Bariatric Surgery Tied to Long-Term Cognitive Benefits
Gastric bypass surgery in people with severe obesity was associated with sustained improvements in cognitive function, inflammation, and comorbidities, according to results of a cohort study in the Netherlands. At 2 years post-surgery, neuropsychological tests showed improvements of 20% or higher in global cognition (43% of patients), ability to shift attention (40%), episodic memory (32%), […]
Pembrolizumab in First-Line Boosts PFS in HER2-Positive Stomach Cancer
MADRID — Including pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in the first-line treatment of metastatic HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal cancer improved progression-free survival (PFS), but potential harm was seen in PD-L1-negative patients, the randomized KEYNOTE-811 trial showed. In patients receiving standard chemotherapy plus trastuzumab, median PFS improved from 8.1 months with placebo to 10.0 months with pembrolizumab (HR 0.73, […]
Obesity treatment could offer dramatic weight loss without surgery or nausea
Imagine getting the benefits of gastric bypass surgery without going under the knife — a new class of compounds could do just that. In lab animals, these potential treatments reduce weight dramatically and lower blood glucose. The injectable compounds also avoid the side effects of nausea and vomiting that are common with current weight-loss and […]
Modest Survival Gain in Gastric/GEJ Cancer With Chemo Plus Pembrolizumab
Adding pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to chemotherapy modestly improved survival in unresectable/metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer, a randomized trial showed. Median overall survival (OS) improved from 11.5 months with chemotherapy alone to 12.9 months with the addition of the immune checkpoint inhibitor. Median progression-free survival (PFS) improved from 5.6 months to 6.9 months. Landmark survival […]