Medical

Prostate cancer, which has been increasing in incidence worldwide in recent years, is now a more common cancer among Japanese men. Often, patients with prostate cancer have a poor prognosis and poor survival once they have developed multiple recurrent metastases after treatment with hormones and are difficult to treat with conventional radiotherapy.

Results from a pivotal phase 3 trial show that the PD-1 therapy Keytruda, in combination with chemotherapy, significantly improves survival in patients with advanced gastric cancer and has a favorable safety profile. Patients benefited regardless of their PD-L1 expression.

Many lung cancer patients will be detected by genetic testing to carry an EGFR mutation, and these patients can often control their tumours with EGFR-targeted drugs. Although targeted drugs are effective and have fewer side effects than chemotherapy, resistance to them inevitably occurs, after which they no longer work.

Pancreatic cancer is known to be a highly fatal and incurable type of cancer known as the "king of cancers". Currently, the only possible cure for pancreatic cancer is the complete surgical removal of the tumour tissue. Once the cancer has spread beyond the pancreatic organ, the patient's treatment options are very limited.

Bile duct cancer is a rare but highly malignant tumour that occurs in the human bile duct system and has long had a poor prognosis. Now, researchers at University College London and University College London Hospitals, in an international multi-centre trial, have identified potentially good treatments that may radically improve the lives of some patients with bile duct cancer.

Can patients with bridge onychiasis and hypothyroidism have normal childbearing?

Many women suffering from hyperthyroidism hope to become pregnant or have a second child, but hyperthyroidism is a chronic disease, which often cannot be cured for a long time. Many people mistakenly believe that hyperthyroidism and pregnancy are absolutely "incompatible" and "irreconcilable", which undoubtedly brings a lot of gloom to patients' family life.

As medicine continues to advance, there are many good drugs and options to fight cancer. Just recently, a study showed that the NALIRIFOX regimen significantly improved the overall survival of patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who had not received previous treatment.

A new clinical trial update shows that oxitinib (known as Teresa, or 9291) nearly doubled disease-free survival and halved post-operative recurrence rates in lung cancer patients carrying an early stage EGFR mutation!

In the last decade, the introduction of several immune checkpoint inhibitors such as CTLA-4/PD-1/PD-L1 and other immune drugs such as Keytruda and Opdivo have marked a major advance in cancer treatment by "liberating" immune T cells and giving them back their ability to attack cancer cells. However, previous data shows that only 10-30% of patients have a good outcome with these immunotherapies