BJMO - 2022, issue SPECIAL, february 2022
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, T. Feys MBA, MSc
During the supportive care task force meeting, the BSMO supportive care task force introduced three clinical trials they would like to set up in the near future. In addition, new BSMO guidelines on extravasation and anaemia were presented after which the session was closed by Dr. Christel Fontaine (UZ Brussel) with a status update on the supportive care task force activities over the past year.
Read moreBJMO - 2022, issue SPECIAL, february 2022
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, T. Feys MBA, MSc
PACIFIC-R is a real-world international observational study evaluating patients with unresectable stage III non-small-cell-lung cancer treated with durvalumab following platinum-based chemoradiation. At the annual BSMO meeting, baseline characteristics and progression-free survival results for the Belgian cohort of this study were presented and contextualised with the PACIFIC-R global population and the durvalumab arm of the phase III PACIFIC trial.
Read moreBJMO - 2022, issue SPECIAL, february 2022
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, T. Feys MBA, MSc
In this article selected studies influencing therapeutic guidelines in solid tumours, as well as highlights in breast cancer, lung cancer, digestive oncology, genitourinary cancer, biomarkers, and what’s new in rare tumours/histologies are discussed.
Read moreBJMO - 2022, issue SPECIAL, february 2022
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, T. Feys MBA, MSc
In the multidisciplinary oncology landscape, radiation oncology is becoming increasingly important in the treatment of many cancer patients. In this light, Prof. Dr. Liv Veldeman (University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium), president of the Belgian Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (BeSTRO), discussed the most important steps in the radiotherapy process. In addition, she shared her experience with modern radiotherapy treatments and addressed how these innovative techniques may further
improve treatment outcomes.
BJMO - 2022, issue SPECIAL, february 2022
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, T. Feys MBA, MSc
With the increasing use of immunotherapy, more and more questions rise on the management of specific immune-related adverse events (irAEs) that are associated with these agents. Unfortunately, guidance on long-term irAE management is currently lacking and as patients with auto-immune disease or organ transplants were often excluded from clinical trials, there is also a lack of data on the use of immunotherapy in these setting. As irAEs can affect any organ system, it is not always easy to recognise and manage these adverse events in a timely manner, making multidisciplinary collaboration essential. To address these unmet needs, the Belgian Multidisciplinary Immunotoxicity Board was set up. During their talk at the BSMO annual meeting, Sandrine Aspeslagh, (MD, PhD, University Hospital Brussels, Brussels, Belgium) and Marthe Verhaert (MD, University Hospital Brussels, Brussels, Belgium) discussed the rationale, aim, and first results of this BITOX initiative.
Read moreBJMO - 2022, issue SPECIAL, february 2022
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, T. Feys MBA, MSc
Head and neck cancer (HNC) refers to a very heterogeneous group of tumours with different anatomic site, histology, and aetiology. The most common HNCs consist of squamous cell carcinomas of the pharynx, oral cavity, and larynx. As the selection of the best treatment option for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head can be difficult, Prof. Jean-Pascal Machiels (Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels) gave an overview of the currently available and promising treatment combinations under investigation during a Keynote Lecture at the annual BSMO meeting.
Read moreBJMO - 2021, issue BJMO IO Special, december 2021
T. Feys MBA, MSc
Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) marked the start of a new era in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), inducing a durable response in a substantial proportion of patients. The success of ICI in the advanced setting spurred interest to also examine the potential of this treatment modality in patients with early-stage NSCLC. The first success story in this respect came from the phase III PACIFIC trial, establishing consolidation therapy with durvalumab after chemoradiation as the new standard of care for patients with inoperable, locally advanced NSCLC. More recently, ICI also yielded promising results in patients with resectable NSCLC. In fact, the IMpower010 trial showed that adjuvant atezolizumab after 4-cycles of platinumbased chemotherapy significantly improves the disease-free survival (DFS) compared to best supportive care in patients with stage II-IIIA NSCLC. In addition to this, other studies suggest that neoadjuvant treatment with ICI might result in substantial major pathologic response and pathologic complete response rates, and high rates of R0 resection without a significant delay in the time to surgery.
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