Published by Elsevier Inc.”
“Purpose We conducted a cooperative group phase II study to assess antitumor activity and toxicity of sorafenib in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) who had received prior treatment for their disease.\n\nPatient and Methods Patients were eligible if they had measurable disease and had previously received an anthracycline and/or a taxane in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant, or metastatic setting. The primary end point of the study was tumor response per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). The study was click here designed in two stages. Sorafenib was administered as 400 mg twice daily on days 1 through 28 of each 4-week cycle.\n\nResults Twenty-three patients were enrolled with a median

age of 54 years ( range, this website 37 to 70 years). Twenty-two (96%) had prior anthracycline treatment and 16 (70%) had prior taxane treatment. Patients received sorafenib for a median of two cycles ( range, one to 15 cycles) with a median follow-up of 2.4 years ( range, 2.2 to 2.6 years).

There were no grade 4 toxicities and few grade 3 toxicities. Among the 20 patients eligible for efficacy analysis, no patients experienced a partial response or complete response per RECIST criteria. Thus, the trial stopped at the end of the first stage per study design. Two patients (10%; 90% CI, 1.8% to 28.3%) achieved stable disease lasting longer than 6 months.\n\nConclusion Sorafenib as a single agent, although well tolerated, did not exhibit activity when measured by tumor shrinkage

in patients with MBC who had received prior treatment. Further research should focus on combinations with standard therapy and end points more sensitive to effects of targeted agents, such as disease stabilization.”
“Object. Recent studies of conventional craniotomies and image-guided biopsies have afforded a solid characterization of surgical morbidity and the timing of its occurrence. This report outlines a novel I I-year experience with Outpatient image-guided biopsy and outpatient craniotomy for supratentorial intraaxial brain tumors.\n\nMethods. During the period between August 1996 and May 2007, 117 awake image-guided biopsies and 145 elective craniotomies for tumor resection were prospectively selected to be performed as outpatient procedures. Data were recorded for each patient regarding tumor histological type, reasons for admission if planned learn more early discharge failed, and surgical complications.\n\nResults. Successful discharge from the Day Surgery Unit was possible in 109 (93%) of H 7 biopsy cases and 136 (94%) of 145 craniotomy cases (only 2 of which [1.5%] required unplanned readmission after discharge). Neurological worsening occurred in 5.1% of the patients who underwent image-guided biopsies, and in 5.5% of those who underwent outpatient craniotomies (based on intent-to-treat group analysis). No patient suffered an adverse event with alteration in outcome because of planned outpatient discharge.\n\nConclusions.