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As a preschooler, Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, had visions of Florence Nightingale in her head. At the age of four, she informed her mother that she wanted to become a nurse. “My mother said, ‘Well dear, that’s very nice. But if you want to become a nurse, you might as well become a doctor’,” Dr. Bloomfield told Oncology News International.

In 1993, Laura Esserman, MD, took a trip to the UK and noted that breast cancer diagnosis was handled far diff erently than in the U.S. Because all the breast cancer imaging is done centrally in the UK, physicians offer same-day clinics.

A new study found that recent progress in closing the gap in overall cancer mortality between African Americans and whites may be due primarily to smoking related cancers, and that cancer mortality differences related to screening and treatment may still be increasing. The study is the first to analyze racial and ethnic differences between the two broad categories of disease.

Sancuso (granisetron transdermal system) is now available by prescription in the U.S. for patients with chemotherapyinduced nausea and vomiting. The patch continuously releases granisetron into the bloodstream for up to five consecutive days.

Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute have developed a free, online assessment tool that allows individuals to enter their family medical history, and determine their risk for both cancer and coronary heart disease.

GENEVA-Antiangiogenesis agent bevacizumab (Avastin) combined with the radioactive tracer Copper-64 may be an effective method for imaging tumors, according to research presented at EORTC-NCI-AACR 2008.

There is growing agreement with Dr. Falcone-based on limited data-that response rates appear to be increased with FOLFOX plus cetuximab, as compared with FOLFOX alone, for KRAS wild-type patients only, according to Jordan Berlin, MD, associate professor of medicine and clinical director of GI oncology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Washington state voters passed an initiative that allows doctors to prescribe lethal prescriptions to terminally ill patients who have six months or less to live.

Piver gives his perspective on the management of epithelial ovarian cancer in the elderly. This subject has been dealt with previously by numerous authors, with a general consensus that advancing age is an independent negative prognostic factor when multivariate statistics are applied to the multiple parameters affecting outcome

Dr. Piver presents a personal look at the issues he believes to be important in managing ovarian carcinoma in the elderly patient. He begins with an attempt to define elderly.

CHICAGO-Targeted radiation of breast cancer after lumpectomy reduces treatment time from six and a half weeks to five days, while reducing pain and improving cosmetic outcome, according to a study presented at RSNA 2008 (abstract SSC19-02).

Oncologist Howard Hochster, MD, professor of medicine at New York University Cancer Institute, ran the 2008 New York City Marathon to benefit Team Continuum which provides immediate nonmedical support and assistance to cancer patients and their families.

CHICAGO-Results from the largest and longest trial of its kind suggest that patients with intermediate and advanced hepatocellular carcinomas who undergo systematic treatment with three chemotherapeutic agents and arterial embolization plus imaging follow-up have better survival rates than those who undergo nonstandardized chemoembolization regimes.

Architect Nikko Shabtai, of Beverly Hills, Calif., took fi rst prize in the Oncology on Canvas event, sponsored by Eli Lilly in partnership with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

Acupuncture is an important component of traditional Chinese medicine. The practice originated more than 2,000 years ago. It involves stimulation of one or more predetermined points on the body with sterile, filiform, disposable needles, sometimes with added heat (moxibustion), pressure (acupressure) or electricity to enhance therapeutic effect. The needles are much thinner than the hypodermic needles used for injections.

WASHINGTON, DC-The developing world faces “a tsunami of cancer” without massive tobacco control efforts and programs to stanch infection-related tumors, according to the American Cancer Society’s vice president for epidemiology and surveillance research.

Today’s shrinking drug reimbursements are forcing community oncologists to adopt more creative business models to shore up their bottom line, such as hiring full-time pharmacists.

STOCKHOLM-Advances in surgical resection have removed the label of “death sentence” associated with colorectal metastases to the liver and lung. But that means oncologists must take on the task of refining strategies to increase resectability. At ESMO 2008, Alfredo Falcone, MD, of the University of Pisa and Instituto Toscano Tumori in Italy, discussed his approach for creating the ideal conditions for resectability.

CHICAGO-Oncology patients have a fourfold risk above the general population of developing pulmonary embolism. If the patient is receiving chemotherapy, the risk is even greater.

New soft ware facilitates better collaboration between oncologists and radiologists on imaging reports, according to UK-based researchers, most notably by connecting physicians who are geographically separated.

Given that in the 21st century many believe 70 years of age is the new 60 and 80 years of age is the new 70, any article on ovarian cancer in the elderly depends on one’s definition of elderly. To put this in a 21st century perspective, in a thoughtful article on aging in The New Yorker (“The Way We Age Now,” April 30, 2007), Atul Gawande points out, “for most of our hundred-thousand-year existence-all but the past couple of hundred years-the average life span of human beings has been 30 years or less (research suggests that subjects of the Roman Empire had an average life expectancy of 28 years).

Maitake beta- glucan extract obtained from the fruiting bodies of maitake mushroom, or Grifola frondosa, is widely used in Asia as a cancer treatment, typically adjunctively. Research to determine the mechanisms that underlie maitake’s anticancer effects is ongoing, as detailed at http://www.mskcc.org/AboutHerbs.

SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Coriolus versicolor, Trametes versicolor, Polyporus versicolor, Polystictus versicolor

The modest, utilitarian office of Elaine S. Jaffe, MD, is dominated by a large microscope, stacks of pathology slides, and a view of the sprawling, 350-acre campus of the National Institutes of Health.

It’s no secret that enrollment into cancer care clinical trials has reached a level that could be described as anemic. Conventional wisdom puts adult enrollment at 3% to 5%, even though two-thirds of cancer patients say they are receptive to participating.

One of Europe’s leading cancer centers is fighting to recover £7.5 million ($13 million) from a failed Icelandic bank. The money, much of which was generated from charity fundraising, was earmarked for two new radiation therapy centers.

The UK National Health Service is negotiating with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry to reduce the cost of new drugs.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s health plan bested the plan put forth by Republican Sen. John McCain in an online survey posted at www.CancerNetwork.com (see “Which healthcare reform approach do you favor?,” October 2008, page 5).

Conducting colonoscopies for people in their mid 50s can save money, according to research presented at the 2008 American College of Gastroenterology meeting in Orlando, Fla. The savings averages $2 for every dollar spent, the study found.