memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0482-9

Fuchs, David; Schmitt, Clemens

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0480-y

Winder, Thomas

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0476-7

Gerlach, Magdalena; Tzankov, Alexandar

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0472-y

This short review aims at summarizing the current standards of lymphoma diagnostics and some novelties in the recent WHO classification. The importance of close collaboration between clinicians and pathologists to render the correct diagnosis and to find the most appropriate treatment for each individual patient is highlighted. In lymphomas, the diagnostic evaluation of histopathology, immune phenotype and genetics are puzzle pieces that have to be put into a broader context with the help of the information given by the clinical colleagues, such as patient’s age and sex, location of the lesion, previous medical history and medication. An excision of the affected lymph node is always preferable to fine needle biopsies, as—in many instances—only the evaluation of the whole specimen allows for reliable diagnosis, grading and additional investigations.

Wykypiel, Heinz; Schmid, Thomas; Gehwolf, Philipp

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0481-x

Girotti, Paolo; Königsrainer, Ingmar

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-018-0467-0

Despite neoadjuvant treatment being available for esophageal cancer, surgery remains the cornerstone of treatment. The aim of this article is to give a clear and simple overview of current issues in the available surgical strategies relating to locally limited and advanced disease, including the following: clinical staging, preoperative general condition and comorbidities, surgical strategy, surgical approaches, postoperative complications and the role of surgery in advanced disease. Based on a literature search and our personal professional experience to date, enhanced surgical treatment protocols for the treatment of the adenocarcinomas of esophagogastric junction (AEG) and the squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus are presented and discussed. Eligibility for a surgical resection strongly depends on the stage of the tumor and on the comorbidities. A minimally invasive laparoscopic approach should be preferred in the case of limited disease, regardless of its histology, or limited/advanced intrathoracic squamous cell carcinoma (hybrid technique: laparoscopic approach combined with thoracotomy). The surgical strategy in the case of adenocarcinoma to achieve radical resection depends on the tumor location. Finally, surgery should be performed by a multidisciplinary team that includes medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, gastroenterologists, dieticians and physiotherapists, so as to minimize the postoperative complications rates and improve early postoperative outcomes and overall patient survival. Therefore, we support the centralization of treatment of esophageal cancer to high volume centers.

Müldür, Ercan; Mayrhofer, Karl; Hilbe, Wolfgang

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0475-8

We hereby report the course and management of a patient with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative esophageal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation, surgical resection and subsequently palliative therapy for recurrent disease. The critical role of the staging procedure is discussed. Additionally the options of systemic palliative therapies are presented and the rationale for immuno-oncologic treatment is highlighted. The patient received pembrolizumab as second-line therapy, which unfortunately did not result in a response and caused minor autoimmune side effects.

Bartsch, Rupert; Bergen, Elisabeth; Galid, Arik

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0473-x

While immunotherapy (IOT) with monoclonal antibodies has long been present in HER2-positive breast cancer, the development of modern IOT concepts such as PD-1/PD-L1 targeting immune checkpoint inhibitors has been slow compared with other malignancies such a melanoma or lung cancer. Recent clinical trials of IOT have focused on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) as no specific treatment options beyond chemotherapy have been available in this subtype; in addition, TNBC apparently harbours the largest immunogenic potential. Meanwhile, initial results from the phase III IMpassion130 trial have been presented; here, the addition of atezolizumab to nab–paclitaxel led to a clinically meaningful prolongation of overall survival in the PD-L1 positive subset, potentially defining a novel standard-of-care in the first-line treatment of TNBC. Further evaluation of checkpoint inhibitors alone or in combination with chemotherapy or targeted drugs are currently ongoing in TNBC as well as in other breast cancer subtypes and clinical development is also ongoing in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings. This short review summarizes results of recent trials with a focus on clinical outcome data and discusses the ongoing development of IOT in breast cancer.

Heidegger, Isabel; Hilbe, Wolfgang; Pircher, Andreas

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0474-9

This article intends to summarize personal highlights of the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) 2018 meeting and does not aim to give a comprehensive overview. We will summarize the most recent presented data on the treatment of non-small cell lung establishing first-line combinational therapies (chemotherapy backbone with immunotherapy) as standard of care. Furthermore highly practice relevant data on the treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma were presented. Next the treatment landscape of metastatic prostate cancer is changing rapidly and some new aspects in metastatic disease are reported.

Riedl, Jakob; Stotz, Michael; Gerger, Armin

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0470-0

In this short review we aim to summarize the role current clinical role of immunotherapy in particular of immune checkpoint inhibition in gastrointestinal malignancies and highlight the most important clinical trials.

Tanaka, Osamu; Kunishima, Yuka; Taniguchi, Takuya; Ono, Kousei; Matsuo, Masayuki

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-018-0469-y

Szilagy, Istvan-Szilard; Nagele, Eva; Fürschuß, Christine; Mohapp, Andrea; Wiegele, Karin; Lackner, Herwig; Urban, Christian

2019 memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology

doi: 10.1007/s12254-019-0477-6