In Mouse Model, Imaging Strategy Follows Prostate Cancer Bone Metastasis Response to Cabozantinib
April 22nd 2013A mouse model of bone metastasis can be used to follow real-time response to therapeutics in preclinical development, such as cabozantinib, according to results presented in the poster session of the 2013 AACR annual meeting.
ASCO 2013 Prostate Cancer Intro
April 22nd 2013Cancer Network and the journal ONCOLOGY present exclusive prostate cancer coverage from the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Check out the stories below for write-ups of the most important information to come out of this year's event.
Zoledronic Acid Did Not Prevent Bone Metastases in High-Risk Prostate Cancer
April 19th 2013The use of zoledronic acid (Zometa) had no effect on the prevention of bone metastases in patients with high-risk prostate cancer, according to the first results of the Zometa European Study, or ZEUS, presented at the European Association of Urology 28th Annual Congress in Milan, Italy.
Is Hypofractionation the Solution? The Financial Implications of Breast Cancer Treatments
April 15th 2013Hypofractionated external beam WBI seems like a great option until the APBI data mature from NSABP 39/RTOG 0413. In the meantime, we will have to see whether the ACA’s mission to bend the cost curve in the face of added demand for cancer care will succeed and how our treatment decisions will be affected by this new healthcare model.
Accelerated Partial-Breast Irradiation: Does the Evidence Stack Up?
April 15th 2013APBI is a technique that offers women with early-stage breast cancer a choice. The preponderance of evidence supports the efficacy and safety of this technique, and it should continue to be offered to appropriately selected patients on and off protocol.
Financial Toxicity, Part II: How Can We Help With the Burden of Treatment-Related Costs?
April 15th 2013Just as high-quality research has focused on limiting the physical toxicity resulting from successful treatment, future research should focus on mitigating the negative effects of financial toxicity without affecting disease-related outcomes.
Accelerated Partial-Breast Irradiation: The Current State of Our Knowledge
April 15th 2013Accelerated partial-breast irradiation is a shorter, alternative radiation technique for select patients with favorable early-stage breast cancer. We review here the different modalities of delivery and discuss the possible benefits and harms associated with these treatments.
AACR: Triple-Negative Breast Cancer-Utilizing Biomarkers for Better Therapeutic Strategies
April 8th 2013Washington, DC-“Triple-negative breast tumors are composed of mosaic cancer cells with distinct genetic aberrations,” said Jorge S. Reis-Filho, MD, PhD, a surgical pathologist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, who combines traditional pathology, gene expression profiling, and genomics techniques to understand rare breast tumor types, including triple-negative diseases.
Conflicts of Interest in Medicine: What About Ties to Payers?
April 5th 2013Recently, the US government released new “Sunshine” standards requiring more rigorous disclosure of potential financial conflicts of interest in medicine. Such new standards are driven by revelations of misdeeds on the part of pharmaceutical and device manufacturers.
“How Do I Say This Nicely? Your Oncologist Wasn't Following Guidelines”
March 26th 2013When you start seeing a patient for the first time who has been treated elsewhere and the previous oncologist has not followed standard protocol, how do you present this new way of doing things without alienating the patient or sounding critical of the previous doctor?
Medical Director, Medical Oncology Services
March 15th 2013Job Description This is a new position, created as the result of the organization’s strategy to become the regional market leader in cancer services in central Pennsylvania. The Medical Director will be responsible for directing physician clinical services as well as developing services and recruiting clinical professionals. This position will also maintain a clinical practice to complement their leadership duties.
The Evolving Role of Multi-Gene Tests in Breast Cancer Management
March 15th 2013If MGTs could predict which patients were most prone to late recurrence and thus might benefit from extended adjuvant endocrine therapy, it would be a huge advancement in the care and survivorship of our patients. More studies of MGTs are required to clarify their role in evaluating prognosis and predicting response to therapy in breast cancer.
A Wife Asks for Futile Therapy for Her Husband, a “Fighter”: How to Respond?
March 2nd 2013One way of framing the ethical question in this case might be: “What are my ethical obligations to provide an anticancer therapy when I think it is unlikely to benefit the patient?” The broader clinical questions involved in this case are fundamentally the same in most patients.
What Do Cars, TVs, and Lung Cancer Have in Common?
March 1st 2013Most Americans are aware that technical experts from Consumer Reports magazine consistently rank televisions and automobiles manufactured by Japanese companies higher than their US counterparts, but I believe that neither Consumer Reports nor US physicians understand how much better lung cancer treatment results are in Japan.
Latest Advances and Challenges in Radiation Oncology
February 26th 2013Along with chemotherapy and surgery, radiation therapy remains one of the three main treatments for cancer. A new article in Science Translational Medicine reviews the recent advances and current challenges in radiation oncology today.
Rationing Healthcare: Who's Responsible?
February 16th 2013To place responsibility for rationing chemotherapeutics on the oncologist not only increases his or her emotional burden, but it also strains the doctor-patient relationship. We should not allow oncologists to become bedside healthcare rationers simply because no one else wants to do the job.
A Common Theme Among Ethical Issues in Oncology: The Need to Individualize Advanced Cancer Care
February 16th 2013Oncologists would be well advised to consider their obligations to the patient, as well as other stakeholders, and be prepared to resolve potential conflicts that go beyond the focus of their clinical training.