News

Despite initial thoughts that patients would be dissatisfied, a new “ultra-restrictive” opioid prescription protocol for gynecologic surgery led to an 89% reduction in the number of opioid tablets dispensed and a high rate of patient satisfaction.

A filgrastim (Neupogen) biosimilar, EP2006, recently produced safety results equivalent to those observed with referent filgrastim in a combined analysis of 2 phase III breast cancer studies from the United States and Europe.

The FDA has granted blinatumomab (Blincyto) an accelerated approval for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who are in remission but still have minimal residual disease (MRD).

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to enfortumab vedotin to treat patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who previously received immune checkpoint therapy.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has added the combination of TTFields (Optune) and temozolomide (Temodar) to its Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Central Nervous System Cancers for Category 1 treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme following maximal safe resection and completion of radiation therapy.

The FDA has granted a priority review to the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of adult patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) following progression on a fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan.

Emergency department (ED) visits are more common among older adults with diabetes. Oncology nurses need to be alert to patients with cancer who also have diabetes, and make sure they have the information they need to prevent unnecessary ED visits.

Survivors of childhood cancer often suffer from long-term physical and cognitive impairments that could affect their ability to secure or keep a job.

Nilotinib (Tasigna) was approved by the FDA for the first- and second-line treatment of pediatric patients aged 1 year and older with Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic phase (Ph+ CML-CP).

Nurses should be aware of the phenomenon of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

Therapeutic strategies for treating less-common molecular targets found in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), such as ROS1, NTRK, MET, and HER2, are under development.

The FDA has approved brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) for use as a frontline treatment, in combination with chemotherapy, for adult patients with stage III or IV classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

While the new FDA approval of 4-week dosing adds more flexibility in scheduling, it reduces the number of times patients would be monitored in person for adverse effects (AEs), so nurses need to be alert to and educated about potential AEs.

The FDA has granted a priority review to a supplemental new drug application for enzalutamide (Xtandi) for the treatment of men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it will cover certain genomic testing for Medicare-eligible patients with advanced cancer.

A group of researchers in the northeast United States conducted a study to explore how women become informed about breast cancer surgery options.

Endocrine therapy can reduce tumor size in patients with ER-positive breast cancer. It can even help some patients avoid chemotherapy or even surgery. Deciding how long to continue this therapy can be tricky though.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has added apalutamide (Erleada) to its category 1 recommendations for the treatment of patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

The FDA has granted priority review to a supplemental biologics license application for Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of advanced cervical cancer with disease progression on or after chemotherapy.

The latest revision of the staging manual for breast cancer from the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) codifies advanced knowledge of the role of biologic factors in cancer.

The availability of PARP inhibitors for the treatment of patients with BRCA-mutant metastatic breast cancer has the potential to usher in a new era for targeted therapies.

Breast cancer survivors who exercise could reduce their risk of cardiovascular events, stroke, and diabetes, study shows.

Ribociclib (Kisqali) improves progression-free survival (PFS) in pre- or perimenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer. These results, shared at 2018 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, were sustained across patient subgroups.

Palbociclib (Ibrance), a CDK 4/6 inhibitor, demonstrated significant efficacy in combination with the aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Femara) in the frontline setting of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative, postmenopausal metastatic breast cancer in phase III PALOMA-2 study.

Fear of cancer recurrence is considered one of the most prominent concerns for patients following a cancer diagnosis – a concern nurses can address when creating optimal survivorship care.

A drug used to treat leukemia may also have potential in treating small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT).

A wave of novel treatments and FDA approvals has recently swept through the HER2-positive breast cancer space. Kimberly L. Blackwell, MD, oncologist at Duke Cancer Institute, discusses these recent advancements.

The FDA has approved a supplemental biologics license application to add a 4-week dosing schedule for nivolumab (Opdivo) across several of the PD-1 inhibitor’s indications.

A non-profit organization has dedicated its efforts to raise awareness around the conversations healthcare teams should be having with patients about clinic trial enrollment.

Radiotherapy treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma may raise the risk of certain breast cancer subtypes, a study of data on women survivors from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries revealed.