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Week 2: Reviewing Wikipedia page for small-cell lung cancer=

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The links all seem to work fine, but the claim that smoking is a significant risk factor does not have an in-text citation. I left a comment that asked for an in-text citation.


You are falling behind grade B RJBazell (talk) 18:22, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

Week 4: Adjuvant Therapy Wikipedia Page

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Think back to when you did an article critique. What can you add? Post some of your ideas to the article's talk page. 
    - I would to update the citations, as the page has some uncited claims. In addition, I would like to expand the existing adjuvant therapies for cancer section as well as add a part discussing the controversies in regard to usage of adjuvant therapy.

Compile a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post that bibliography to the talk page of the article you'll be working on, and in your sandbox. Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
     - Fisher papers where he brings up the ethical dilemma of advising tamoxifen with surgery
     - Surprisingly several papers discussing the controversy of utilizing adjuvant therapy after primary treatment
           - https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/566570
           - http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/content/16/3/351.full
           - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3413031/
           - http://www.ascopost.com/issues/august-25-2016/asco-guideline-addresses-controversial-areas-in-adjuvant-therapy-for-breast-cancer/
           - http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/6/5/e005633
           - https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-642-83337-3_3.pdf
           - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4250533/
           - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12450421
           - http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/68/21/8643
           - http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com/sp-3.28.0a/ovidweb.cgi?
           - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1387335/

Week 5

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Quick Brainstorm

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This Wikipedia page is being marked as relying too heavily on primary sources; will try to find more reviews and secondary sources

Common theme among these papers/articles/reviews is the concern regarding quality of life

Fertility issues for women

Is lessened chance for further recurrence worth sacrificing current and future quality of life?

Some research suggests that the benefit from adjuvant therapy (in certain cases) is not significant enough to warrant its use.

Use of adjuvant therapy comes off as a "just in case" measure.

History (new section)

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The term "adjuvant therapy," derived from the Latin term adjuvāre, meaning "to help," was first coined by Paul Carbone and his team at the National Cancer Institute in 1963. In 1968, the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) published its B-01 trial results for the first randomized trial that evaluated the effect of an adjuvant alkylating agent in breast cancer. The results indicated that the adjuvant therapy given after the initial radical mastectomy "significantly decreased recurrence rate in pre-menopausal women with four or more positive axillary lymph nodes."[1]

The budding theory of using additional therapies to supplement primary surgery was put into practice by Gianni Bonadonna and his colleagues from the Instituto Tumori in Italy in 1973, where they conducted a randomized trial that demonstrated more favorable survival outcomes that accompanied use of Cyclophosphamide Methotrexate Fluorouracil (CMF) after the initial mastectomy.[1]

In 1976, shortly after Bonadonna's landmark trial, Bernard Fisher at the University of Pittsburgh initiated a similar randomized trial that compared the survival of breast cancer patients treated with radiation after the initial mastectomy to those who only received the surgery. His results, published in 1985, indicated increased disease-free survival for the former group.[2][1]

Despite the initial pushback from the breast cancer surgeons who believed that their radical mastectomies were sufficient in removing all traces of cancer, the success of Bonadonna's and Fisher's trials brought adjuvant therapy to the mainstream in oncology.[1] Since then, the field of adjuvant therapy has greatly expanded to include a wide range of adjuvant therapies to include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiation.

Neoadjuvant therapy

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Neoadjuvant therapy, in contrast to adjuvant therapy, is given before the main treatment. For example, systemic therapy for breast cancer that is given before removal of a breast is considered neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The most common reason for neoadjuvant therapy for cancer is to reduce the size of the tumor so as to facilitate more effective surgery.

In the context of breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy administered before surgery can improve survival in patients. If no active cancer cells are present in a tissue extracted from the tumor site after neoadjuvant therapy, physicians classify a case as “pathologic complete response” or "pCR." While response to therapy has been demonstrated to be a strong predictor of outcome, the medical community has still not reached a consensus in regard to the definition of pCR across various breast cancer subtypes. It remains unclear whether pCR can be used as a surrogate end point in breast cancer cases.[3][4]

Adjuvant Cancer Therapy

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Concomitant or concurrent systemic cancer therapy

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Concomitant or concurrent systemic cancer therapy refers to administering medical treatments at the same time as other therapies, such as radiation. Adjuvant hormonal therapy is given after prostate removal in prostate cancer, but there are concerns that the side effects, in particular the cardiovascular ones, may outweigh the risk of recurrence.

In breast cancer, adjuvant therapy may consist of chemotherapy (doxorubicin, herceptin, paclitaxel, docetaxel, cyclophosphamide, fluorouracil, and methotrexate) and radiotherapy, especially after lumpectomy, and hormonal therapy (tamoxifen, femara). Adjuvant therapy in breast cancer is used in stage one and two breast cancer following lumpectomy, and in stage three breast cancer due to lymph node involvement.

Adjuvant therapy does not improve prognosis in stage I, II, and III renal cell carcinoma, with the possible exception of radiotherapy, which lowered the risk of local recurrence from 41% to 22% in one study[citation needed]. As a result of this resistance to chemotherapy, targeted therapies, including nexavar, sutent, rapamycin and interleukin 2 that are known to be effective in stage IV renal cell carcinoma, have been studied in the adjuvant setting, without good results.

In early stage one small cell lung carcinoma, adjuvant chemotherapy with gemzar, cisplatin, paclitaxel, docetaxel, and other chemotherapeutic agents, and adjuvant radiotherapy is administered to either the lung, to prevent a local recurrence, or the brain to prevent metastases.

In testicular cancer, adjuvant either radiotherapy or chemotherapy may be used following orchidectomy. Previously, mainly radiotherapy was used, as a full course of cytotoxic chemotherapy produced far more side effects then a course of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT).[citation needed] However, it has been found a single dose of carboplatin is as effective as EBRT in stage II testicular cancer, with only mild side effects (transient myelosuppressive action vs severe and prolonged myelosuppressive neutropenic illness in normal chemotherapy, and much less vomiting, diarrhea, mucositis, and no alopecia in 90% of cases.[citation needed]

Adjuvant therapy is particularly effective in certain types of cancer, including colorectal carcinoma, lung cancer, and medulloblastoma. In completely resected medulloblastoma, 5-year survival rate is 85% if adjuvant chemotherapy and/or craniospinal irradiation is performed, and just 10% if no adjuvant chemotherapy or craniospinal irradiation is used. Prophylactic cranial irradiation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is technically adjuvant, and most experts agree that cranial irradiation decreases risk of central nervous system (CNS) relapse in ALL and possibly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but it can cause severe side effects, and adjuvant intrathecal methotrexate and hydrocortisone may be just as effective as cranial irradiation, without severe late effects, such as developmental disability, dementia, and increased risk for second malignancy.

Controversy (new section)

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A motif found throughout the history of cancer therapy is the tendency for overtreatment. From the time of its inception, the use of adjuvant therapy has received scrutiny for its adverse effects on the quality of life of cancer patients. For example, because side effects of adjuvant chemotherapy can range from nausea to loss of fertility, physicians regularly practice caution when prescribing chemotherapy.[5]

In the context of melanoma, certain treatments, such as Ipilimumab, result in high grade adverse events, or immune-related adverse events, in 10-15% of patients that parallel the effects of metastatic melanoma itself.[6][7] Similarly, several common adjuvant therapies are noted for having the potential of causing cardiovascular disease.[8] In such cases, physicians must weigh the cost of future recurrence against more immediate consequences and consider factors, like age and relative cardiovascular health of a patient, before prescribing certain types of adjuvant therapy.

One of the most notable side effects of adjuvant therapy is the loss of fertility. For pre-pubescent males, testicular tissue cryopreservation is an option for preserving future fertility. For post-pubescent males, this side effect can be assuaged through semen cryopreservation. For pre-menopausal females, options to preserve fertility are oftentimes much more complex.[9] For example, breast cancer patients of fertile age oftentimes have to weigh the risks and benefits associated with starting an adjuvant therapy regimen after primary treatment. In the some low-risk, low-benefit situations, forgoing adjuvant treatment altogether can be a reasonable decision, but in cases where the risk of metastasis is high, patients may be forced to make a difficult decision. Though options for fertility preservation exist (e.g., embryo preservation, oocyte cryopreservation, ovarian suppression, etc.), they are more often than not time-consuming and costly. [10]

As a result of complications that can stem from liberal use of adjuvant therapy, the philosophy surrounding the use of adjuvant therapy in the clinical setting has shifted towards the goal of doing as little harm as possible to patients. The standards for dose intensity of adjuvant treatments and treatment duration are regularly updated to optimize regimen efficiency while minimizing toxic side effects that patients must shoulder.

Dose-Dense Chemotherapy (new section)

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Dose-dense chemotherapy (DDC) has recently emerged as an effective method of adjuvant chemotherapy administration. DDC uses the Gompertz curve to explain tumor cell growth after initial surgery removes most of the tumor mass. Cancer cells that are left over after a surgery are typically rapidly dividing cells, leaving them the most vulnerable to chemotherapy. Standard chemotherapy regimens are usually administered every 3 weeks to allow normal cells time to recover. This practice has lead scientists to the hypothesis that the recurrence of cancer after surgery and chemo may be due to the rapidly diving cells outpacing the rate of chemotherapy administration. DDC tries to circumvent this issue by giving chemotherapy every 2 weeks. To lessen the side effects of chemotherapy that can be exacerbated with more closely administered chemotherapy treatments, growth factors are typically given in conjunction with DDC to restore white blood cell counts.[11] A recent 2018 meta-analysis of DDC clinical trials in early stage breast cancer patients indicated promising results in premenopausal women, but DDC has yet to become the standard of treatment in clinics. [12]

Specific Cancers

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Malignant melanoma

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The role of adjuvant therapy in malignant melanoma is and has been hotly debated by oncologists. In 1995 a multicenter study reported improved long-term and disease-free survival in melanoma patients using interferon alpha 2b as an adjuvant therapy. Thus, later that year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved interferon alpha 2b for melanoma patients who are currently free of disease, to reduce the risk of recurrence. Since then, however, some doctors[who?] have argued that interferon treatment does not prolong survival or decrease the rate of relapse, but only causes harmful side effects. Those claims have not been validated by scientific research.

Adjuvant chemotherapy has been used in malignant melanoma, but there is little hard evidence to use chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting. However, melanoma is not a chemotherapy-resistant malignancy. Dacarbazine, temozolomide, and cisplatin all have a reproducible 10–20% response rate in metastatic melanoma.[citation needed]; however, these responses are often short-lived and almost never complete. Multiple studies have shown that adjuvant radiotherapy improves local recurrence rates in high-risk melanoma patients. The studies include at least two M.D. Anderson cancer center studies. However, none of the studies showed that adjuvant radiotherapy had a statistically significant survival benefit.

A number of studies are currently underway to determine whether immunomodulatory agents which have proven effective in the metastatic setting are of benefit as adjuvant therapy for patients with resected stage 3 or 4 disease.

Breast Cancer

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It has been known for at least 30 years that adjuvant chemotherapy increases the relapse-free survival rate for patients with breast cancer[13] In 2001 after a national consensus conference, a US National Institute of Health panel concluded: “Because adjuvant polychemotherapy improves survival, it should be recommended to the majority of women with localized breast cancer regardless of lymph node, menopausal, or hormone receptor status.”[1]

Agents used include:

However, ethical concerns have been raised about the magnitude of benefit of this therapy since it involves further treatment of patients without knowing the possibility of relapse. Dr. Bernard Fisher, among the first to conduct a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of adjuvant therapy on patients with breast cancer, described it as an "value judgement" in which the potential benefits must be evaluated against the toxicity and cost of treatment and other potential side effects.[14]

Ovarian Cancer (new section)

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Roughly 15% of ovarian cancers are detected at the early stage, at which the 5-year survival rate is 92%.[15] A Norwegian meta-analysis of 22 randomized studies involving early-stage ovarian cancer revealed the likelihood that 8 out of 10 women treated with cisplatin after the initial surgery were overtreated.[16] Patients diagnosed at an early stage who were treated with cisplatin immediately after surgery fared worse than patients who were left untreated. An additional surgical focus for young women with early-stage cancers is on the conservation of the contralateral ovary for the preservation of fertility.

Most cases of ovarian cancers are detected at the advanced stages, when the survival is greatly reduced. [15]

Lung Cancer

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Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

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In 2015, a comprehensive meta-analysis of 47 trials and 11,107 patients revealed that NSCLC patients benefit from adjuvant therapy in the form of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. The results found that patients given chemotherapy after the initial surgery lived 4% longer than those who did not receive chemotherapy. The toxicity resulting from adjuvant chemotherapy was believed to be manageable. [17]

Colorectal Cancer

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The American Cancer Society lists the following as common treatments for colon cancer that can be used either in the adjuvant or neo=adjuvant setting: [18]

  • 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)
  • Capecitabine (Xeloda)
  • Irinotecan (Camptosar)
  • Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin)
  • Trifluridine and tipiracil (Lonsurf)

Following a meta-analysis of several clinical trials, the National Cancer Institute now recommends a short, 3-month course of oxaliplatin following surgery for certain colon cancer patients. Analysis of six trials conducted across the United States, Europe, and Asia demonstrated that the 3-month course is non-inferior to the previously recommend 6-month course. Patients on a 6-month oxaliplatin regimen have also demonstrated debilitating neuropathy during and following treatment. Patients who received only 3 months of the same treatment demonstrated signifcantly lower rates of peripheral neuropathy. The meta-analysis concluded that "if the disease has spread to three or fewer lymph nodes, the evidence has suggested that these patients are at a lower risk of their disease returning," thus negating the necessity for a prolonged regimen[19].

Pancreatic cancer

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Exocrine

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Exocrine pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest 5-year survival rates out of all cancers.[20] Because of the poor outcomes associated with surgery alone, the role of adjuvant therapy has been extensively evaluated. A series of studies has established that 6 months of chemotherapy with either gemcitabine or fluorouracil, as compared with observation, improves overall survival. Newer trials incorporating immune checkpoint inhibitors such as the inhibitors to programmed death 1 (PD-1) and the PD-1 ligand PD-L1 are under way. [21]

Cervical cancer

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In early stage cervical cancers, research suggests that adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy after chemo-radiation may improve survival. For advanced cervical cancers, further research is needed to determine the efficacy, toxicity and effect on the quality of life of adjuvant chemotherapy.[22]

Endometrial cancer

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Since most early-stage endometrial cancer cases are diagnosed early and are typically very curable with surgery, adjuvant therapy is only given after surveillance and histological factors determine that a patient is at high risk for recurrence. Adjuvant pelvic radiation therapy has received scrutiny for its use in women under 60, as studies have indicated decreased survival and increased risk of second malignancies following treatment. [23]

In advanced-stage endometrial cancer, adjuvant therapy is typically radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of the two. While advanced-stage cancer makes up only about 15% of diagnoses, it accounts for 50% of deaths from endometrial cancer. Patients who undergo radiation and/or chemotherapy treatment will sometimes experience modest benefits before relapse.[24][25]

Bladder cancer

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Neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy has been demonstrated to improve overall survival in advanced bladder cancer, but there exists some controversy in the administration.[26] Unpredictable patient response remains the drawback of neoadjuvant therapy. While it may shrink tumors in some patients, others may not respond to the treatment at all. It has been demonstrated that a delay in surgery of greater than 12 weeks from the time of diagnosis can decrease overall survival. Thus, the timing for neoadjuvants becomes critical, as a course of neoadjuvant therapy could delay a cystectomy and allow the tumor to grow and further metastasize.[27]

Testicular cancer

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Stage I

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For seminoma, the three standard options are: active surveillance, adjuvant radiotherapy, or adjuvant chemotherapy. For non-seminoma, the options include: active surveillance, adjuvant chemotherapy and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection.[28]

As is the case for all reproductive cancers, a degree of caution is taken when deciding to use adjuvant therapy to treat early stage testicular cancer. Though the 5-year survival rates for stage I testicular cancers is approximately 99%, there still exists controversy over whether to overtreat stage I patients to prevent relapse or to wait until patients experience relapse.[29] Patients treated with standard chemotherapy regimens can experience "second malignant neoplasms, cardiovascular disease, neurotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, pulmonary toxicity, hypogonadism, decreased fertility, and psychosocial problems."[30] As such to minimize overtreatment and avoid potential long-term toxicity caused by adjuvant therapy, most patients today are treated with active surveillance.[31][28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Anampa, Jesus; Makower, Della; Sparano, Joseph A. (2015). "Progress in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: an overview". BMC Medicine. 13 (195). doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0439-8. PMID 26278220.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  2. ^ DeVita, VT; Chu, E. (November 2008). "A history of cancer chemotherapy". Cancer Research. 68 (21): 8643–53. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-6611. PMID 18974103.
  3. ^ Pennisi, Angela (July 25, 2016). "Relevance of Pathological Complete Response after Neoadjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer". Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research. 10: 103–106. doi:10.4137/BCBCR.S33163. PMID 27478380.
  4. ^ Teshome, Mediget (Apr 24, 2014). "Neoadjuvant therapy in the treatment of breast cancer". 10.1016/j.soc.2014.03.006. 23 (3): 505–523. doi:10.1016/j.soc.2014.03.006. PMID 24882348.
  5. ^ "Chemotherapy Side Effects". American Cancer Society.
  6. ^ Kara, Rossfeld (2017). "Metastatic melanoma patients' sensitivity to ipilimumab cannot be predicted by tumor characteristics". International Journal of Surgery Oncology. 2:e43: 10.1097/IJ9.0000000000000043. PMID 29177235.
  7. ^ Ahmad, Tarhini (17 April 2013). "Immune-Mediated Adverse Events Associated with Ipilimumab CTLA-4 Blockade Therapy: The Underlying Mechanisms and Clinical Management". Scientifica. 2013 (10.1155/2013/857519). doi:10.1155/2013/857519. PMID 24278787.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  8. ^ Aleman, Berthe (June 2014). "Cardiovascular disease after cancer therapy". European Journal of Cancer Supplements. 12 (1): 18–28. doi:10.1016/j.ejcsup.2014.03.002.
  9. ^ "How Cancer Treatments Can Affect Fertility in Women". American Cancer Society.
  10. ^ Partridge, Ann (2007). "Fertility and adjuvant treatment in young women with breast cancer". The Breast. 16 (2): 175–181. doi:10.1016/j.breast.2007.07.029.
  11. ^ OncoLink Team. "Dose-Dense Chemotherapy". OncoLink. The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
  12. ^ Goldvaser, H. (8 February 2018). "Influence of control group therapy on the benefit from dose-dense chemotherapy in early breast cancer: a systemic review and meta-analysis". Breast Cancer Research and Treatment: 1–13. doi:10.1007/s10549-018-4710-5. PMID 29423899.
  13. ^ Bonadonna G, Valagussa P (January 1981). "Dose-response effect of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer". N. Engl. J. Med. 304 (1): 10–5. doi:10.1056/NEJM198101013040103. PMID 7432433.
  14. ^ Fisher, Bernard; Redmond, Carol; Dminitrov, Nikolay; Bowman, David; Legault-Poisson, Sandra; Wickerham, Lawrence; Wolmark, Norman; Fisher, Edwin; Margolese, Richard; Sutherland, Carl; Glass, Andrew; Foster, Roger; Caplan, Richard (February 23, 1989). "A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating Sequential Methotrexate and Fluorouracil in the Treatment of Patients with Node-Negative Breast Cancer Who Have Estrogen-Receptor-Negative Tumors". New England Journal of Medicine. 320 (8): 473–478.
  15. ^ a b "Survival Rates for Ovarian Cancer, by Stage". American Cancer Society.
  16. ^ Tropé, Claes; Kaern, Janne (10 July 2007). "Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Early-Stage Ovarian Cancer: Review of the Literature". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 25 (20): 2909–2920. doi:10.1200/JCO.2007.11.1013. PMID 17617522.
  17. ^ Burdett, Sarah (2 March 2015). "Adjuvant chemotherapy for resected early-stage non-small cell lung cancer". Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD011430. PMID 29593890.
  18. ^ "Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer". American Cancer Society.
  19. ^ https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2017/adjuvant-chemo-colorectal
  20. ^ "Pancreatic Cancer Survival Rates, by Stage". American Cancer Society.
  21. ^ Ryan, David P. (September 11, 2014). "Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma". The New England Journal of Medicine. 2014 (371): 1039–1049. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1404198.
  22. ^ Kumar, Lalit (3 February 2018). "Chemotherapy and targeted therapy in the management of cervical cancer". Current Problems in Cancer. doi:10.1016/j.currproblcancer.2018.01.016.
  23. ^ DeLeon, Maria C. (2015). "Adjuvant therapy for endometrial cancer". Journal of Gynecologic Oncology. 25 (2): 136–147. doi:10.3802/jgo.2014.25.2.136. PMID 24761218.
  24. ^ DeLeon, Maria C. (2015). "Adjuvant therapy for endometrial cancer". Journal of Gynecologic Oncology. 25 (2): 136–147. doi:10.3802/jgo.2014.25.2.136. PMID 24761218.
  25. ^ Galaal, K; Al Moundhri, M (15 May 2014). "Adjuvant chemotherapy for advanced endometrial cancer". Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews (5). doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010681.pub2. PMID 24832785.
  26. ^ Wezel, Felix (December 2017). "Do we have biomarkers to predict response to neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy in bladder cancer?". Translational Andrology and Urology. 6 (6): 1067–1080. doi:10.21037/tau.2017.09.18. PMID 29354494.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  27. ^ Tabayoyong, William (May 2018). "Optimal Timing of Chemotherapy and Surgery in Patients with Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer and Upper Urinary Tract Urothelial Carcinoma". Urological Clinics. 45 (2): 155–167. doi:10.1016/j.ucl.2017.12.002. PMID 29650132.
  28. ^ a b Chovanec, M (13 September 2016). "Management of stage I testicular germ cell tumours". Nature Reviews Urology. 13: 663–673. doi:10.1038/nrurol.2016.164. PMID 27618772.
  29. ^ "Testicular Cancer Survival Rates". American Cancer Society.
  30. ^ Travis, LB (4 August 2010). "Testicular cancer survivorship: research strategies and recommendations". Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 102 (15): 1114–30. doi:10.1093/jnci/djq216. PMID 20585105.
  31. ^ Hanna, Nasser H. (November 20, 2014). "Testicular Cancer — Discoveries and Updates". The New England Journal of Medicine. 371: 2005–2016. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1407550.

Week 6

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1. What do you think of Wikipedia's definition of "neutrality"? Wikipedia has an interesting definition of "neutrality" that favors non-primary sources. After completing the training modules, I found this point especially interesting because I recall the emphasis put on primary sources in my experience with primary and secondary education. Though it initially seemed backwards for me, I now understand that the required degrees of separation is a preventative measure against bias.

2. What are the impacts and limits of Wikipedia as a source of information? Wikipedia allows everyone to access information of nearly any topic in a click. It is perhaps the single most efficient way to quickly gain decent understanding of any topic. However, since the forum is so vast, it also means that topics are not always the most in-depth and it relies on third-party contributors to add to the site. Since anyone can change a page, reliability can be called into question, but in most cases, incorrect additions are quickly caught by other editors.

3. On Wikipedia, all material must be attributable to reliable, published sources. What kinds of sources does this exclude? Can you think of any problems that might create? Any type of source that allows room for bias (e.g., blog posts, op eds) are not allowed to be referenced in Wikipedia pages. Since Wikipedia is accessed by a large segment of the population, allowing biased materials would detract from the impartiality that an "encyclopedia" should present.

4. If Wikipedia was written 100 years ago, how might its content (and contributors) be different? What about 100 years from now? 100 years ago, I would imagine that a select group of individuals would be allowed to contribute to Wikipedia, which would have greatly biased the forum. I imagine that 100 years from now, Wikipedia would have a much more diverse community of contributors and it is also likely that much of the jobs of contributors could be given to more unbiased computer programs.


Introduction

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Adjuvant therapy, also known as adjunct therapy, add-on therapy, and adjuvant care, is therapy that is given in addition to the primary or initial therapy to maximize its effectiveness. The surgeries and complex treatment regimens used in cancer therapy have led the term to be used mainly to describe adjuvant cancer treatments. An example of such adjuvant therapy is the additional treatment[1] usually given after surgery where all detectable disease has been removed, but where there remains a statistical risk of relapse due to the presence of undetected disease. If known disease is left behind following surgery, then further treatment is not technically adjuvant.

An adjuvant agent modifies the effect of another agent, so adjuvant therapy modifies other therapy.

Neoadjuvant therapy

[edit]

Neoadjuvant therapy, in contrast to adjuvant therapy, is given before the main treatment. For example, systemic therapy for breast cancer that is given before removal of a breast is considered neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The most common reason for neoadjuvant therapy for cancer is to reduce the size of the tumor so as to facilitate more effective surgery.

Adjuvant cancer therapy

[edit]

History (new section)

[edit]

The term "adjuvant therapy," derived from the Latin term adjuvāre, meaning "to help," was first coined by Paul Carbone and his team at the National Cancer Institute in 1963. In 1968, the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) published its B-01 trial results for the first randomized trial that evaluated the effect of an adjuvant alkylating agent in breast cancer. The results indicated that the adjuvant therapy given after the initial radical mastectomy "significantly decreased recurrence rate in pre-menopausal women with four or more positive axillary lymph nodes."[2]

The budding theory of using additional therapies to supplement primary surgery was put into practice by Gianni Bonadonna and his colleagues from the Instituto Tumori in Italy in 1973, where he conducted a randomized trial that demonstrated more favorable survival outcomes that accompanied use of Cyclophosphamide Methotrexate Fluorouracil (CMF) after the initial mastectomy[3][4]

In 1976, shortly after Bonadonna's landmark trial, Bernard Fisher at the University of Pittsburgh initiated a similar randomized trial that compared the survival of breast cancer patients treated with radiation after the initial mastectomy to those who only received the surgery. His results, published in 1985, indicated increased disease-free survival for the former group[5][6].[7]

Despite the initial pushback from the breast cancer surgeons who believed that their radical mastectomies were sufficient in removing all traces of cancer, the success of Bonadonna's and Fisher's trials brought adjuvant therapy to the mainstream in oncology.[8] Since then, the field of adjuvant therapy has greatly expanded to include a wide range of adjuvant therapies to include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiation.

Name this something

[edit]

For example, radiotherapy or systemic therapy is commonly given as adjuvant treatment after surgery for breast cancer. Systemic therapy consists of chemotherapy, immunotherapy or biological response modifiers or hormone therapy.[9] Oncologists use statistical evidence to assess the risk of disease relapse before deciding on the specific adjuvant therapy. The aim of adjuvant treatment is to improve disease-specific symptoms and overall survival. Because the treatment is essentially for a risk, rather than for provable disease, it is accepted that a proportion of patients who receive adjuvant therapy will already have been cured by their primary surgery.

Adjuvant systemic therapy and radiotherapy are often given following surgery for many types of cancer, including colon cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and some gynaecological cancers. Some forms of cancer fail to benefit from adjuvant therapy, however. Such cancers include renal cell carcinoma, and certain forms of brain cancer.

Hyperthermia therapy or heat therapy is also a kind of adjuvant therapy that is given along with radiation or chemotherapy to boost the effects of these conventional treatments. Heating the tumor by Radio Frequency (RF) or Microwave energy increases oxygen content in the tumor site, which results in increased response during radiation or chemotherapy. For example, Hyperthermia is added twice a week to radiation therapy for the full course of the treatment in many cancer centers, and the challenge is to increase its use around the world.

Concomitant or concurrent systemic cancer therapy

[edit]

Concomitant or concurrent systemic cancer therapy refers to administering medical treatments at the same time as other therapies, such as radiation. Adjuvant hormonal therapy is given after prostate removal in prostate cancer, but there are concerns that the side effects, in particular the cardiovascular ones, may outweigh the risk of recurrence.

In breast cancer, adjuvant therapy may consist of chemotherapy (doxorubicin, herceptin, paclitaxel, docetaxel, cyclophosphamide, fluorouracil, and methotrexate) and radiotherapy, especially after lumpectomy, and hormonal therapy (tamoxifen, femara). Adjuvant therapy in breast cancer is used in stage one and two breast cancer following lumpectomy, and in stage three breast cancer due to lymph node involvement.

Adjuvant therapy does not improve prognosis in stage I, II, and III renal cell carcinoma, with the possible exception of radiotherapy, which lowered the risk of local recurrence from 41% to 22% in one study[citation needed]. As a result of this resistance to chemotherapy, targeted therapies, including nexavar, sutent, rapamycin and interleukin 2 that are known to be effective in stage IV renal cell carcinoma, have been studied in the adjuvant setting, without good results.

In early stage one small cell lung carcinoma, adjuvant chemotherapy with gemzar, cisplatin, paclitaxel, docetaxel, and other chemotherapeutic agents, and adjuvant radiotherapy is administered to either the lung, to prevent a local recurrence, or the brain to prevent metastases.

In testicular cancer, adjuvant either radiotherapy or chemotherapy may be used following orchidectomy. Previously, mainly radiotherapy was used, as a full course of cytotoxic chemotherapy produced far more side effects then a course of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT).[citation needed] However, it has been found a single dose of carboplatin is as effective as EBRT in stage II testicular cancer, with only mild side effects (transient myelosuppressive action vs severe and prolonged myelosuppressive neutropenic illness in normal chemotherapy, and much less vomiting, diarrhea, mucositis, and no alopecia in 90% of cases.[citation needed]

Adjuvant therapy is particularly effective in certain types of cancer, including colorectal carcinoma, lung cancer, and medulloblastoma. In completely resected medulloblastoma, 5-year survival rate is 85% if adjuvant chemotherapy and/or craniospinal irradiation is performed, and just 10% if no adjuvant chemotherapy or craniospinal irradiation is used. Prophylactic cranial irradiation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is technically adjuvant, and most experts agree that cranial irradiation decreases risk of central nervous system (CNS) relapse in ALL and possibly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but it can cause severe side effects, and adjuvant intrathecal methotrexate and hydrocortisone may be just as effective as cranial irradiation, without severe late effects, such as developmental disability, dementia, and increased risk for second malignancy.

Specific cancers

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Malignant melanoma

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The role of adjuvant therapy in malignant melanoma is and has been hotly debated by oncologists. In 1995 a multicenter study reported improved long-term and disease-free survival in melanoma patients using interferon alpha 2b as an adjuvant therapy. Thus, later that year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved interferon alpha 2b for melanoma patients who are currently free of disease, to reduce the risk of recurrence. Since then, however, some doctors[who?] have argued that interferon treatment does not prolong survival or decrease the rate of relapse, but only causes harmful side effects. Those claims have not been validated by scientific research.

Adjuvant chemotherapy has been used in malignant melanoma, but there is little hard evidence to use chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting. However, melanoma is not a chemotherapy-resistant malignancy. Dacarbazine, temozolomide, and cisplatin all have a reproducible 10–20% response rate in metastatic melanoma.[citation needed]; however, these responses are often short-lived and almost never complete. Multiple studies have shown that adjuvant radiotherapy improves local recurrence rates in high-risk melanoma patients. The studies include at least two M.D. Anderson cancer center studies. However, none of the studies showed that adjuvant radiotherapy had a statistically significant survival benefit.

A number of studies are currently underway to determine whether immunomodulatory agents which have proven effective in the metastatic setting are of benefit as adjuvant therapy for patients with resected stage 3 or 4 disease.

Colorectal cancer

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Adjuvant chemotherapy is effective in preventing the outgrowth of micrometastatic disease from colorectal cancer that has been removed surgically. Studies have shown that fluorouracil is an effective adjuvant chemotherapy among patients with microsatellite stability or low-frequency microsatellite instability, but not in patients with high-frequency microsatellite instability.[10][11]

Breast cancer

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It has been known for at least 30 years that adjuvant chemotherapy increases the relapse-free survival rate for patients with breast cancer[12]

Agents used include:

However, ethical concerns have been raised about the magnitude of benefit of this therapy since it involves further treatment of patients without knowing the possibility of relapse. Dr. Bernard Fisher, among the first to conduct a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of adjuvant therapy on patients with breast cancer, described it as an "value judgement" in which the potential benefits must be evaluated against the toxicity and cost of treatment and other potential side effects.[13]

Combination adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer

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Giving two or more chemotheraputic agents at once may decrease the chances of recurrence of the cancer, and increase overall survival in patients with breast cancer. Commonly used combination chemotherapy regimines used include:

  • Doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide
  • Doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel
  • Doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil
  • Cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil.
  • Docetaxel and cyclophosphamide.
  • Docetaxel,[doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide
  • Cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, and fluorouracil.[14]

Side effects of adjuvant cancer therapy

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Depending on what form of treatment is used, adjuvant therapy can have side effects, like all therapy for neoplasms. Chemotherapy frequently causes vomiting, nausea, alopecia, mucositis, myelosuppression particularly neutropenia, sometimes resulting in septicaemia. Some chemotheraputic agents can cause acute myeloid leukaemia, in particular the alkylating agents. Rarely, this risk may outweigh the risk of recurrence of the primary tumor. Depending on the agents used, side effects such as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, leukoencephalopathy, bladder damage, constipation or diarrhea, hemorrhage, or post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment.[citation needed] Radiotherapy causes radiation dermatitis and fatigue, and, depending on the area being irradiated, may have other side effects. For instance, radiotherapy to the brain can cause memory loss, headache, alopecia, and radiation necrosis of the brain. If the abdomen or spine is irradiated, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and dysphagia can occur. If the pelvis is irradiated, prostatitis, proctitis, dysuria, metritis, diarrhea, and abdominal pain can occur. Adjuvant hormonal therapy for prostate cancer may cause cardiovascular disease, and other, possibly severe, side effects.

  1. ^ Chemotherapy, +Adjuvant at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
  2. ^ Anampa, Jesus (2015 Aug 17). "Progress in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: an overview". BMC Med. 13 (195). doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0439-8. PMID 26278220. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  3. ^ DeVita Jr, VT (2008 Nov 1). "A history of cancer chemotherapy". Cancer Res. 68: 8643–53. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-6611. PMID 18974103. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Anampa, Jesus (2015 Aug 17). "Progress in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: an overview". BMC Med. 13 (195). doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0439-8. PMID 26278220. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  5. ^ DOI: 10.1056/NEJM198503143121101
  6. ^ DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-6611
  7. ^ Anampa, Jesus (2015 Aug 17). "Progress in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: an overview". BMC Med. 13 (195). doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0439-8. PMID 26278220. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  8. ^ Anampa, Jesus (2015 Aug 17). "Progress in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: an overview". BMC Med. 13 (195). doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0439-8. PMID 26278220. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  9. ^ Gamal Mostafa; Cathey Lamont; Frederick L. Greene (6 December 2006). Review of Surgery: Basic Science and Clinical Topics for ABSITE. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-0-387-44952-4.
  10. ^ Ribic CM, Sargent DJ, Moore MJ, et al. (July 2003). "Tumor microsatellite-instability status as a predictor of benefit from fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer". N. Engl. J. Med. 349 (3): 247–57. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa022289. PMC 3584639. PMID 12867608.
  11. ^ Boland CR, Goel A (June 2010). "Microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer". Gastroenterology. 138 (6): 2073–2087.e3. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2009.12.064. PMC 3037515. PMID 20420947.
  12. ^ Bonadonna G, Valagussa P (January 1981). "Dose-response effect of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer". N. Engl. J. Med. 304 (1): 10–5. doi:10.1056/NEJM198101013040103. PMID 7432433.
  13. ^ Fisher, Bernard; Redmond, Carol; Dminitrov, Nikolay; Bowman, David; Legault-Poisson, Sandra; Wickerham, Lawrence; Wolmark, Norman; Fisher, Edwin; Margolese, Richard; Sutherland, Carl; Glass, Andrew; Foster, Roger; Caplan, Richard (February 23, 1989). "A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating Sequential Methotrexate and Fluorouracil in the Treatment of Patients with Node-Negative Breast Cancer Who Have Estrogen-Receptor-Negative Tumors". New England Journal of Medicine. 320 (8): 473–478.
  14. ^ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer-treatment/AT99999PAGE=AT000[permanent dead link‍]
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