Magyar onkologia
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Skin cancers represent the most common type of malignancy. The incidence rate of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer depicts a continuous rise worldwide, which is attributed mainly (but not exclusively) to the growing incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer in the elderly population. ⋯ Melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma showed response rates of at least 40% for PD-1 inhibitor therapy as reported in recent articles. In this article we review the current and future immunotherapy agents and procedures for skin cancers.
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The purpose of the study is to report the status of Hungarian radiotherapy (RT). In the 13 centers 84 radiation oncologists, 19 residents, 66 physicists and 231 radiotherapy technologists work, and 40 megavoltage units (38 linear accelerators, 2 cobalt units) are in use. HDR afterloader is available in all and CT-simulator in all but one centers. ⋯ Main indications for BT were gynecological tumors (75%), HDR prostate implants were performed in 3 centers. Due to the recent infrastructural developments the number of patients receiving modern RT increased, but in order to fulfil the international recommendations additional linear accelerators have to be installed along with the replacement of the out of date equipment. From professional point of view further developments are warranted in Budapest.
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Modern palliative-hospice care has gained space in Europe for more than 50 years. Since the initial empirical work of Cicely Saunders, palliative medicine has gained its place in evidence-based medicine in more and more countries. However, development, as in many other medical fields, is not uniform, there are big differences between countries in the world. ⋯ For further development thoughtful strategic steps and service development is needed. The integration of palliative care into standard oncology is an international requirement, which also appears in the form of professional guidelines. Hungary has also played a role in the development of the European model of integrated palliative care of which Hungarian implementation, the "Pécs model", is discussed in detail in our paper.
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Improved understanding of melanoma genetics and immune regulatory pathways have culminated in the development of targeted and immunotherapies of the patients with metastatic melanoma. Recent advances in these oncological modalities have dramatically shifted this landscape with highly increased survival rates. ⋯ Nowadays the combined immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies have demonstrated a significant improvement in overall survival of patients with advanced melanoma. This review summarizes briefly the most important updated principals of this field in dermato-oncology.
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The authors briefly highlight the results of targeted therapy and present new solutions in kidney cancer immunotherapy. The important checkpoint inhibitors (anti-CTLA-4, -PD-1 and -PD-L1/2) and their combinations, together with the combinations of targeted drugs and immunotherapy are discussed. The newest checkpoint agents, vaccination and pegylated interleukin-2 are also presented. The most promising clinical trials (CheckMate-025, AGS-003, IMA 901) and the on-going first line phase III trials are shown in metastatic clear cell renal carcinoma.