No Matter Who You Are, Get Checked!
July 23rd 2014It happens all the time. A man gets older, but he doesn't think he needs to be checked for prostate cancer. Even if his father or grandfather had prostate cancer, he feels fine, and does not see the need for yearly physical exams. However, the reality is that 1 in 7 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in his lifetime.
Reducing Costs Without Negatively Impacting Patient Care
July 23rd 2014A pilot program initiated by UnitedHealthcare involving 5 oncology groups that focused on best treatment practices and health outcomes, rather than the number of drugs that oncologists prescribe, resulted in a 34% reduction in medical costs.
Trastuzumab-Associated Cardiac Events Reversible, Outweighed by Benefits
July 18th 2014Cardiac events associated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) are mostly reversible and outweighed by significant extensions in overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer
One Million and Counting . . . in Support of Bladder Cancer Research
July 15th 2014When my late husband John and I started the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) in 2005, our goal was not only to raise awareness about bladder cancer, but to change the landscape for this disease by funding research to discover new treatments that will save lives.
When Their Loved One Has Advanced Cancer, Caregivers Welcome Early Support
July 11th 2014Researchers from the nursing school at Case Western Reserve University have found caregivers of terminal cancer patients reported a high degree of satisfaction when they had a team available to them through difficult decisions and end-of-life treatment for their loved one.
Managing Side Effects of Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Increasingly Important
July 9th 2014Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) is a mainstay of treatment for prostate cancer in a number of settings, so managing its side effects is becoming increasingly important for urologists and oncology practitioners in collaboration with primary care physicians.
MRI-Guided Ultrasound Relieves Pain of Bone Metastases
July 8th 2014An approach using heat to alleviate the pain commonly associated with bone metastases has proven to be safe and effective in a multicenter phase III clinical trial, yielding a 64% response rate based on self-reported pain scores among patients receiving the noninvasive intervention.
New Oral Agent Found Effective in Preventing Muscle Wasting in NSCLC
July 1st 2014The results of two phase III trials reported at the 2014 MASCC/ISOO International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer have found that enobosarm, a first-in-class, nonsteroidal, oral selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM), led to an increase in lean body mass (LBM) compared with a decline in LBM observed with placebo for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Oral Netupitant-Palonestron Combination Offers Simpler Approach to Antiemesis Treatment
June 28th 2014A treatment intended to control chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) that combines netupitant and palonosetron (NEPA) in a single capsule resulted in improved complete response rates (from 0 to 120 hours) when compared with oral palonosetron alone, according to research presented at the 2014 MASCC/ISOO International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer.
Docetaxel Associated With Intoxication, FDA Warns
June 20th 2014The FDA has issued a drug safety communication regarding the risk of intoxication with the intravenous ethanol-containing chemotherapy docetaxel. The drug is marketed as generic docetaxel and under the brand names Taxotere, Docefrez, and Docetaxel Injection.