Liquid Biopsy Has Mixed Performance for Predicting Colon Cancer Outcomes
SAN FRANCISCO — In separate studies, liquid biopsy produced mixed results for guiding colon cancer treatment. Adjuvant chemotherapy guided by postoperative circulating tumor (ct) DNA did not lead to higher rates of DNA clearance as compared with patients who did not get chemotherapy. However, ctDNA did show promise for identifying patients with molecular residual disease […]
Fancy Nasal Suction Device Makes Little Difference in Infant Bronchiolitis
Babies discharged from the emergency department (ED) for bronchiolitis saw mixed benefits from enhanced nasal suctioning, a randomized trial found. Additional resource use — a composite of unscheduled revisits for bronchiolitis or use of additional suctioning devices for feeding or breathing concerns — occurred in 37.0% of the patients receiving minimal bulb suction compared to […]
Chatbots Not Always Reliable for Cancer Treatment Advice
Chatbots had mixed results when it came to providing direct-to-patient cancer-related advice and treatment strategies for a wide variety of cancers, according to two studies in JAMA Oncology. When testing GPT-3.5 (OpenAI) with prompts designed to obtain treatment strategies for different kinds of cancers, they found that while most answers were in accordance with National […]
Rucaparib a Winner for PFS, But Not for OS, in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
NEW YORK — Rucaparib (Rubraca) turned in mixed results for survival outcomes in patients with recurrent ovarian carcinoma, according to an ARIEL3 trial update. There was a benefit for progression-free survival (PFS), as treatment with the PARP inhibitor was tied to longer time-to-second disease progression (PFS2) in patients with BRCA-mutated disease (26.1 months versus 18.4 […]
Researchers identify potential approaches to modify the vaginal microbiome: Insights may lead to more effective treatments for bacterial vaginosis and improve women’s health outcomes globally
The female genital tract is naturally colonized by mixed communities of bacteria, known as the vaginal microbiome. When these communities are dominated by species such as Lactobacillus crispatus, they provide important protective functions in genital health. But overgrowth of certain other bacterial species is linked to a condition known as bacterial vaginosis (BV). BV affects […]
Mixed Results With RT Plus Short-Term ADT in Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer
CHICAGO — Adding a short course of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to dose-escalated radiotherapy (RT) led to a mixed bag of outcomes in intermediate-risk prostate cancer, according to a large randomized trial. The addition of 6 months of ADT did not improve overall survival (OS) compared with RT alone, but the hormonal therapy was associated […]