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A 57-year-old, postmenopausal African American schoolteacher was found by annual screening mammogram to have a suspicious irregularity. Follow-up ultrasound did not reveal cystic disease so a repeat "spot" mammogram-assisted biopsy was obtained and a grade 1 invasive ductal carcinoma with tubular elements was found.
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In a retrospective review, delay beyond 60 days in initiating adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery for colorectal cancer was associated with poorer overall survival. Although factors such as surgical complications or the existence of comorbidities may explain the delays for some of the cases, other "administrative" factors, such as delays resulting from insurance authorizations or referral setbacks, are to be avoided, if at all possible.
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Older age is an adverse prognostic factor for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the pre-tyrosine kinase era. The authors evaluated the influence of age on outcomes among 559 chronic-phase CML patients treated with imatinib.
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To assess whether screening for prostate cancer reduces prostate-specific mortality, a population-based, randomized, controlled trial for a random sample of men between the ages of 50 to 69 in a single city were screened every third year from 1987 to 1996. There was no significant difference in the rate of death from prostate cancer for the screened group compared to the control group after 20 years of follow-up.
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The term marginal-zone lymphoma (MZL) refers to three distinct but closely related lymphoprolferative disorders: mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma (extranodal MZL), splenic MZL, and nodal MZL.
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In a retrospective analysis of aggressive two-stage hepatic resection of colorectal metastases, survival was 51% at 5 years compared to only 15% for comparable patients treated with chemotherapy alone. The complexity of the surgical approach and the advent of potentially more effective systemic therapies highlight the need for a definitive randomized trial before such an approach is assimilated into community practice.
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Two new drugs for treatment of hepatitis C; NSAIDs and myocardial infarction risk; AIM-HIGH clinical trial stopped; and FDA actions.
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In a Phase 3 trial comparing the recently introduced monoclonal antibody denosumab with zoledronic acid for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer metastatic to bone, the incidence of skeletal events including pathological fracture, radiation, skeletal surgery, or cord compression was delayed on average by more than 3 months for those treated with denosumab. Adverse events were comparable. Denosumab is administered subcutaneously and can be given to patients with renal insufficiency. Clinicians have become familiar with zoledronic acid in this setting, and it remains unclear whether its role as the standard approach will be supplanted.
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Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolus (PE) occur more frequently in patients with cancer, and the risk appears to vary by tumor type.
