In this episode, our team discusses the Checkmate 577 trial, the landmark paper which approved the use of nivolumab for adjuvant treatment of stage II & III esophageal & GE junction cancer. Listen as our team reviews the study population, methods and results of this trial & discusses its clinical application as well as potential areas of future research.

-Review the staging and treatment of esophageal and GEJ cancer

-Discuss the population, methods, and results of the Checkmate 577 trial

-Understand the mechanism of action of nivolumab and the PD1 pathway

-Discuss the implications of the Checkmate 577 trial in clinical practice and areas of future research

Kelly Daus MD, Megan Lenihan MD, Peter White MD, and Brian Louie MD

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032125

Kelly RJ, Ajani JA, Kuzdzal J, et al. Adjuvant nivolumab in resected esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(13):1191-1203. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2032125

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7136921/

Han Y, Liu D, Li L. PD-1/PD-L1 pathway: current researches in cancer. Am J Cancer Res. 2020 Mar 1;10(3):727-742. PMID: 32266087; PMCID: PMC7136921.

Ad referenced in episode: A team at the Brooke Army Medical Center is working to better define proficiency-based metrics for competency in commonly performed robotic general surgery procedures. If you are a general surgery resident or practicing surgeon who performs robotic assisted cholecystectomies or inguinal hernia repairs,  reach out to the PI, Robert Laverty, MD, at [email protected] for more information on how you could be compensated $500 per video submitted of each (up to $1000 per surgeon).

Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.  

If you liked this episode, check out other thoracic surgery episodes here https://behindtheknife.org/podcast-category/cardiothoracic/