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Christopher R. Flowers, MD, MS

Articles by Christopher R. Flowers, MD, MS

ABSTRACT Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer constitute approximately 70,000 patients diagnosed each year. Survival rates for AYAs with cancer have increased steadily in recent decades due to improvements in therapeutic regimens and early detection. Given the large and growing number of AYA cancer survivors, additional research is needed on the immediate and long-term psychosocial support required for this population including family planning and fertility. Fertility and fertility preservation in female AYAs, in particular, is historically understudied and has psychologically relevant ramifications distinct from male AYAs. Decision science can contribute to this area of oncological care and has implications for clinical encounters and research concerning female AYA patients with cancer. Patient-centered care and shared decision-making that integrates recent research regarding fertility preservation in the context of cancer treatment can improve outcomes for AYA cancer survivors.

A multitude of factors contributes to cancer disparities. Addressing these disparities among racial/ethnic minority populations with blood cancers requires multilevel models of the interactions between relevant factors and the performance of translational research that uses knowledge of cancer biology to develop and test the feasibility of interventions that can impact human endpoints. To be effective, efforts should be made to advance these research findings to applications that can transform clinical practice and health care delivery. We reviewed the literature to define a framework for overcoming disparities for patients with hematologic malignancies and to improve patient enrollment in clinical trials.

The present guidelines review epidemiology, pathology, presentation, workup, staging, prognostic factors, and treatment options for patients with localized nodal indolent lymphoma, with an emphasis on radiation guidelines, including radiation dose, field design, and radiation techniques.

In this review, Ujjani and Cheson present a useful overview of the array of existing and developing roles for monoclonal antibodies in the management of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). These roles may be characterized as single-agent antibody therapy, use in combination with chemotherapy and/or other antibodies, and use following an initial regimen (consolidation/maintenance). Rituximab (Rituxan), the first monoclonal antibody approved for B-cell NHL, clearly has had greatest application in each of these arenas, but it has now been joined by alemtuzumab (Campath) and ofatumumab (Arzerra) as approved single-agent therapies. Also highlighted are a number of other antibodies aimed at B-cell targets: veltuzumab, GA101, AME-133 (CD20), epratuzumab (CD22), lumiliximab (CD23), galiximab (CD80), dacetuzumab (CD40), mapatumumab, lexatumumab (TRAIL), and approaches to improve antibody therapy such as conjugation with radioisotopes or toxins.