Articles

This patient vignette portrays the self-blame, suffering, and personal pain that a diagnosis of lung cancer may precipitate in patients who smoked cigarettes for a significant part of their life. Lung cancers are the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States Read More ›

Many experienced oncology nurses who are retiring or approaching retirement possess knowledge about oncology patient care that comes from years of experience. Read More ›

In the Nurses’ Health Study 2 (NHS2), it was found that nurses who had “ever” worked rotating night shifts had a 20% increased risk of sleeping fewer than 7 hours per night on average, compared with 0 nurses who had “never” worked night shifts. Read More ›

Early integration of palliative care into oncology programs improves quality of life for patients and caregivers, increases prognostic understanding, and demonstrates survival benefits while substantially reducing costs... Read More ›

Cancer-related cachexia is a debilitating condition that has had no effective treatment thus far. Its symptoms include loss of lean body mass, as well as muscle wasting and loss of appetite. Read More ›

Routine surveillance imaging of asymptomatic patients in first remission after treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma offers little clinical benefit at substantial cost, according to Scott F. Huntington, MD, of Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues. Read More ›

There’s a lot we don’t know about lung cancer screening,” according to Denise Aberle, MD... However, certain measures can be taken to lower false-positive and overdiagnosis rates, lessen costs, ameliorate patient suffering, and correctly identify screening cohorts, she asserted. Read More ›

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Patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer but continue to smoke are at much higher risk of developing a secondary primary lung cancer (SPLC) compared with never smokers as well as those who have quit smoking, according to the largest analysis of its kind. “This study, which looked at the relationship between smoking history and developing a second lung cancer, adds to the evidence of the harmfulness of cigarette smoking. We presumed that never smokers would have a lower risk than current smokers, but we were encouraged to find that quitting smoking lowered the risk of SPLC and quitters had similar overall survival rates as never smokers,” said John Michael Boyle, MD, lead author, a radiation oncology resident at Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, North Carolina. Read More ›

Evidence-based healthcare, considered to be the best healthcare in the world, is a premise that many believe has become the norm in the United States. However, there are several reasons why this is not always the case. For example, one traditional standard is the empirical approach of teaching in the medical profession, “see one, do one, teach one,” which is not necessarily based on current best evidence. This method may have been the best available in the past, but as research and medicine are moving more quickly than ever before, healthcare providers need additional tools to keep abreast of advances founded on evidence-based research. Read More ›