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An analysis of four randomized clinical trials from Europe shows that HPV-based screening resulted in a greater long-term protection from invasive cervical cancer compared with a Pap test.

This slide show features highlights from the 2013 European Cancer Congress, including trials on PSA screening, melanoma, ovarian cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer.

Patients with early-stage breast cancer who received radiation therapy had a higher risk of heart disease, due to the exposure of their heart tissue to the treatment, according to a 48-patient study by Columbia University.

Delivering patient-centered care and engaging in shared decision-making should be top priorities for oncologists responding to the current crisis in the quality of cancer care delivery, according to a recent Institution of Medicine report.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) today issued its second “Top 5” list of tests and treatments that are routinely used by oncologists despite a lack of evidence that they are cost effective or beneficial to patients.

The tobacco industry has, in effect, caused the biggest toxic spill in history, one that has very literally killed millions of Americans. It is time that the courts compel the industry to clean up their mess.

In a case of a patient with impaired decision-making, is the physician obligated to go through with a transplant when the transplant-related mortality would be on the order of 50%, and possibly as high as 80%?

We discuss colorectal cancer screening with two gastroenterologists, including results from two recently published studies showing long-term effects of screening.

New ASCO and CAP guidelines recommend HER2 testing for all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with either early-stage invasive or metastatic disease.

ACOs can provide the structure, but it’s up to the stakeholders to establish mutually agreeable goals for this new care delivery model. Achieving these goals will require a different set of dialogues and conversations among stakeholders, and patients and their advocates must have seats at the table.

The facts presented about screening should be tailored to the patient’s exact situation, and the patient’s values should be used to guide the final decision. For younger, healthy men, PSA screening should continue to be strongly considered.

The Task Force’s recommendation against PSA screening for prostate cancer is based on the best available science and the knowledge that, while we all want to prevent suffering and death from prostate cancer, PSA screening simply does not get us there.

Once a patient has been appropriately educated by an informed healthcare provider about the possible benefits of PSA screening, then patient preference as part of shared decision making regarding PSA screening should be considered in all cases.

It may be appropriate to offer prostate cancer screening to carefully selected men with a previous history of colorectal cancer. However, the risks and benefits of establishing the diagnosis in this setting need to be considered and discussed with them.

Not all patients with colorectal cancer are candidates for such screening, however, as a remaining life expectancy of at least 10 years is generally required in order for PSA screening to yield a significant mortality benefit.

Men aged 75 and older generally do not benefit from annual PSA screening, but a new study shows that Medicare spending on PSA screening for this population continues.

The mTOR inhibitor everolimus showed clinical efficacy for the initial treatment of advanced papillary renal cell carcinoma, according to the phase II results of the RAPTOR trial.

Asking patients to track their nausea and vomiting after a course of chemotherapy helped the health care team to adjust medications and achieve better control of symptoms, according to the results of a small single center study.

The anti-RANKL antibody denosumab is more effective for preventing bone metastasis in men with high-risk castration-resistant prostate cancer compared with low-risk disease, according to results of a new study.

Why do doctors have such a hard time embracing hospice care and using it to benefit patients, particularly oncology patients? Referring a patient to a hospice program starts a sophisticated plan of care wholly directed at patient comfort, education of the family and grief counseling for the family.

Ten-year follow up two large randomized trials in the UK show that less frequent but higher dose radiotherapy regimen are as safe and effective as the standard regimen of more frequent lower doses for women with early breast cancer post-surgery.

A large study shows a difference in the cancer outcomes of married and unmarried individuals, finding that those who are married are less likely to be diagnosed with metastatic disease and to die of their cancer compared with those who are unmarried.

I am seriously thinking about firing my oncology software. It has been 19 months now since I found myself stuck with this relapse. I don’t dare tell my father anything yet-he’ll start going on about how I should see a human doctor. He has been pushing me to visit a LiveDoc who supposedly is still practicing oncology in midtown. Right-like I’m going to do that.

Researchers have identified a novel pathway that promotes bone metastasis of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). The study is in mice, but points to a potential target that could be exploited to control or prevent metastatic disease.

In order for malignancies to establish in metastatic sites, cancer cells must acquire attributes of those sites; specifically how this occurs in many cancers is relatively unknown, but a new study implicates the stroma of certain breast cancer tumors in the development of bone metastases.

We examine efforts to correct cost inequities of oral anti-cancer agents through legislation, and we look at further efforts to reduce the cost of oral chemotherapy via cycle management and waste reduction.

Expert radiologists were able to screen magnetic resonance images and rule out breast cancer diagnosis with a negative predictive value of about 99% using an abridged breast MRI protocol in a single-center study presented Saturday at the ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium 2013.

How long ago did we learn that smoking caused lung cancer? The USPSTF is poised to recommend annual screening CT scans for the detection of lung cancer in high risk individuals. Are there enough CT scanners to handle the volume? The LLC’s are forming now to put a dedicated lung screening CT machine next to every convenience store. Get your carton and CT in one stop!