Supportive Care
SG is a 29-year-old female, recently married, who was referred to the hematology clinic due to a platelet count of 11 × 109/L. Additionally, she recently had 3 nosebleeds and heavy menstrual bleeding. She had dismissed them as another sign of stress from her hectic schedule, including her recent wedding, teaching full-time, and evening graduate school. A detailed and extensive review of her history and physical, serum chemistries, CBC, and peripheral smear does not reveal any potential underlying causes for her thrombocytopenia. She is negative for HCV and HIV, and her blood type is AB negative. Because her platelet count is <100 × 109/L without an identifiable cause, she is diagnosed with primary immune thrombocytopenia. What are considerations for appropriate first-line therapy?
Read More ›Motor toxicities of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) are likely to lead to falls, deficits in physical performance (PP), and functional losses, according to a substudy of a phase 3 clinical trial in patients with CIPN reported at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.1
Read More ›Topical administration of a novel mouth rinse, AG013, appears safe, well tolerated, and effective in reducing the severity and course of oral mucositis (OM) in patients receiving induction chemotherapy in a study presented at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9024).
Read More ›A new appreciation of the pathobiological foundation of mucositis, and the application of genomics to risk assessment, heralds an individualized and more effective approach to intervention for this costly, often disabling, toxicity, according to specialists who spoke at a session on mucosal injury during the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Read More ›The link between cancer and thrombosis has been known for many years. Recently this connection has come to the forefront with increased recognition by healthcare providers and mandates by governing bodies. The results of a thromboembolic event can be catastrophic in a patient with cancer. Read More ›
With advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the estimated 5-year survival rate for cancer patients has significantly improved to approximately 67%.1 The most common malignancies in men and women in the United States—breast and prostate cancers—have 2 of the highest 5-year survival rates reported, at 90% and 99%, respectively.1 As oncology patients are living longer, bone health has become a pertinent issue in the treatment of both metastatic and nonmetastatic oncology patients.2
Read More ›Outpatient management of febrile neutropenia is appropriate for carefully selected low-risk patients, according to Ashley Morris Engemann, PharmD, Duke University Medical Center, who spoke at the 2012 Pharmacy Program held in Hollywood, Florida, during the 17th Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Engemann noted that treating patients at home is clearly the patient’s preference and is cost saving. Risk assessment is the first step, as outpatient management is not appropriate for high-risk patients but can be considered in low-risk patients. Read More ›
Many cancer survivors who thought they were fertile now may be finding that is not the case. New research is suggesting that current estimates of the impact of chemotherapy on women’s reproductive health are too low.
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) say their analysis of the age-specific, longterm effects of chemotherapy provides new insights that will help patients and clinicians make more informed de cisions about future reproductive options, such as egg harvesting (Cancer. September 1, 2011. Epub ahead of print).
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