Anne Landry

Using detailed patient data and mathematical modeling programs, a US–international team of investigators has concluded that in the US, public health efforts beginning in the 1950s prevented nearly 800,000 deaths from lung cancer between 1975 and 2000.

Following a large survey of more than 22,000 US women, researchers from H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, in Tampa, Florida, have concluded that a significant proportion of female cancer survivors have poor health behaviors, compared with women who have not had cancer.

Reporting interim findings from a multi-institutional assessment of more than 50,000 people 50 to 69 years of age, COLONPREV Study Group investigators from Spain have concluded colonoscopy is better than fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) at detecting adenomas.

A multi-institutional, NCI-funded retrospective study in the New England Journal of Medicine highlights the significant long-term benefit of colonoscopic polypectomy in preventing death from colon cancer, with polypectomy cutting the incidence of colon cancer–related mortality in half compared with the general population.

A team of researchers from the University of Connecticut at Storrs and the National Cancer Institute, analyzing US national health data on more than 4,000 racially diverse adults aged 75 years and older, has concluded that despite “ambiguity of recommendations for this group,” cancer screening rates are high in this population.

Epidemiologist Jack Cuzick, PhD, and colleagues, writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in April, concluded that “tamoxifen-induced reductions in breast density can be used to identify women who will benefit the most from prophylactic treatment with this drug.”

Researchers from Wellspring, a Canadian nonprofit organization that supports and educates people with cancer, together with a team of patient-support consultants, have developed a 1-day program that appears to have reduced emotional exhaustion and burnout in oncology nurses.

The often-weakened immune systems of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy put them at greater risk of acquiring life-threatening infections in community and hospital settings, including during appointments for outpatient treatment.

A survey of more than 500 long-term survivors of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) has revealed that more than one-third experience persistent or worsening symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with nearly 4 of 10 cancer survivors stating they still experience symptoms of PTSD more than a decade after their cancer diagnosis.

In a Canadian study of more than 14,000 breast cancer survivors over 65 years of age, current use of tamoxifen appears to be associated with a small increased risk of diabetes. The findings do not mean tamoxifen is a direct cause of diabetes in this patient population, the study authors emphasized, but they said its use may increase diabetes risk in older women who already have known risk factors for diabetes, such as obesity or a family history of the disease.

Results of the AZURE trial revealed small improvements in disease-free and overall survival when zoledronic acid was used in addition to adjuvant therapy in a subgroup of early-stage breast cancer patients who had been postmenopausal for more than 5 years.

A statewide survey of oncology nurses administering ambulatory chemotherapy found a high rate of self-reported chemotherapy exposure, with nearly one-fifth of nurses surveyed experiencing skin and eye exposure in the last year.

Oncology nurses are on the frontline of telephone triage. Optimizing telephone interactions with patients is key to improving ambulatory nursing practice, as it allows nurses to efficiently provide symptom management; patient education; emotional support; and high-quality, complete documentation for comprehensive and consistent patient care.

More cancer patients are able to receive chemotherapy, including both oral and intravenous agents, in the home setting. Clearly, the option to self-administer therapy in the absence of an oncology nurse or other healthcare provider poses a potential safety risk.

Melanie Bone, MD, was not yet 40 years old and had four young children when she was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. “Even though I am a doctor and surgeon, I learned firsthand about the side effects of cancer treatment,” said Dr. Bone, a nutritional gynecologist. “I was too sick to work, so I spent time thinking about how to make the cancer experience easier for future cancer patients.”

Sunitinib (Sutent) has been approved as the first anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) agent for neuroendocrine tumors (NET) in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic disease.

A pilot mentor-to-mentor oncology nurse–led training program was developed in which volunteer former patients who have undergone brachytherapy for early stage breast cancer at UCSD were taught by the oncology nurse how to provide information and support to new patients about to undergo the procedure.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy can be very anxious at the initiation of treatment. Cancer center–specific patient education materials that detail what patients can anticipate at each step of the chemotherapy process may alleviate patients’ anxiety and improve their overall experience with chemotherapy.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, with approximately 20 million people currently infected and an additional 6.2 million infected each year, despite increased media attention to HPV as a cause of cervical cancer and the availability of a vaccination to reduce HPV-associated cervical cancer.

One in four Americans facing end-of-life is a veteran. Because of their traumatic experiences during combat, including experiences with death, veterans with cancer and other serious illnesses can have complex healthcare needs.

More cancer patients are able to receive chemotherapy, including both oral and intravenous agents, in the home setting. Clearly, the option to self-administer therapy in the absence of an oncology nurse or other healthcare provider poses a potential safety risk.

Following a retrospective analysis which may be the largest of its kind to date, a multicenter team of investigators says treatment-related hypertension may be a useful biomarker of superior clinical outcome with sunitinib (Sutent) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

An analysis of data from 3,400 men in the large nationwide Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial indicates that, contrary to what might be expected, men with the highest blood percentages of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid commonly found in fatty fish, had 2.5 times the risk of developing aggressive, high-grade prostate cancer, compared with men who had the lowest levels.

A team of researchers has used mass spectrometry to identify a novel six-biomarker serum test that effectively identified lung cancer in never smokers, and which may have other important diagnostic applications in lung cancer.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a portable noninvasive device, worn on the head, to treat adults whose glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) recurs or progresses following chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 25 approved ipilimumab (Yervoy, Bristol-Myers Squibb) as immunotherapy for patients with late-stage melanoma, based studies showing it improved survival outcomes in these difficult-to-treat patients.

In July1999, I learned I was pregnant with my son. My sister was pregnant, too, and due to deliver in the fall. I was excited to share my happy news. But my father, then 65, had news of his own: he had been diagnosed with stage III colorectal cancer.

Charles Sawyers, MD, head of the new Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is perhaps best known for his kinase inhibitor research leading to the development of imatinib (Gleevec) and dasatinib (Sprycel), drugs of unprecedented benefit for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.