Articles
An increasing number of cancers are treated with self-administered oral medications either as the sole treatment or as a component of the patient’s cancer therapy. Most supportive and palliative medications (including antiemetics, pain relievers, and antidiarrheals) are oral, and proper adherence to these agents may be important in maximizing the patient’s quality of life. As healthcare providers, we may believe that given the gravity of the disease, patients will be especially compliant with their oral anticancer medications. Read More ›
Researchers have documented diverse genetic changes in different parts of the same primary tumor, suggesting that individual tumors harbor a complexity of genetic changes that has not been well appreciated (Gerlinger M, Rowan AJ, Horswell S, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:883-892). This discovery has implications for personalized medicine directed at genetic changes identified in 1 biopsy of a primary tumor.
Read More ›An increasing number of cancers are treated with self-administered oral medications either as the sole treatment or as a component of the patient’s cancer therapy. Most supportive and palliative medications (including antiemetics, pain relievers, and antidiarrheals) are oral, and proper adherence to these agents may be important in maximizing the patient’s quality of life. As healthcare providers, we may believe that given the gravity of the disease, patients will be especially compliant with their oral anticancer medications. Read More ›
According to 2 large breast cancer trials, CYP2D6 genotyping was not predictive of the effectiveness of tamoxifen in postmenopausal women. Thus, the results of these studies are not generalizable to premenopausal women.
Read More ›The term “chemo brain” was coined to describe mild cognitive problems in cancer patients attributed to chemotherapy. Although minor chemotherapy-induced memory and cognitive impairments have been described previously, a case-cohort study suggests that these effects can persist more than 20 years posttherapy.
The authors state that chemo brain effects are subtle compared with women who never had chemotherapy, but it’s possible that these effects place people at greater risk for cognitive decline associated with aging.
Read More ›Primary gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) sited outside the gastrointestinal (GI) tract carries a poorer prognosis than primary GIST within the GI tract, according to a study presented at the recent ASCO GI Symposium in January 2012.
Read More ›The previous installment in this cancer care series examined the growing importance of oral therapies for the treatment of cancer and the implications of patient adherence on its success. At the present time, more than 20 oral medications are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for first-line treatment of cancer. Read More ›
As many as 1 in 5 cancer patients may experience obstacles in their care, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These obstacles include communication issues between patients and their healthcare providers, along with traditional medical errors.
Read More ›Independent of hepatitis markers, a family history of liver cancer increases the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), according to study results published in the May issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Researchers also discovered a 70-fold increase in risk of HCC for those patients with family history of liver cancer and markers for hepatitis B (HBV) or hepatitis C (HCV).
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