Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium to be held from Jan. 24-26 in San Francisco, CA

•Second-Line Docetaxel Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Patients with Treatment-Resistant Esophageal or Gastric Cancers: A Phase III study showed that patients with esophageal or stomach cancers whose disease worsened despite first-line chemotherapy live on average 50 percent longer if they received second-line docetaxel than if they receive active symptom control (radiotherapy, steroids, and/or supportive medications). While docetaxel is already being used in this setting, the new study provides definitive evidence of survival benefit with second-line docetaxel.

"Research continues to deliver advances that will improve the lives of patients with gastrointestinal cancers, and we are learning to understand how to use molecular characteristics of tumors to choose and customize therapy for individual patients," said Neal J. Meropol, MD, who moderated the presscast. "At this conference, we will see the results of new studies showing life-extending treatments for some of our deadliest and hardest to treat cancers and new insights on tumor classification and prognosis."

Gastrointestinal cancers include those of the colon/rectum, stomach, pancreas, esophagus, small intestine, anus and other digestive organs. In 2012, it was estimated that nearly 285,000 people in the U.S. were diagnosed with these cancers and more than 142,000 will died from them (1).

The 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium is co-sponsored by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO).

Source: American Gastroenterological Association Institute