INTRODUCTION This study reports the outcomes of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by surgery in a local population of Singapore. MATERIALS AND METHODS The records of 85 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced rectal cancer followed by surgery at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) between November 2002 an...

Oesophageal, fully covered self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) allow palliation of dysphagia so as to support nutrition during neoadjuvant therapy. We present a 68-year old man with an oesophageal adenocarcinoma (T3N1M0) who had a fully covered oesophageal SEMS placed prior to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Repeat endoscopy 8 weeks later (for stent removal) showed that the stent had migrated and...

Pancreatic cancer remains as one of the most aggressive human neoplasms, with overall poor survival rates. Radical surgery of the primary lesion is the best option for treatment. Borderline resectable pancreatic tumors (BRPT), defined as partial involvement of peripancreatic vasculature, may benefit from neoadjuvant therapy. We report on the first two BRPT cases treated with neoadjuvant chemora...

Port-site metastases in gynecological malignancies subsequent to laparoscopy have been reported with an incidence of 1.1-16%. These metastases tend to be disappearing after primary debulking surgery and subsequent primary chemotherapy. Local resection, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy have been defined in the management of these metastases with enhanced clinical success. However, in extremely r...

OBJECTIVE To review local experience of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Public hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS Seventeen patients who presented from August 1988 through April 1997 with locally advanced breast cancer, which was treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS The clinical response rate was 71% and two of the 12 patients who resp...

To date, only seven women with Stage Ib1 to IIb cervical cancer during pregnancy treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical surgery have been reported. We describe three cases of pregnant women with Stage Ib1 to IIa cervical cancer who were treated with paclitaxel plus platinum neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical surgery. The first patient had a Stage Ib1 small cell neur...

Women receiving neoadjuvant systemic therapy for primary operable or inoperable breast cancer can potentially benefit in a number of ways, but the main advantage, which has been consistently demonstrated, is improved tumour resectability. Given the improvement in outcomes with the adjuvant use of trastuzumab in patients with early-stage breast cancer positive for the human epidermal growth fact...

Although both surgery and radiation are potential curative options for men with clinically localized prostate cancer, a significant proportion of men with high-risk and locally advanced disease will demonstrate biochemical and potentially clinical progression of their disease. Neoadjuvant systemic therapy before radical prostatectomy (RP) is a logical strategy to improve treatment outcomes for ...

SYSTEMIC TREATMENT FOR TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER (TNBC negative for the expression of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor and HER2 amplification) has been limited to chemotherapy options. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy induces tumor shrinkage and improves the surgical outcomes of patients with locally advanced disease and also identifies those at high risk of disease relapse despite today...

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) is standard treatment for stage II-III rectal cancer. Fluoropyrimidine-based CRT prolongs disease-free survival over adjuvant CRT and improves local control over both adjuvant CRT and neoadjuvant radiotherapy alone, but does not prolong overall survival. New approaches to neoadjuvant therapy may improve outcome in this disease. Oxaliplatin, a standard component ...