Cancer concepts and principles: primer for the interventional oncologist-part I

Abstract

A sophisticated understanding of the rapidly changing field of oncology, including a broad knowledge of oncologic disease and the therapies available to treat them, is fundamental to the interventional radiologist providing oncologic therapies, and is necessary to affirm interventional oncology as one of the four pillars of cancer care alongside medical, surgical, and radiation oncology. The first part of this review intends to provide a concise overview of the fundamentals of oncologic clinical trials, including trial design, methods to assess therapeutic response, common statistical analyses, and the levels of evidence provided by clinical trials.

Keywords: CR; DCR; EASL; European Association for the Study of the Liver; FDA; Food and Drug Administration; HCC; NCCN; National Comprehensive Cancer Network; ORR; PFS; PR; RECIST; Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors; SD; TTP; WHO; World Health Organization; complete response; disease control rate; hepatocellular carcinoma; mRECIST; modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors; overall response rate; partial response; progression-free survival; stable disease; time to progression.