Conference Correspondent

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 54th Annual Meeting, held in Boston, Massachusetts, coincided with Superstorm Sandy. Despite the havoc wreaked by the storm, Boston was largely spared, although ASTRO canceled Monday afternoon’s Plenary Session when public transportation was shut down. Read More ›

Sildenafil is often used by men treated with radiation or radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer to achieve an erection sufficient for sexual intercourse, and it is effective to varying degrees when used on an as-needed basis. Read More ›

Doxepin, a tricyclic antidepressant approved for the treatment of depression and anxiety, as well as moderate pruritus, significantly improved oral mucositis pain in patients treated with radiation therapy for head and neck cancer in a phase 3 trial. Read More ›

Radiation therapy extends life in older women with early breast cancer, according to 2 different studies presented at the ASTRO 54th Annual Meeting. Read More ›

Many patients with incurable lung cancer mistakenly believe that radiation therapy administered for palliative treatment of pain and other cancer symptoms represents a potential cure, according to a study presented at the ASTRO 54th Annual Meeting. Read More ›

The American Society of Clin­ical Oncology 2012 Breast Can­cer Symposium, held September 13-15 in San Francisco, California, offered all members of the cancer team an upfront view of new data and an opportunity for one-on-one interaction with experts in the field. The following are a few re­search items of interest to oncology nurses. Read More ›

Oncology experts from all over the globe arrived in Vienna, Austria, to attend the Euro­pean Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2012 Congress. Attendance broke all records, with 16,394 delegates, many of them from outside of Europe: 1116 from the United States, 539 from Japan, 479 from China, 292 from Argentina, and 258 from Brazil. Read More ›

Single-agent doxorubicin remains the standard of care as first-line treatment for unresectable or metastatic soft tissue sarcomas, according to results of a phase 3 trial conducted by EORTC and presented at the Presidential Symposium during the ESMO 2012 Congress (Abstract LBA7). Read More ›

The addition of an investigational hypoxia-targeted agent, TH-302, to gemcitabine improved overall survival (OS) versus gemcitabine alone in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer in an open-label phase 2b trial (Abstract 6660). Read More ›

The major barriers to implementing adequate pain control for cancer patients on a global scale are restrictive government regulations and lack of access to supplies of morphine. Individual countries may lack morphine suppliers, and regulations in countries where morphine is available may prevent doctors from prescribing doses strong enough to alleviate pain and suffering. Read More ›