Cancer Treatment Today

Xifaxin ( rifaximin) is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat traveler's diarrhea caused by E. coli. It is especially effective for prophylaxis. It is not effective against Campylobacter jejuni, and there is no evidence of efficacy against Shigella or Salmonella species. It is, therefore, narrower in scope than other drugs used for these conditions. There is evidence that it may be efficacious in relieving chronic functional

The drug Xifaxin is approved for traveler's diarrhea but not for bacterial overgrowth. Xifaxin ( rifaximin) is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat traveler's diarrhea caused by E. coli. It is especially effective for prophylaxis. It is not effective against Campylobacter jejuni, and there is no evidence of efficacy against Shigella or Salmonella species. There is evidence that it may be efficacious in relieving chronic functional

Capsule Endoscopy(CE) is a procedure in which a capsule with a miniature camera is swallowed and it transmits images as it goes through the gastrointestinal tract. It has advantages and disadvantages. While easier on the patient, it does not allow for a biopsy, and if it shows a suspicious findings, full endoscopyto perform a biopsy will still be required. A recent European guideline says that patients at high risk for CRC, because of symptoms or

Antibodies to infliximab (ATIs) have been associated with loss of clinical response and lower serum infliximab (IFX) levels in some studies of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Lower drug levels can mean less effect ont eh disease.  It is clinically useful to be able to  assess and predict diminishing response. A recent meta-analysis concluded that the presence of ATIs is associated with a significantly higher risk of loss of clinical

BREVAGen evaluates 7 breast cancer-associated SNPs identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Risk is calculated by multiplying the product of the individual SNP risks by the Gail model risk. BREVAGen has been evaluated for use in Caucasian women of European descent age 35 years and older. According to the BREVAGen website, “suitable candidates” for testing include women with a Gail lifetime risk of 15% or greater; with high lifetime

CMS requires that the CT scan be reasonable and necessary based on the literature and opinion.  Reasonableness and opinion is expressed by guidelines, After radical cystectomy, NCCN recommends: Urine cytology, liver function tests, creatinine, and electrolytes every 3 to 6 mo for 2 y and then as clinically indicated Imaging of the chest, upper tracts, abdomen, and pelvis every 3 to 6 mo for 2 y based on risk of recurrence and then as clinically

Both Afinitor (everolimus) and octreotide are FDA approved for neuroendocrine cancer. The phase III RADIANT-2 trial conducted in 429 patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) previously established that the addition of everolimus to long-acting octreotide led to a clinically meaningful 5.1-month delay in disease progression compared with octreotide alone. However, this value just missed the prespecified boundary for statistical significance