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Words like value, quality, and even cost flowed freely at the ASCO Annual Meeting this year. Along with great excitement about the latest and greatest ways to understand tumor biology and treat cancer patients, there is an increasing recognition that we need to consider whether the things we do are worth it.

In his address, Dr. Clifford Hudis proposed the following solutions for achieving social justice in cancer care: creating more private and public resources, addressing disparities in cancer risk and in access to high-quality care, defining “value” in cancer care, and harnessing the new power of information technology.

Take a minute to recall those patients who showed up in the emergency room without your knowledge, or who died 1 week after starting a new treatment, or whom you neglected to enroll in hospice. In each scenario the cost of their care rose without a corresponding increase in value. I’ve listed some behavioral skills that have a chance to prevent unnecessary expense.

We review how radiolabeled glucose and estrogen analogs can be used in breast cancer patients. We focus this review on the application of positron emission tomography imaging to ER-positive metastatic breast cancer as an example of how imaging can guide breast cancer treatment.

Oncologists are always queried about how to “eat better so my cancer doesn’t come back.” I have found the most common food issue to be the role of soy in the diet, particularly for hormone-driven breast and prostate cancer patients.