Impact of a supportive care service for cancer outpatients: management and reduction of hospitalizations. Preliminary results of an integrated model of care.

PURPOSE: Supportive care in oncology is a primary need for every oncology department nowadays. In 2012, in our institution, a dedicated supportive care service (SCS) was created in order to deal with any need our on-treatment patients might have (e.g. tumour-related or treatment-related symptoms). We hypothesized that this service had a positive impact on the number of unplanned hospitalizations; to confirm our hypothesis, we decided to review admission data in 2011 and 2012. METHODS: Using our internal software, we compared admission data in 2011 (that is, the year before the dedicated service was created) and 2012 (when such service began, that is April of that year). We also made an evaluation of the costs of these hospitalizations. RESULTS: Despite an increase of the number of patients treated in our day hospital (+6.5 %), the number of unplanned hospital admissions decreased by 3.2 % (from 17.3 to 14.1 %). The number of patients accessing to emergency room went from 66 to 61 % (a reduction of 5 %). The costs of these hospitalizations were reduced by 2.2 %. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of the dedicated SCS in our oncology department caused a net reduction by 3.2 % of the number of unplanned hospitalizations of on-treatment cancer patients.

A multicenter phase II study of the combination of oxaliplatin, irinotecan and capecitabine in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

The triple drug combination consisting of irinotecan, oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil (FOLFOXIRI) has demonstrated higher activity and efficacy compared to the doublet FOLFIRI. 5-Fluorouracil could be substituted in FOLFOXIRI regimen by capecitabine, an oral fluoropyrimidine with similar efficacy. Recently, a dose-finding trial has demonstrated the feasibility of the combination of irinotecan, oxaliplatin and capecitabine (XELOXIRI) and established their recommended doses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of XELOXIRI. A total of 36 patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer received irinotecan 165 mg m(-2) and oxaliplatin 85 mg m(-2) on day 1 plus capecitabine 2000 mg m(-2) per day orally in two doses from day 1 to day 7, every 2 weeks. Grade 3-4 toxicities were infrequent, expect for neutropenia and diarrhoea, which were each observed in 30% of patients. Two complete and twenty-two partial responses were obtained, corresponding to an overall response rate of 67% (95% CI 51.4-82%). After a median follow-up of 17.7 months, the median progression-free and overall survival were 10.1 and 17.9 months, respectively. The substitution of 5-fluorouracil with capecitabine, in combination with irinotecan and oxaliplatin, is feasible and does not impair the activity of the regimen. However, the XELOXIRI combination is associated with a high incidence of diarrhoea and, therefore, should be considered as a not preferable alternative to FOLFOXIRI.

First-line 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid, oxaliplatin and irinotecan (FOLFOXIRI) does not impair the feasibility and the activity of second line treatments in metastatic colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: We conducted two phase II trials evaluating the combination of 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid, oxaliplatin and irinotecan (FOLFOXIRI) as first-line treatment in 74 metastatic colorectal cancer patients. Results were very promising with an overall response rate of 71% and 72%, a median PFS of 10.4 and 10.8 months and an overall survival of 26.5 and 28.4 months, respectively. A concern about the use of all three active agents up-front is the possibility that this might limit, after progression, disease control with second-line treatments. Therefore, we conducted the present analysis to evaluate the outcome of second-line treatments in these 74 patients. METHODS: Among the 71 patients so far progressed 54 (76%) received second line chemotherapy (23: FOLFIRI, 17: FOLFOXIRI, five: 5-FU protracted infusion, three: FOLFOX, three: 5-FU+MMC, two: CPT-11, one: CPT-11+LOHP, one: raltitrexed). Seventeen patients (24%) did not receive second line treatments: 10 because of deterioration of performance status (PS), four because of patient refusal and three because of death. Patients' characteristics at the time of second-line treatment were: M/F 36 of 18 patients, median age 64 yrs (range 44-75), ECOG PS>or=1 21 (39%) patients, multiple sites of disease 33 (61%) patients. RESULTS: A median of 4.1 months of second-line chemotherapy per patient were administered (range 1-8). Overall response rate (52 out of 54 evaluable patients) was 33% and stable disease were 19 (37%). Median duration of response was 8.1 months. At a median follow up of 15.1 months from the start of salvage chemotherapy median PFS and overall survival were respectively 6.7 and 15.2 months. CONCLUSIONS: First-line FOLFOXIRI does not impair the possibility to obtain objective responses and delay tumor progression with second line treatments containing the same agents used in first-line.

Long-term follow-up of a pilot phase II study with neoadjuvant epidoxorubicin, etoposide and cisplatin in gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The prognosis in T3-T4 or N+ gastric cancer is dismal, and the role of adjuvant therapy remains uncertain. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy could improve both resectability and survival. Here, we report the results of the long-term follow-up of a pilot study aimed at evaluating a neoadjuvant treatment in a group of patients carefully staged by computed tomography (CT), endoscopic ultrasound and laparoscopy. METHODS: Twenty-five stage II-III patients with histologically proven gastric adenocarcinoma were enrolled in the study. All patients gave informed consent and were thoroughly staged. Patients were treated with epidoxorubicin (40 mg/m2 i.v.) on days 1 and 4, etoposide (VP-16; 100 mg/m2) on days 1, 3 and 4 and cisplatinum (80 mg/m2) on day 2, every 21-28 days for 3 pre-operative cycles before CT clinical restaging followed by laparotomy and D2 gastrectomy. Three further cycles of chemotherapy were planned after radical surgery. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients received the planned pre-operative chemotherapy and underwent surgical resection; total (13 patients) or subtotal (7 patients) R0 D2 gastrectomy was possible in 20 patients. One patient died as a result of gastric bleeding. Perioperative complications occurred in 5 patients (failure of anastomosis in 1 patient and wound infection in the other 4). The pathologic response rate included 7 partial responses (29.1%) and 10 patients with stable disease (41.7%). The main toxicity was grade 3/4 neutropenia (68%), which occurred more frequently during the postoperative chemotherapy, and fatigue (68%). Fever or infection, however, were never observed. The median disease-free survival was 37 months, and median survival has not been reached after 40 months of median follow-up. One-, 2- and 3-year survival rates were 80, 64 and 60%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The notable long-term survival in the present study suggests a comparison between the neoadjuvant approach, including new drug combinations, and adjuvant chemo- or chemoradio-therapy in locally advanced gastric cancer.