Special Series: Advances in GI Cancer
Ces 14 articles passent en revue les études concernant le dépistage et la prise en charge thérapeutique des cancers gastro-intestinaux de stade avancé ainsi que des cancers du pancréas et des voies biliaires
Worldwide, 14 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually, and more than a quarter of these are GI cancers (more than 4 million new cases each year).1 Of the 8.2 million people who die as a result of cancer each year in the world, 2.7 million (33%) die as a result of GI malignancies. The total new cases of GI cancer are greater than breast (1.6 million) and lung (1.8 million) cancers combined, with 22% more deaths annually. GI cancers represent at least 10 distinct diseases (depending on how the diseases are grouped or differentiated). To some extent, many of these tumors share similar characteristics (eg, staging, and thus prognosis, for tumors in the alimentary tract considers the extent of invasion through the bowel wall as opposed to the size of the tumor, and the extent of nodal involvement), and nearly all of the GI tumors are responsive to either single-agent fluoropyrimidine or combination therapy with a fluoropyrimidine. Conversely, the biology of these tumors is distinct, as evidenced by emerging data on molecular signatures as well as variable response to treatments, particularly targeted therapies. For some GI cancers, great strides have occurred in the last 10 to 15 years in terms of understanding biology as well as expanding treatment options and improving prognosis (eg, median survival for metastatic colorectal cancer has lengthened from 1 year to nearly 3 years); however, in other GI cancers, advances have been slow and minimal in affecting the course of the disease (eg, survival for metastatic pancreatic cancers remains < 1 year, and fewer than 5% of patients are long-term survivors). Our goal in this Special Series issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology is to update readers on the current state of the science for most GI cancers, break down the successes and failures, and look ahead to the potential opportunities to further advance our understanding and treatment of these diseases. In addition, we have several overview articles that have implications for multiple GI (and other) cancers and discuss issues that are critical to patient treatment.
Journal of Clinical Oncology , éditorial, 2015