The April issue of The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA (TON) features a variety of articles that specifically address topics of interest for nurses, navigators, and advanced practice providers caring for patients with cancer.
We begin with an interview with Stacey L. Webb, MPA-HCA, BSN, RN, ONN-CG, Patient Navigation Program Manager, Baylor Scott & White Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, Dallas, TX (see here).
She discussed her roles and responsibilities at the center, how navigators have been able to meet the needs of patients and their families in the midst of challenging circumstances, and ongoing barriers to care that still need to be addressed.
“I wear many hats throughout the course of the day, and often find myself shifting gears and reprioritizing to accommodate the many needs of my patients and their families, as well as the needs of my fellow navigation colleagues,” she said when describing her role at the center.
This issue of TON also features coverage from several recent oncology meetings, where experts presented key data on drugs and combination regimens being used in the treatment of patients with cancer. In a noteworthy session during the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, Kensei Yamaguchi, MD, Department Director, Gastroenterological Chemotherapy, The Cancer Institute Hospital of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, discussed updated results from the phase 2 DESTINY-Gastric01 trial, which highlighted the efficacy of trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) in the treatment of patients with advanced HER2-expressing gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer (see here).
“T-DXd demonstrated clinically meaningful [overall survival] benefit and clinically relevant improvement in objective response rate compared with physician’s choice of standard chemotherapy with continued follow-up,” he said.
During the ASH 2021 Annual Meeting and Exposition, data from several clinical trials highlighted the encouraging strides being made in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. In a late-breaking session at the meeting, Gilles Salles, MD, PhD, Medical Oncologist and Chief, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, discussed results from the phase 3 POLARIX trial, showing the benefit of adding polatuzumab vedotin to R-CHP in the initial management of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (see here).
“It is quite satisfying that we were able to improve outcomes without significantly impairing patients’ quality of life,” he said.
Additional topics in this issue explore what lies ahead for community practices as they strive to balance value and delivery of optimal care for patients in 2022 (see here), the future of genetic therapies in oncology (see here), and updates on the treatment of patients with cholangiocarcinoma (see here and here).
We also provide readers with an overview of recent FDA approvals for a variety of new and existing anticancer drugs.
As always, we hope that you will enjoy this issue of TON, and we invite you to visit www.TheOncologyNurse.com to share your feedback with us. You can also send an e-mail with any questions or comments you may have to info@TheOncologyNurse.com.
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