Medicare to Extend Coverage of Diagnostic Mammography to Men
September 1st 1995WASHINGTON--Medicare coverage for diagnostic mammography has been extended to include men. The Federal Register published a correction to the regulation that had inadvertently omitted men from coverage, but it should be noted that men are not included in coverage for screening mammograms.
The Candlelighters Celebrate 25 Years Of Pediatric Cancer Support, Advocacy
September 1st 1995CRYSTAL CITY, Va--Candle-lighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, met to celebrate its 25th anniversary, to update the 550 parents and children with cancer who attended the meeting, and to honor individuals and organizations making a contribution to childhood cancer research.
Conformal Method Of Neutron/Proton Radiation Promising
September 1st 1995SEATTLE--A mixture of neutron radiation with conventional photon radiation, using a custom tailored pelvic template for each patient, appears to provide more effective therapy for prostate cancer than photon radiation alone (eg, external beam or I-125), while reducing the complications caused by neutron radiation alone, said Jeffrey Forman, MD, of Wayne State University, Detroit.
State Initiatives Aim to Improve Pain Relief
September 1st 1995ANNAPOLIS, Md--"Of the 1 million people diagnosed with cancer each year, at least half will not receive adequate pain control," said June L. Dahl, PhD, professor of pharmacology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, and chair, Wisconsin Cancer Pain Initiative.
GAO Finds Community Health Centers Are Leaning Toward Managed Care
September 1st 1995WASHINGTON--As more states use prepaid managed care to control costs and improve access for Medicaid patients, the number of participating community health centers continues to grow. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) finds that such financial arrangements are not incompatible with a mission of delivering health care to the medically underserved, but that these institutions face substantial risks and challenges, which require new knowledge, skills, and information systems.
PSA Density a More Accurate Screen Than PSA
September 1st 1995SEATTLE--A study of 1,695 cancer-free men found that PSA density provides a far more accurate screening assay for detection of prostate cancer than PSA serum concentration, Robert Kane, MD, of Harvard Medical School, said at the Pacific Northwest Cancer Foundation Meeting on Transperineal Brachytherapy for Early Stage Prostate Cancer.
Commentary (Zlotolow): Minimizing Oral Complications of Cancer Treatment
September 1st 1995Minimizing oral manifestations of cancer treatment is a major concern for both dentists and physicians. This article, by dentists from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, addresses the prevention and minimization of oral complications by describing their observations and considerations for a wide range of oncologic treatments.
Minimizing Oral Complications of Cancer Treatment
September 1st 1995Aggressive cancer therapy places patients at greater risk for oral complications and treatment-related consequences. Unfortunately, prevention and/or treatment of such oral sequelae have become often overlooked priorities of the treatment team.
Commentary (Sonis): Minimizing Oral Complications of Cancer Treatment
September 1st 1995Toth and his colleagues present an increasingly important subject in their review; not only do oral complications adversely affect patients' quality of life, but also, as nonsurgical antineoplastic therapy becomes more aggressive, they represent an increasingly more common source of sepsis and local and distant-site infection.
Locoregional Therapies for Early-Stage Prostate Cancer
September 1st 1995Widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a screening tool has led to an increased incidence of biopsy-proven prostate cancer, as well as a shift toward more cases with clinically confined disease (stage T1 to T2). The two traditional therapeutic modalities, radical prostatectomy and external-beam radiation therapy, have undergone technical refinements. Other modalities, such as brachytherapy and cryosurgery, are also being used to treat early-stage disease. Comparisons between treatment results are difficult. Biochemical failure, based on PSA findings, is currently used to measure treatment efficacy, but the precise definition and clinical relevance of biochemical failure have yet to be established. The author presents current analyses of biochemical failure, cause-specific survival, distant metastasis, and morbidity rates following various treatment modalities. [ONCOLOGY 9(9):803-816, 1995]
Commentary (Wallner): Locoregional Therapies for Early-Stage Prostate Cancer
September 1st 1995Dr. Stock provides a thorough summary of recent data on the principal modes of treatment for early-stage prostate cancer. Prostatectomy, external radiation, and brachytherapy have all improved substantially over the last 15 years. Despite these improvements, however, it is still unclear how these modalities compare in terms of efficacy and morbidity. To provide some balance to his evenhanded approach, I will add a few remarks.
Tips for Patients on Maintaining Weight During Cancer Therapy
September 1st 1995NEW YORK--Getting good nutrition can be hard for patients undergoing cancer treatment. But taking in as much nourishment as possible while they still have an appetite can help, advises Memorial Sloan-Kettering dietitian Maria Biasucci.
NSABP Investigation Threatens Academic Freedom for All: Fisher
August 1st 1995MIAMI BEACH, Fla--"The future of the NSABP [National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project] can't be built upon rejection of the past," said Bernard Fisher, MD, Distinguished Service Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Conference Celebrates 100 Years of Radiology
August 1st 1995BETHESDA, Md--One hundred years after W. Konrad Roentgen's discovery of the x-ray (which he refused to patent), the field of radiology continues to produce "wondrous accomplishments," such as modern digital, cross-sectional, and interventional radiology, Alexander R. Margulis, MD, associate chancellor, Special Projects, University of California, San Francisco, said at a conference sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Coalition Promotes Worksite Cancer Screening
August 1st 1995CONCORD, NH--Pharmaceutical companies were the pioneers in establishing cancer screening and information programs for their employees. This is why Jack Gentile went first to the pharmaceutical industry for help in founding the Industries' Coalition Against Cancer, an organization dedicated to encouraging corporations to initiate their own cancer screen/prevention programs or to enhance existing programs.
DNA Defects Predict Endometrial Ca Prognosis
August 1st 1995SAN FRANCISCO--A retrospective study of 61 endometrial cancers, collected from patients at the City of Hope Hospital, Duarte, Calif, found that approximately 49% of the tumors had some type of DNA abnormality, Kristi Van Nostrand, MD, reported at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) annual clinical meeting.
Outpatient Strategy for Neutropenic Fever
August 1st 1995ATLANTA--Two studies from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have shown that neutropenic fever can be safely and effectively managed on an outpatient basis in a select, low-risk group of patients, Edward Rubenstein, MD, said at the Third International Conference on Clinical Applications of Cytokines and Growth Factors in Hematology and Oncology.
Duke, AIS Announce Collaboration To Build Cell Processing Center
August 1st 1995DURHAM, NC--Duke University Medical Center and ExVivo Therapies have announced a collaboration to construct and operate a cell processing center, the first on the East Coast. ExVivo is a joint venture between Applied Immune Sciences (AIS) and Rhône-Poulenc Rorer.
Local Recurrence Risk Low After Conservation
August 1st 1995BALTIMORE--A review of randomized trials shows that local recurrence rates for breast-conserving therapy are comparable to those for mastectomy for early-stage patients, Irene Gage, MD, said at a conference sponsored by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
Book Review: Cambridge Medical Reviews--Haematologic Oncology, Volume 3
August 1st 1995Volume 3 of Cambridge Medical Reviews: Haematologic Oncology provides detailed reviews on 10 topics of current interest in the field of hematologic malignancies. The text is organized into 10 chapters and has 22 contributors.
Clinton Names New NCI Director
August 1st 1995WASHINGTON--President Clinton has appointed Dr. Richard D. Klausner as director of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Klausner has served as chief, Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, since 1984. He earned his undergraduate degree at Yale and his MD from Duke.