Implosion of Grail’s Galleri Cancer Screening Test? https://tinyurl.com/3extfeuh One of the major goals in cancer research is to develop means of early diagnosis for cancers which typi cally present at an advanced stage , such as ovarian cancer. The G rail cancer screening test is one such attempt. Using circulating tumour DNA as a marker of disease,  the test seeks to identify cancer early to improve survival . This test has been applied over the last three years in the Galleri Clinical Trial in the UK. The prospective trial has 142000 participants aged between 50 and 7 7, with possible expansion to one million and is administered by the NHS . The key endpoint is reduction in numbers of cancers presenting on diagnosis as stage 3 or 4, with  a later stated goal of fewer than 20% of cancers presenting at stage 4 . The trial was controversial with complaints of poor use of limited resources an d possible bias . However, political pressure in the form of honouring a...

FDA approves pembrolizumab with paclitaxel for platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal carcinoma https://tinyurl.com/dndxk5ea Paclitaxel , a c ombination therapy of a taxane and a platinum drug for chemotherapy of ovarian cancer ha s been used for more than 30 y ears. This combination of a cytotoxic and a growth suppressant radically change d the survival for women with this di s ease. Unfortunately , drug resistance to this combination especially to the platinum drug is inevitable and for some women this occurs early in the first 6 months after initial treatment, this is known as “platinum resistance”. Platinum resistance is a grave finding and difficult to treat. Recent results from a clinical trial called KEYNOTE-B 96 have shown promising response to a new combination of immuno therapy and chemo using a checkpoint inhibitor (Keytruda) togeth er with paclitaxel with me di an improved overall survival of 18 months. Previously immuno...

Cancer-associated thrombosis in the era of precision oncology: Mechanisms, challenges and future directions https://tinyurl.com/52e2xt9p For people with cancer the risk of dying from other causes is increased. The most likely non- cancer cause of death is from thrombosis . Either arterial clot with possible stroke or infarct or venous clot with subsequent pulmonary embolus . Death from thrombosis is up to 12 times more likely for patients with cancer compared to the general population especially early, during chemo. This review describes why cancer patients are at high risk of thrombos is; it appears there are two groups of cancers those which are at high risk of thrombosis which includes ovarian cancer patients who have a 20% risk , and those which are relatively low risk, breast cancer is in this group. Thrombosis is a result of slow blood flow, vascular damage or increased clotting factors. Cancer increases all these hazards with some specific issues such as , platelet adh...

Health Care Contact Days in Older Adults w ith Metastatic Cancer https://tinyurl.com/yjwcbcpn Sometimes health care professionals forget or fail to recognise the impact a cancer diagnosis can have on the lifestyle of the individual affected . This retrospective study looked at the M edicare reference data for more than 50000 patients with metastatic cancer of varying types , with a comparison of the number of healthcare contact days in 2008 to the same period in 2019. Findings from the study showed a significant change with the mean number of contact days increasing by abo ut 50% to around 6 2 days each year. For some cancers , notably breast cancer , the contact days increased even more sharply. This represents 16% or more of an individual’s already limited life expectancy ; this burden on cancer patients has been labelled “time toxicity” . The authors suggest this inf ormation should be included in informed consent communication and that attempts to reduce the num...