All News

Combined-modality therapy integrating chemotherapy with radiotherapy and/or surgery is playing an increasing role in the day-to-day management of a wide variety of solid tumors. No longer is this approach solely a clinical research tool. In fact, in

MENLO PARK, Calif-Neurex Corporation has announced a pause in enrollment of a trial of intravenous SNX-111 for patients with severe head trauma, to review data from earlier studies for overall risk/benefit. The agent is an N-type neuron-specific calcium blocker derived from the venom of the cone snail.

WASHINGTON-In its review of the proposed tobacco settlement, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommended a number of changes it considers essential.

NEW YORK-Today’s treatments for lung cancer are much better tolerated than treatments used 20 years ago, Robert Ginsberg, MD, chief of the Thoracic Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, said at an NIH video satellite symposium beamed to 20 selected centers nationwide.

MONTREAL-A group of Canadian physicians hope to spark renewed interest in the use of infrared breast imaging as a complement to mammography.

SAN FRANCISCO-The search for less invasive and less toxic methods to deliver interleukin-2 (IL-2) has moved beyond injection. Edith Huland, MD, PhD, of the University Clinic Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, has been using a nebulizer to deliver IL-2 for six years.

The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) has developed a position paper that addresses quality cancer care. The position

SAN FRANCISCO-An outpatient combination of low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2, Proleukin), interferon alfa-2b (Intron A), and fluorouracil appears to offer response and survival rates similar to high-dose IL-2 with minimal side effects, according to studies conducted by Jens Atzpodien, MD, associate professor of medicine, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover, Germany.

LOS ANGELES-The Group Room, syndicated radio’s first call-in cancer support program, has added two new stations: San Diego’s KSDO AM 1130 and Dallas/Ft. Worth’s Talk 1190 AM (KOOO), Premiere Radio Networks, Inc. has announced.

NEW YORK-The majority of people in the United States die without discussing or documenting their wishes regarding end-of-life care. Estimates of the number of people who have actually prepared advance directives range from 5% to 25%, said Sylvia Pearl, LCSW, during a national teleconference sponsored by Cancer Care, Inc.

HOUSTON-Approximately 50% to 80% of patients with central nervous system tumors experience emotional and behavioral changes that significantly alter their capacity to function independently and interact in a healthy manner, Alan D. Valentine, MD, said at a symposium on cancer and the central nervous system. In fact, he added, behavioral changes may be one of the first signs that a patient is seriously ill.

ADELAIDE, Australia-A sustained-release morphine formulation that can be administered once or twice a day (Kadian) showed similar efficacy and safety to a standard twice-daily morphine formulation (MS Contin) in a multicen-ter, placebo-controlled US study of cancer pain patients, sponsored by the Australian manufacturers of Kadian.

COLUMBUS, Ohio-A new multi-center study supports the long-term use of dronabinol (Marinol) for anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with AIDS. Dronabinol is a synthetically produced delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active constituent of marijuana.

The lives of rats with an incurable, rapidly progressing form of brain tumor, similar to glioblastoma in humans, is greatly

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has announced the formation of a collaborative of health care organizations

NEW ORLEANS-Surgical oncol-ogy patients appear to be overwhelmingly in favor of listening to music before and after their surgery. Besides its soothing powers, music may help in pain control, offering a cost-effective intervention, investigators reported at the Oncology Nursing Society.

SEATTLE-Targeted Genetics Corporation’s tumor suppressor gene product, tgDCC-E1A, is currently being tested in two phase I trials.

Researchers have identified certain T cells that suppress the reproduction of HIV carried within them. These cells, called

The magnitude of the cancer problem directly caused by tobacco use underscoresthe urgent need for accelerating our knowledge and understanding of lung

ROCKVILLE, Md-The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Taxol (paclitaxel) Injection for use in the second-line treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS). Taxol is also approved for second-line use in metastatic breast and ovarian cancer.

PHILADELPHIA-The proposed tobacco settlement should include support for federally funded cancer research “in proportion to the devastation caused by tobacco-induced cancers on our public health,” the American Association for Cancer Research said in a position statement.

NEW YORK-Along the long road that starts with a cancer diagnosis, good communication will ease the way for patients, families, and physicians alike.

ATLANTA, Ga-The American Cancer Society is inviting proposals from candidates for the newly established Harry and Elsa Jiler American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship.

MADISON, NJ-The Biological Response Modifiers Advisory Committee unanimously recommended that the Food and Drug Administration approve Neumega (recombinant human inter-leukin-11 or rhIL-11), Genetics Institute’s platelet growth factor. Genetics Institute is a subsidiary of American Home Products Corporation.

BETHESDA, Md-The Biological Response Modifiers Advisory Committee has recommended that the FDA usher cancer therapy into a new era by approving IDEC Pharamceutical’s Rituxan (rituximab) for patients with relapsed or refractory low-grade or follicular B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The American Cancer Society announces the establishment of the Harryand Elsa Jiler American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship

WASHINGTON-The Clinton Administration soon will propose a federal law aimed at protecting the privacy of medical records. The law would allow disclosure of medical records only for reasons of health care. For example, if an employer gained access to an employee’s records during the claims process, the company would not be allowed to use the information in any way that would affect the employee’s job, such as in considering promotions or assignments.

Thousands of practice guidelines/practice parameters have been published by various professional organizations. The American Medical Association,[1] American College of Physicians,[2,3] and others[4-6] have written extensively about

This review of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) by Pannek and Partin, two experts in the prostate marker field, comes at a very good time-a point at which great changes are occurring after a relatively long period of stability. I expect that this trend will continue. Moreover, given the rapid developments occurring in this area, some of the statements made in both the review and my commentary will probably need to be modified within the next 12 months, with further revisions necessary thereafter.

Treatment of esophageal carcinoma requires the realization that this neoplasm is not a single entity with a uniformly poor prognosis. As with any other malignancy, disease stage has prognostic and therapeutic