Carolyn Cook Gotay, PhD

Many advances in the treatment and care of cancer patients have been closely linked to the availability of more effective pharmaceutical agents. As research continues to develop new and improved chemotherapeutic agents, it is heartening that the FDA maintains a flexible approach to the drug approval process and will consider an array of indicators of drug efficacy, including patient self-reports of health-related quality of life.

For the sake of the 7.4 million Americans alive today who have a history of cancer, Ferrell and Hassey Dow's paper is important. Understanding more about the problems and issues faced by these individuals and their families, as well as identifying effective ways to ensure that they experience a high quality of survival, are significant issues for cancer care and research.

Drs. Blanchard, Albrecht, and Ruckdeschel provide a whirlwind tour of research on families and cancer. The article has an ambitious mission. It attempts to establish how cancer affects families, through a review of studies that assess the psychological