For patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, the standard treatment is induction combination chemotherapy with a targeted agent. However, clinical trials that involved patients either continuing cytotoxic therapy until disease progression or observation have shown inconsistent efficacy results. To close this gap, a systematic review and network meta-analysis was conducted and revealed that continued induction therapy until progression offered no survival benefit compared with maintenance fluo...

Because high blood insulin and insulin resistance are associated with increased cancer risk, cancer screening is especially important in patients with diabetes. However, a recent study has found that women with diabetes underutilize screening for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer.Cancer screening has been shown to decrease the risk of death by up to 33% for breast cancer, 70% for cervical cancer, and 37% for colorectal cancer. By enabling early detection and treatment before the disease ha...

In metastatic colorectal cancer, the BRAF V600E mutation, which affects around 10% of patients, portends a poor outcome. Initial standard chemotherapy often fails, and after it does, patients survive for a median of only 4 to 6 months. A phase 3 trial reports a significant improvement in overall survival with two different treatments: a triplet therapy consisting of encorafenib (BraftoviTM, Array BioPharma), binimetinib (MektoviTM, Array BioPharma), and cetuximab (Erbitux®, Eli Lilly); and ...

By inhibiting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathways, EGFR inhibitors have shown efficacy in the treatment of a variety of cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), pancreatic cancer, and colorectal cancer. However, most patients who receive EGFR inhibitors develop adverse skin events, such as acneiform rash, xerosis, paronychial inflammation, pruritis, photosensitivity, and hair and eyelash alteration. If not properly managed, these toxicities can lead to physic...

​Carlos Fernández-Martos, MD, and colleagues recently reported that in patients with high-risk, locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma, adding aflibercept (Zaltrap®, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) to a modified schedule of fluorouracil/leucovorin/oxaliplatin (FOLFOX6) followed by standard chemoradiotherapy and total mesorectal excision surgery increased treatment efficacy, producing a higher complete pathologic response rate. In this interview with i3 Health, Dr. Fernández-Martos discusses the...