Articles

Epidemiology and Burden of Disease

ADCETRIS™ (brentuximab vedotin), a new CD30-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 19, 2011, for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) after failure of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) or after failure of at least 2 prior multiagent chemotherapy regimens. ADCETRIS is also indicated for the treatment of patients with systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) after failure of at least 1 prior multiagent chemotherapy regimen.¹

In the September issue, we published an editorial entitled “I Am a Nurse Practitioner, NOT a Mid-Level Provider,” in which author Alison Moriarty Daley provided an argument against this phrase. We asked our online reading community what they think about “mid-level provider.”

• 17% accepted mid-level provider as an accurate term
• 50%agreed with Ms Daley that it is an insult
• 33% didn’t think it mattered since nobody knows what the term means

A recent study shows postmenopausal women with new-onset breast tenderness after beginning estrogen and progestin therapy may have an increased risk of breast cancer compared to women who don’t suffer breast tenderness. Researchers from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center conducted the study, which appears in the early online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

SAN FRANCISCO—A number of interventions can help reduce breast cancer among women at high risk, but uptake is sluggish, and there can be confusion about which agent to prescribe to a given patient. Seema Khan, MD, professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, addressed the topic of pharmacologic risk reduction at the 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium.

Although there is no straightforward answer to this question, the current recommended daily allowances for adults—600 IU for children and adults, and 800 IU for those older than 70 years— are probably too low.^1,2 To provide a little background, vitamin D should be considered a prohormone rather than a vitamin (a substance humans need in small amounts and usually cannot synthesize).³ Animals convert 7-hydrocholesterol to calciferol (D3) in the dermis via a photochemical reaction with ultraviolet B (UVB) sunlight. Read More ›

CHICAGO—Screening all patients for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) before initiating chemotherapy for lymphoma is associated with improved clinical outcomes and is economically favorable, according to an analysis presented by researchers at the University of Toronto and St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

CHICAGO—Targeted drugs are very effective in patients with a well-specified molecular target. Examples include imatinib in patients with chronic myelog enous leukemia and trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer. Evidence, however, has shown only modest improvements in outcomes when targeted agents are given to “unselected patients,” that is, those lacking a tumor characteristic (or mutation) that is specifically addressed by a given drug. Read More ›

The National Women’s Hall of Fame recently inducted Loretta C. Ford, RN, EdD, PNP, FAAN, FAANP, along with 10 other American women who have made valuable and enduring contributions to our nation. These women were formally inducted on September 30 and October 1, 2011, in Seneca Falls, New York, the birthplace of the American Women’s Rights Movement.

WASHINGTON, DC—Psychosocial stress may play a role in the etiology of breast cancer aggressiveness, particularly among minority populations, according to study results. In a cross-sectional study, greater levels of fear, anxiety, or isolation were found to be associated with more aggressive breast cancer; however, no clear driver for the association is yet identified.