Articles

When breast cancer patients’ doctors comanage their care with other specialists, the patients report greater satisfaction with their care. However, not all specialists are likely to share decision making with other physicians, according to a new study in Health Services Research.

 “Breast cancer is typically a condition that is managed by multiple specialists. Often a surgeon is involved as well as a medical oncologist, radiologist and primary care physician,” said Katherine Kahn, MD, and senior author of the study.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application for Velcade (bor tezomib) for Injection (Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company) that updates the label to include additional longterm (median follow-up 60.1 months) overall survival (OS) data from the VISTA trial. The VISTA trial examined the use of bortezomib-based therapy in patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma (MM).

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Patients may not understand the information medical care providers give them for a number of reasons, but significant among them is poor healthcare literacy, which is the ability to understand health information and to use that information to make good decisions about health and medical care. Unfortunately, about 33% of the adult population in the United States has limited healthcare literacy. Yet, the need for this proficiency is greater than ever because medical care has become progressively more complex. Let us take a look at healthcare literacy facts and figures:

The systemic amyloidoses are a group of complex diseases caused by tissue deposition of misfolded proteins that results in progressive organ damage.¹ The incidence of immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis (also referred to as primary amyloidosis) is approximately one-tenth that of multiple myeloma,¹ a more common cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells. Read More ›

The red, golden, and candy cane beets are the perfect addition to any winter menu. Beets are the ideal vegetable to incorporate into your winter meals to add immune-boosting, phytonutrient-rich compounds into your diet. With the cold and flu season upon us, it is time to look to the foods we eat as a weapon and take advantage of their potential to keep us healthy.

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The development of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with cancer has a significant impact in terms of morbidity and mortality and healthcare costs, according to a “real-world analysis” reported at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress.

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An investigational alpha-pharmaceutical not only prevented skeletal-related events (SREs) in patients with prostate cancer with bone metastases in a phase 3 study presented at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, but it also improved overall survival.

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In patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with ALK gene rearrangements, treatment with crizotinib provided clinically meaningful antitumor activity, producing responses in 51% of patients, in a multicenter phase 2 study reported at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress.

Rearrangements in ALK are seen in up to 5% of patients, and crizotinib—a first-in-class, oral, potent, and selective small molecular entity—competitively inhibits ALK.

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After launching the Survivors Teaching Students program of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA) in 2008, and this year organizing the Ovarian Cancer Advocacy Alliance (OCAA) of San Diego, I have focused on 3 aspects of advocacy: 1) Effect change in the way medical doctors approach diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer by educating the medical community, patient organizations, and the community at large to achieve early diagnosis and improved treatment options; 2) Advance ovarian cancer research toward early diagnosis and improved quality of care; and 3) Address legislative issues Read More ›