CONGRESS HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights in head and neck cancer

SUMMARY

The ASCO Annual Meeting was held from 3–7 June 2022 in a live and virtual format. During this Meeting, de-escalation and intensifying strategies were shown in different stages of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). More data were presented regarding radiosensitising options during adjuvant/definitive radiotherapy. The position of immunotherapy in relation to radiotherapy remains a big question anno 2022. New first-line recurrent/metastatic treatment options of combining immunotherapy and a tyrosine kinase inhibitor are on the horizon, and also the liquid biopsy technology is of high interest in the field of HNSCC. Supportive care of severe oral mucositis was addressed with a new product. Targeted therapy and immunotherapy are looking for their exact place in salivary gland tumours. In this report, the most important headlines will be discussed, with comments on the clinical relevance of the different studies.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(5):236–45)

Highlights in thoracic oncology

SUMMARY

In the field of thoracic oncology, many refinements and longer follow-up results of previously reported trials were presented during the annual ASCO 2022 meeting. Although there were no presentations of new, truly practice-changing trials, several exciting and promising data are worthwhile to mention in this highlights in thoracic oncology overview.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(5):229–35)

Highlights in digestive oncology

SUMMARY

The 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting was held in Chicago, USA, between the 3^rd and 7^th of June 2022. The main goal of this overview is to highlight the most striking abstracts in the field of digestive oncology for daily clinical practice. First, the upper gastro-intestinal tract tumours will be discussed, followed by an overview of the congress highlights related to cancers of the lower gastro-intestinal tract.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(5):223–8)

Highlights in genitourinary cancer

SUMMARY

The 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting again offered a variety of advancements in the treatment of genitourinary cancers. In this summary, some of the highlights in the field of renal, bladder and prostate cancer will be discussed, with a particular focus on studies with a potential impact on clinical practice.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2022;16(5):214–22)

Highlights in breast cancer

At this year’s annual meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) experts shared some game-changing data for the treatment of breast cancer (BC). In advanced HER2+ metastatic breast cancer m(BC), the DESTINY-Breast03 trial performed a head-to-head comparison of T-DM1 and trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-Dxd) following initial treatment with trastuzumab and a taxane, showing a major PFS benefit for T-DXd without major toxicity issues, establishing T-DXd as the new standard of care in this setting. In luminal breast cancer, the final analysis of the GIM-4 study supports the use of 7 years instead of 5 years adjuvant endocrine therapy in postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor positive (HR+)/HER2- early BC. For advanced stage HR+/HER2- BC, the MONALEESA-2 study shows >1y OS benefit when adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib to letrozole as first-line treatment. Finally, in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the phase III BrighTNess study showed that addition of carboplatin to neoadjuvant chemotherapy provides long term EFS benefit. In metastatic TNBC, OS data of KEYNOTE-355 further support the use of first-line pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy in advanced PD-L1+ TNBC.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2021;15(8):390–7)

Highlights in gynaecological oncology

The 2021 annual ESMO meeting featured several presentations with the potential to shift the standard of care in gynaecological cancers. In cervical cancer, Keynote-826 identified pembrolizumab + chemotherapy (with or without bevacizumab) as a potential new standard of care for patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. In addition, also the antibody drug conjugate tisotumab vedotin showed encouraging and durable anti-tumour activity in this setting. In the field of the ovarian cancer, PARP inhibition again walked away with most of the attention, but also the glucocorticoid receptor modulator relacorilant and combination therapy with the immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab and bevacizumab yielded interesting data. Also for patients with advanced endometrial cancer, ESMO 2021 proved to be of interest, with important updates on the use of pembrolizumab in this setting.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2021;15(8):428–35)

Highlights in head and neck cancer

ESMO Congress 2021 was held from the 16^th till the 21^st of September, once again in a virtual format. During this congress, more immunotherapy data were shown in the neoadjuvant setting of resectable head and neck cancer, in the concomitant radiotherapy setting and first-line recurrent/metastatic disease. In addition, a nomogram was created for patients undergoing concomitant chemoradiotherapy that can be used as a web-based tool for our clinic. Other data underscore that treatment of elderly patients with a head and neck cancer nowadays require a comprehensive geriatric assessment. In this report, these and other important studies related to head-and-neck cancer will be discussed, together with some comments on the clinical relevance of these findings.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2021;15(8):421–7)