Treatment of colorectal cancer with and without bevacizumab: a phase III study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this phase III trial was to compare chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab versus chemotherapy alone in the treatment of patients with advanced colorectal cancer. METHODS: From September 2004 till September 2008, 222 treatment-naive patients were enrolled and divided into 2 arms: 114 arm A patients were treated with leucovorin, 5-fluorouracil plus irinotecan in combination with bevacizumab, and 108 arm B patients were treated as above without bevacizumab. All patients were stage IV with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: The median overall survival of arm A patients was 22.0 months (95% CI: 18.1-25.9) and 25.0 months (CI: 18.1-31.9) for arm B patients. There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 arms (p = 0.1391). No statistically significant difference between the 2 arms regarding the response rate was observed: partial response, 42 patients (36.8%) and 38 patients (35.2%) for arms A and B, respectively. Hematologic toxicity did not differ in the comparison of the 2 arms. Nonhematologic toxicity in arm A involved hypertension in 23 (20.2%) of the patients and proteinuria in 7 (6.1%); 3 patients experienced hemorrhage and 1 patient intestinal perforation. None of these side effects was observed in arm B patients. CONCLUSION: No statistically significant difference in median overall survival in patients with advanced colorectal cancer treated with bevacizumab plus a combination therapy (arm A) and those treated with the combination only, without bevacizumab (arm B), was observed.

Primitive neurectodermal tumors: a case of extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma of the small intestine and review of the literature.

This is a review of extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma (ES) which includes a new, extremely rare case. The literature was examined with respect to determining the locations of extraosseous ESs, the incidence per site and in total and the criteria which confirm the similarity between extraosseous and osseous ES. ES sites were detected in several organs and tissues, mainly in the trunk, extremities and the retroperitoneal region. Studies confirmed that osseous and extraosseous ES are identical chromosomally and histologically. ES of the small intestine, described here, has not been previously documented in the literature. Along with the other different documented sites, a new location of primary extraosseous ES is also reported here.