December 2011

Adults with localized Ewing sarcoma have a much lower rate of 5-year survival than do children.

With the discovery of mutation drivers for NSCLC--including EGFR, KRAS, and EMLA 4-ALK--targeted therapies directed to those mutations are beginning to make a difference.

Men with prostate cancer now have an array of treatments, which was not the case a decade ago.

Half of all women with advanced ovarian cancer who develop brain cancer have a single metastasis to the brain.

An aggressive approach to care involving the continuation of chemotherapy within 2 weeks of death does not improve survival in elderly patients with metastatic NSCLC.

Higher cancer fatalism, a term that refers to the belief that a cancer diagnosis leads inevitably to death, may be associated with a lower rate of colorectal cancer screening.

Not all intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients benefit from the addition of androgen deprivation therapy to radiation therapy.

Patients with limited and extensive SCLC show incremental gains with different treatment strategies but so far novel agents have failed to make a difference in outcomes.

Axitinib has shown promising results in phase II and III trials, including the AXIS trial in patients with metastatic clear cell RCC who failed on other treatments.

Men with colorectal cancer are not routinely informed about the potential for erectile dysfunction or how the condition can best be managed.

The investigational compound tasquinimod significantly postpones disease progression and increases PFS in men with minimally symptomatic, metastatic CRPC.

Subfertile women who undergo ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization have an increased risk of ovarian malignancies.

Medicare beneficiaries with CRC who made a higher number of visits to their PCP before their diagnosis had lower disease-related mortality and lower all-cause mortality.

A group of pharmacologic inhibitors of the enzyme poly ADP ribose polymerase, are gaining ground as a potential strategy for treating triple-negative breast cancer.

The Trials in Progress section supploes summaries of ongoing research in a broad range of cancer types.

A phase II study of NKTR 102 suggest that this agent will find a role in the treatment of patients with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer whose disease is progressing.

High-dose radiation was no better than standard-dose radiation given concurrently with chemotherapy in extending survival of patients with advanced unresectable NSCLC.

Patients undergoing lung resection for NSCLC are frequently exposed to a higher dose of radiation than that which has been deemed safe for healthcare workers.

Danish investigators are reporting that long-term cell phone use does not appear to boost the risk of central nervous system (CNS) tumors.

The investigational compound cabozantinib (formerly known as XL184) has generated much excitement in recent years for its ability to target multiple pathways involved in the development of cancer.

Johnson and Johnson announced that they do not expect more Doxil (doxorubicin HCl liposome injection) to be available until sometime late in 2012...

The approval of trastuzumab, targeted directly to the human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2)-positive, was a major advance in extending the lives of women with HER2-positive breast cancer.

A new study presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) found that 97% of radiation oncology team members believe they have a responsibility to report near-misses and errors...

Investigators reported that high tumor EGFR expression is a predictive biomarker that defines patients with advanced NSCLC who are most likely to derive a survival benefit from the addition of cetuximab to platinum-based, first-line chemotherapy.

The FDA has broad authority to regulate food safety, as well as the safety, efficacy, and utilization of drugs and medical devices.