma remained free of disease progression at 6 months with a combination of pembrolizumab, trastuzumab, and chemotherapy.

Pembrolizumab was found to reduce the risk of death by 31% in patients with PD-L1–positive advanced or metastatic esophageal or esophageal junction carcinoma who progressed on standard therapy.

Amol K. Narang, MD, assistant professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses the role of radiation therapy in the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer.

Peter O’Donnell, MD, associate professor of medicine, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the importance of identifying molecular subsets in urothelial cancer.

Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP, associate professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the rarity of fusions in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, discusses the rapidly evolving treatment options in hepatocellular carcinoma and other developments in gastrointestinal cancers.

Michael A. Choti, MD, chief of surgery, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the role of immunotherapy in the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer.

Amit G. Singal, MD, associate professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses the FDA approval of cabozantinib (Cabometyx) for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who previously received sorafenib (Nexavar).

Weijing Sun, MD, gastrointestinal oncologist at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, discusses the debate between the use of radiation and chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma.

The FDA has approved cabozantinib as a treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who previously received sorafenib.

Anthony Shields, MD, PhD, oncologist, Department of Oncology, Molecular Imaging and Diagnostics Program, Karmanos Cancer Institute, discusses optimal adjuvant therapy for the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer.

Frontline varlitinib (ASLAN001) added to mFOLFOX6 was not found to significantly reduce tumor size after 12 weeks of therapy compared with mFOLFOX6 alone in patients with HER1/HER2 co-expressing advanced or metastatic gastric cancer, missing the primary endpoint of a phase II study.

Michael J. Overman, MD, associate professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses progress made with immunotherapy agents in gastrointestinal (GI) cancer.

Pashtoon M. Kasi, MD, MBBS, MS, an assistant professor of Oncology and senior associate consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Mayo Clinic, discusses treatment approaches for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Nivolumab demonstrated a significant extension in overall survival versus chemotherapy in patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent esophageal cancer that is refractory to or intolerant of fluoropyrimidine plus platinum-based therapy.

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the plethora of new treatment options in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Matthew Farren, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, discusses findings from a multicenter, single-arm phase II clinical trial evaluating the combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and modified leucovorin/5-fluorouracil/oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) in patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC).