neoadjuvant therapy

  • February 18, 2022  

    Chemotherapy: Before Surgery Vs. After Surgery Bookmark

    George Lundberg, MD

    According to this article from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, chemotherapy administered before surgery may be beneficial for people with advanced ovarian cancer.

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  • June 12, 2021  

    New Data Support Preoperative Chemoradiation Regimen for Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer Bookmark

    Lola Rahib, PhD

    Article from Let’s Win! Pancreatic Cancer: Modified FOLFIRINOX shows benefit as neoadjuvant therapy for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.  

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  • April 8, 2019  

    A Single Dose of a PD-1 Inhibitor Before Surgery May Predict Outcomes in Patients With Melanoma Bookmark

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Excerpt:

    “A single dose of a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor before resection for melanoma may predict clinical outcomes for patients. Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania—who documented this finding in the largest cohort of patients to be treated with anti–PD-1 drugs before surgery—also showed that immune responses brought on by this therapy can peak as early as 7 days after treatment—much earlier than previous studies have shown. These findings were published by Huang et al in Nature Medicine.”

    Go to full article published by The ASCO Post on March 7, 2019.

    If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

  • October 4, 2017  

    New Trends in Pre-Surgery Treatments for Breast Cancer

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Non-metastatic breast cancers are most often treated with surgery, but if the tumors are fairly large, or involve nearby lymph nodes, neoadjuvant (pre-operative) treatments with chemotherapy (NAC) are done first. NAC often reduces the tumor size and kills cancer cells in lymph nodes, if present, prior to surgery, improving the outcome. The best possible result of neoadjuvant treatment is pCR (pathologic compete response), when… Read more »

  • January 21, 2015  

    The Role of Pertuzumab in Treating HER2+ Breast Cancer

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Pertuzumab (Perjeta) is a relatively new drug that targets HER2, a protein found at higher-than-normal levels in about 15% to 20% of all breast cancers. Too much HER2 leads to tumor growth. Currently, all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients have their tumors’ HER2 levels tested. Knowing whether a patient’s HER2 levels are abnormally high (HER2-positive) or normal (HER2-negative) is a major factor in choosing a treatment, thanks to the availability of trastuzumab (Herceptin) and, now, other HER2-targeted drugs such as Perjeta, T-DM1 (Kadcyla), and lapatinib (Tykerb). These drugs are all used to treat HER2-positive patients.