GASTROINTESTINAL Tumors was a panel session held at Best of ASCO 2024 Miami Symposium on Friday, July 12 that focused on updates from the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, particularly on esophageal, hepato, pancreatic, biliary, and colorectal cancers. Samuel Kareff, University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Jackson Memorial Hospital, Florida, USA, shared the highlights in a news release.
He first highlighted the ESOPEC trial, which demonstrated that perioperative FLOT was superior in overall and progression-free survival compared to neoadjuvant chemoradiation for esophageal adenocarcinoma. Kareff then discussed the future directions for gastrointestinal tumors, emphasizing the over-reliance on ctDNA guidance for adjuvant therapy in locally advanced colorectal tumors and expressing hope for more advancements in other tumor types.
The panel reviewed groundbreaking data, especially from the plenary sessions of the OPEX trial, which confirmed that perioperative FLOT was superior in terms of overall survival and progression-free survival compared to neoadjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma. One question raised by this trial was the role of immunotherapy in the neoadjuvant, perioperative, and adjuvant settings, noting that it is already approved in the adjuvant setting. Future trials will provide more answers, Kareff noted.
Regarding the next steps for gastrointestinal tumors and research, the most intriguing feature in the session was the reliance on ctDNA guidance for adjuvant therapy in locally advanced colorectal tumors. These guided and adaptive strategies have shown improvements in overall survival and progression-free survival. The exciting prospect would be translating these findings to other tumor types such as hepato, pancreatic, biliary, esophageal, and gastric cancers, although the data are not mature enough at this time.
“It is an exciting time to be in the oncology field,” stated Kareff, “particularly in our era of precision oncology. We are witnessing the rise of numerous biomarkers positively affecting patient outcomes, and we hope for continued progress with current research and therapies.”
Author: Anaya Malik
Reference: Memorial Healthcare System. Best of ASCO® 2024 Miami Symposium. 2022. Available at: https://mhs.cloud-cme.com/course/courseoverview?P=0&EID=19848. Last accessed: July 29, 2024.
