Articles

BOSTON—The national discourse on cancer screening has come a long way since 1988, when Ronald Reagan became the first president to say “breast cancer” in public, noted Alec Stone, MA, MPA, Health Policy Director, Oncology Nursing Society (ONS). In 2009, after the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended mammography screening every 2 years instead of annually, beginning at 50 years of age instead of 40, the public outcry was widespread and loud. Controversy has also been swirling about prostate cancer screening recommendations.

BOSTON—As every oncology nurse knows, pain is no stranger to patients with advanced cancer. Even if background pain appears under control, studies show 23% to 89% of patients experience intermittent bouts of pain known as breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP). Variation in the incidence rates reflects variation in the definition of BTCP.

BOSTON—In an event that brought tears and laughter to those attending, CURE magazine recognized Marie Hayek, RN; Robert Martinez, LPN; and Rebecca Wojtecki, RN, BSN; as Extraordinary Healers. Nominees for the 5th annual Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing were selected based on essays submitted by patients, caregivers, and colleagues.

BOSTON—The growing use of oral oncolytics corresponds to a growing challenge with poor adherence to therapy. With more than 40 oral oncolytics available and dozens in the pipeline, Susan Moore, RN, MSN, ANP-BC, AOCN, oncology nurse practitioner and consultant with MCG Oncology in Chicago, Illinois, warned nurses at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) annual meeting that “the issue is not going to fade away.”

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved abiraterone acetate (Zytiga, Centocor Ortho Biotech) in combination with prednisone to treat patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have received prior docetaxel-based chemotherapy.

This oral oncolytic targets CYP 17A1, which plays an important role in the production of testosterone. The drug works by decreasing the production of this hormone that would stimulate cancer cells to continue growing.

Following a lung cancer diagnosis, patients typically embark on a dizzying journey that takes them from one waiting room to another, as they follow their treatment plan from the medical oncologist to the surgical oncologist to the radiation oncologist and back again. Coordinating these visits imposes yet another burden on the patient and often leads to delays in care. Six years ago, St. Joseph Mercy Cancer Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, decided to simplify life for their patients by opening a multidisciplinary lung cancer clinic.

In a review of new drugs to hit the market, speaker Maribel Pereiras, PharmD, BCOP, BCPS, referred to 2010 as “quite the year for prostate and breast cancer.” Pereiras, a clinical assistant professor at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, and a clinical oncology pharmacist with Hackensack University Medical Center, New Jersey, reviewed newly approved anticancer agents sipuleucel-T (Provenge), cabazitaxel (Jevtana), eribulin (Halaven), and denosumab (Xgeva) for pharmacists attending the annual meeting of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association.

In a “Technical Issues” session at the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacist Association annual meeting, Bhavesh Shah, RPh, BCOP, a clinical pharmacy specialist in hematology/oncology with Boston Medical Center, in Massachusetts, discussed dose-rounding, rapid infusion, and other strategies his center has adopted to reduce costs.

As nations around the globe struggle to afford the growing cost of care for their citizens, more people are asking, “How much is too much?” when it comes to cancer. Although the John G. Kuhn Keynote Lecture delivered at the annual meeting of the Hematology/ Oncology Pharmacy Association was titled “The Cost of Cancer Therapy,” speaker Tito Fojo, MD, PhD, with the medical oncology branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), says cost is not the real issue.

Despite aggressive campaigns to educate Americans on the lifethreatening risks of smoking, nearly 500,000 people die each year in the United States from smoking-related illness, according to a recent study in Epidemiology. Even patients with smoking- related cancers have trouble quitting, with about two-thirds of patients with lung cancer continuing to smoke.