Long-Acting Injectable Comparable to Oral ART for HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa
DENVER — Long-acting cabotegravir/rilpivirine (Cabenuva) injectable therapy resulted in similarly high levels of viral suppression to oral antiretroviral therapy (ART) in African patients with HIV, a phase IIIb randomized, open-label trial showed. At 48 weeks, 96.9% of participants receiving cabotegravir/rilpivirine had a viral load of less than 50 copies/mL compared with 97.3% of those receiving […]
AI-Backed Mammography Keeps Up With Docs for Cancer Detection
Artificial intelligence-supported mammography resulted in a cancer detection rate comparable to that of two breast radiologists working together, while also substantially cutting screening workload. Among more than 80,000 women randomized to either AI-supported mammography screening or to standard double reading without AI, cancer detection rates were 6.1 (95% CI 5.4-6.9) per 1,000 screened participants in […]
BRAF-MEK Inhibition Achieves ‘Near Universal’ Response in Rare Brain Tumor
Targeted BRAF-MEK inhibition resulted in a response in nearly all patients with untreated BRAF V600E–mutated papillary craniopharyngioma, according to results from a small phase II study. Of 16 evaluable patients treated with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) and the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib (Cotellic) over several monthly cycles, 15 had a durable, objective partial response or […]
JAK Inhibitor Improves Symptoms, Anemia in Myelofibrosis
Myelofibrosis treatment with the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor momelotinib resulted in clinically significant improvements in symptoms and spleen response compared with danazol for symptomatic, JAK inhibitor-exposed patients with anemia and intermediate- or high-risk disease, the phase III MOMENTUM trial showed. A significantly greater proportion of patients in the momelotinib group reported a ≥50% reduction in […]
MRI-Guided RT Reduced Acute Toxic Effects in Men With Localized Prostate Cancer
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) guided by MRI for localized prostate cancer resulted in fewer toxicities and an improvement in quality of life compared with CT guidance, according to the randomized phase III MIRAGE trial. At 3-month follow-up, incidence of acute grade 2 or higher genitourinary toxic effects was 24.4% with MRI-guided SBRT versus 43.4% with […]
Pre-Op Axitinib Helps for Partial Nephrectomy of Complex Renal Tumors
SAN DIEGO — Use of neoadjuvant axitinib (Inlyta) resulted in significant reductions in tumor size and complexity, enabling partial nephrectomy in a cohort of patients with highly complex renal masses in whom the procedure would ordinarily not be feasible, according to an interim analysis from a small phase II trial. A course of the tyrosine […]
Can Pre-Op Chemo Set Stage for Organ-Sparing Surgery in Early Rectal Cancer?
Three months of induction chemotherapy resulted in successful downstaging for certain patients with early-stage rectal cancer, enabling them to undergo organ-sparing therapy, according to a phase II trial. In 33 of 58 patients, induction with modified folinic acid, fluorouracil, oxaliplatin 6 (FOLFOX6) or capecitabine-oxaliplatin (CAPOX), followed by transanal excision surgery, resulted in downstaging to ypT0/1N0/X […]
Landmark Pig Heart Recipient Succumbed to Xenograft Rejection, Had Porcine Virus
It turns out that the world’s first pig-to-human heart xenotransplantation had resulted in atypical rejection that may have contributed to the patient’s death 2 months later, according to the team behind the pioneering surgery from January. The transplant surgeon Bartley Griffith, MD, of University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues revealed that […]
Superbugs in Seniors Led to Nearly 12,000 Deaths in a Single Year
Six common antibiotic-resistant microbial infections in Medicare-age Americans resulted in close to 12,000 deaths in 2017, and cost the U.S. nearly $1.9 billion, a new study found. This population of older Americans, therefore, accounted for more than one-third of the total national costs and deaths associated with antimicrobial resistance, reported David Hyun, MD, director of […]
Durable Responses With IL-15 Superagonist in Early Bladder Cancer
The use of the IL-15RAFC superagonist N-803 with intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) resulted in high and more durable response rates in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) carcinoma in situ who were unresponsive to BCG, a phase II/III study found. Of the 81 patients included in the analysis, 58 achieved a complete response at […]