INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE: A PRACTICAL APPROACH, SERIES #99

Elaine Barfield, Aliza Solomon, Robbyn Sockolow

Inflammatory bowel disease is characterized by an unpredictable course of relapsing and remitting symptoms often treated with infliximab. Historically infliximab was administered in the hospital setting or infusion centers. However, recently some providers have prescribed infliximab via home infusions. The goal of this study was to compare health-related quality of life in pediatric patients receiving infliximab in the home compared to those receiving infliximab in our hospital infusion center.

COLORECTAL CANCER: REAL PROGRESS IN DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT, SERIES #2

William P.D. Hendricks, Daniel L. Edelstein

Clinical cancer management is becoming increasingly precise and colorectal cancer (CRC) patients have thereby benefited. Genetic tests are now available, such as RAS, BRAF, and microsatellite instability testing to assess risk, enhance prognosis, and predict response to therapy. Meanwhile, new technological paradigms such as the liquid biopsy hold out promise for enabling more precise non-invasive, real-time analysis of patient tumor burden. Here, we review CRC’s genetic basis, discuss diagnostic markers relevant to hereditary versus sporadic disease, summarize the recent data on CRC biomarkers, and point to new developments in CRC precision medicine.

COLORECTAL CANCER: REAL PROGRESS IN DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT, SERIES #3

Swati G. Patel, Dennis J. Ahnen

The genetic understanding of colorectal cancer (CRC) continues to evolve rapidly. It is becoming increasingly clear that the cancer spectrum of many of the hereditary cancer syndromes is much broader than originally thought. The observed overlap in phenotype, along with the rapidly decreasing costs of next-generation gene sequencing, has led to increasing use of cancer gene panels for diagnosis of the hereditary cancer syndromes. In this review, the clinical features and approach to management of the hereditary CRC syndromes is described along with an approach to selection of families that should be referred for genetic counseling and possible genetic testing.

A CASE REPORT

Ross Heil, Jason Schairer, Brad Warren

Departments Section