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DALLAS--Breast implant excision or exchange offers a unique cancer screening opportunity in breasts frequently difficult to check manually or radiologically, William Shaw, MD, said at the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons annual meeting.

The familial aggregation of cancer has piqued the curiosity of physicians for more than two millennia. Most explanations for this aggregation were based upon environmental hypotheses, such as diet, solar radiation, habit patterns, and cultural practices, as well as occupational exposures. On rare occasions, ancients and now, more frequently, contemporaries have suggested that genetics might provide an important causal explanation for familial cancer.

Physicians can expect to see more requests for medical records by companies offering viatical settlements to terminally ill or chronically ill patients who meet certain criteria as certified by their physicians. The viatical industry, which has been marketing its services primarily to AIDS patients through gay publications and networks, is maturing as a result of new federal legislation granting tax-free status to the proceeds and as viatical companies expand their marketing efforts to the population at large.

SAN ANTONIO--Bisphosphon-ates are indicated in patients with established bone metastases from breast cancer or myeloma, to reduce skeletal complications, Alexander H.G. Paterson, MD, said at a minisymposium held in conjunction with the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

ROCKVILLE, Md--The FDA has proposed a formal process for selecting patient representatives to serve on its cancer-related advisory boards--the Onco-logic Drugs Advisory Committee, the Biological Response Modifiers Advisory Committee, and the Medical Imaging Drugs Advisory Committee.

NEW YORK--Comparative geno-mic hybridization (CGH), a new molecular cytogenetic technique for mapping chromosomal and subchromosomal imbalances, is breaking new ground in cancer genetics.

HUNTINGTON, NY--Imagine a website designed exclusively for cancer professionals. It would, of course, offer free access to Medline via a state-of-the-art search tool, as well as access to the National Cancer Institute's PDQ database and CancerLit.

Drs. Blanchard, Albrecht, and Ruckdeschel provide a whirlwind tour of research on families and cancer. The article has an ambitious mission. It attempts to establish how cancer affects families, through a review of studies that assess the psychological

Postmastectomy radiotherapy has been used since the early part of the 20th century in an effort to decrease local recurrences and potentially improve survival. It clearly reduces the rate of local chest-wall failure following mastectomy, increases relapse-

Blanchard et al provide an excellent review of the literature on the psychosocial adjustment of caregivers of the cancer patient. The importance of caregiver function and adaptation to the clinical status of the cancer patient is generally conceded, but the

With the increased use of doxorubicin-based chemotherapy, chemoendocrine therapy, and high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplantation or peripheral blood progenitor-cell reinfusion, the role

WASHINGTON--A new player has entered the cancer policy arena. At the instigation of NCI director Richard D. Klausner, MD, the National Research Council has established the National Cancer Policy Board to aid the NCI in dealing with policy matters and strategic planning issues outside of cancer research.

Clinical practice guidelines have been a subject of increasing interest for the past several years, and, recently, they have been developed for oncology. In March, 1996, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a coalition of 15 major US cancer centers, presented the first version of their practice guidelines in oncology. These guidelines covered most of the major cancer sites.

BETHESDA, Md--Nobel laureate David Baltimore, PhD, will lead a National Institutes of Health effort to revive the flagging search for an effective HIV vaccine. NIH Director Harold Varmus, MD, named Dr. Baltimore to head a committee that will search for new ideas and new approaches to a research endeavor that has failed to yield a vaccine after a decade of intense work.

NEW YORK--Cancer Care, Inc. has a new booklet, "Pain in HIV/AIDS: Control Your Pain So It Doesn't Control You," that provides information about pain management to people with HIV, to help them advocate for themselves and receive

Researchers at Ohio State University have developed a technique that fuses the images produced by nuclear medicine scans with images produced by CT scans.

Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University have discovered that the protein guanylyl cyclase C (GCC) is expressed in humans solely in the intestines, including the colon and rectum, making it a selective marker for colorectal tumors that

NEW YORK--When selecting a physician, the most important question an HIV patient can ask is, How many HIV/AIDS patients have you treated? Ramon A. Gabriel Torres, MD, medical director, AIDS Center, St. Vincent's Hospital, NY, said at a teleconference sponsored by Cancer Care Inc. and the Gay Men's Health Crisis.

WASHINGTON--An announcement by NIH director Harold E. Varmus, MD, of a plan to form a national pain research consortium came as a complete, but pleasant surprise to the American Pain Society, Martin Grabois, MD, president of the Society, said in an interview with Oncology News International.

CHICAGO--Medical groups that advocate routine screening mammogra-phy for women between the ages of 40 and 49 have new ammunition to challenge the NCI's controversial 1993 decision to raise the suggested age for beginning mammography screening to 50 years.

ORLANDO--Fludarabine (Flu-dara) improves response, duration of response, and progression-free survival over standard therapy in previously untreated patients with active B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and it should be included in the list of drugs for first-line treatment of this disease, Kanti R. Rai, MD, said at the 38th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

Secondary lymphedema is quite prevalent in cancer patients who require lymph node dissection for staging and/or treatment of their disease. Chronic lymphedema may arise shortly after surgical intervention or months to years afterward. The tendency of chronic lymphedema is to worsen over time.

Lymphedema continues to plague women after breast cancer treatment. The cosmetic deformity cannot be disguised with normal clothing; physical discomfort and disability are associated with the enlargement; and recurrent episodes of cellulitis and lymphangitis may be expected. Added to the physical symptoms is the distress caused unintentionally by clinicians, who are more interested in cancer recurrence and often trivialize the nonlethal nature of lymphedema.

We treated 119 consecutive patients with lymphedema with complex lymphedema therapy (CLT). Lymphedema reductions after CLT averaged 62.6% in the 56 patients with one affected arm and 68.6% in the 38 patients with

Managed care and proper cancer care need not be mutually exclusive entities. Managed-care organizations (MCOs) that are committed to patients and society should have the following characteristics: accountability for

WASHINGTON--The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) has funded a new analysis of the impact of the recent growth and concentration of HMOs on employers, health-insurance coverage decisions, health care premiums, and employees' health insurance choices. Jack Hadley, MD, of Georgetown University, will lead the $307,437, year-long project.

About one in three newly diagnosed cancer patients in the United States receives radiation treatment, which is being used increasingly as the first line of cancer therapy, according to Dr. Steven Leibel, president of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).

Women who take sex hormones before and during pregnancy are three times more likely to have children who develop cancer, according to researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

LOS ANGELES--The American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO) honored two of its members at its 38th annual meeting, and welcomed two renowned physicians into the society as honorary members.

WASHINGTON--The national cancer community has joined together to create a nonprofit organization, the Friends of Cancer Research, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the National Cancer Act through a public awareness and education campaign on the importance of cancer research.