As global populations grow, so does the cancer burden, a new study from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reported. The results of the latest analysis of the incidence and mortality of 36 types of cancer in 185 countries were published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians in September 2018.
On September 13, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk (Lumoxit), a CD22-directed cytotoxin indicated for adult patients with relapsed or refractory hairy cell leukemia who received at least two prior systemic therapies, including treatment with a purine nucleoside analog.
Discussion of ONS’s financial health was a key item on the agenda for the July 2018 Board of Directors meeting. As one of the quarterly face-to-face meetings the Board holds in conjunction with ONS Leadership Weekend, the meeting also provided the opportunity for in-depth discussion around several additional topics.
One of the biggest challenges in medical practice is finding a way to spend enough time with each patient amid all the regulatory paperwork. To streamline workflows and encourage better provider-patient relationships, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed new reforms to roll back certain regulatory efforts that were saddling clinicians with cumbersome paperwork. As part of those efforts, CMS reevaluated some of its reimbursement methods to improve efficiency with its required paperwork.
A new cross-government program is underway to improve veterans’ access to clinical cancer trials. Together with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Interagency Group to Accelerate Trials Enrollment launched in 12 VA facilities in summer 2018.
To better understand environmental and genetic impacts associated with prostate cancer in African American men, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began a new study, Research on Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry: Defining the Roles of Genetics, Tumor Markers, and Social Stress (RESPOND). The research program has received more than $26 million in funding and seeks to understand why African American men have disproportionally higher rates of aggressive prostate cancer than any other racial or ethnic population.
Pain is the most common and debilitating side effect that patients with cancer experience. Contributing factors include the disease itself via tumor invasion on surrounding tissue and bone; nerve compression; treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, especially chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), which can be disabling; and aromatase inhibitors that can cause persistent diffuse joint pain. In addition, pain that “breaks through” continuous pain medicine can be difficult to predict and control.
In 2016, only 43% of U.S. adolescents had received routine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations. Findings from a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention indicate that the type of strategy providers use to communicate the need for the vaccine may influence parents’ choices.
Cancer prevention is a full-time job, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works around the clock to raise awareness and promote necessary early detection and screening methods. Cancer survivors are a unique subset of patients and require information that’s been individualized to the survivorship experience.
As a hematology and oncology nurse, I’ve seen countless patients in treatment and recovery, and I’ve seen some lose their fight against cancer. In June 2018, I had the privilege to represent ONS as the sole nurse selected to advocate for palliative care with one of ONS’s coalition partners, the Patient Quality of Life Coalition (PQLC), where I was able to share my perspective and the many aspects of my role as a nurse with congressional staff.