Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
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Prognostic factors for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are well established. However, the risk profile is unknown for patients with recurrent RCC after a nephrectomy for localized disease. ⋯ At disease recurrence after nephrectomy for localized disease, a scoring system based on objective clinical and laboratory data provides meaningful risk stratification for both patient counseling and clinical trial entry.
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Approximately half of the uses of anticancer chemotherapy drugs are for indications other than those referenced in the United States Food and Drug Administration approved label. Some managed care organizations and private health insurance plans have declined to reimburse the cost of drugs used off-label to treat cancer on the ground that these uses are "experimental" or "investigational." Cancer patients and their providers have experienced similar problems in the Medicare and Medicaid program. ⋯ Now, however, after more than a decade of success, the system requires attention. This statement of policy from the American Society of Clinical Oncology encourages the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services to address these unmet needs in order to ensure that patients with cancer have access to clinically appropriate treatment, as reflected in timely compendia listings and reports of studies in the medical literature.
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To investigate the association between survival and postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) in patients with resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ⋯ In a population-based cohort, PORT use is associated with an increase in survival in patients with N2 nodal disease but not in patients with N1 and N0 nodal disease.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Rituximab-CHOP versus CHOP alone or with maintenance rituximab in older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
To address early and late treatment failures in older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), we designed a two-stage randomized trial of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) versus rituximab plus CHOP (R-CHOP), with a second random assignment to maintenance rituximab (MR) or observation in responding patients. ⋯ Rituximab administered as induction or maintenance with CHOP chemotherapy significantly prolonged FFS in older DLBCL patients. After R-CHOP, no benefit was provided by MR. These results, which are consistent with an additive effect of rituximab, suggest that future studies could focus on maintenance strategies with novel agents as well as new induction therapies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cost-effectiveness of adding granulocyte colony-stimulating factor to primary prophylaxis with antibiotics in small-cell lung cancer.
Recently, a Dutch, randomized, phase III trial demonstrated that, in small-cell lung cancer patients at risk of chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia (FN), the addition of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) to prophylactic antibiotics significantly reduced the incidence of FN in cycle 1 (24% v 10%; P = .01). We hypothesized that selecting patients at risk of FN might increase the cost-effectiveness of GCSF prophylaxis. ⋯ Despite the selection of patients at risk of FN, the addition of GCSF to primary antibiotic prophylaxis did not result in cost savings. If policy makers are willing to pay 240 euro for each percent gain in effect (ie, 3,360 euro for a 14% reduction in FN), the addition of GCSF can be considered cost effective.