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The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) applauded patient protection legislation passed recently in the US House of Representatives that would provide much-needed improvements in cancer patients’ access to high-quality care and treatment, including therapies offered in clinical trials. The Bipartisan Consensus Managed Care Improvement Act (HR 2723), introduced by Representatives Charlie Norwood (R-GA) and John Dingell (D- MI), passed by a vote of 275 to 151.

BETHESDA, Md-Twenty-four cancer research centers in the United States will receive a total of $4.1 million from the National Cancer Institute to purchase the necessary equipment to establish DNA microarray facilities. The new and technically challenging research tool enables scientists to assess expression levels of a large subset of the human genes in a cell or tissue.

ORLANDO-At the Digestive Disease Week meeting, University of Tokyo researchers reported on the largest single-institution study of the use of percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The research group studied 849 patients hospitalized for HCC at their institution between 1985 and 1997.

VIENNA, Austria-Most long-term breast cancer survivors who have had adjuvant radiotherapy are likely to have significant pain or functional impairment even 10 to 16 years after treatment, but fewer than one third receive pain medication, Ulf E. Kongsgaard, MD, of the Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, said at the 9th World Congress on Pain.

ANNAPOLIS, Md-“Showing sick patients the direct connection between smoking and their disease symptoms can powerfully motivate them to quit,” said Daniel E. Ford, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, epidemiology, and health policy and management, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

SILVER SPRING, Md-The Food and Drug Administration’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) has voted 9 to 2 against recommending approval of Evacet (doxorubicin HCl liposome injection, The Liposome Company) for the first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer in combination with cyclophosphamide. The vote against Evacet came after Liposome presented three controlled, randomized studies.

VIENNA, Austria-When cure or prolongation of survival is no longer a reasonable possibility, enhancing the cancer patient’s quality of life becomes the preeminent objective of treatment, Ian Tannock, MD, of the Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, said at the 10th European Cancer Conference (ECCO 10). “Quality of life is not a soft endpoint and, when measured appropriately, is every bit as reproducible as so-called objective measures such as tumor response,” he said.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC-Zofran (ondansetron HCl), Glaxo Wellcome’s 5HT3 antagonist antiemetic, has received FDA approval for a new indication and a new tablet strength

BETHESDA, Md-Representatives from government, industry, and aca-demia met for a day and half to discuss the barriers that limit more rapid development of imaging techniques needed by cancer researchers and physicians-and possible ways to overcome them.

BUFFALO, NY-Recent advances in adjuvant therapies have begun to improve survival outcomes and quality of life for patients with gastrointestinal tumors such as pancreatic carcinomas and colorectal cancers metastatic to the liver. But the role of the surgeon remains critical.

NEW YORK-A Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center public forum held to introduce the public to the hospital’s new complementary medicine service drew repeated bursts of applause and expressions of thanks from the patients, family, and community members who attended. The audience not only heard from practitioners but also saw slides of relaxing visual imagery, meditated to the sound of a crystal bowl rim being rubbed, and listened to the music of a trio of music therapists.

ATLANTA-Administration of DepoCyt, a novel sustained-release formulation of cytarabine (ara-C), proved favorable with acceptable safety in the first randomized, controlled trial of any drug for lymphomatous meningitis, Stephen B. Howell, MD, said at the 35th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

NEW ORLEANS-Scintimam-mography utilizing a radionuclide already approved by the FDA for cardiac imaging has been shown to compare favorably with standard mammography in a new study presented at the 99th annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society.

NEW ORLEANS-In women treated with a breast-conserving approach for early-stage invasive breast cancer, “adequate” excision of the primary tumor is necessary to obtain optimal local tumor control. But what constitutes an adequate excision prior to radiation therapy, and what are the risk factors for local recurrence? A Harvard pathologist discussed this issue at the American Society of Breast Disease annual meeting.

NEW ORLEANS-A new technique for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging can reduce brain scan time by half, according to a study from the Department of Radiology, University of Vienna, reported at the 99th annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society. The new technique, T1-3D-echo-planar-imaging (EPI)-sequence, has diagnostic utility comparable to conventional T1-3D-gradient echo-sequence imaging, said lead investigator, Ahmed Ba-ssalamah, MD.

Laparoscopic operating techniques are gaining wider acceptance among colorectal surgeons, as their efficacy is proven. These techniques offer patients the advantages of fewer complications, decreased need for postoperative narcotics, faster

PHILADELPHIA-“Confronting Cancer Through Art” is a juried exhibition of inspirational artwork crafted by individuals who have been touched by cancer (see artwork). This year marks the second time that the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center has sponsored this exhibit, which runs through October 31, 1999, at the Arthur Ross Gallery in Philadelphia. The first exhibit was presented in 1996.

ARLINGTON, Va-Studies indicate that about half of cancer patients are now using complementary and alternative therapies, a finding that is motivating many medical oncologists to discuss such therapies with their patients and make recommendations about their use.

VIENNA, Austria-In a group of estrogen- or progesterone-positive breast cancer patients, combination endocrine treatment using goserelin (Zoladex) and tamoxifen (Nolvadex) significantly reduced the number of recurrences and increased disease-free survival, compared with CMF, after a median follow-up of 4 years, said Reimond Jakesz, MD, of the Department of General Surgery, University of Vienna, Austria.

NEW YORK-Nuclear medicine-based imaging techniques are now being used to refine treatment strategies for cancer patients, with positron emission tomography (PET) at the forefront. Patients with complex cancers of the brain, head and neck, thyroid, and lung are now able to receive more refined and accurate diagnoses through new PET techniques, four speakers said at a nuclear medicine conference sponsored by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Cancer patients enrolled in chemotherapy clinical trials at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, incurred a 5-year average cost of $46,424, compared to $44,133 for matched control patients who were not trial participants, suggesting that

WASHINGTON-A federal judge has declared unconstitutional several sections of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act (FDAMA) that regulate the ability of pharmaceutical companies to distribute to physicians certain materials regarding off-label uses of drugs.

ASCO just stated its policy on the privacy of medical records, which is a hot issue in Congress, especially because the House and Senate are in the midst of a conference committee on a financial services modernization bill. Medical records

VIENNA, Austria-Among the CNS effects of opioids are cognitive failure, organic hallucinations, myoclonus, hyperalgesia, and severe sedation. “Regular, repeated assessments of cognition should be performed in patients taking opioids, and any changes should be evaluated by the physician to exclude other underlying etiologies,” Carla Ripamonti, MD, said at the World Congress on Pain.

Kim Jessup, MD, professor of surgery and director of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is using radiofrequency ablation to dissolve tumors that have spread from the colon to the liver. According

NEW YORK-A person-centered holistic approach to the practice of oncology involves the integration of current state-of-the-art Western therapies with nutritional supplementation and other less traditional methods, including meditation, music and sound therapy, and guided imagery techniques, said Mitchell L. Gaynor, MD, director of medical oncology and of the Integrative Medicine Program, Strang-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center, New York.

Given to Cancer Patients Cancer patients undergoing therapy with interferonalfa-2b (IFN-a-2b [Intron A]) are possibly being overmedicated with the narcotics and antidepressants commonly administered with this agent, according to a University

ATLANTA-AIDS deaths fell by 20% between 1997 and 1998, but this was a significantly smaller decline than the 42% fall in mortality that occurred between 1996 and 1997, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

ATLANTA-A survey of homosexual men in California suggests that the more strongly a man believes in the effectiveness of HIV drug regimens to prolong life and prevent transmission to partners, the more likely he may be to engage in unsafe sex.

ORLANDO-Researchers from Kure, Japan, reported on the first prospective study to show a direct connection between infection with Helicobacter pylori and the onset of gastric cancer. Their work, presented at the Digestive Disease Week meeting, builds upon epidemiologic research done in the early 1990s that strongly suggested such an association.