AS is a 58-year-old woman who was diagnosed at age 55 with a right infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast, identified as grade III, ER and PR positive, and HER2 positive. She had bilateral mastectomy, and tumor size was noted to be 2.8 cm. She had a positive sentinel lymph node. She was staged at IIB (pT2, pN1, M0). Her left breast was noted to have usual ductal epithelial hyperplasia and a 1.2 cm fibroadenoma.
The cancer treatment landscape has shifted with the emergence of new, targeted therapies. Development and use of oral oncolytics, targeted cancer therapies that can be taken by patients orally in their own homes, has increased in recent years. This increase is due in part to research in extra- and intracellular signaling pathways. By interfering with or blocking these signals, targeted drugs have become standard agents in cancer therapy.
Advance care planning (ACP) is a process for patients and their families to discuss their wishes and goals of care for treatment and end-of-life care, clarify related values and goals, and state preferences through written documents and medical orders. In situations where a patient’s decision-making capacity is limited, healthcare providers turn to family members to make decisions.
The breadth of understanding that can come from a face-to-face conversation is hard to underestimate. More than 100 oncology nurses discovered the power of advocacy, education, and one-on-one conversations during ONS’s 2018 Capitol Hill Days in Washington, DC.
Liquid biopsies—blood tests that detect circulating tumor cells—may help healthcare providers predict which women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer are at higher risk of recurrence, according to the results of a study published in JAMA Oncology.
Most patients and practitioners associate chemotherapy with cancer treatments, yet the drugs are also used to treat a number of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody–associated vasculitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) released a short video featuring ONS member Ann O’Mara, PhD, RN, MPH, program director in the NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention. She speaks directly about research projects focusing on supportive and palliative care for patients with cancer. O’Mara specifically highlights a recent study determining the impact of acupuncture on pain for patients with cancer.
Addressing the high cost of prescription medications has been an ongoing focus for the Trump administration. Its latest move, requiring drug companies to list their product’s market price on consumer ads, is an added level of transparency that didn’t exist before. Whether the decree will have an impact remains to be seen, but it may add some trust to the process.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent out a reminder to healthcare providers to share education and resources with their patients about breast cancer screening, detection, and prevention. CDC included a list for providers to highlight:
- Breast cancer risk factors
- Knowing what to do to lower those risks
- When to get regular breast cancer screenings
Every federal agency is required to submit a plan and proposal to Congress outlining its budget for the next fiscal year—or years—as well as justifications for how and why the department needs the requested allotment. In September 2018, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) released its Annual Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2020.