Dr. Collisson Discusses Developments in Gastric Cancers

Eric A. Collisson, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the focus of clinical trial research and genetic testing in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.

Physicians are learning that though the primary tumor can be easily accessed with an endoscope, the metastatic site isn’t always perfectly reflected. Clinical trials are now being designed to look at metastases more closely.

The role of germline genetics in pancreatic cancer and other GI malignancies is becoming increasingly clear. Physicians are using the data in breast and ovarian cancer to guide their search for germline and somatic defects in GI cancer.

To what depth every tumor should be examined and whether patients should undergo testing upfront, or after they’ve failed frontline treatment has yet to be determined. What’s clear is that physicians have the technology and a larger armamentarium of drugs to combat the disease than they did 2 years ago.