Brain metastases (BM) are the most frequent intracranial tumors in adults. About 10–20% of the patients with cancer will develop them. Historically, most of the patients with brain metastases were treated with whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). The …

Most gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are associated with molecular changes in two genes, KIT and platelet-derived growth factor receptor‑α (PDGFRA). However, only 5–10% of GISTs harbor PDGFRA mutation. Most tumors carry substitution …

Despite the ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, results of several pertinent studies in the field of breast cancer (BC) were presented in a virtual format at the 2020 European Society of Medical Oncology …

Mucormycosis is a rare but potentially life-threatening disease. Common risk factors include diabetic ketoacidosis, malignancies and bone marrow transplant. In patients with hematological malignancies mucormycosis often occurs in a context of …

During this year’s virtual congress of the European Society of Oncology (ESMO) some practice-changing abstracts were presented. Especially immunotherapy (IO) has found its way into the treatment of esophageal (EC) and gastric cancer (GC) in both …

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has been established in the treatment of hematological malignancies. However, in solid tumors its efficacy remains limited. The aim of this article is to give an overview of the field of cell therapy …

Multidrug resistance of bacterial pathogens is an increasing problem wordwide, especially treatment of multidrug resistant (MDR) gramnegative bacteria is challenging. In the recent past, several new antibiotics as well as new betalactamase …

Malnutrition means a significant loss of weight and body resources, which results in an impairment of quality of life and prognosis [ 1 ]. Worldwide studies show that the prevalence of malnutrition in cancer patients ranges from about 20% to more …

At the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) 2020 several interesting albeit not practice-changing studies in the field of pancreatic cancer were presented. The Canadian phase II randomized PA.7 trial investigated the additional benefit of …

HLH is a life-threatening disease, which is characterized by a dysregulated immune response with uncontrolled T cell and macrophage activation. The often fulminant course of the disease needs a fast diagnostic work-up to initiate as soon as …

In malignant diseases, targeting of immune checkpoints successfully changed the therapeutic landscape and helped to unleash anti-tumor T cell responses, resulting in durable clinical outcomes, but only in up to 50% of patients. The success of …

This year’s virtual version of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) presidential sessions included three “late breaking” non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) abstracts, discussing strategies for adjuvant therapy of localized disease and …

Immunotherapy is one of the major breakthroughs in cancer treatment. However, many patients do not benefit from this type of therapy. Thus, there is an urgent need for a strategy to predict treatment efficacy before start of therapy. The role of …

Leptomeningeal metastases from solid tumours are increasingly being diagnosed and require a careful assessment by an interdisciplinary neuro-oncological tumour board for adequate diagnosis, therapy planning and optimal care of the affected …

Cognitive impairment by neurotoxic substances, administered alone or in a multidrug regimen, affects a large number of patients treated for noncentral nervous system cancer during and after chemotherapy with variable onset, severity and duration …

Identification of the underlying genetic and epigenetic alterations in an increasing number of tumors of the nervous system is contributing to a more clinically relevant classification. In the following article, the 7 cIMPACT-NOW publications …

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a cytogenetically heterogeneous and incurable plasma cell disease characterized by clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells [ 1 ]. It accounts for approximately 10% of all hematological malignancies [ 2 ]. MM is …

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a B-cell malignancy characterized by clonal expansion and accumulation of mature B‑lymphocytes in peripheral blood, bone marrow, and secondary lymphoid tissues [ 1 ]. CLL is highly heterogeneous where some …