ONCOLOGY Vol 26 No 9

In assessing the value of innovations in breast cancer radiotherapy, it is important to consider not only the basis of their impact on mortality, local recurrence, and cosmesis; emphasis should also be placed on factors such as treatment tolerance, convenience, and delayed morbidities.

With the publication of mature experiences using accelarated partial breast irradiation (APBI) and accelerated whole breast irradiation (AWBI), the use of shortened courses of radiotherapy has become increasingly popular.

Given their greater convenience and, in most cases, decreased costs, APBI and AWBI are becoming increasingly popular alternatives to conventional WBI for early-stage breast cancer patients who desire BCT. However, given the protracted time to local recurrence and complications following BCT, definitive results from randomized clinical trials comparing conventional WBI vs AWBI or APBI are limited.

For appropriate older women screening provides a benefit in this age group by identifying early-stage breast cancer.

Geriatricians would argue that biological age alone should not be used to estimate a patient's anticipated tolerance for cancer therapy.

The most interesting developments in drug therapy for adult ALL are occurring in two fields: (1) molecularly targeted therapies and (2) the use of antibodies, conjugated antibodies, or antibody constructs.

It is clear that the management of adult patients with ALL is an area in which little progress has been made in the last 30 years. Given the disappointing outcomes, the field is one that lends itself to the study of the incorporation of novel agents, including monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase and proteasome inhibitors, as well as to further study of allogeneic transplant.

We presented an interactive session entitled “Using Social Media in Oncology for Education and Patient Engagement” at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2012 Annual Meeting. This article summarizes the points made in those presentations.

To the Editor: We appreciated the commentaries by Drs. Duda, Glimelius, and Willet on our paper “Current Perspectives on Preoperative Integrated Treatments for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: A Review of Agreement and Controversies” (August issue of ONCOLOGY).

In this review we will discuss how to evaluate older breast cancer patients, including estimating survival, defining functional limitations, and providing guidelines for optimal adjuvant therapies.

In this review, we will discuss the management of ALL in the adult population, in the context of the recently published guidelines from the NCCN. We will focus in particular on the strides being made in salvage and targeted approaches.

A patient insists that you explore unproven alternative therapies for his metastatic colon cancer. Are you obliged to discuss these with him?

“Personalized medicine” holds its promise only at the substantial cost of widespread use of the awesome tools of molecular science, and at a time of intense scrutiny of the costs and benefits of medical treatments, can we really afford it?

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is recommended for patients with newly diagnosed intermediate-thickness melanomas, while the procedure may not be indicated for patients with thinner lesions, according to a new set of guidelines.

A new study provides evidence that older women with early-stage breast cancer who undergo radiation therapy following a lumpectomy are less likely to require a subsequent mastectomy.

The FDA has approved vincristine sulfate liposome injection (Marqibo) to treat adults with Philadelphia chromosome–negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Results of a phase III trial show early, promising data that the subcutaneous formulation of trastuzumab (Herceptin) is as efficacious and safe as the intravenous version of the drug.

A patient on opiate therapy insists on working against her physician’s recommendations. She works as a nurse. Should the doctor inform her employer?

The FDA has approved aflibercept (Zaltrap) to be used with the chemotherapy regimen FOLFIRI in the treatment of adults with metastatic colorectal cancer.

The proposition that a consumer smartphone could somehow become part of the diagnostic toolkit of an oncologist may seem ridiculous. There are, however, many researchers and start-ups that would disagree.