Authors

Latest:

You are a Registered Nurse working in a busy oncology unit. While assessing one of your patients, you notice that the bag of morphine used in his patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system is running low.

Latest:

Approximately 70% of patientswith life-threatening diseasestreatable with allogeneic bloodstem cell transplantation do not havematched related donors. The NationalMarrow Donor Program (NMDP) wasestablished in 1986 to provide humanleukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched,volunteer unrelated donors for thesepatients. The NMDP performs thistask by maintaining a registry of morethan 4.9 million volunteer donors ofmarrow and peripheral blood stemcells (PBSC) and 12 cord blood bankscontaining more than 25,000 units ofumbilical cord blood.

Latest:

The breast cancer expert spoke about the results presented in the trial, noting the benefit seen with longer follow-up.

Latest:

Synergy with no overlapping toxicities has been demonstrated for the combination of irinotecan ( Camptosar, CPT-11) and gemcitabine (Gemzar) in vitro. Results of a single-institution phase I study in which patients with

Latest:

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

Latest:

The authors review the current trends in health literacy, patient-physician communication, and the medical treatment decision process, focusing attention on the older cancer patient population.

Latest:

Despite the common use of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) in patients managed initially with radical prostatectomy (RP), a number of questions remain. Raldow and colleagues build their arguments around three randomized trials that indicated a significant benefit of immediate adjuvant radiotherapy in patients with high-risk features.

Latest:

UFT (uracil and tegafur in a 4:1 molar ratio) plus calcium folinate treatment has favorable activity and tolerable toxicity in patients with advanced gastric carcinoma. High response rates have been reported in patients with

Latest:

Concern about prescribing controlled substances underlies, in part, the undertreatment of pain, even in palliative care settings. That the same is true for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients is therefore not surprising, particularly given injection drug use as a risk factor.

Latest:

The relatively recent introduction of a new class of chemotherapeutic agents--the taxoids--has raised hope of improved survival for patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. Following encouraging preclinical results of taxoid combinations, this phase I, nonrandomized trial was designed to evaluate a 1-hour intravenous infusion of docetaxel (Taxotere) on day 1 combined with fluorouracil (5-FU) as a daily intravenous bolus for 5 consecutive days.

Latest:

We now have more tools than ever in the fight against tobacco-related death and disability, but unfortunately, there is not equal access to resources for smoking cessation, early lung cancer diagnosis, and treatment.

Latest:

Dr. Henry Lynch was one ofthe first to recognize the existenceof hereditary nonpolyposiscolorectal cancer (HNPCC).While a relatively small percentage offamilies have this cancer predispositionsyndrome, identification of individualsat risk is now standard of careand includes the potential for the preventionof colorectal cancer. Dr. Lynchand Jane Lynch have written a guidehighlighting key points for physiciansregarding the diagnosis, surveillance,and management of this disorder. Severalaspects of clinical care mentionedin the article are expanded upon here.

Latest:

Early and appropriate management of infection in the patient with cancer is critical to optimizing patient outcomes.

Latest:

The morbidities associated with prostate cancer treatments have improved over the years. However, potential overtreatment and the risks of adverse events associated with radical treatment still pose a considerable challenge. Targeted focal therapy (TFT) of prostate cancer appears to be part of a logical continuum in the quest to improve upon the management of early organ-confined disease. TFT is a procedure in which only the cancer in the gland is ablated. The normal gland, sphincter, and in most cases the neurovascular bundles are preserved. Therefore, this approach averts some of the common complications of more radical therapy. Initial experience has been encouraging; however, long-term data and full implementation of emerging advances in imaging are urgently needed before the widespread adoption of this approach. In this review, we present the current status of our knowledge about this procedure and the most important challenges that need to be addressed. We also present the initial results with this approach at our center.

Latest:

This video reviews some of the pros and cons of long-course and short-course radiation therapy for the neoadjuvant treatment of rectal cancer.

Latest:

A phase II study of combined-modality treatment consisting of uracil and tegafur (in a molar ratio of 4:1 [UFT]) plus cisplatin (Platinol) and concurrent radiotherapy was conducted to evaluate the activity of this regimen in

Latest:

This article summarizes the current management of patients with newly diagnosed cervical cancer. The topics range from the management of early-stage disease to the phase III randomized studies that have established the current standard of care for patients with locally advanced cancer of the cervix. New approaches to combined-modality therapy with the goal of improving outcomes and decreasing complications are also described.

Latest:

Prostate cancer screening using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has been a contentious subject.

Latest:

In this video we discuss a new study that tested the feasibility of using circulating tumor cells to detect recurrence in patients with locally advanced non–small-cell lung cancer.

Latest:

We have witnessed remarkable gains in the biological understanding and treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) over the past decade.

Latest:

Chemotherapy has had limited success in biliary tract cancer. Of thenewer agents, gemcitabine (Gemzar) and irinotecan (CPT-11, Camptosar)both have single-agent activity in patients with advanced disease.We conducted a phase II trial to study the efficacy and toxicity of thecombination of gemcitabine plus irinotecan in patients with locallyadvanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer. The study has enrolled 14patients with histologically or cytologically documented cancer of thebiliary tract or gallbladder with bidimensionally measurable disease,Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 or 1,decompressed biliary tree, and no prior exposure to chemotherapy.Gemcitabine at 1,000 mg/m2 and irinotecan at 100 mg/m2 were bothadministered on days 1 and 8, every 21 days. In patients who had lessthan grade 3 hematologic and less than grade 2 nonhematologic toxicityfollowing cycle 1, the dose of irinotecan was increased to 115 mg/m2 forsubsequent cycles. A total of 65 cycles of chemotherapy have beenadministered, with an average of 4.5 cycles per patient (range: 1 to 11cycles). The median treatment duration was 3 months (range: 0.75 to 8months). An objective partial response was determined radiographicallyin two patients (14%) while stable disease for periods ranging from 4to 11.5 months was noted in six patients (43%). Toxicity consisted ofgrade 3/4 neutropenia in seven patients (50%) with no episodes offebrile neutropenia, grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia in four (28%), grade3 diarrhea in two (14%), and grade 3 nausea in one patient. Thecombination of gemcitabine plus irinotecan appears to possess modestclinical activity, and it is well tolerated in patients with advanced biliarycancer. Patient accrual is ongoing to this study.

Latest:

Latest:

High-dose myeloablative therapy with allogeneic hematopoietictransplantation is an effective treatment for hematologic malignancies,but this approach is associated with a high risk of complications.The use of relatively nontoxic, nonmyeloablative, or reduced-intensitypreparative regimens still allows engraftment and the generation ofgraft-vs-malignancy effects, is potentially curative for susceptiblemalignancies, and reduces the risk of treatment-related morbidity.Two general strategies along these lines have emerged, based on theuse of (1) immunosuppressive chemotherapeutic drugs, usually apurine analog in combination with an alkylating agent, and (2) lowdosetotal body irradiation, alone or in combination with fludarabine(Fludara).

Latest:

The patient, "JD," is a 62-year-old Caucasian female who had stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) diagnosed 3 months ago. Her medical history is significant for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She quit smoking cigarettes more than 6 months ago after having smoked a pack per day for 40 years.

Latest:

Liposome encapsulation of antineoplastic drugs entered clinical testing in the late 1980s. As carriers for a variety of agents, liposomes can allow successful delivery of agents that may be subject to rapid degradation in

Latest:

The effective use of cancer chemotherapy requires a thorough understanding of the principles of neoplastic cell growth kinetics, basic pharmacologic mechanisms of drug action, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variability, and mechanisms of drug resistance. Recent scientific advances in the field of molecular oncology have led to the identification of large numbers of potential targets for novel anticancer therapies. This has resulted in a tremendous expansion of the drug development pipeline, and in the present era, the diversity of clinically useful novel anticancer therapeutic agents is growing at an unprecedented rate. However, the great enthusiasm that surrounds these new agents must be tempered by the challenges they present in optimizing their clinical use and in rationally integrating them with existing anticancer therapies. This discussion focuses on the basic principles underlying the development of modern combination chemotherapy, and it is followed by a description of the major classes of chemotherapeutic drugs and their mechanisms of action.

Latest:

Gavin Jones, MD, and colleagues explore the landscape of radiation therapy in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Latest:

Latest:

Gemcitabine (Gemzar) and irinotecan (CPT-11, Camptosar) are active cytotoxic drugs against pancreatic cancer. Preclinical data evaluating the combination of gemcitabine and irinotecan suggest dose-dependent synergistic