Articles

Postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) early breast cancer who stop treatment with adjuvant anastrozole because of grade 2 to 3 arthralgia and/or myalgia (A/M) may benefit from switching to letrozole therapy, new data suggest.

Patients receiving the neurokinin 1 (NK1) antagonist aprepitant as part of a preparative regimen prior to stem-cell transplant had improved control of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting, and the drug did not interfere with antitumor efficacy, according to investigators from a prospective, randomized, double-blind, phase 3 trial.

Less intensive treatment with bortezomib—giving the drug weekly rather than twice weekly —appears to have comparable efficacy but less toxicity, according to a study by Spanish researchers. Good results were reported with the less-intensive regimen in newly diagnosed older patients.

Adding rituximab to fludarabine and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy improves overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced, symptomatic chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) compared with chemotherapy alone, according to a study by German researchers.

In the first head-to-head comparison of targeted oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors as initial treatment for early-stage chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), molecular and cytogenetic remissions were more common with nilotinib compared with imatinib, the previous standard for treating early-stage CML, said Giuseppe Saglio, MD.

Alvimopan, a peripherally acting opioid antagonist, reduces the length of hospital stay after a bowel resection, a new study indicates.

Opioids remain a mainstay of treatment for moderate-to-severe cancer pain. In this interview, Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN, director, Cancer Pain Program, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, discusses the issues surrounding the use of opioids for the management of cancer pain.

Arizona pharmacists are not particularly well-informed about skin cancer and need to take steps to improve their knowledge, a survey of pharmacists working in a variety of settings found.

The late Rawley M. Guerrero, PharmD, MBA, FASHP, was remembered for his many contributions to pharmacy education and training at a reception for winners of the 2009 ASHP Research and Education Foundation’s Pharmacy Residency Excellence Awards held during the Midyear Clinical Meeting in Las Vegas.

Managed care pharmacists, through implementation of a clinical authorization process, can play a pivotal role in securing payer reimbursement of chemotherapy agents at a cancer hospital, according to recent data.