Oncology

This week, the top managed care news included new radiology guidelines for early-stage breast cancer; 4 continuing healthcare challenges for President Donald Trump; and Medicare coverage for Dexcom's continuous glucose monitor.

Being blind, intellectually disabled, or having a spinal cord injury can reduce the probability of a person being screened for colorectal cancer.

A study published in the journal Cancer has found that the rate of advanced imaging at the time of breast cancer diagnosis reduced during the period between 2008 and 2015 in the state of Michigan.

Empathy is the root of dignity for patients, and healthcare providers need to consciously adjust their communication styles to demonstrate that empathy, according to Melissa Thompson, MBA, healthcare strategist, patient, and self-advocate. Some examples include not discussing the patient without including them and using inclusive language that brings the patient and provider together.

Many women with breast cancer turn to radiotherapy, a proven treatment that reduces the risks of recurrence and death. However, long-term smokers face a greater risk of lung cancer and cardiac mortality from radiotherapy.

The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting kicked off on March 28, 2017, in Denver, Colorado, with a look at the specialty pharmaceutical pipeline with Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant for emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts.

Results from the randomized NOVA trial convinced the FDA to approve niraparib (Zejula) as maintenance treatment for adult patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or peritoneal cancer who are sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy.

According to research conducted at the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz, nearly 75% of smokers have low socioeconomic status.

Women who were diagnosed with cancer at a young age are more likely to experience adverse birth outcomes like preterm birth, low birth weight, and cesarean delivery, particularly if the diagnosis occurred during pregnancy, according to a study in JAMA Oncology.

While the orphan drug market has been growing, a new study argues that the current unmet needs of patients with rare disease proves that current incentives are not efficiently stimulating orphan drug development.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, in Orlando, Florida, Paul M. Cinciripini, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center delivered a presentation on a mission he said he has spent the better part of his life working on: getting patients with cancer to quit smoking cigarettes.

There are more costs involved in cancer treatment than just the price of the drugs, said Marianne Fazen, PhD, president and CEO of the Texas Business Group on Health. The process of selecting the right treatment also factors into spending, so it is important for patients to get a second opinion.

Despite the abundance of new drugs that have been approved recently and the promising clinical trials of other novel therapies, multiple myeloma remains incurable, explained Shaji Kumar, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. However, he believes that with better options for early intervention and personalized therapies, researchers are on a path to curing the disease.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, held March 23-25, 2017, in Orlando, FL, Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, spoke about the what, when, and how of biomarker testing in non-small cell lung cancer.

On the second day of the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), Kilian E. Salerno, MD, of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, walked the audience through updates to the NCCN Guidelines, explaining clinical situations in which radiation is indicated, appropriate targets of radiation treatment, and optimal approaches for minimizing toxicity.

Recent research has shown the potential of immunotherapy treatments for treating lung cancer, explained Matthew Gubens, MD, MS, assistant clinical professor of thoracic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr Gubens also spoke about oncologists’ hopes for using immuno-oncology agents in combination with one another or with chemotherapy.

The unique cancer burden among Asian Americans calls for a multifaceted strategy to address these disparities, according to Moon S. Chen Jr, PhD, MPH, professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal investigator of The National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities.

While multigene panels are extremely important in precision cancer care, high levels of variance and insufficient insurance coverage are significant barriers to rapid adoption, according to Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH, from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The first treatment for Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare form of skin cancer, has been approved to treat adults and pediatric patients 12 years or older. The drug is also under consideration through Priority Review for treatment of patients with urothelial carcinoma.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, held March 23-25, 2017, in Orlando, FL, policy researchers with interest in cancer care disparities discussed the source of existing disparities and how they can be successfully addressed.

The report, which provides an update on all the monumental changes witnessed by the field of oncology over the last year, highlights 3 key achievements: new investments in science and insurance coverage, payment models that emphasize quality, and rapid-learning healthcare systems.

The field of immunotherapy is a work in progress and researchers are now expanding the use of this treatment and doing a better job of identifying the patients that will benefit the most from it.

If the burden of cost sharing no longer fell on cancer patients, they would be more likely to access care and maintain treatment as prescribed, leading to improved outcomes, according to Samantha Watson, founder and CEO of The Samfund. When faced with high copays, patients are more likely to skip appointments or take only half of their prescribed medications.

Do newer forms of radiation treatments surpass standard radiation in prostate cancer?

According to a new clinical trial, circulating tumor cells can serve as a biomarker that alerts clinicians to the recurrence of non-small cell lung cancer months before it is detected by CT scans.