Articles

A new blood test is twice as sensitive and can detect breast cancer recurrence a full year earlier than current blood tests, according to Daniel Raftery, PhD, who reported on the test at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Dr Hansen provides a thorough review of adherence in cancer therapy and the growing use of oral therapies. These agents may provide patient convenience, but they also present significant adherence issues. As Dr Hansen reported, it cannot be assumed that a patient will adhere to the prescribed medication doses and schedules simply because he or she is facing a potentially life-threatening illness. Read More ›

In laboratory experiments, we can nearly guarantee that the intervention being tested is received, short of human error. We cannot control whether the patient arrives at the clinic, but when we prescribe medications that are given intravenously, we can very accurately record whether the medication was administered. With oral medications, however, there are many black holes both in research and clinical settings, and despite the best efforts to measure adherence, the impact of nonadherence is largely unknown. Read More ›

In an era when oral drugs are increasingly becoming a part of our approach to care for patients with cancer, adherence to prescribed therapy is essential. Yet the statistics cited by Dr Hansen are a stark reminder that despite our best intentions, cancer patients do not and will not always take oral medications the way in which they are directed. For the clinician, this poses a challenge as to how best to confront this troublesome issue in order to improve outcomes for the patients entrusted to our care. The details of such an effort may vary from cancer center to cancer center. Read More ›

Results from a phase 3 study of women with HER2-positive early breast cancer showed that administering Herceptin (trastuzumab) by subcutaneous (SC) injection leads to efficacy comparable to the current intravenous (IV) Herceptin treatment. Due to its less invasive administration and quicker administration time (5 minutes vs 30-90 minutes), Herceptin SC may allow greater convenience for patients versus the traditional IV method. This is important in the early breast cancer setting, as Herceptin is usually prescribed for 1 year.

Postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer treated with aromatase inhibitors prior to surgery may be able to have breast-conserving surgery rather than a mastectomy, according to the results of a national clinical trial.

A daily low dose of aspirin could be effective, not just as a preventive measure, but as an additional treatment for those with cancer, according to 3 studies led by Oxford University researchers.

According to Professor Peter Rothwell of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, “What we have now shown is that aspirin also has short-term effects, which are manifest after only 2-3 years.” He continues, “In particular, we show that aspirin reduces the likelihood that cancers will spread to distant organs by about 40-50%.”

A stress management program customized for women with breast cancer can modify tumor-promoting processes at the molecular level, according to researchers led by Michael H. Antoni, director of the University of Miami’s Center for Psycho-Oncology Research. The new study by Antoni and his team was recently published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Survivorship clinics and programs are becoming critical components of modern cancer care because people are living longer after a cancer diagnosis. Many institutions strive to compile survivorship guidelines into a patient-friendly plan for their cancer survivors.