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Derek Raghavan, MD, PhD, FACP, is Chairman and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center. Dr. Raghavan was trained in Medicine and Oncology at the University of Sydney, Australia. He obtained a PhD in experimental pathology from the University of London/Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and then completed post-doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Raghavan has produced about 300 scientific papers, and has edited 9 books. His clinical and research interests are focused on genitourinary cancer, cancer in the elderly, disparities of cancer care, anticancer drug discovery and development and comparative human oncology.

The May 2010 theme of Oncology Nursing Month is “Oncology Nurses: There When You Need Us.”

When she learned that she had breast cancer, Patricia Garrett did what many people with cancer do: she continued working.

With about 12 million cancer survivors living in the US,[1] cancer affects millions of working Americans. Improvements in early detection and treatment have resulted in a significant number of newly diagnosed and long-term survivors of working age.

Curcumin is yellow curry powder, also called turmeric, Indian saffron, “Haldi,” or “curry powder.” It is a yellow pigment present in turmeric and constitutes 2%–5% of turmeric.

An estimated 219,440 new cases of lung cancer were expected in 2009, accounting for about 15% of cancer diagnoses.

Cancer will kill more than a half million people in this country this year. Many will not go quietly. Their diseased hearts, impaired further by a losing battle against cancer, will shut down only to be shocked back to life by implanted defibrillators that could have been turned off but were not.

I am troubled by the approach we seem increasingly to be taking, as a profession, in advising the public on cancer screening.

CancerNetwork.com presents Dr. Richard Stone of Dana-Farber and CML patient Robert Roy discussing the physician/patient perspective on treatment-resistant CML and treatment goals in this new podcast Monitoring Response in CML Treatment.

The information in this volume has been carefully reviewed for accuracy of dosage and indications. Before prescribing any drug, however, the clinician should consult the manufacturer’s current package labeling for accepted indications, absolute dosage recommendations, and other information pertinent to the safe and effective use of the product described.

Supported by an unrestricted educational grant from AstraZeneca In this supplement to Oncology NEWS International, guest editor Aman U. Buzdar, MD, highlights key data presented at the December 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. In his in-depth commentary, Dr. Buzdar contextualizes these practice-changing study results and explains how the evolution of endocrine therapies has helped to change the natural history of early breast cancer and to prolong survival in metastatic disease.

Infusion Reactions Associated With Monoclonal Antibodies in Patients With Solid Tumors This supplement and associated publication costs were funded by Amgen

Essentials for Tailoring Multiple Myeloma TherapySupported by an educational grant from Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Historically, multiple myeloma, the second most common hematologic malignancy in the US, has been  difficult to manage. Hematologists/oncologists are more likely to encounter patients with myeloma, as an analysis of population-based cancer registries in nine countries indicates that the burden (number of incident cases) of this disease has increased. The three articles in this supplement discuss tailoring initial treatment for newly diagnosed myeloma patients who are eligible for transplantation; emerging induction therapies and newer regimens for newly diagnosed patients who will not undergo transplant; and tailoring treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma, including clinical data on NCCN-recommended therapies.To view general information, please click here.

Historically, multiple myeloma, the second most common hematologic malignancy in the US, has been difficult to manage. Hematologists/oncologists are more likely to encounter patients with myeloma, as an analysis of population-based cancer registries in nine countries indicates that the burden (number of incident cases) of this disease has increased. The three articles in this supplement discuss tailoring initial treatment for newly diagnosed myeloma patients who are eligible for transplantation; emerging induction therapies and newer regimens for newly diagnosed patients who will not undergo transplant; and tailoring treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma, including clinical data on NCCN-recommended therapies.

Essentials for Tailoring Multiple Myeloma TherapySupported by an educational grant from Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.The three articles in this supplement discuss tailoring initial treatment for newly diagnosed myeloma patients who are eligible for transplantation; emerging induction therapies and newer regimens for newly diagnosed patients who will not undergo transplant; and tailoring treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma, including clinical data on NCCN-recommended therapies.To view general information, please click here.

Lycopene is a carotenoid found in tomatoes, grapefruit, watermelons, and papaya. It is also synthesized by plants and microorganisms, but cannot be synthesized by the human body and can only be obtained via diet. Lycopene as a dietary supplement is a potent antioxidant used to help prevent cancer, heart disease, and macular degeneration. It is classified as a nonprovitamin A carotenoid because it cannot be converted to vitamin A.

Pretreated patients with metastatic gastric cancer experienced a boost in overall survival after treatment with everolimus (Afinitor), according to the results of a phase II trial presented at the 2010 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

A collaborative project to sequence the neuroblastoma cancer genome could revolutionize diagnosis and treatment.

Integrating Genetics and Genomics Into Oncology Nursing March 1, 2010 By Dale Halsey Lea, MPH, RN, CGC, FAAN Health Educator, National Human Genome Research Institute

ABOUT THE ACTIVITY This activity is based on articles and reports in ONCOLOGY Nurse Edition. It is developed from an identifi ed educational need for information about practical management issues in medical, surgical, and radiation oncology. This activity has been developed and approved under the direction of CME LLC.

Malignant pleural effusion complicates the care of approximately 150,000 people in the United States each year. The pleural effusion is usually caused by a disturbance of the normal Starling forces regulating reabsorption of fluid in the pleural space, secondary to obstruction of mediastinal lymph nodes draining the parietal pleura.

A $450,000 grant from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has been awarded to Heather Christofk, PhD. Read more about the latest awards and appointments in the cancer care community.

Although many cancer patients cope well with their disease, psychiatric disorders occur in almost 50% of patients in the setting of malignancy. Untreated psychological and neuropsychiatric disorders can compromise quality of life as well as treatment compliance. Three behavioral syndromes that are often encountered in clinical practice will be discussed here: depression, anxiety, and delirium.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative disorder resulting from the neoplastic transformation of the primitive hematopoietic stem cell. The disease is monoclonal in origin, affecting myeloid, monocytic, erythroid, megakaryocytic, B-cell, and, sometimes, T-cell lineages. Bone marrow stromal cells are not involved.

Multiple myeloma is a disseminated malignancy of monoclonal plasma cells that accounts for 15% of all hematologic cancers. In 2009, an estimated 20,580 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States, and 10,580 Americans will die of this disease. Incidence rates for myeloma (5.3 in men and 3.5 in women) and mortality rates (3.7 in men and 2.5 in women) per 100,000 population have remained stable for the past decade.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of hematologic malignancies of the pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells. These disorders are characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, including abnormalities in proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The overall clinical phenotype is peripheral cytopenias in the setting of a normocellular or hypercellular bone marrow and an increased risk for transformation to acute leukemia.

Malignancies have been detected in approximately 40% of all patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) sometime during the course of their illness. These cancers have been both a primary cause of death in some patients and also a source of considerable morbidity. In the current era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are surviving longer than ever. HAART appears to have substantially reduced the incidence of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and may enhance the efficacy of treatment for those patients who do develop these tumors. Unfortunately, HAART has not shown a similar effect on the development of other types of neoplasms, and caring for patients who develop malignancies in the setting of HIV remains a challenge. Furthermore, HAART is not available universally, with many patients in resource-poor developing countries not having access to antiretroviral drugs.