Gastrointestinal stromal tumors and second primary malignancies before and after the introduction of imatinib mesylate

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor （GIST） is the most common mesenchymal malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract.GISTs may coexist with different types of cancer,either synchronous or metachronous （1）.Most GISTs develop in a sporadic fashion,but familial occurrence,such as neurofibromatosis and Carney-triad,has also been reported （2）.The overall frequency of second tumors in different series varied from 4.5% to 33%.The most frequent types of GIST-associated cancers were gastrointestinal carcinomas （47%）,lymphoma/leukemia （7%）,carcinomas of prostate （9%）,breast （7%）,kidney （6%）,lung （5%）,female genital tract （5%）,carcinoid tumors （3%）,soft tissue and bone sarcomas （3%）,malignant melanoma （2%） and seminoma （1%） （1,3-5）.

A path for diagnosis and therapy of colon cancer: a continuous quality improvement

Objective： Prognosis of colorectal cancer strongly depends on stage at diagnosis, which can be cured in most cases at an early stage. The results were supported by different screening programmes. Few data concerning analysis of different phases of Colorectal Cancer Program were reported in literature. The aim of this study is to analyze ＂step by step＂, from a longitudinal type, the Colorectal Cancer Program, active at our Institution, verifying compliance with standards of care.Methods： We compared two different populations during the same period： patients referring to our Clinical Oncology Unit coming from Regional Colorectal Cancer Screening Program and the other population that was not in any Colorectal Cancer Program.Results： Considering patients from the Regional Colorectal Cancer Screening Program（19 patients, corresponding to 24.0% of the general case study）, 3（15.8%） were deceased and 16（84.2%） were alive without evidence of the disease（NED）. Concerning patients that are not coming from Regional Colorectal Cancer Screening Program（61 patients, corresponding to 76.0% of the general case study）, 9（14.8%） were deceased, 43（70.5%） were NED, 8（13.1%） were alive with metastases and 1（1.6%） was lost during follow-up（PFU）. Conclusions： On the basis of this experience, we concluded for high-quality care for both populations. Any critical point should be carefully analyzed in order to implement quality of care.

Spinal tuberculosis simulating metastatic malignancy:An unusual condition

Vertebral lesions can refer to many conditions with different clinical and radiological features suggestive but inconclusive for a diagnosis.The differential diagnosis of vertebral lesions includes malignant primary tumors of the spine,metastatic tumors(carcinoma of the lung,kidney,prostate,thyroid,gastro-intestinal tract and breast,although less frequent in males,and occult cancer),haematological malignancies(plasmocytoma,Hodgkin and

Cost-effectiveness of Osimertinib in activating epidermal growth factor receptor gene(EGFR)-mutations in first-line for advanced non-small cell lung cancer

The introduction of first-or second-generation epidermal growth factor receptor gene(EGFR)tyrosine kinase inhibitors(TKIs)in chemonaive patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)has radically changed the treatment in this molecular subgroup,with an improvement in progression-free survival(PFS)compared to standard chemotherapy[1].