Oncology

Hospital systems across the country are increasingly vying to establish some of the first treatment centers to provide proton beam therapy, a high-tech radiation treatment for cancer.

Daniel George, MD, Director, Prostate Clinic, Genitourinary Oncology, Duke Cancer Institute, specifically discusses the immunotherapy agent, sipuleucel-T (Provenge) used in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Michael Kolodziej, MD, National Medical Director for Oncology Strategies, Aetna, says that the rapid emergence of precision medicine was one of the more interesting topics discussed at the ASCO 2013 Annual Meeting.

Ongoing shortages of common oncology chemotherapies have compelled physicians to substitute more expensive drugs, delay or suspend clinical trials, or even skip doses of chemotherapy, according to survey results gathered by a team from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Kolodziej, MD, National Medical Director for Oncology Strategies, Aetna, discusses the financial challenges associated with the combination of newer novel agents in breast cancer treatment.

Over the 20 years I've been treating breast cancer, I think this is the one area where we've really lagged behind in terms of making progress, said Andrew Seidman, MD, attending Physician, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY.

Ovarian cancer survivors could have an option for treatment after chemotherapy, based on the outcome of a phase III study of an approved oral therapy for kidney cancer and soft tissue sarcoma.

Two-thirds of the metastatic myeloma patients in a phase II study were still alive a year after receiving a new combination therapy, compared to slightly more than half of patients receiving a standard monotherapy for the cancer, according to results presented today at the 49th Annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

In this video, Daniel George, MD, Director, Prostate Clinic, Genitourinary Oncology, Duke Cancer Institute, shares his thoughts on the most exciting data to be presented on immunotherapies at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2013.

This finding makes it clear that patients should be advised that they need to achieve a certain fitness level, and not just be told that they need to exercise. Unlike patient-reported exercise behavior, Lakoski said, fitness can be objectively and accurately measured in a clinical setting.

Half the patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with idelalisib in a phase I study experienced rapid and prolonged tumor shrinkage, a promising finding given the limited treatment choices for this group.

Results detailed today offer hope that a new form of immunotherapy will propel the bodies of some cancer patients to fight tumors, not be overrun by them, according to a study outlined at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) in Chicago.

Patients in a phase III trial lived longer and experienced fewer treatment-related deaths from locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after receiving the standard dose of radiotherapy, compared to those receiving a high dose, according to a study presented today at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO).

Imaging spotted relapses for just a tiny fraction of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) before symptoms appeared, according to a new multi-institutional study, prompting recommendations that the radiation exposure of follow-up scans may not be worthwhile for all patients.

Colorectal resection patients in Taiwan with heavy hospital shopping behaviors got better surgical care than those who did not shop or hospitals.

In a cohort of 449 patients with colorectal cancer in the VA health system, diagnostic resource use varied with facility, patient age, and patient presentation.

The cost-saving potential of specialty or disease-specific ACOs can be huge...but it is unclear whether these specialty services are more efficiently provided through their own ACO or as ancillary to the burgeoning primary care ACO marketplace.

Market Dynamics Change How Plans Manage Oral and Office-Administered Agents

As payment reform models continue to evolve, practitioners must determine which strategy makes the most sense for their practice. Although the idea behind bundled payments may be worth considering, there are some concerns that this system could causes disruptions in oncology practices.