Cancer Treatment Today

Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (EMC) is arare sarcoma thatgrows slowly but is hard to cure. It tends to spread and come back locally. The 2009 review by Drilon highlighted ineffectiveness of chemotherapy and emphasized an agressive approach to local control. In other words, the best chance to cure this disease is before it spreads. Radiotion is sometimes helpful but chemotherapy appears ineffective. There are , however, two case reports showing

Desmoid tumorsdo not generally metastsize but can cause pain by locally invading nearby structures and damage nearby organs. Several new drugs are being research, among them  Nexavar (sorafenib). Establihsing a dose in children has been difficulat. A recent study of sorafenib in children with neurofabromatosis was not able to establish the minmally tolerated dose. A series from Sloan Kettering used sorafenib as first and later line therapy. Sixteen

Pazopanib(Votrient)  is a new drug that is approved for kidney cancer  and acts in ways that may be effective in GIST. These are important pathways for GIST tumors and several trials are avaluating this drug in GIST, including: Efficacy of Pazopanib in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST), NCT Number: NCT01323400, Pazopanib in Imatinib Refractory or Intolerant Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST)  NCT Number: NCT01391611 and Pazopanib in Advanced

Adjuvant chemotherapy is a term for chemo that is given after tumor resection. The goal is to eradicate disease that may have been left behind or had already spread. A meta-analysis of  published trials published in 1997 reported an improvement in local control and progression free survival after adjuvant chemotherapy;  however, although there was a trend towards an overall survival benefit (how long the patients lived) this was not statistically

Tamoxifen has different effects on different tissues. Whereas it blocks estrogen in the breast, it has pro- estrogenic effects on bone and in the uterus. Working as an estrogen-like substance, it can cause dysfunctional uterine bleeding and endometrial thickening and very rarely, superficial, easily treatable, endometrial cancer and sarcoma. In a review of all NSABP breast cancer treatment trials, the rate of sarcoma in women treated with tamoxifen