What do you get when you combine the terms predisposition and survivor? The term previvor. A previvor is an individual who has not had cancer but is at increased risk due to a gene mutation or family history. He or she is a survivor of a predisposition to cancer.
I arrived in Chicago the day before the start of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), filled with anticipation. I was feeling very lucky to be selected again to participate in AACR’s Scientist - Survivor Program, whose goal is to build bridges and unity among the leaders of the scientific and cancer survivor and patient advocacy communities worldwide.
The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program was established at Cedars-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute in 1991 to provide stem cell transplants to patients with breast cancer. The program fell into a lull when transplant was proven ineffective for breast cancer, but about 10 years later it had a resurgence under the directorship of Michael Lill, MD, who joined the center in 1997. In 2002, the first allogeneic transplants were performed there. Now the program has grown to include 6 medical doctors and 6 nurse coordinators. An expected 140 transplants will be performed in 2012. The largest group of transplant patients is those with multiple myeloma, followed by those with lymphoma and leukemia.
Two studies presented at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting suggested that abiraterone acetate (AA; Zytiga), an androgen biosynthesis inhibitor,1 has the potential to be used earlier in the course of prostate cancer than its current US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indication (ie, after failure of chemotherapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer [CRPC]).
In an ideal world, all sick people would have a caregiver who could keep them company and give at least minimal medical care 24/7, or even 8/7. Unfortunately, because of the way society (at least in the United States) is organized, work demands, financial demands, geographical dispersion of family members, and the nature of medical care make that impossible for many. In my hospital, I see many solitary, lonely patients who most probably have many loved ones who would, if they could, be with their sick relative.
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