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Volume 4, Number 1 (January 2007) | |||||
Letter from the Editor |
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New year, new hopes The West Clinic, Memphis, TN This issue features one of the stunning advances in cancer care: imatinib, the prototype of the new wave of drugs that are rationally designed agents. Reports from the 2006 American Society of Hematology meeting confirmed the remarkable sustained effect of this drug and its followers dasatinib and nilotinib. Reports on these and other advances, critical to quality community care.
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Community Translations |
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New BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors for imatinib-resistant leukemias Dasatinib and nilotinib provide a novel and effective approach to treating imatinib-resistant CML and Ph-positive ALL. Because of the success of imatinib, and its estimated 4% annual failure rate, only 600 Americans lost their lives to these rare forms of cancer last year. This year, that number is likely to be even smaller. Nilotinib binds to the BCR-ABL domain 20–50 times more tightly than imatinib does, accounting for its effectiveness. | ||||
FROM THE COMMUNITY ONCOLOGIST'S PERSPECTIVE Blue Ridge Cancer Care, Roanoke, VA | |||||
FROM THE NURSE'S PERSPECTIVE Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
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Community Dialogue |
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Too many trials, not enough patients Community Oncology interviews Drs. Jennifer T. Tam-McDevitt and Stuart Lichtman about their mission to open more clinical trials to older patients. Both members of the Geriatric Oncology Consortium, these practitioners have been hoping to spark discussions about the dearth of enrolled patients and how to fill that gap. In many instances, older patients are excluded from clinical trials out of fear that they cannot tolerate the protocols.
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Psychosocial Oncology |
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The explosion of hereditary cancer knowledge: benefiting from a family information service Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE A family information service (FIS) is a cost-effective way of communicating both good and bad news to a family carrying a deleterious, cancer-causing germline mutation. This article describes the mechanics of setting up an FIS and describes some of the rewarding experiences the authors have had conducting these sessions over the past several decades. |
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COMMENTARY Genetics Clinic, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Green Bay, WI
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Economics/Practice Management |
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Nine ways to improve efficiency in an ambulatory infusion center Palmetto Hematology Oncology, PA, and Gibbs Cancer Center, Spartanburg, SC Ambulatory infusion centers need to operate efficiently, profitably, and effectively. To make that happen, practices need to adopt these nine steps to increase patient satisfaction, staff dedication, and staff retention. The steps include standardizing treatment plans, designating specific nurses to preview orders, instituting a precertification process, setting up an agreed-upon treatment schedule, coordinating weekly staff meetings, among others.
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Original Contribution |
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Partial breast irradiation: a community hospital approach Schiffler Cancer Center, Wheeling, WV Adjuvant radiotherapy remains a staple in the definitive management of breast cancer, but its benefits vary according to patient- and tumor-specific characteristics. Partial breast irradiation (PBI) has become an increasingly popular treatment option for a number of reasons: in-breast tumor recurrence patterns following breast-conserving surgery are now well documented; patients want to reduce their travel time; the cost of PBI is lower than that of other options; and toxicity may be reduced as well. This article describes the various forms of PBI, presents detailed data on our community hospital experience, and discusses some of the latest PBI series, with specific attention paid to toxicity issues.
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Managing Side Effects |
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Osteonecrosis of the jaw associated with bisphosphonate therapy: tips for the practicing oncologist Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center and West Virginia School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV Bisphosphonates are widely used to prevent bone loss and skeletal damage in patients with various malignancies and skeletal metastases. Recently, however, physicians, dentists, and oral surgeons have noted that use of bisphosphonates increases the risk of osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). This serious complication is associated with poor healing, spontaneous intraoral ulceration, and necrosis of the bone in the oral and maxillofacial regions. Three case reports of patients with ONJ who were seen at our institution are described along with treatment options for this important and emerging clinical entity.
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Letters to the Editor |
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Treatment considerations for today’s elderly Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
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Washington Update |
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2007: Year of opportunity for Congress and community oncology Community Oncology Alliance, Memphis, TN The commentator offers a list of steps that Congress should take in the coming year to align the original intent of the Medicare Modernization Act with reality.
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Adverse Events Alert |
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Inadvertent intrathecal administration of vincristine Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, VA Midwest Center for Health Services and Policy Research, VA Medical Center, Northwestern University, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chicago, IL This new regular feature is designed to help protect your patients with important updates.
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© 2007 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. |
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