In this review, we summarize contemporary data pertaining to active surveillance, a safe and appropriate strategy for select patients with low-risk cancer characteristics who undergo monitoring at regular intervals.
Although candidate genes for hereditary pancreatic cancer have been identified (Figure 1), namely p16 and BRCA2, pancreatic cancer patients having an inherited predisposition will not be easy to recognize on clinical grounds.
In this issue of ONCOLOGY, Comen and Robson provide a timely overview of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and their potential for the treatment of breast cancer. The authors highlight the recent demonstration of synthetic lethality between PARP inhibition and loss of either of the breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, as well as the development of PARP inhibitors that are suitable for clinical therapy. However, many questions pertaining to both the basic biology of PARP inhibition and the potential clinical implications of PARP inhibitors still need to be addressed. In the following commentary, we highlight some of these remaining challenges.
This review summarizes promising new targets and immunotherapy combination strategies currently under clinical development.
Judy concludes the event and presents the awards.
Ibrahim Halil Sahin, MD, and colleagues, explore, the CIRCULATE-US (NRG-GI008; NCT05174169) investigating postoperative ctDNA dynamics in early-stage colon cancer for treatment selection.
Effective radiotherapy for patients with cancer should include maximal tumor cell killing with minimal injury to normal tissue. Radiation doses that can be delivered, without causing severe damage to surrounding normal
Sphincter-preserving treatment with combined radiation and chemotherapy has replaced abdominoperineal resection as the standard of care for patients with carcinoma of the anal canal. Randomized studies have shown
The diversity and complexity, combined with the rarity of salivary gland malignancies, lead to definite and distinct challenges in their study, and consequently in advancing treatment options for affected patients.
patient is a 67-year-old male with mild obstructive symptoms and an American Urology Association symptom score of 8.[1] He was noted to have a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 3.2 ng/mL. Because this represented a significant increase in his PSA velocity (rate of change over time), he proceeded to have a biopsy, which was positive for prostate cancer. He has no other complaints and visits us for an opinion on the treatment of his prostate cancer.
I would like to compliment the authorson their comprehensive reviewof cytoreductive surgery forovarian cancer. However, some oftheir interpretation of the literaturewarrants amplification, and some conclusionsmerit presentation of an alternativeperspective.
In this review, we summarize the diagnosis of small renal masses, the role of renal mass biopsy, different treatment strategies, and future directions, including emerging molecular biomarkers.
Head and neck cancers are a diverse group of diseases, each with its own distinct epidemiologic, anatomic, and pathologic features, natural history, and treatment considerations. Despite improvements in diagnosis and local management, long-term survival rates for patients with this disease have not increased significantly over the past 30 years and are among the lowest for the major cancers.
The article by Dr. Connors is an excellent overview of lymphomas involving five sites: the eye, central nervous system (CNS), sinuses, testes, and stomach. The author emphasizes that these lymphomas present unique management challenges even to the experienced oncologist. The tumors are difficult to diagnose, resistant to treatment, or, in the case of gastric lymphoma, occasionally associated with a causative organism that warrants antibiotic treatment.
Drs. Sonis and Fey provide a nice description of the problems associated with oral mucositis, information available regarding its etiology, and the cost generated by its treatment.
This article will address modified, selective, and radical neck dissection as well as other surgical considerations, and will review the surgical techniques currently available for neck treatment.
Chemotherapy regimens that 10 years ago cost $30,000 have now increased ten-fold. Could a new research facility help make cancer care affordable again?
Drs Thomas Hutson and Scott Tykodi explain when to consider a debulking surgery for patients with renal cell carcinoma.
Soft tissue sarcomas in adults are rare malignancies with diverse histologies that have historically been classified together, mostly for convenience. In truth,
Findings from prior studies, such as the phase 3 VISION trial, may support the notion of combining radiopharmaceuticals with best supportive care.
Recommendation for the Management of Patients With Chemotherapy-Induced Diarrhea
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive tumor associated with exposure to asbestos. Although this disease is rare, with an annual incidence in the United States of 2,000 to 3,000 cases, a steady rise in cases has
Research shows that chemotherapy for inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) improves survival. The economic implications of this treatment choice may be substantial. This paper reviews studies examining the cost-
Exciting advances in understanding the biology of lung cancer have occurred over the last few years.
The optimal management of opioid-related side effects is hampered by a lack of comparative studies of management strategies. The prevalence of such side effects is influenced by the extent of disease, the patient’s
In the conclusion to the article “Proton Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancer: Is There Enough Evidence?” Dr. David Bush puts his finger on the critical issue underlying most debates about the value of new medical technologies. He notes that “The evidence required to bring new technology into clinical practice is poorly defined.”[1] In the specific context of this article, the answer to the question of whether or not there is enough evidence depends entirely on how one chooses to define “enough.” Some experts believe that biological modeling based on dose distributions is sufficient to conclude that proton therapy improves health outcomes. Others have argued that the evidence is only adequate once randomized clinical trials have been completed to directly compare alternative interventions. Whatever one’s position on this issue, the lack of clarity on the question of adequacy of evidence is a major contributor to the gaps in knowledge about the comparative effectiveness of many widely used clinical interventions. Accelerating the rate at which this knowledge is generated will require a serious and sustained effort to define these evidence thresholds. This would allow more energy to be channeled into generating the needed evidence and less energy to be devoted to debating whether or not the evidence we have today is good enough.
Although the optimal route of administration of opioids is by mouth, some patients may require alternative routes during the course of their illnesses for several reasons. These include bowel obstruction, severe emesis, or severe
Results from the ECOG-ACRIN E4112 trial appear to support the use of DCIS scores for identifying patients with breast cancer who may be eligible to omit radiotherapy following MRI-guided surgery.
Supportive care remains the mainstay of therapy for patients withmyelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Although allogeneic bone marrowtransplantation is the only known curative therapy for MDS, its risksmake this treatment prohibitive in many patients, who tend to be olderand have other medical problems. With advances in hematopoietic stemcell transplantation (HSCT), we can offer transplant to an increasingnumber of patients. It is, however, necessary to assess each patient andhis or her disease individually and evaluate prognostic factors, treatmentoptions, appropriateness of HSCT, and, if appropriate, type andtiming of HSCT. We will review the data on HSCT in MDS in order toexamine each of these issues and clarify the decision-making process.
Although data are anecdotal, there is no question that the increased numbers of patients with insurance resulted in cancer patients receiving care they previously could not.