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The evidence backing the use of myeloid growth factors in patients at high risk for febrile neutropenia is solid, according to Jeffrey Crawford, MD, of Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, North Carolina.

Myeloid growth factors are the primary means of preventing chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. This often leads to febrile neutropenia, which can be fatal in 10% of patients, according to a database of more than 40,000 individuals. Concerns recently have been raised, however, that their use is associated with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Patients receiving chemotherapy are at risk for reactivation of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), and this can have a significant negative impact on the outcomes, including death from liver failure. According to Emmy Ludwig, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York, one-third of the world has been exposed to HBV, “making it an enormous problem.”

Fortunately, HBV reactivation can be prevented with the prophylactic use of effective antiviral agents, for which recommendations were presented by Ludwig at the meeting.

Effective management of breakthrough cancer pain requires optimizing background therapy for chronic pain and accurately assessing the type of breakthrough pain, said presenters at the 45th American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exposition.

“Knowing the type of breakthrough cancer pain can help match the right drug with the right goal,” said Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD, BCPS, CDE, who is professor and vice chair, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore.

Adding simvastatin to cetuximab enhances antitumor activity in KRAS-mutant colorectal (CRC) cancer cells, according to a study by Lee and colleagues in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The addition did not, however, enhance efficacy in BRAF-mutant cells.

Imbalanced investment and relational amelioration emerged as areas of care that were viewed differently by navigators and their patients in an analysis of perspectives from each group. Researchers from the University of Rochester interviewed 18 pairs of patients and navigators as part of a larger randomized controlled trial. In doing so, Yosha and colleagues identified struggles the navigators, in this study well-trained lay community health workers supervised by social workers, were experiencing but to which the patients were unaware.

For the up to two-thirds of men with azoospermia after chemotherapy, microdissection testicular sperm extraction (TESE) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can salvage fertility, according to the largest reported series of postchemotherapy microdissection TESE-ICI to date. Although prechemotherapy sperm banking remains a recommended part of any treatment plan, researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City demonstrated that assisted reproductive techniques should be offered to patients who did not preserve sperm.

On Tuesday, an Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended that the FDA approve sunitinib (Sutent) and everolimus (Afinitor) for patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs). Whereas the incidence of most cancers has been declining steadily over the years, cases of pNET are increasing and new, more effective therapies are desperately needed.

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute report that radiation therapy for a first cancer is unlikely to lead to a second cancer diagnosis later in life. Berrington de Gonzalez and associates conducted a retrospective review of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry for nearly 650,000 adults who received a cancer diagnosis between 1973 and 2002 and survived at least 5 years. Read More ›