Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Impact of the duration of adjuvant hormonal therapy in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy: a secondary analysis of RTOG 85-31.
Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 85-31 was a randomized trial of androgen suppression for life for patients with locally advanced prostate cancer. However, not all patients continued on the protocol-mandated long-term hormonal therapy despite no evidence of recurrence. We correlated duration of adjuvant hormonal therapy and outcomes among patients who prematurely discontinued hormonal therapy. ⋯ In this hypothesis-generating analysis, prolonged HTD of more than 5 years seems significantly associated with improvements in most outcomes. Given these data, decreasing HTD to < or = 5 years may have a detrimental effect on patients with locally advanced prostate cancer. Only a randomized trial will conclusively clarify this issue.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Cost effectiveness of ixabepilone plus capecitabine for metastatic breast cancer progressing after anthracycline and taxane treatment.
Using data from a recent randomized trial, we evaluated the cost effectiveness of ixabepilone plus capecitabine versus capecitabine alone in patients with predominantly metastatic breast cancer considered to be taxane-resistant and previously treated with or resistant to an anthracycline. ⋯ Addition of ixabepilone to capecitabine adds approximately $31,000 to overall medical costs and affords approximately 1 additional month of quality-adjusted survival.
-
Baseline C-reactive protein is associated with incident cancer and survival in patients with cancer.
We tested the hypothesis that baseline plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with risk of incident cancer in the general population and early death in patients with cancer. ⋯ Elevated levels of CRP in cancer-free individuals are associated with increased risk of cancer of any type, of lung cancer, and possibly of colorectal cancer. Moreover, elevated levels of baseline CRP associate with early death after a diagnosis of any cancer, particularly in patients without metastases.