In the last few years BAC has become increasingly studied and recognized as a distinct clinical subtype of lung cancer. The classic BAC syndrome is characterized by progression limited to the lungs, and its growth can be quite variable. The definition of BAC based on pathology has been applied pretty variably: although it should […]
1 CommentsI’ve been involved in a wide range of discussions, both here and in my own clinical, about the fairly common situation of how to approach a situation in which the story on paper and what you see actually happening are incompatible. For instance, last week I and several of my colleagues participated in a […]
0 CommentsOne of my earliest posts when I started OncTalk was on the use of oral inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), one of the growth signals that is often over-active in cancer cells, against advanced bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC), a unique subtype of lung cancer that tends to grow within the […]
1 CommentsContinuing with the analysis of a publication about tarceva (erlotinib) for patients with advanced BAC that I introduced in the last post, we’ll turn now to the analysis that Dr. Vince Miller and colleagues did on the biomarkers that might predict more or less clinical benefit with an EGFR inhibitor like tarceva (abstract here). The trial looked at three […]
0 CommentsIn a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dr. Vince Miller and colleagues published the results of an important trial of the EGFR inhibitor tarceva (erlotinib) in the unusual NSCLC subtype bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, or BAC (abstract here). This work was predicated on the observation, also by Dr. Miller and his colleagues at Memorial […]
3 CommentsWhile there is a lot of variability in the clinical behavior of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC), there are some commonly observed findings that are now leading lung cancer experts to consider it as a distinct clinical entity worthy of special consideration for management. Among the important areas for potentially special clinical management is in surgical management of […]
0 CommentsI had previously written about a spectrum from pure bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) to invasive adenocarcinoma in one of my first posts here, but the real credit for this concept goes back to Dr. Masayuki Noguchi from the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, who characterized a classification system for peripheral lung adenocarcinomas back […]
1 CommentsThroughout multiple discussions of adjuvant chemotherapy, I’ve focused on the traditional approach used in the US and Europe of 3-4 cycles of platinum-based chemo, treating for up to about three months with a rather intensive approach. However, in Japan, they’ve studied the value of a different form of adjuvant treatment, with a drug called […]
0 CommentsPET scans are an important way to discriminate between metabolically active nodules, suggestive of cancer but sometimes representing inflammation or infection, and non-PET-avid lesions that are felt much likely to represent cancer. They are also a cornerstone of “clinical” staging by imaging and patient exam (vs. “pathologic” staging by surgery to clarify where cancer […]
3 CommentsSeveral trials have recently opened up for never-smokers with any lung adenocarcinoma or those with BAC (or adeno/BAC mix, invasive adenocarcinoma with BAC features) with any smoking status. Both of these groups have only recently gained recognition as likely being a distinct clinical entity with a different natural history (clinical behavior outside of treatment) […]
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