Local treatment of liver metastasis in a patient with advanced malignant melanoma: A case report.

Melanoma is a fatal malignant tumor with a high rate of metastasis. Liver metastasis of melanoma is always associated with insensitivity to immunotherapy and a poor prognosis. However, the combination of cryoablation, which is believed to stimulate the antitumor immune response in the body, with immunotherapy can improve the therapeutic response to this condition. Herein, we present the case of a 79-year-old woman with BRAF (B-Raf proto-oncogene) wild-type melanoma who later developed liver metastasis. The patient received intravenous antiprogrammed cell death 1 antibody, which showed poor efficacy, and subsequent treatment with immunotherapy combined with cryoablation yielded a partial response. However, after the second cryoablation, the patient refused further treatment due to a fear of bleeding. Therefore, only immunotherapy was provided, which resulted in disease progression. This report demonstrates the need to consider immunotherapy plus cryoablation for the treatment of liver metastases in patients with BRAF wild-type melanoma.

Effect of XIAOJI Decoction combined with FOLFOX on expression profiles of serumcytokinesinpatientswithadvancedcolorectalcancer:liquid chip technology analysis / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@#Objective: To investigate the effects of XIAOJI Decoction combined with FOLFOX chemotherapy on serum cytokine expression profile in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma by liquid chip technology. Methods: Fourteen patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma, who met the inclusion criteria and were treated in the Department of Oncology, Higher Education Mega Center Hospital of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine during January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018 were retrospectively analyzed in this study. The patients were divided into chemotherapy group (n=7, treated with 5-Fluorouracil + Calcium Folic Acid+Oxaliplatin (FOLFOX)) and combined treatment group (n=7, treated with XIAOJI Decoction + FOLFOX) according to therapeutic scheme. The curative efficacy was evaluated after 6 treatment courses. The expression profile of cytokines in blood serum of patients was examined by liquid chip technology after every 2 courses. Results: Fourteen patients received a total of 84 cycles of therapy. Survival analyses showed that the progress-free survival time (PFS) and overall survival time (OS) of two groups couldn't be compared due to insufficient samples, although the combined treatment group had longer PFS (10 months vs 6 months) and OS (17 months vs 12 months) than the chemotherapy group.As to adverse reactions, the rates of leucopenia, diarrhea, nausea, peripheral neuritis and alopecia in two groups were comparable, while the severity in combined treatment group were lighter than that in chemotherapy group. In comparison with the combined treatment group, concentrations of serum BDNF and IL-2 were statistically higher in the chemotherapy group (P<0.05). By comparing the cytokine concentrations at different collection time points before and after the treatment, it showed that the concentration of serum IL-2 in chemotherapy group was higher than that in combined treatment group after 2 courses of treatment (P<0.05). In total, there were 19 cytokines showed a tendency to be higher in combined treatment group than chemotherapy group during different treatment periods. Conclusion: Combined treatment of XIAOJI Decoction with FOLFOX for advanced colorectal carcinoma is a treatment option worth exploring, and liquid chip analysis showed that the mechanism may be related to the reduction of serum LI-2 and BDNF levels in patients.

A Chinese medicine warm compress (Wen Jing Zhi Tong Fang), combined with WHO 3-step analgesic ladder treatment for cancer pain relief: A comparative randomized trial.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of Chinese medicine warm compress (CMWC) on back meridians in relieving cancer pain, reducing adjuvant analgesic doses and adverse reactions, and improving the quality of life (QOL). METHODS: A total of 62 patients (age range 39-82 years) diagnosed with a malignant tumor and suffering from cancer-related pain were randomly divided into a treatment group (group A) and a control group (group B) (n = 31 for each). The patients in both groups were administered appropriate drugs for 2 cycles of 7-day treatments according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 3-step ladder for cancer pain relief in adults. In addition, a CMWC was given to patients in group A. Pain relief was assessed using the visual analogue scale (VAS) at various time points before and after interventions in each group. Alteration of analgesic doses, adverse reactions, performance status (PS), and QOL were evaluated and any differences between groups A and B evaluated. RESULTS: VAS scores at various time points after treatment were significantly decreased compared with the baseline level in group A. Overall response rate was significantly improved in group A compared with group B (70.97% vs 29.03%, P < .001). Significant differences in clinical pain relief efficacy in various locations were found in group A after treatment vs before treatment (P < .05). Adjuvant analgesic doses were significantly changed in the control group compared to the treatment group after 1 cycle of 7-day treatment (22.58% vs 12.90%, P = .023). QOL were improved more in group A than in group B (3.00 ± 4.23 vs -2.06 ±â€Š2.38, P < .001). Significantly reduced adverse reactions were observed after treatment of group A compared with group B in terms of the overall incidence (3.23% vs 80.65%, P < .05) or incidence of constipation (3.23% vs 77.42%, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The application of CMWC on back meridians combined with WHO 3-step analgesic ladder treatment was effective in relieving cancer-related pain with reduced doses, less adverse reactions, and improved QOL.