Vol. 20/No.5

Higher costs associated with advanced stage pancreatic cancer, are potentially avoidable with screening and earlier treatment. However, the US Preventive Services Task Force in an ongoing draft review has reaffirmed its stance against screening in asymptomatic individuals.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the few cancers that is on the rise, and this means that the overall cost of treating this disease is also climbing.

Novel and emerging agents are creating exciting new options for patients with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer, resulting in the need to consider how best to introduce and sequence these agents into the treatment timeline.

The immediate future of clinical investigation in ovarian cancer is remarkably exciting, with a number of novel agents and combination strategies currently being examined in multiple clinical trials.

The standards for reporting findings from immunotherapy studies should reflect the unique efficacy and toxicity characteristics of this rapidily emerging modality, with detailed and transparent explanations of definitions.

Based on the crucial role of BCL-2 family proteins in apoptosis regulation, targeting these proteins using BCL-2 inhibitors offers a potentially new therapeutic option for patients with various types of hematologic malignancies and, more recently, patients with solid tumors.

Breast surveillance is essential when determining whether or not therapy is beneficial and to avoid toxicity, usual care for patients with metastatic breast cancer includes monitoring of symptoms and cancer burden.

Global use of cancer management guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has climbed rapidly in recent years.

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, discussed the distinguishing features of the combination of encorafenib with binimetinib as well as some next steps, including the question of whether the regimen eventually could move to the adjuvant setting.

An increasing amount of evidence shows that a proportion of patients with cancer found to have low-volume metastases at diagnosis see meaningful benefit from aggressive local therapy. Equally important, there have been no meaningful reductions in reported quality of life among patients receiving intensive local therapy, and a small percentage of patients appear to be cured with this strategy.

The role of intraperitoneal chemotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer has been a controversial subject for almost 3 decades; now, investigators are moving away from its use.

There have been efforts in recent years to improve patient adherence to oncology medications; now, oncologists may soon have 1 more tool in the form of digital pills.

Stunning technological advances in the ability to examine the molecular structure of human DNA have significantly reduced the time and costs associated with this process.