Over the past several years, the clinical presentation of prostate cancer has evolved so that more patients than ever before are presenting with clinically localized disease. However, a significant number of men continue to
A 68-year-old man with a history of small-cell lung cancer with bony metastases was admitted with diarrhea. The patient had completed chemotherapy one week earlier with cisplatin and etoposide, along with radiation therapy, and irinotecan (Camptosar). The patient was found to be neutropenic.
An 85-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with epigastric pain and nausea for 2 days. She denied vomiting, fever, or early satiety. The patient stated she had lost 10 pounds over the past 3 months. A CT scan of the abdomen revealed a 1 cm low attenuation lesion in the second portion of the duodenum.
The authors have provided a concise review of stereotactic body radiosurgery (SBRS) in the treatment of mainly spinal/paraspinal metastases. This technique was primarily developed to treat spinal metastases in the reirradiation scenario given that treatment alternatives are limited for these patients and that-in the setting of advanced metastatic disease-surgical decompression is often not a suitable option.
Dr. Balar highlights promising evidence on the potential benefits of the use of immunotherapy in the advanced bladder cancer setting.
Cancer cells undergo accelerated evolutionary changes; thus, under the pressure of novel generations of EGFR TKIs, we should expect to see new mechanisms of resistance.
About 30,000 new cases of thyroid cancer are diagnosed annually in the United States.[1] The incidence among men has risen more dramatically than any other malignancy in recent years (2.4% annual increase).[2] Thyroid cancers arise from one of two cell types, namely follicular and parafollicular cells.
A 40-year-old woman noted a large mass in her right breast. A diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound confirmed a 3.4-cm mass with associated microcalcifications.
Reviewing treatment modalities for melanoma provides many sobering reminders that advances in our scientific understanding have not yet translated into meaningful clinical benefit. As clearly delineated by the authors, the “standard” treatment of dacarbazine chemotherapy has a poor response rate and lacks durability.
This review will discuss the current status of surgical management of the axilla for patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Primary and metastatic liver tumors continue to be a significant health problem in the United States. Hepatic resection or, in selected cases, transplantation are the only curative therapies for patients with resectable
Because of challenges in making the correct diagnosis and the physician’s reluctance to administer chemotherapy for a disease characterized by such a low tumoral mass, patients may experience a delay in the initiation of appropriate treatment.
Bone metastases are a common feature of many solid cancers, especially those originating from the prostate, breast, lung, kidney, melanoma, and other sites. Up to 80% of patients with these cancers will develop painful bony disease during the course of their disease.
Most patients with advanced-stage follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) are not cured with conventional therapy. The use of high-dose therapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation in patients with relapsed follicular
When she learned that she had breast cancer, Patricia Garrett did what many people with cancer do: she continued working.
This article compares the results of radical retropubic prostatic surgery done by a group of urologists at the Mayo Clinic during a recent 3-year period with results obtained in a similar group of patients operated on prior to 1987. The authors show that when a surgical procedure is done often, with modern techniques and attention paid to surgical and anatomic detail, very good results can be achieved.
Research and development of adjuvant therapies for premenopausal women with endocrine-responsive breast cancer is unfortunately lacking.
Over the past four decades, the incidence and mortality rates for uterine cervical carcinoma have decreased in the United States by as much as 70% to 75% [1]. This improvement is among the largest seen for any cancer site and has been attributed to the use of cervical cytologic screening [2].
In this Q&A we examine Right-to-Try drug laws and discuss tips for clinicians with terminally ill patients who have exhausted all their therapy options.
The Prostate Cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial (PIVOT) is a randomized trial designed to determine whether radical prostatectomy or expectant management provides superior length and quality of life for men with clinically localized prostate cancer. Conducted at Department of Veterans Affairs and National Cancer Institute medical centers, PIVOT will enroll over 1,000 individuals less than 75 years of age. The primary study end point is all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes include prostate cancer- and treatment-specific morbidity and mortality, health status, predictors of disease-specific outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. Within the first 3 years of enrollment, over 400 men have been randomized. Early analysis of participants' baseline characteristics indicate that enrollees are representative of men diagnosed with clinically localized prostate cancer throughout the United States. Therefore, results of PIVOT will be generalizable. These results are necessary in order to determine the preferred therapy for clinically localized prostate cancer. [ONCOLOGY 11(8):1133-1143, 1997]
Approximately 30 years passed between the first description of a paraneoplastic neurologic disorder[1] and the demonstration of an immunologic pathogenesis for one of these syndromes.[2] In the almost 4 decades since, the paraneoplastic neurologic disorders have been subjected to study far out of proportion to their clinical prevalence. These disorders stimulate clinical research because (1) paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes are frequently the presentation of a malignancy, (2) they may bode well for a more favorable tumor prognosis,[3,4] and most importantly, (3) they yield insight into the workings of malignancy and the pathogenesis of neurologic disorders, particularly neurologic degenerations.
Pennington and Leffell have reviewedthe literature with regardto the relative efficacy ofthe Mohs technique vs conventionalsurgery in the treatment of commonand uncommon cutaneous neoplasms.The reason for the success of Mohssurgery can be summarized simply: TheMohs surgeon examines the entire microscopicsurgical margin for tumor,whereas the pathologist working with aconventional surgeon does not.
The VA Cancer of the Prostate Outcomes Study (VA CaPOS) is collecting quality-of-life (QOL) information from prostate cancer patients, spouses, and physicians at six VA medical centers. Currently, 601 men with prostate
Although bone pain from osteoblastic metastases can be ameliorated 50% to 80% of the time by use of intravenously or orally administered radiopharmaceuticals, we cannot accurately predict who will or will not
In this video, Dr. Arti Hurria discusses resources addressing the disconnect between cancer as a growing problem in the elderly and the fact that clinical trials mostly enroll younger patients.
The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is a transmembrane receptor with tyrosine kinase activity overexpressed in about 20% to 25% of invasive carcinomas of the breast.
The standard management of low-grade lymphoma remains controversial. Long-term follow-up studies of patients treated with conventional regimens have shown that currently available treatments are not curative.
Our case illustrates the fact that MDS-associated GS can be treated palliatively with radiation and hypomethylating agents in an appropriate setting. With the growing geriatric patient population, effective treatment options are needed in this disease.
Improvements in neoadjuvant therapy for soft-tissue sarcomas will require the development of more efficacious systemic therapies and, if possible, the performance of histology-specific, prospective, randomized clinical trials to advance the field.
Despite the higher risk of VTE in patients with bladder cancer, ironically, their risk of bleeding and anemia, and greater need for transfusion of blood products, poses an equally significant risk of morbidity and mortality, especially among those who undergo cystectomy.