Barbara L. Jones

With the arrival and incorporation into clinical practice of immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) and proteasome inhibitor therapy, patients with multiple myeloma are achieving deep, durable responses and disease control, and are living longer.

Between 2007 and 2011, a collaboration among clinical oncologists, pathologists, and industry scientists led to the identification of a new molecularly defined subset of non-small cell lung cancer, followed by the finding that crizotinib, then under development as a MET inhibitor, was an inhibitor of anaplastic lymphoma kinase.

Researchers highlighted the latest developments in the treatment of multiple myeloma at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting. Noteworthy abstracts included updated data on pomalidomide, as well as research involving the novel agents daratumumab and elotuzumab.

An interview with Frank G. Opelka, MD, exploring some of the health policy initiatives that will impact how physicians will be compensated in the future.

An international group of investigators provided first-time evidence of the impact of smoking on outcomes in bladder cancer in results from two studies.

A novel retrospective study comparing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy and radical retropubic prostatectomy, in men with high-risk prostate cancer, found equivalent oncologic outcomes.

Treatment can safely be delayed in patients with low-grade prostate cancer who are carefully selected but then demonstrate disease progression after a period of active surveillance.

Collaborative and standardized efforts to develop and evaluate novel drugs are necessary to ultimately provide effective long-term treatment for nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Although the 2009 AUA guidelines cite "compelling data" for consideration of nephron-sparing surgery in all patients, partial nephrectomy remains underutilized for small renal masses.

Judd W. Moul, MD, from the Duke Cancer Institute, comments on practice trends in urologic cancer care and the advantages and disadvantages of his institution's multidisciplinary prostate cancer clinic.

Daniel R. Saltzstein, MD, describes steps Urology San Antonio has taken toward creation of a comprehensive urologic care practice, including establishment of a bone health clinic and an advanced prostate cancer clinic.