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J. Menis



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    P1.08 - Poster Session/ Thymoma, Mesothelioma and Other Thoracic Malignancies (ID 224)

    • Event: WCLC 2015
    • Type: Poster
    • Track: Thymoma, Mesothelioma and Other Thoracic Malignancies
    • Presentations: 1
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      P1.08-035 - Pan-European Survey on Thymic Malignancies: A Collaboration of the EORTC Lung Cancer Group (LCG) with the RYTHMIC Network (ID 690)

      09:30 - 17:00  |  Author(s): J. Menis

      • Abstract
      • Slides

      Background:
      Thymic malignancies are rare tumors with an incidence of over 0.15 cases per 100.000 persons/year. Because of the indolent course and sporadic occurrence, the management of this disease has been mainly based on single-institution retrospective, observational studies. Clinical trials have been run in the recent years but no uniformly accepted guidelines are available so far. For advanced disease at diagnosis or with relapse/ progression treatment options are limited in first line and there is no standard treatment for second line treatment. The EORTC Lung Cancer Group (LCG) and French RYTHMIC network developed a survey with the aim of assessing the current treatment strategies and respective outcomes, thus providing an overview on the management of these tumors in advanced stage.

      Methods:
      We conducted a 25-item survey disseminated as dedicated mailing in the EORTC LCG and RYTHMIC network. Descriptive statistical analysis was applied to assess and present the preliminary replies.

      Results:
      At the time of the analysis, a total of 45 physicians from 11 countries participated in the study, the majority of participants were EORTC members (60.8%) and 11.1% were both EORTC and RYTHMIC members. About half of the institutions have a dedicate team for thymic malignancies (46.7%) but almost all of them have in place multidisciplinary meeting to discuss new diagnosed patients (91.1%).Diagnosis is made on surgical sample in 53.4% of the cases flowed by core needle biopsy (33.6%) and open biopsy (13%). For both thymoma and thymic carcinoma, the preferred choice for induction chemotherapy is CAP (cisplatin, doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) (42.2% and 31.1% respectively) followed by cisplatin and etoposide (13.3% and 13.3% respectively). Also for first line chemotherapy, for both thymoma and thymic carcinoma, the preferred choice is CAP (35.6% and 28.9% respectively). For first line treatment the reported Overall Response Rate (ORR) is about 40% for thymoma and 31% for thymic carcinoma, the median Progression Free Survival (PFS) is 8 months for thymoma and 3 months for thymic carcinoma and the reported median Overall Survival (OS) is 28 months for thymoma and 18 months for thymic carcinoma. For both thymoma and thymic carcinoma, the preferred first choice for second line chemotherapy is carboplatin and paclitaxel (35.6% and 31.1% respectively) and the prefered second choice is cisplatin and etoposide (13.3 and 17.8% respectively). For second line treatment the reported ORR is about 36% for thymoma and 23% for thymic carcinoma, the median reported PFS is 8 months for thymoma and 4 months for thymic carcinoma; the median OS is 15 months for thymoma and 9 months for thymic carcinoma. No testing for c-kit or EGFR mutations is routinely performed.

      Conclusion:
      The survey provides a large, multi-institutional overview of the clinical practice in the management of thymic tumors in Europe, and provides relevant and updated background for the development of future collaborative trials. The survey is still ongoing and final results will be presented at the conference.

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    P3.04 - Poster Session/ Biology, Pathology, and Molecular Testing (ID 235)

    • Event: WCLC 2015
    • Type: Poster
    • Track: Biology, Pathology, and Molecular Testing
    • Presentations: 1
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      P3.04-053 - SPECTAlung: Screening Patients with Thoracic Tumors for Efficient Clinical Trial Access (ID 1386)

      09:30 - 17:00  |  Author(s): J. Menis

      • Abstract

      Background:
      The identification of molecular alteration and its targeting has completely changed the treatment and prognosis of lung cancer. However, designing and implementing clinical trials in small subsets of patients with a particular molecular alteration is challenging because of lack of uniform screening program. Across Europe, screening for molecular alterations is center or country dependent and, generally limited to a small subset of genes. SPECTAlung is the first European standardized, quality-assured molecular screening program of the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) in collaboration with the European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP) to facilitate clinical trial access for patients with thoracic tumors. It is expected to test 500 to 1000 patients each year with the overall goal of offering patients clinical trials with targeted agents.

      Methods:
      Patients sign the informed consent for their tumor tissue to be collected, centralized and processed according to defined international quality control standards at Gustave Roussy Biobank (Villejuif, France). Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is performed at Sanger Institute (Cambridge, UK) where a panel of about 360 genes is analyzed for mutation, rearrangements and gene copy number. Eligible patients will be those having a pathological diagnosis of any thoracic tumor (lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma and thymic malignancies) at any stage of disease, availability of tumor tissue, age at least 18 years, PS 0-2, life expectancy > 3 months, no active malignancy in the 5 years before study entry and absence of any exclusion criteria that may prevent inclusion into clinical trials. A molecular report will be released to the investigator highlighting identified molecular alterations and also the trials for which the patients might be eligible. The study has been submitted to ethical committees of 15 selected highly specialized and qualified thoracic centres in 12 countries in Europe. EORTC and ETOP will promote the implementation of clinical trials in molecularly selected groups of patients at the SPECTAlung centers. SPECTAlung offers innovative and attractive models of collaboration with commercial and research organizations, by improving patient access to novel therapeutic clinical trial and support the development of personalized medicine. Clinical trial registry number NCT02214134.

      Results:
      Not applicable

      Conclusion:
      Not applicable