All Articles
Paula Anastasia, RN, MN, AOCN, and Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, provide their insights on the occurrence and management of the most common hematologic and nonhematologic adverse events associated with several PARP inhibitors that are used as maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer. Read More ›
Amina Ahmed, MD, Paula Anastasia, RN, MN, AOCN, and Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, discuss the benefits and risks of using combination therapy with a PARP inhibitor and bevacizumab as first-line maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer. Read More ›
Initiating annual breast cancer screening at 40 years of age may reduce mortality rates in women, according to study results published August 12, 2020, in the journal The Lancet Oncology (Duffy SW, et al. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21:1165-1172). Starting earlier screening also did not result in overdiagnosis. Read More ›
The results of an online questionnaire of 609 breast cancer survivors in the Unites States suggest that almost 50% experienced delays in care during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was published online on August 9, 2020, in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (Papautsky EL, et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2020 Aug 9. Epub ahead of print). Read More ›
Non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—including squamous-cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and large-cell carcinoma—accounts for 80% to 85% of all lung cancers. Of patients diagnosed with lung cancer (all types), 17% have localized disease (confined to the primary site), 22% have regional disease (spread to regional lymph nodes), 57% have metastatic disease, and 4% have an unknown stage. Read More ›
At Johns Hopkins Hospital, each specialist in my practice sees approximately 8 to 10 patients with nonmetastatic NSCLC per month, some of whom are not candidates for surgery based on physiologic parameters. In most cases, we follow the NCCN Guidelines or ASCO clinical practice guidelines in our management of patients with early-stage NSCLC, except in clinical scenarios where the patient may not fit into a particular category within the guidelines, or when we enroll a patient in a clinical trial. For example, we may determine that a neoadjuvant clinical study is appropriate for a patient with stage IB NSCLC, whereas this recommendation is not concordant with the NCCN Guidelines. There are also instances in which we apply recently published clinical study data when managing our patients—even before the NCCN Guidelines have been updated to reflect the most recent findings. Read More ›
In my medical oncology practice at Johns Hopkins, I see approximately 4 patients with nonmetastatic NSCLC per week. Most of these patients are referrals from either pulmonary medicine or thoracic surgery. A patient with early stage disease initially sees a pulmonologist for diagnosis and may then be referred to a thoracic surgeon. The thoracic surgeon may refer the patient to us in medical oncology if there is an indication to enroll the patient in a clinical trial or for systemic therapy. In a community oncology practice, patients tend to go to surgery first and are then referred to the medical oncologist for adjuvant chemotherapy. In academic centers, it is more common for patients to be seen in a multidisciplinary setting. Read More ›
In the phase 2 OVARIO study, median progression-free survival has not yet been reached in women with advanced ovarian cancer who are being treated with the combination of niraparib and bevacizumab after response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy plus bevacizumab. The combination did not appear to cause cumulative toxicities. Read More ›
An all-oral regimen in women with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer did not show superiority to platinum-based regimens on the outcome of progression-free survival. Read More ›
In a meta-analysis of 7 large randomized clinical trials, PARP inhibitors were not significantly more likely to cause secondary hematologic malignancies compared with control groups. Read More ›