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WASHINGTON-Medicare will soon institute a policy to cover all its beneficiaries for treatments to remove actinic keratoses, sun-induced precancerous skin lesions confined to the epidermis. The decision establishes the first national coverage policy for the disorder without restrictions based on lesion or patient characteristics.

WASHINGTON-Stage II and III rectal cancer patients who achieve a complete response (CR) to neoadjuvant chemoradiation do not enjoy any long-term survival advantage over patients who do not, Mark Onaitis, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, said at the 54th Annual Cancer Symposium of the Society of Surgical Oncology.

SAN ANTONIO-Enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs (EIAEDs) can significantly alter the metabolism of irinotecan (Camptosar) and should be taken into consideration when treating patients for brain tumors, according to John G. Kuhn, PharmD. Dr. Kuhn is professor of Pharmacology and Medicine at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, Texas. He discussed data on irinotecan pharmacokinetics from an ongoing North American Brain Tumor Consortium (NABTC) phase I study.

SAN DIEGO, California-Patients’ differing goals for pain relief may explain some of the variability in pain outcomes. In an attempt to better understand and document these goals, Marie A. Flannery, RN, MS, a nurse practitioner and senior associate at the University of Rochester Cancer Center, developed a 13-item "goals for pain relief" scale.

WASHINGTON, DC-Irinotecan (Camptosar) and epirubicin (Ellence) both have single-agent activity in a number of cancers, and they have different toxicity profiles. John L. Marshall, MD, and colleagues at the Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington, DC, have been working on a phase I trial of epirubicin in combination with irinotecan in patients with various advanced cancers. Dr. Marshall, associate professor and director of Developmental Therapeutics and GI Oncology at the Lombardi Cancer Center reported that doses had to be lowered after the original protocol produced serious myelosuppression in the first four patients treated, but the study has recently reopened.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee-Irinotecan (Camptosar) has been added to the combination of SU-5416/5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin, and is being tested in a phase I/II study in metastatic colorectal cancer. That study is being conducted at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Due to dose-limiting toxicity, the schedule and/or dose will be altered to make it more tolerable, according to Jordan D. Berlin, MD, assistant professor of medicine and oncology at Vanderbilt Medical Center.

With House passage of the Ganske bill (H.R. 526, introduced by Rep. Greg Ganske, R-IA), it is now certain that there will

HOUSTON-Irinotecan (Camptosar)/cisplatin (Platinol) is being studied as induction therapy for carcinoma of the esophagus and in a separate trial as second-line therapy of advanced gastric carcinoma. Jaffer A. Ajani, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, presented information on the two trials.

SAN FRANCISCO-Novel erythropoiesis stimulating protein (NESP, darbepoetin-alfa, Aranesp) is an investigational recombinant erythropoietic protein that binds to the erythropoietin receptor and stimulates erythropoiesis by the same mechanism as recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin alfa, Procrit, Epogen).

SAN FRANCISCO-There is no shortage of educational programs on terminal care, advance directives, and breaking bad news to cancer patients. However, an equally challenging task is often overlooked in these training sessions: what to say when treatment fails to cure or control the disease.

WASHINGTON-Data from patients granted "compassionate use" of an investigational cancer drug are examined but not usually pooled with controlled clinical trial findings when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers whether to approve a new drug application (NDA), according to Richard Pazdur, MD, director of the FDA’s Division of Oncologic Drug Products.

EAST LANSING, Mich-Although much of cancer care now takes place in the outpatient and home setting, the oncology care system has not fully incorporated "family care" for patients at home. While this shift has translated into increased family involvement in day-to-day care, there are few documented, effective strategies to guide family members caring for patients with advanced cancer.

DURHAM, North Carolina-Topoisomerase-I inhibitors in combination with carmustine (BiCNU, Gliadel) or temozolomide (Temodar) have produced promising early results in patients with malignant gliomas, according to Henry S. Friedman, MD. He is the James B. Powell, Jr., Professor of Neuro-Oncology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

ANAHEIM, California-After prostatectomy, early adjuvant radiation therapy for margin-positive disease appears to significantly decrease the rate of biochemical failure, according to a report from the American Urological Association annual meeting (abstract 684).

BETHESDA, Maryland-In a survey of terminally ill patients (half of them with cancer), only about one third of those with moderate to severe pain had requested more therapy from their physician during the previous month.

SAN FRANCISCO-Motexafin gadolinium (Xcytrin), an experimental drug that makes brain tumors more sensitive to radiation, appears to be well tolerated in adults with primary glioblastoma multiforme and children with gliomas, according to preliminary results from two phase I trials presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

WASHINGTON-A second Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Tommy G. Thompson, has refused to allow the reimporting of US-made prescription drugs back into the country. Former HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala made the same determination last December.

HOUSTON, Texas-Interim data from a trial of relatively high-dose irinotecan (Camptosar) given every 3 weeks show that the regimen can be tolerated and has substantial activity in relapsed aggressive or indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL). Andreas H. Sarris, MD, PhD, associate internist in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, discussed the ongoing study. "Irinotecan weekly schedules have been associated with both early and delayed diarrhea, which is often dose limiting. Recent studies have demonstrated that 300 mg/m² IV every 21 days is active and tolerated in patients with colon cancer," Dr. Sarris said.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC-The National Toxicology Program (NTP) will probe questions about the safety of cellular telephones in a 5-year series of rodent studies. The agency said that the study is in response to the requests from citizens who claim cell phones have caused a variety of health problems. Most studies done to date have failed to show that cell phones cause any ill effects, but many of these studies were funded by the cell-phone industry.

LOS ANGELES-Diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor 8 years ago, Mario del Valle chose not to be physically defeated. His artist mother, Pilar del Valle, helped inspire him to learn to use his left hand. Mr. del Valle, born in Colombia and now living in Northridge, California, overcame vision and other obstacles to produce watercolors such as the two shown above. Mr. del Valle is a participant in the UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program’s Art of the Brain, which encourages brain cancer patients and their caregivers to use creativity to regain self-worth and personal power. Timothy Cloughsey, MD, is director of the UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program

WAUKESHA, Wisconsin-GE Medical Systems, a unit of General Electric Company, has introduced the GE Discovery LS. The digital system combines anatomical imaging from the company’s fast CT scanner, the GE LightSpeed Plus, with functional imaging of metabolic activity from its most advanced positron emission tomography (PET) system, the GE Advance NXi.

SAN DIEGO, California-Screenings and a healthy life style are critical parts of cancer prevention, and, to that end, some nurse practitioners at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s Prevention and Wellness Program have been given a novel assignment: They are wellness specialists.

ROCKVILLE, Md-The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expanding the role of patient advocates in the approval process of cancer drugs. For some years, patient representatives have participated in meetings of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC). FDA’s new corps of patient consultants will initially participate in discussions of the design of phase III clinical trial protocols, as well as ODAC proceedings.

SAN FRANCISCO-Glass microspheres embedded with yttrium-90 (TheraSphere) infused into the liver appears to be a promising treatment strategy for mixed hepatic cancers, with possible application in other cancers, according to a poster presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO abstract 1038).

COLUMBUS, Ohio-Mitomycin (Mutamycin) can make some solid tumors flare high levels of topoisomerase-I and set them up for destruction by topoisomerase-I inhibitors such as irinotecan (Camptosar), according to Miguel A. Villalona, MD. Dr. Villalona is assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio.

WASHINGTON-Tobacco control groups and organized labor have joined forces to try to reduce smoking among the nation’s union workers and the exposure of their families to second-hand smoke. The American Legacy Foundation, an educational organization created as part of the $246 billion tobacco settlement, is underwriting the Consortium on Organized Labor and Tobacco Control (COLT) with a $1.6 million grant.

SAN DIEGO, California-Clinical trials over the last decade have led to the development of pathways in which certain febrile neutropenic cancer patients are managed as outpatients. At M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, advanced practice nurses (APNs) take an active, complex role in the management of these patients. Their role was summarized in a poster presentation at the Oncology Nursing Society’s 26th Annual Congress (abstract 227).

SEATTLE, Washington-Compound ultrasound imaging improves the evaluation of solid breast nodules and the retroareolar region of the breast, according to two studies from University Health Network, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada. The studies were reported at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society.

Brain metastases are a common complication of systemic cancer and a significant cause of morbidity. For patients whose brain metastases remain untreated, the prognosis is poor. The advent of contrast-enhanced magnetic

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer are more than 65 years of age. Therefore, a discussion of the issues surrounding the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of prostate cancer in older men is, in many ways, a review of