
Ben Slotman

Roy Herbst
Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation: Fewer Brain Metastases, Longer Survival for Patients with Small Cell Lung Cancer
BEN SLOTMAN, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam
COMMENT: ROY HERBST, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
Any patient with small cell lung cancer responding to chemotherapy should now be offered prophylactic cranial irradiation, according to the findings of a study from the Netherlands reported to the Plenary Session of the ASCO meeting. Ben Slotman told Peter Goodwin about the results showing a two-thirds reduction of brain metastases and a near doubling of the number of patients surviving one year.

Bayard Powell

Dean Bajorin
Arsenic Trioxide Improves Survival for Patients with Newly Diagnosed Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia
BAYARD POWELL, Wake Forest University, NC
COMMENT: DEAN BAJORIN, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Newly diagnosed patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia benefit from having arsenic trioxide added to their standard all-trans retinoic acid and chemotherapy. This is according to a 500-patient study from North Carolina presented at the ASCO meeting. Bayard Powell told Sarah Maxwell his group’s latest findings from the study.

Ehab Atallah

Dean Bajorin
Dasatinib Activity in First Line Treatment For Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
EHAB ATALLAH, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
COMMENT: DEAN BAJORIN, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia could soon have a new option for first line therapy. Dasatinib has outperformed imatinib in the laboratory, and is already approved for patients who fail imatinib. Now, it’s been tried in a phase II study involving 31 patients with chronic phase CML. Ehab Atallah of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discussed the latest data with Derek Thorne.

Elias Jabbour
Nilotinib for Patients with Imatinib-Intolerant Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in Chronic Phase
ELIAS JABBOUR, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who are intolerant to imatinib because of adverse events were mostly found to tolerate an alternative tyrosine kinase inhibitor, nilotinib. This was in a study from Texas looking at the use of nilotinib in patients who had failed first-line imatinib therapy either because of resistance or intolerance. ASCO 2007 Merit Award-winner Elias Jabbour told Peter Goodwin about the latest findings.

Peter Wiernik
Lenalidomide Benefits Patients with Relapsed Refractory Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
PETER WIERNIK, New York Medical College
Patients with aggressive relapsed, refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have responded to monotherapy with lenalidomide. That’s the finding of a small study reported to the ASCO meeting in Chicago. Peter Wiernik gave the details to Peter Goodwin at a poster session of the conference.