Supportive Care

Patients with advanced lung cancer had improved appetite, less weight loss, and a significant increase in lean body mass when treated with the ghrelin agonist anamorelin.

Craig Blinderman, MD, Attending Physician in Medicine & Anesthesiology NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Assistant Professor of Palliative Care (Medicine & Anesthesiology), Columbia University, discusses starting palliative care early in patients with metastatic disease.

At the 2014 ASCO meeting, OncologyLive sat down with Jimmie C. Holland, MD, the Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the recipient of the 2014 Giants of Cancer Careâ„¢ Award for her pioneering contributions in the field of supportive care.

Does Medicare coverage for patients with cancer match up to what they actually want covered? There appears to be a mismatch between covered benefits and beneficiary preferences that involves quality of life and financial burden of care, according to a study from Duke University.

Breakthrough pain is a common and disabling reality for patients with advanced cancer. Its root causes vary, and experts agree that this type of pain is often inadequately managed.

J. Kellogg Parsons, MD, associate professor of surgery (urology), University of California, San Diego, discusses modifiable lifestyle factors associated with bladder cancer.

A randomized multicenter trial examining the efficacy of adding dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) to a vaginal bioadhesive moisturizer in postmenopausal survivors of breast or gynecologic cancer has found that daily rather than as-needed use of such a moisturizer significantly relieves symptoms of vaginal atrophy in these women.

Starting in January 2015, Medicare will begin paying physicians for the care coordination they provide beneficiaries with chronic conditions.