Shalmali Pal

The NCCN has added nilotinib to its practice guideline for CML for use after any imatinib failure point in the chronic phase of disease.

Boosting the intensity of ICE chemotherapy still can’t overcome the inherent chemoresistance of small-cell lung cancer, according to study results from the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

Putting fertility issues on the back burner should no longer be an option for oncologists who treat young adult cancer patients, especially as newer fertility preservation options become available, a number of reproductive medicine specialists told ONI.

The media played up the finding that colonoscopy may be missing so-called flat polyps, but a number of CT colonography experts interviewed by ONI see no need for panic.

A recent study in elderly breast cancer patients that linked earlier-stage disease, and possibly improved survival, with regular screening mammography is “fatally flawed” and “naïve,” according to some cancer screening experts.

Medical castration has lost some ground as the preferred androgen deprivation treatment for prostate cancer, while use of surgical castration has increased slightly, according to researchers from the Cleveland Clinic.

The first ever joint consensus guideline for colorectal cancer screening adds two new tests to the list of recommended options-stool DNA and CT colonography, also known as virtual colonoscopy-outlines quality elements for each testing method, and includes a preference for screening tests that can detect cancer early and also detect precancerous polyps.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has been named a consulting hospital for palliative care programs nationwide. The Boston-based center has been designated as a learning lab by the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) of the American Hospital Association.

Universal healthcare has been a hot button topic in the 2008 US presidential race. But there is more to universal healthcare than insurance coverage. A truly universal system would address-and possibly even eradicate-disparities in healthcare that are based on nonclinical factors, such as socioeconomics and gender.

The always-controversial International Early Lung Cancer Action Program has been struck a serious blow with news that the trial was funded in part by a cigarette manufacturer, according to an article in the New York Times (March 26, 2008).

CT-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) offers long-term pain reduction in patients with osteoid osteoma, making RFA a viable alternative to open surgery, according to researchers from Seoul, South Korea.