June 2012

Trials underway in gastrointestinal, oral, head and neck, and brain cancer intended to stimulate discussion about ongoing clinical trials and to promote collaboration across the oncology community.

The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug naproxen significantly decreases the incidence, severity, and duration of pegfilgrastim-induced bone pain in patients diagnosed with a nonmyeloid cancer.

The long-standing debate about postmenopausal hormones and breast cancer gained more evidence to support an increased cancer risk.

A modified intraperitoneal (IP) regimen for advanced ovarian cancer demonstrated feasibility, tolerability, and evidence of effectiveness, results of a small pilot study suggest.

Health plans continue to seek methods to curtail cancer costs.

Many contemporary issues in the US healthcare system affect clinicians in all areas of medicine. Some issues are even more specific to the field of gynecologic oncology.

Field-directed treatment with the investigational topical agent ingenol mebutate has been shown to be effective for actinic keratoses on the head and body.

Recent clinical and economic studies have suggested that ovarian cancer regimens containing bevacizumab could fall within the boundaries of cost-effectiveness, at least for some patients.

Three-fourths of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma associated with hepatitis C infection achieved disease control with antibody therapy directed at a T-cell antigen.

For nearly 40 years, the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center has enjoyed a reputation for excellence and innovation.

The cancer proliferation marker Ki-67 decreased significantly in men who took high-dose vitamin D in the weeks leading up to radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer.

Women who have been previously treated for early-stage breast cancer are much less likely to complain of hot flashes if they remain within 10% of their prediagnosis weight.

The administration of nab-paclitaxel plus carboplatin results in a significantly higher ORR than conventional solvent-based paclitaxel with carboplatin in previously untreated patients with advanced NSCLC.

Breast cancer survival improved significantly in patients who increased consumption of cruciferous vegetables following diagnosis, a study of Chinese women showed.

Four studies reflected the growing interest in-and the volume of evidence for-using the diabetes drug metformin as a potential cancer therapy.

More than a third of cancer survivors report ongoing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder several years after being diagnosed with cancer.

Unexpected target mutations likely doomed a proven therapeutic approach to lung cancer in a test against glioblastoma.

The addition of bevacizumab to first-line carboplatin-paclitaxel did not prolong survival in Medicare recipients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer.

Young women who have recently used DMPA for at least 1 year have more than twice the risk of invasive breast cancer as young women who do not report recent use of the injectable contraceptive.

Cancer drugs once deemed too toxic for humans have earned a second chance at therapeutic utility, in part because of a reversal in the usual progression of medical research.

In the past few years the pace of discovery of effective immunotherapies has accelerated as a consequence of better chemistry and understanding of immune biology.