ONCOLOGY Vol 34 Issue 6

Results presented at the American Urological Association 2020 Virtual Meeting demonstrated that of men who received prior RT or surgery for localized prostate cancer, those that had RT were found to have a 32% higher risk of developing castrate-resistant disease.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a disease marked by high rates of mortality, with only about 7% of patients surviving 5 years after diagnosis. Here, the authors present a demonstrative case and review the available data on hereditary and familial PDAC.

A 57-year-old man with a heavy smoking and alcohol consumption history, but no comorbidities, presented with pharyngeal pain to his primary care physician’s office. He received empirical treatment with oral antibiotics and experienced partial improvement. A couple of months later, he developed a left cervical mass with progressive growth. A head and neck CT scan revealed a hypopharyngeal tumor. Results of a tumor biopsy indicated an ulcerated, moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with lymphovascular invasion. The patient was sent to our institution for treatment.

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 FDA approved 2 new therapies, each with its own companion diagnostic, for the treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer.

Experts discuss the process of assessing decision-making capacity in patients with cancer.

ONCOLOGY Editor in Chief Howard S. Hochster, MD stresses the need for properly designed, controlled and randomized trials during the time of COVID-19