In Treatment

For our third video in the GRACE Spanish Lung Cancer Library, Antonio Calles, MD, Medical Oncologist, Thoracic Oncology Program, Hospital General Universitario, Gregorio Marraron, Madrid, Spain joined GRACE to discuss how NSCLC subtype (histology) can alter chemotherapy recommendations in advanced NSCLC.

For our second video in the GRACE Spanish Lung Cancer Library, Antonio Calles, MD, Medical Oncologist, Thoracic Oncology Program, Hospital General Universitario, Gregorio Marraron, Madrid, Spain joined GRACE to discuss what is the value of chemotherapy in advanced/metastatic NSCLC.

All of us at the Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education are very excited to introduce our newest project - the GRACE Spanish Lung Cancer Library. This collection of videos with our Spanish speaking faculty will discuss the basics of lung cancer for Spanish speaking patients and caregivers. For our first video, Antonio Calles, MD, Medical Oncologist, Thoracic Oncology Program, Hospital General Universitario, Gregorio Marraron, Madrid, Spain joined GRACE to discuss what is adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage NSCLC and why it would be recommended.

Among the many novel concepts in managing immunotherapy is the potential for “pseudo-progression”. This unusual phenomenon is when a patient’s scans of the areas of cancer actually appear worse on early imaging, potentially even with new lesions, after starting immunotherapy, but a patient’s scans later show shrinkage of the cancer.  These patients typically feel well, often with improvement in their cancer-related symptoms (fatigue, appetite, etc.) that don’t seem to be concordant with their worse-appearing scans.

With positive trials of two immune checkpoint inhibitors, Opdivo (nivolumab) and Keytruda (pembrolizumab), in second line NSCLC and compared with Taxotere (docetaxel), it should come as a surprise to nobody that another checkpoint inhibitor, Tecentriq (atezolizumab) has also proven superior to Taxotere in the OAK trial of previously treated NSCLC patients, as reported in a press release today.

Basics of Small Cell Lung Cancer

Rachel Sanborn, MD, Medical Oncologist and Co-Director