Major Zactima Trial Completed: Results Pending

   At the end of 2006 I reviewed a drug called vandetanib, or Zactima, which is being developed for treatment of advanced NSCLC (intro post here).  It’s a multi-targeted agent, also referred to as a multi-kinase inhibitor: as a single drug it can block both the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor.  […]

Radon Exposure and Lung Cancer

   Radon is a product of the decay of naturally occuring uranium in the earth, and it’s estimated to be responsible for perhaps 2-3% of lung cancers overall.  In one reference (here) doesn’t offer any details of where the numbers come from, an estimated 26% of lung cancer in never-smokers is caused by radon:

(Click on […]

Cooking Fumes and Risk of Developing Lung Cancer (Particularly in Never-Smokers)

   It has been noted for many years that Asian women appear to be particularly predisposed to lung cancer despite a low frequency of smoking.  Many of the series from resected NSCLC series have never-smoker rates of 30-50%, with the majority of these never-smokers as women.  As we’ve struggled to understand and explain risks, hormonal […]

Acupuncture for Treating Nausea & Vomiting

   I reviewed a few general principles of acupuncture in my last post on its use for pain control. In addition, acupuncture has also been studied as a potential treatment modality for other nausea/vomiting, with some evidence to support its use in addition to anti-nausea (also called antiemetic) medications. Current ACCP guidelines (abstract here, again) […]

Acupuncture: Introduction and Use for Pain Control

   Acupuncture is a complementary approach that originated from traditional Chinese medicine, from a theory that the flow of vital energy, or “Qi” (pronounced CHEE, I believe, unless someone who speaks Chinese tells me otherwise) can be regulated by stimulation of key body areas with needles, heat, or pressure. It is generally felt to be […]

ERCC1 in Advanced Lung Cancer

   As I described in my prior post, the marker ERCC1 (excision-repair cross complementing group 1) is a prognostic variable that is associated with a more favorable survival in patients who aren’t treated with chemo after surgery for early stage NSCLC.  But this marker also appears to be predictive of resistance to cisplatin and a worse survival […]

ERCC1 in Early Stage NSCLC: Likely to Become an Important Marker in the Clinic

   Although I’ve described this concept in a few posts over the past year, it’s time for me to dedicate some real discussion to the concept of individualizing treatment with the ERCC1 marker. ERCC1 stands for excision repair cross-complementing group 1, and it helps repair damage to DNA.  Now, validated, reliable testing for ERCC1 in […]

Interview on Brain Mets and PCI in Lung Cancer: Audio Program Courtesy of the CBCE

   For those of you who like the audio format for getting information, I just completed an audio interview with my colleague Vivek Mehta, radiation oncology expert, on the subject of brain metastases and prophylactic cranial irradiation in the setting of lung cancer.  I’ve given many of my own thoughts here at OncTalk, but those […]

Limited Resection vs. Radiation for Marginal Patients with Early Stage NSCLC

   The standard of care for at least stage I and II NSCLC is surgery, sometimes followed by chemotherapy.  We know, however, that not every patient who presents with early stage NSCLC is healthy enough to pursue surgery, whether due to general age-related or other illnesses, or due specifically to a low pulmonary reserves, usually […]

Amrubicin for Recurrent SCLC Continues to Look Promising

   I wrote about the drug amrubicin in a prior post, after it demonstrated provocative activity in clinical trials out of Japan that were presented at ASCO 2007.  Additional result on amrubicin in previously treated ED-SCLC were presented at a NYC meeting last week, and it’s continued to look very encouraging in a clinical setting […]