Symptom Relief vs. Life-Threatening Adverse Events
This study clearly demonstrates aflibercept’s efficacy at preventing recurrent ascites, but symptom relief must be weighed against potentially life-threatening adverse events such as bowel perforation, said Dr. Gerhild Becker and Dr. Hubert E. Blum.
It is possible that careful patient selection could decrease the risk of such perforations. However, "before a general recommendation of aflibercept for the treatment of malignant ascites can be made, further studies ... are needed to compare the effectiveness of the different therapeutic strategies in daily clinical practice," they said.
Dr. Becker is in the department of palliative care and Dr. Blum is in internal medicine at the University Hospital Freiburg (Germany). They reported no financial conflicts of interest. These remarks were taken from their editorial comment accompanying Dr. Gotlieb’s report (Lancet Oncol. 2011 [doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70394-1]).
FROM LANCET ONCOLOGY
This study was sponsored by Sanofi Oncology. Dr. Gotlieb reported ties to Sanofi-Aventis, and his associates reported ties to numerous industry sources.
