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Objective: Little evidence is available on the management of patients with metastatic and/or unresectable gastric cancer (mGC) after the failure of first-line treatment. This study presents real-world data on characteristics and treatment patterns of patients with mGC in Russia. Methods: Eligible patients were ≥18 years old, diagnosed with mGC ≥ January 1, 2012, received first-line chemotherapy followed by second-line chemotherapy or best supportive care (BSC), had ≥3 months of follow-up after the start of second-line chemotherapy or BSC (except in cases of death), and had not participated in a clinical trial. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 88 physicians provided data from 202 charts. Mean age at mGC diagnosis was 53.7 (standard deviation: 11.2) years; 70.8% of patients were male. Reasons for first-line treatment discontinuation included disease progression (50.5%) and adverse events/toxicity (39.1%). There were 52 unique treatment regimens prescribed in second-line; capecitabine (14.5%), paclitaxel (9.3%), and capecitabine + oxaliplatin (8.7%) were the most frequent. Reasons for second-line treatment discontinuation included disease progression (39.8%) and patient refusal to continue (37.5%). During 2nd-line treatment, the most common treatment-related symptoms were nausea/vomiting (75.0%), while pain (73.8%) was the most common disease-related symptom. Antiemetics (63.4%), chemotherapy (61.6%), non-narcotic analgesics (48.3%), endoscopy (45.9%), and nutritional support (35.5%) were most frequently used as supportive care. Conclusions: Second-line treatment patterns for patients with mGC in Russia are heterogeneous. Results of this study indicate the need for more intensive implementation of the most active regimens in second-line treatment of mGC according to international and national guidelines., (© 2019 Eli Lilly and Company. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)

Purpose: The goals of this study were to assess safety and efficacy of triplet chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with paclitaxel for squamous cell anal carcinoma (SCAC)., Methods: Patients with stage I-IIIB SCAC were enrolled and received 52-58 Gy intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) (with dose based on the T stage) in consecutive daily 1.8-2.2 Gy fractions. The concurrent chemotherapy consisted of paclitaxel 45 mg/m 2  days 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, capecitabine 625 mg/m 2 bid on treatment days and mitomycin C 10 g/m 2 on day 1. Primary endpoints were complete clinical response at 26 weeks and protocol compliance; secondary endpoints included toxicity, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS)., Results: Thirty-eight patients were enrolled. The percentage of patients with stage I, II, IIIA, and IIIB disease were 1 (2.6%), 5 (13.2%), 15 (39.5%), and 17 (44.7%), respectively. 32 patients (84.2%) completed CRT without significant alterations. Grade 3-4 toxicity occurred in 23 (60.5%) patients. 33 (86.8%) patients had complete clinical response at 26 weeks. Median follow-up was 25.6 months. Seven (18.4%) patients experienced disease progression: four patients had residual tumor after CRT, 2 patients developed distant metastases and 1 patient developed a local recurrence 12 months after CRT. Two-year OS was 93.6%, 2-year PFS was 83.9%., Conclusions: Investigated treatment scheme is feasible despite high toxicity profile, and may be beneficial for patients with advanced SCAC. Further research is warranted.