From The Editor April 2021

TON - April 2021 Vol 14, No 2
Catherine Bishop, DNP, NP-C, AOCNP
Hematology/Oncology Nurse Practitioner

In this issue of The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA (TON), we feature a variety of articles designed to help our readers stay informed on timely issues facing nurses, navigators, and advanced practice providers as they care for their patients with cancer.

We begin this issue with an interview with Penny Daugherty, RN, MS, OCN, ONN-CG, a highly experienced oncology nurse navigator at Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, Atlanta, GA. In this article, Ms Daugherty explains how she helps patients with head and neck cancer navigate the cancer care continuum, and some of the challenges and rewards of her job (see page 1).

“It is wonderful when I can see patients get out from under the burden of a challenging diagnosis and treatments and get back to functioning. It is a kind of magic to help someone reestablish their sense of self,” she said.

In this issue you will also discover an article detailing the results of a Stat poll by the Medical Group Management Association, which emphasizes the vital role of advanced practice providers in medical practices (see page 1).

As with every issue, we provide you with highlights from recent oncology conferences, where experts discussed the latest results from clinical trials that hold the promise for better outcomes in a wide range of malignancies.

In a presentation during the virtual 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, discussed findings from a large observational study of women treated with radiotherapy after a lumpectomy, which suggest that many physicians fail to perceive radiation-associated symptoms as well as the severity of those symptoms (see page 8).

“Understanding whether physicians detect whether patients are experiencing substantial toxicity is important, both because recognition of symptoms is necessary for appropriate supportive care and because clinical trials investigating new treatment options often rely on physician assessments using common toxicity criteria for adverse events,” Dr Jagsi noted.

During the virtual 2021 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, Andrew X. Zhu, MD, PhD, presented final results from the phase 3 ClarIDHy trial, which confirmed a survival advantage with the investigational agent, ivosidenib, for the treatment of patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma and IDH1 mutation (see page 13).

“The ClarIDHy study represents the first phase 3 study of a targeted, oral therapeutic with a noncytotoxic mechanism of action in advanced IDH1-mutant cholangiocarcinoma,” he said, adding that effective treatment options for the disease are limited.

We also provide readers with an overview of select articles published in leading medical journals, detailing the latest research on FDA-approved and emerging cancer therapies.

As always, we hope that you will enjoy this issue of TON, and we invite you to visit www.TheOncologyNurse.com to share your feedback with us. You can also send an e-mail with any questions or comments you may have to info@TheOncologyNurse.com.

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