ONCOLOGY Vol 11 No 12

Screening for breast cancer has been shown in several European randomized trials and case-control studies to reduce breast cancer mortality. These studies highlight the importance of quality assurance in the whole screening process. The Europe

The Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research is seeking accomplished young investigators to apply for Kimmel Scholar Awards. The Kimmel Scholar Award, established in 1997, will be presented every year to up to 10 investigators who

A second study shows that lycopene from tomato paste is better absorbed by the body than lycopene from fresh tomatoes, suggesting that processed tomato products-such as tomato paste, tomato sauce and ketchup-are a better source of this antioxidant.

New treatments announced at the 1997 Endocrine Society Annual Meeting could help slow the rate of prostate cancer growth and improve the quality of life of those who have the disease.

Success in treating stubborn cancers with a drug that was shelved 50 years ago has encouraged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide a 3-year, $447,534 grant to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at

1998-1999 Research Fellowship in Basic Research: This Fellowship, sponsored by the AACR, will provide a 2-year grant of $30,000 per year to a young scientist in North, Central, or South America engaged in meritorious basic cancer research.

Award-winning work by Dr. Marie Overgaard, of the Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, gives new hope of longer survival for women with breast cancer. Dr. Overgaard’s work shows that treating the primary

The value of screening for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men, has been fiercely debated in recent years, but Professor Bolla from the Department of Radiotherapy, Centre Hospitalier de Grenoble, France, has no doubt that early detection is of prime importance in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Researchers have found preliminary evidence suggesting that a man’s lifetime risk of prostate cancer may be linked to the amount of testosterone circulating in his body as early as puberty or even in utero, although direct evidence of this link

Surgical oncology themes at the 1997 European Cancer Conference (ECCO 9) included the need for meticulous surgery and the need for surgeons to develop and implement guidelines for the management of cancer.

Marshfield Cancer Center, the lead investigation site for a National Cancer Institute-sponsored multicenter clinical trial, announced it is seeking patients to participate in a study of a potential new treatment, PSC 833, to overcome chemotherapy resistance in relapsing or refractory multiple myeloma. The study, coordinated by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), is seeking to enroll 360 patients throughout the United States and Canada.

"There is both good and bad news about cancer in Europe,” said Dr. Peter Boyle of the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, at the 1997 European Cancer Conference. “One welcome development is the large decrease in the incidence of

The enormous influence of the surgeon on outlook in cancer was stressed by Professor Cornelis van de Velde of the Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands, during the 1997 European Cancer Conference.

In the past, head and neck cancers were felt to be primarily a locoregional control challenge. Distant metastases were not thought to occur frequently. However, the popularity of combined-modality programs emphasizing regional treatment with surgery and radiation in the 1960s enhanced the ability to control the disease at the primary site and within the regional cervical lymphatics. Nevertheless, survival was not improved because treatment failure at distant sites occurred frequently. Apparently, prior treatment programs that did not provide locoregional control masked the ability of this disease to spread to distant sites. Patients died of uncontrolled locoregional disease before they could experience distant metastases.

A study of lung cancer patients led by Duke University investigators and funded by the V Foundation showed chromosome loss in nearly half of those classified as “heavy smokers.”

In 1970, Ansfield and colleagues published the results of a randomized trial in head and neck cancer, which showed that giving fluorouracil (5-FU) concomitantly with radiation decreased regional recurrences and improved overall survival over radiation alone.[1] Publication of these results came 6 years before those of an Italian trial showing similar findings with adjuvant cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-FU (CMF) in breast cancer.[2] Yet, while adjuvant chemotherapy has rapidly become the norm in the management of early breast cancer, concomitant chemotherapy is still considered undefined in the treatment of head and neck cancer. This situation is elegantly described by Dr. Karen Fu, one of the most respected investigators in this area.

Aboulafia provides an extensive review of the occurrence of and treatments for bone marrow disorders that complicate HIV infection and AIDS. Understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders is increasing, and the availability of recombinant colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) has, in many ways, facilitated the treatment of HIV-1 infection and its complications. Nonetheless, numerous critical questions remain regarding the optimal use of these expensive and powerful reagents.

As an endocrinologist who sees many patients with thyroid carcinoma and is active in postgraduate teaching, I must voice my reservations about some of the recommendations made in the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) practice guidelines

Neuroblastoma is a clinically heterogeneous disease which can have a benign, localized behavior or a rapidly progressive, widely disseminated, lethal character. In recent years, knowledge of tumor biology-genetic changes and other biological markers-has allowed for reliable prediction of patient outcomes. These markers, when combined with clinical staging and histologic findings, determine the relative risk for a given patient and allow therapy to be tailored to that particular level of risk.

B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) are an increasingly common cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. In 1996, approximately 52,700 new cases of NHL were diagnosed, representing a marked increase in incidence. Indeed, the incidence rose from 8.5 per 100,000 population in 1973 to 15.1 per 100,000 in 1992.[1] About 20% to 30% of these are NHLs of the indolent varieties.

The article, Promoting Smoking Cessation Among Cancer Patients, is an excellent complement to the clinical practice guideline on smoking cessation recently published by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).[1] The guideline presented considerable detail for clinicians on how to help smokers who are prepared to quit. For the approximately 80% of smokers who are not prepared, the guideline included only a few paragraphs. The approach of Prokhorov, Hudman, and Gritz, seasoned clinicians and scientists, can help clinicians become much more confident when counseling all smokers, including those in the precontemplation and contemplation stages.

Anemia is a common complication of HIV infection. Erythropoietin (Procrit, Epogen) can correct anemia. When given to patients with HIV infection, erythropoietin ameliorates anemia and improves quality of life. Given these three facts, one wonders why an effective drug such as erythropoietin is not used appropriately in patients with HIV infections.

Neuroblastoma is the most common solid extracranial tumor in children. Although the outcome of patients with localized disease has improved substantially, the prognosis for those with advanced disease is still poor, despite multimodality therapeutic efforts of increasing intensity over the last 20 years. Dr. Matthay provides an excellent overview review of the biology and treatment of this devastating but fascinating childhood malignancy.

Bone marrow suppression is a substantial problem in patients infected with HIV. Contributing factors include the underlying HIV infection, alterations in the marrow microenvironment (resulting in abnormal cytokine regulation

The smoking cessation clinical practice guideline recently published by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) summarizes current knowledge on smoking cessation treatments. Among its

The indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas are a diverse group of disorders that differ markedly with respect to presenting features and natural history. This article reviews entities that have generally been encompassed

Chemotherapy, when combined with radiotherapy and/or surgery in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer, appears to be most efficacious if it is given concurrently with radiotherapy. Concurrent chemotherapy and

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood, accounting for 15% of cancer-related deaths. These tumors have a predilection for young children; 60% of cases occur before age 2 years and 97%

The indolent lymphomas as a group remain an enigma for both clinicians and pathologists. These malignancies are among the most sensitive to low-dose oral alkylating agents, radiotherapy, and steroids. However, although the overwhelming majority of patients with advanced-stage indolent lymphomas achieve a very good partial remission, far fewer patients achieve lasting complete remission and few, if any, are cured using conventional aggressive combination chemotherapy. This dichotomy between sensitivity to treatment on the one hand, yet incurability on the other has transformed the indolent lymphomas into an area of extremely active research at both the basic molecular level and in clinical trials.