When tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib can be discontinued in metastatic renal cell carcinoma to pancreas: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Long-term survival with durable response remains possible in the area of targeted therapies. Discontinuation of sunitinib could improve quality of life and reduce treatment costs in metastatic renal cell carcinoma with long-term disease stabilization. We discuss a case of successful interruption of antiangiogenic therapy in a patient with persisting evidence of metastases. The discontinuation of antiangiogenic therapy seems to be an option, even in indolent oligo-metastatic renal cell carcinoma with long disease stabilization before sunitinib. This observation contributes important data to the ongoing discussion on the discontinuation of treatment with kinase inhibitors in selected patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of an 80-year-old Moroccan man treated for renal clear cell carcinoma with multiple pancreatic metastases. He was not on any other medications. He underwent active surveillance with deferred sunitinib at disease progression. He showed significant disease control on sunitinib therapy demonstrating partial response with stable disease after a total of 28 months of therapy. He experienced toxicities which were manageable with supportive care and dose adjustments. Our patient asked for a break of the sunitinib administration, and the treatment was stopped. The disease remained stable after 13 months' discontinuation of sunitinib therapy. The patient was in excellent overall health. CONCLUSIONS: All available agents for metastatic renal cell carcinoma have side effects, which may become serious in a minority of patients. Clinicians and patients must therefore carefully balance the goals of maximal efficacy with minimal toxicity. Sunitinib can be discontinued without negatively impacting outcomes in indolent disease. Further research is needed to characterize the molecular determinants of response and resistance to targeted therapy.

Visceral Crisis Means Short Survival Among Patients With Luminal A Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with visceral crisis from luminal metastatic breast cancer (mBC) are often treated with palliative chemotherapy. No studies have analyzed the aggressiveness of the care in visceral crisis from luminal mBC patients. The objective of this study was to assess practices in this setting in a university medical oncology department. METHODS: This retrospective study included all patients who were managed for luminal mBC between January 2013 and April 2016. The analysis focused on the characteristics of the patients, the modalities of cancer treatment and delays between visceral crisis and death. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients pre-treated with two hormonal therapy lines were enrolled retrospectively. Worse performance status and a higher proportion of severe organ dysfunction for luminal mBC were observed among patients with visceral crisis. Sixty-five percent of patients received cytotoxic treatment. One cycle of chemotherapy was administrated in the majority of patients. Palliative care was performed in 35% of patients. Chemotherapy did not have any significant effect on patient outcome in the present study. The mean time between visceral crisis and death was 4.7 weeks (standard deviation = 1.9). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that visceral crisis in patients with luminal mBC is a complex problem. We need more comprehension of molecular pathogenesis to visceral crisis disease to propose efficacious treatments for these patients and to identify subgroup of patients who need chemotherapy followed by maintenance endocrine therapy.

Renal damage induced by pemetrexed causing drug discontinuation: a case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Pemetrexed maintenance therapy holds tremendous potential in improving the survival of patients with advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Major side effects include myelosuppression and cutaneous reactions. However, little data are available on pemetrexed nephrotoxicity. Our case describes clinically relevant renal events leading to treatment discontinuation in routine practice. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 69-year-old Moroccan man treated for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. He was not on any other medications and he did not receive any nephrotoxic agents. He was exposed to intravenously administered contrast from thoracoabdominal computed tomography in the week of his last pemetrexed treatment. He developed kidney disease related to pemetrexed. He was submitted to renal biopsy, which showed acute tubular damage and interstitial fibrosis. His kidney function remained impaired, but stable, after discontinuation of pemetrexed therapy. He died 5 months later. CONCLUSIONS: Medical oncologists should be aware of renal adverse events for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer eligible for pemetrexed maintenance therapy. Suggestions for mitigating the risk for renal toxicities (dehydration, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and zoledronic acid, radiocontrast agents) during pemetrexed maintenance should be followed to enable early detection and management of this adverse event.

Metachronous pancreatic metastases from renal cell carcinoma: is there a place of Active-Surveillance before deferred deliberately Molecular Target Agent?

BACKGROUND: Metastatic renal cell cancer is a heterogeneous disease due to its diverse morphological features, the prognostic categories based on clinical criteria. Sometimes indolent course without any significant symptoms can be differentiated before the introduction of novel targeted agents. This observation led to interest in a strategy of deferring systemic therapy in the era of effective systemic therapies. CASE PRESENTATION: We report of a 78-year-old Moroccan man with pancreatic metastasis from renal cell carcinoma which occurred 14 years from right nephrectomy. Indolent disease based on body computed tomography imaging with 4 years follow-up was recognized. Active surveillance with deferred antiangiogenic multikinase inhibitor at disease progression was proposed. Nowadays, the patient is under oncological follow-up, he is in a good state of health, and he is disease-free for 48 months from the diagnosis of the tumor and for 20 months from the start of the treatment with Sunitinib CONCLUSIONS: Active surveillance before target therapy may be a suitable approach to ensure long progression-free survival with minimal side-effects and better quality of life in asymptomatic, low-volume, metastatic disease. Further prospective studies with biomarker validation are required to define the patients most likely to benefit from this approach.

Toxicities of docetaxel: original drug versus generics-a comparative study about 81 cases.

INTRODUCTION: Docetaxel is a chemotherapy drug widely prescribed in oncology that recognizes a variety of manufactured generics whose toxicity is increasingly reported. The aim of this study was to compare the toxicities between the original and a generics docetaxel in a Moroccan center. METHODS: In a cross sectional study, we enrolled patients treated with docetaxel from the oncology department of the military hospital of Rabat over a period of 2 years (2013-2014). We compared the prevalence of hypersensitivity reactions, febrile neutropenia, peripheral neuropathy, gastrointestinal, cutaneous, and hematologic toxicities, between four different presentations of docetaxel including the original drug. Only grade II or worse adverse events related to chemotherapy were considered. Treatments discontinuations due to toxicity were also compared. Unusual skin toxicities were included. RESULTS: 81 patients were eligible for analysis [43/generics arm vs. 38/original drug arm. Hematological toxicity was significantly more frequent in the generic arm than in the original drug (32.6 vs. 13.2 %; p = 0.04)]. Also, a signifying higher rate of treatment discontinuation was observed in the generic arm (39.5 vs. 7.9 %, p = 0.001). The use of specific generic increase numerically the skin toxicities (17.6 vs. 0 %, p = 0.026). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that generics of docetaxel are associated with an increase of hematological and cutaneous toxicities, an increase of treatment discontinuation rate and emphasize the need of a regulation of generics' manufacture.

Is there any advantage to combined trastuzumab and chemotherapy in perioperative setting her 2neu positive localized gastric adenocarcinoma?

We report here a 44-year-old Moroccan man with resectable gastric adenocarcinoma with overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) by immunohistochemistry who was treated with trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy in perioperative setting. He received 3 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of trastuzumab, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine. Afterwards, he received total gastrectomy with extended D2 lymphadenectomy without spleno-pancreatectomy. A pathologic complete response was obtained with a combination of trastuzumab and oxaliplatin and capecitabine. He received 3 more cycles of trastuzumab containing regimen postoperatively.We conclude that resectable gastric carcinoma with overexpression of the c-erbB-2 protein should ideally be managed with perioperative combination of trastuzumab with chemotherapy. Further research to evaluate trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy regimens in the perioperative and adjuvant setting is urgently needed.

Breast cancer treatment and sexual dysfunction: Moroccan women's perception.

BACKGROUND: This exploratory prospective study evaluated women's responses to questions that asked them to describe how their body image and sexual functioning had changed since their breast cancer diagnosis to treatment. METHODS: A questionnaire concerning body image scale and various sexual problems experienced after diagnosis and treatment was anonymously completed by 120 women in the outpatient clinic of our hospital's Division of medical Oncology. To be eligible, subjects had to be sexually active and had histology proven breast cancer. They also had to have received treatment for breast cancer. RESULTS: 100% of participants have never spoken with their doctor about this subject. 84% of the participants continued sexual activity after treatment, but there was an increase in the incidence of sexual functioning problems which resulted in a slight reduction in the quality of their sex lives. 65% of the women experienced dyspareunia followed by lubrication difficulties (54%) and the absence or reduction of sexual desire (48% and 64%, respectively) while, 37% had lack of satisfaction (37%). Female orgasmic disorder and brief intercourse and arousal were reported respectively by 40% and 38% of the subjects. The sexual dysfunctions were absent before diagnosis and management of breast cancer in 91.5% subjects and of these 100% subjects complained of a deterioration of the symptomatology after the various treatments. 90% of the dysfunctions were observed after chemotherapy, 9% after surgery and 3% after radiotherapy; none of the subjects indicated the onset of dysfunctions to have been associated with hormonotherapy. 100% expressed not having received sufficient information about how the disease and treatment (including surgery) might affect their sexual life. CONCLUSION: Breast cancer and its treatment may result in significant difficulties with sexual functioning and sexual life. Addressing these problems is essential to improve the quality of life of Moroccan women with breast cancer.

Clinical characteristics and outcome of isolated extracerebral relapses of primary central nervous system lymphoma: a case series.

There is very limited data on isolated systemic relapses of primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSL). We retrospectively reviewed the clinical characteristics and outcome of 10 patients with isolated systemic disease among 209 patients with PCNSL mainly treated with methotrexate-based chemotherapy (CT) with or without radiation therapy (RT). Isolated systemic relapse remained rare (4.8%, 10/209 patients). Median time from initial diagnosis to relapse was 33 months (range, 3-94). Sites of relapse were mostly extranodal. Three patients presented with early extra-cerebral (EC) relapse 3, 5 and 8 months from the beginning of initial treatment, respectively, and 7 patients had later relapses (range, 17-94 months). Treatment at relapse included surgery alone, RT alone, CT with or without radiotherapy, or CT with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Median overall survival (OS) after relapse was 15.5 months (range, 5.8-24.5) compared to 4.6 months (range, 3.6-6.5) for patients with central nervous system (CNS) relapse (p = 0.35). In conclusion, isolated systemic relapses exist but are infrequent. Early EC relapse suggests the presence of systemic disease undetectable by conventional evaluation at initial diagnosis. Patient follow-up must be prolonged because systemic relapse can occur as late as 10 years after initial diagnosis. Whether EC relapses of PCNSL have a better prognosis than CNS relapses needs to be assessed in a larger cohort.

Treatment of Liver Metastases From Colorectal Cancer: Medico-Surgical Strategies.

BACKGROUND: The management of hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer can be understood only as part of a multidisciplinary strategy. Progress experienced by medical treatment, surgical techniques and ways of imaging, has improved the prognosis of patients with liver metastases of colorectal cancers. This work displays the experience of Medical Oncology unit at the Military training hospital in Rabat. METHODS: From January 2007 to December 2009, 60 patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer, synchronous or metachronous were supported in the Medical Oncology unit at the Military training hospital in Rabat. RESULTS: Liver metastases were synchronous in 41 (68%) patients and metachronous in 19 (32%). Patients were classified into 3 categories according to their resectability: 14 (22%) were resectable at the outset, 28 (47%) were unresectable and 18 (31%) were considered uncertain resectability. Thirty-five patients (58%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgical gesture, 25 (42%) received chemotherapy after resection of primary tumor. This chemotherapy enabled the resection of liver metastases in 5 patients initially deemed uncertain resectability. The average objective responses to chemotherapy were in the range of 59% with 4 complete responses and one confirmed histologically. Twenty-three patients (38%) underwent surgery including 15 liver resections with R0 (25%). The median progression-free survival in this series was 15.5 months. Some minor side effects were noted, which have not entered the prognosis of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatic resection remains the only potentially curative treatment of liver metastases of colorectal cancers. Perioperative chemotherapy is a promising standard, which has improved the prognosis of patients historically associated with a poor prognosis.