Does Precision Medicine Aid or Complicate Treatment Decisions in Cancer?
Based on the results of the MINDACT trial, investigators have concluded that chemotherapy is unnecessary in women with early-stage breast cancer who have a high clinical and low genomic risk of disease recurrence.
Overdiagnosis Blamed for Global Increase in Thyroid Cancer
Researchers from Italy and France have coauthored an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that blames novel diagnostic technologies, increased access to healthcare services, and increased medical surveillance for the thyroid cancer epidemic around the world
Does the Cost-Sharing Burden Influence Cancer Outcomes?
Financial burden is a potential nonclinical adverse event in cancer patients. As patients, especially those in the lower income ranges and the middle class, struggle to meet their medical bills, the likelihood of them skipping doses or doctor’s visits is quite high.
Patient Access to Reference Pricing Prompts Choice of Lower-Cost Testing Laboratories, Cost Savings
A study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that patients who have access to the prices charged by a testing laboratory, as well as reference pricing, choose lower-cost laboratories, a move that results in overall cost savings.
California Experiment Will Let Pathologists Report Cancer Diagnoses in Real Time
A collaborative pilot that involves the California Department of Public Health, St. Joseph Health in Orange County, and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland is studying whether near—real-time reporting of cancer diagnoses by pathologists, using standardized electronic forms, will permit providers to make more informed and timely treatment decisions.
Nivolumab Passes QOL Test in Melanoma
Results from the CheckMate 066 study found that the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab, which has proven highly efficient in the treatment of melanoma, also performs well in improving the patient’s long-term quality of survival benefit in patients with advanced melanoma.
NEJM Study First to Identify Mutations Responsible for Relapse in PD-1 Inhibitor—Treated Melanoma
Loss-of-function mutations in Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) or Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), deletion of the wild-type allele of JAK1 or JAK2, and truncation in the antigen-presenting protein beta-2-microglobulin (B2M) gene have been found responsible for lack of response to interferon gamma in patients with melanoma.
Paying to Make Health IT Meaningful: A Discussion at the NCCN Policy Summit
Maximizing the utility of technology platforms and making them meaningful to ensure quality cancer care was the underlying theme of Emerging Issues and Opportunities in Health Information Technology, a National Comprehensive Cancer Network Policy Summit, held June 27, 2016, in Washington, DC.
Health IT Essential for the Success of Cancer Moonshot
Gregory C. Simon, executive director, White House Cancer Task Force, spoke at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Policy Summit in Washington, DC. “Just like the original moonshot, the Cancer Moonshot is about using technology and the resulting information,” he said.
Dissolving Data Silos and Improving Access to Health IT Essential in Oncology Care
At the Emerging Issues and Opportunities in Health Information Technology Policy Summit hosted by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, on June 27, 2016, an afternoon panel discussed the role of technology and its importance in promoting dissemination of data.