Lung Cancer

Positron emission tomography (PET) can save hospitals tens of thousands of dollars in the evaluation of patients with

LUXEMBOURG-Home administration of erythropoietin (epoetin alfa, Epogen, Procrit) safely prevented or delayed the development of chemotherapy-associated anemia and reduced transfusion requirements by as much as 35% in a multicenter study of patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), Nicholas Thatcher, MD, said at the 7th International Symposium of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC).

The POpulation HEalth Model (POHEM) lung cancer microsimulation model has provided a useful framework for calculating the cost of managing individual cases of lung cancer in Canada by stage, cell type, and treatment modality, as well as the total economic burden of managing all cases of lung cancer diagnosed in Canada. These data allow an estimation of the overall cost effectiveness of lung cancer therapy. The model also provides a framework for evaluating the cost effectiveness of new therapeutic strategies, such as combined modality therapy for stage III disease or new chemotherapy drugs for stage IV disease. By expressing the cost of lung cancer treatment as cost of life-years gained, such analyses allows useful comparisons of the cost effectiveness of these treatments with those of other costly but accepted medical therapies. [ONCOLOGY 9(Suppl):147-153, 1995]

SEATTLE-"Staging of lung cancer by physicians is frequently incomplete and often inaccurate," Scott B. Chelemer, MD, said in an interview at the 1995 International Conference of the American Thoracic Society and American Lung Association. He believes that a computerized lung cancer database that included all clinical, radiographic, and histologic data for every patient could improve staging and possibly outcomes.

SEATTLE-The idea that limited resections in lung cancer necessarily yield a poorer outcome does not hold up, says John P. Griffin MD, chief, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Health Science Center.

WINNIPEG, Canada-Clinical trials have shown that the level of symptom distress at the time of lung cancer diagnosis can predict survival, and now a study performed in an ambulatory setting has confirmed this finding. Patients with higher symptom distress scores are likely to die more quickly than those with lower scores, report University of Manitoba researchers Lesley F. Degner, RN, PhD, and Jeffrey A. Sloan, PhD.

MONTREAL-Patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who receive chemotherapy report better symptom control and quality of life than those who opt for supportive care alone, William K. Evans, MD, chief executive officer, Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre, On-tario, said at a symposium on lung cancer organized by the 19th International Congress of Chemotherapy.

The addition of cisplatin (Platinol) and oral etoposide (VePesid)to radiation therapy delays distant metastasis, thus increasing

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa--Rhône-Poulenc Rorer Inc.'s Taxotere (docetaxel) has received approval from the Canadian Health Protection Branch for use as second-line treatment of advanced breast and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The new drug submission was based on clinical trials involving more than 800 patients worldwide.

The use of the anticancer agent vinorelbine (Navelbine) as a radiosensitizerto enhance the effectiveness of radiation treatment is suggested

BALTIMORE--A number of factors can suggest whether a focal pulmonary lesion is malignant or benign, but no single test affords a quick answer, and biopsy is usually necessary to make the diagnosis, said Peter White, Jr., MD, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

ASCO LOS ANGELES--A phase II study of gemcitabine, a novel nucleoside analog, plus cisplatin (Platinol) in patients with stage III or IV non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed an encouraging 42% response rate and 8-month median survival.

ASCO LOS ANGELES--Five studies presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting raise questions as to whether platinum/taxane combinations are better in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) than standard platinum/etoposide (VePesid) regimens, and if so, which platinum and which taxane used in combination are best with respect to efficacy, toxicity, and cost?

PARIS, France--Comparison of two sequential Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) trials has shown that the addition of cisplatin (Platinol) and etoposide (VePesid) to hyperfractionated radiation therapy significantly boosts survival in patients with inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Ritsuko Komaki, MD, reported at the American Radium Society meeting.

Race does not play a stastically significant role in lung cancer patients'survival, a recent analysis shows. Instead, cigarette use, stage of disease, and other factors appear to be reasons more African-Americans die of lung cancer than their Caucasian

Disadvantaged Americans are far more likely to die of the most treatable form of lung cancer--not because of their health habits, but because they don't receive the proper treatment

The treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer has undergone incremental improvement over the last three decades of investigation. When this incremental history is reviewed, three distinct subdivisions emerge: (1) the minimal-activity era

Dr. Vokes provides information about integrating a new chemotherapeutic agent, vinorelbine (Navelbine), into the current treatment regimens for patients with advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer. He reviews the phase II activity of

Meta-analyses of randomized clinical studies comparing combination chemotherapy versus "best supportive care" for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer have revealed a small, but statistically significant survival

Researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas reported that alterations in the genes of a section of chromosome 3p may reveal the earliest stages of lung cancer.

Researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas reported that alterations in the genes of a section of chromosome 3p may reveal the earliest stages of lung cancer

PARIS, France--Overexpression of growth factor receptors correlates with a poor prognosis in many malignancies, including breast, bladder, and lung cancer, and new evidence suggests that growth factor receptors may be an important target for anticancer therapy, John Mendelsohn, MD, said at the Fifth International Congress on Anti-Cancer Chemotherapy.

If a woman smoked, contracted breast cancer, and was treated with radiation before 1980, her risk of lung cancer has been dramatically increased. Even if she did not smoke, her chances for lung

COLLEGEVILLE, Penn--A patient with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer has become the first to receive an injection of a p53/retrovirus gene therapy into existing tumor cells, Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. and RPR Gencell, a division of Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, have announced.

This excellent, concise review of the status of lung cancer chemoprevention complements a benchmark review of the whole field of chemoprevention by Drs. Benner, Lippman, Hong and colleagues that appeared recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology [1] Careful scrutiny of both these articles yields a number of issues for consideration.