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Introduction: We conducted an online survey to investigate oncologists' clinical practices and views on palliative care at the end of life in the Italian region of Liguria., Methods: The survey included 29 items divided into three sections: participant characteristics (n=6), hospital resources and practices (n=11), participant practices and views (n=12)., Results: Twenty-one of the 41 medical oncologists invited completed the survey (51%). Although almost all reported the presence of palliative medicine physicians at their hospitals (90%), nearly half (48%) stated that palliative medicine physicians were not responsible for managing cancer patients at end of life, and 21% reported routine participation of palliative medicine physicians in multidisciplinary meetings. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents stated they never consulted psychologists regarding end of life patient care, and 43% reported they rarely did. Notably, a substantial proportion of participants stated that they administered active treatments to patients with six months life expectancy. Regarding integration between oncology and palliative medicine, an equal proportion felt it had been fully (48%) or partially achieved (48%) at their hospitals., Conclusions: Participants seemed fairly satisfied with the level of integration between oncology and palliative medicine at their hospitals, which contrasts with other findings regarding, for instance, the scant participation of palliative medicine physicians in multidisciplinary meetings. Exploring the impact of the novel regional clinical healthcare pathway for palliative care on practices at hospitals in Liguria will be crucial to ensure that cancer patients at end of life receive quality care., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objective: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has become the preferred treatment in HER2-positive early breast cancer. Several trials investigated the neoadjuvant efficacy of dual HER2 blockade with anthracycline-free chemotherapy, whereas few data are available on single-agent trastuzumab and anthracycline-based regimens, which represent the standard of care in the adjuvant setting. This phase II, single-arm trial assessed anthracycline-based chemotherapy and trastuzumab as neoadjuvant treatment for high-risk HER2-positive breast cancer., Methods: Forty-three patients with stage II-III HER2-positive breast cancer were treated with 4 courses of neoadjuvant 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m 2 , epirubicin 90 mg/m 2 , cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m 2 (FEC ×4) every 21 days, followed by 12 courses of weekly paclitaxel 80 mg/m 2 and trastuzumab 2 mg/Kg IV (loading dose 4 mg/kg)., Results: Pathologic complete response (pCR) was observed in 22 (51%) of 43 patients. After a median follow-up of 6 years, the 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival were 85.8% (95% confidence interval 75.9%-97%) and 89.6% (80.4%-99.8%), respectively. A temporary decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction was observed in two patients. No cardiac death or congestive heart failure occurred. One patient died due to febrile neutropenia., Conclusions: FEC ×4 followed by paclitaxel and trastuzumab was associated with high pCR rates and favorable long-term outcomes. However, this regimen was associated with relevant hematologic toxicity.