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As if the prospective Medicare cuts in payments for outpatient chemotherapy drugs were not troubling enough, there is another dark Medicare cloud. The American Medical Association (AMA) is predicting that Medicare may also cut physician

NEW YORK-More than 500 cancer patients across the country participated in a Cancer Care, Inc. teleconference addressing a little-discussed concern literally on the mind of many chemotherapy patients: forgetfulness during and after chemotherapy.

NEW YORK-The persistence of fatigue for up to a year after cancer treatment is a common and debilitating occurrence. Participants in a Cancer Care, Inc. teleconference were given information on the causes of cancer-related fatigue and strategies for coping with it.

BETHESDA, Maryland-Richard D. Klausner, MD, has resigned as director of the National Cancer Institute to become president of a new scientific organization, the Case Institute for Health, Science and Technology. In a letter to President George W. Bush, Dr. Klausner called his 6-year tenure "the most challenging and rewarding of my career. The NCI is a jewel that I have had the honor to lead."

TORONTO, Canada-The combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) has proved particularly advantageous in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer of the head and neck, Carolyn Cidis Meltzer, MD, said at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (abstract 133).

NEW ORLEANS-Diffusion-weighted MRI reveals rapid changes in tumor water diffusion values after successful therapeutic intervention in solid tumors. It therefore appears capable of predicting treatment response within days of initiating therapy, Brian D. Ross, PhD, of the University of Michigan, said at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

SAN FRANCISCO-Aberrant responses to growth signals lead to the development of several types of cancer. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a protein kinase involved in the signal transduction pathway that links growth stimuli and cell cycle progression. It has emerged as a promising new target for intervening in the cancer process.

SAN FRANCISCO-HIV-positive patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) should not be excluded from chemotherapy or given a limited-dose regimen, Joseph Sparano, MD, said at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO abstract 1172).

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina-Sixteen chemicals and other agents will undergo toxicologic review by the National Toxicology Program for possible listing as known or reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens in the 11th edition of the federal Report on Carcinogens.

WASHINGTON-Mastectomy does not improve either survival or local control when patients present with axillary node metastases and an occult primary tumor, Georges Vlastos, MD, of Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland, said at the 54th Annual Cancer Symposium of the Society of Surgical Oncology. He described a retrospective study of 45 women with this rare condition, conducted when he was at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

SAN FRANCISCO-Five years of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) is standard treatment for many women with estrogen-receptor (ER)-sensitive breast cancer, but the question of what to do after that is unresolved. Raloxifene (Evista) has been considered by some researchers as a possible next treatment, but preclinical data suggest this will not be a successful strategy. Ruth M. O’Regan, MD, of Northwestern University Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, presented the data at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO abstract 95).

WASHINGTON-More than beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. For example, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids offered quite different interpretations of a report released by NCSL at its annual meeting.

BETHESDA, Maryland-A 5-year, $17.5-million program will investigate how HIV infection affects adolescent and adult women. Three research centers will house the Women’s HIV Pathogenesis Program, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Researchers at the centers will collaborate with others in an effort to identify biologic factors unique to women that affect HIV.

MELVILLE, New York-The publishers of ONI are pleased to announce that Sharon K. Krumm, PhD, RN, will serve as Editor of Oncology Nursing. Dr. Krumm earned her bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Missouri School of Nursing, Columbia, and her MS and PhD from the University of Missouri.

SAN DIEGO--A 13-year-old program developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians can make inroads in educating students about myths and misconceptions of tobacco, said Anne Slivjak, RN, MSN, AOCN, a research assistant in the Nursing Research Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Data from the first study to compare ibandronate with pamidronate (Aredia) in the treatment of malignant hypercalcemia were presented at the 37th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The results demonstrated that rates

BOSTON-Targeted anticancer drugs such as trastuzumab (Herceptin) targeting HER-2 and imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) targeting Bcr-Abl represent the potential of genome-based medicine, but the future may not be as close as it seems, according to pharmaceutical executives who spoke at the 2001 Drug Discovery Technology Conference.

SAN FRANCISCO-Israeli investigators have developed a new method for enhancing paclitaxel (Taxol) delivery to recurrent brain tumors and are using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor for response.

Novartis announced recently that it received marketing approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for zoledronic acid (Zometa), a new generation intravenous bisphosphonate for the treatment of hypercalcemia of malignancy.

NEW YORK-Keeping fit and eating right is no easy task for the millions of Americans who are overweight and out of shape. For cancer patients, it requires specialized know-how as well as determination, according to experts who gave advice during a Cancer Care, Inc. teleconference on ways to battle fatigue.

SAN FRANCISCO-Use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) significantly increases disease-free survival among patients with HIV-related non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), Michele Spina, MD, of Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano, Italy, said at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO abstract 1122).

ROCKVILLE, Maryland-Zometa (zoledronic acid for injection) has received marketing approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hypercalcemia of malignancy. Zoledronic acid represents a new generation of intravenous bisphosphonates. It is currently approved for treating hypercalcemia of malignancy in more than 30 countries.

SAN FRANCISCO-Preliminary results from the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB)-9712 trial indicate that rituximab (Rituxan) given concurrently with fludarabine (Fludara) improves response in previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients, compared with a sequential approach. The results were presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO abstract 1116).

SEATTLE-A fully implemented large-core needle biopsy program can dramatically improve the positive predictive value of surgical biopsy of breast lesions, based on the experience of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. Jessica Leung, MD, instructor in radiology, Harvard Medical School, presented the study at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society.

SEATTLE-A 1-year follow-up with mammography appears to be sufficient to detect any false-negative results of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration in patients with nonpalpable breast masses, according to a study from the Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY. Shalom Buchbinder, MD, director of mammography, presented the study at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society.

ROCKVILLE, Maryland-The FDA has approved Amgen’s Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) for Injection for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal failure, including patients on dialysis and patients not on dialysis.

Interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has grown dramatically over the past several years. Cancer patients are always looking for new hope, and many have turned to nontraditional means. This study was

Records from 653 patients treated between 1991 and 1998 in the Oncology Practice Patterns Study (OPPS) were analyzed to determine contemporary chemotherapy delivery patterns in patients with intermediate-grade non-

Interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has grown dramatically over the past several years. Cancer patients are always looking for new hope, and many have turned to nontraditional means. This study was

Interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has grown dramatically over the past several years. Cancer patients are always looking for new hope, and many have turned to nontraditional means. This study was