Clinical

According to the study published in Cancer, adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early stage colon cancer results in clinically relevant improvement in overall survival.

The Pew Charitable Trusts has proposed several ideas to address substance use disorders by focusing on developing and supporting policies such as the proposed rule to increase the patient limit for qualifying physicians to treat opioid use disorders.

Despite their known risk, only half the women over 85 years of age in a cohort being evaluated had their baseline bone density tested prior to initiating treatment.

Many patients, 65 years or younger, are still receiving aggressive cancer treatment in their final months of life despite Choosing Wisely recommendations encouraging symptom-directed palliative care.

Although cancer care costs are rising, it is proportional to the total utilization of healthcare resources and spending growth is happening more in areas that have seen innovation, explained Debra Patt, MD, MPH, MBA, director of public policy at Texas Oncology.

Making medical decisions is not as easy as following the evidence. When dealing with people, there are a number of anomalies that influence the decisions someone might make.

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 gene were found responsible for lack of response to interferon gamma.

During a clinical session at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, researchers were tasked with sharing their data on any breakthroughs or leads with biomarkers for the new immunotherapies.

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, results were presented from a phase 1/2 trial in which patients with relapsed or refractory CD19+ B-cell malignancies were treated with CD19 CAR-T cells.

A study has found that an 8-gene signature score, combined with nodal status and tumor size, obtained from the EndoPredict breast cancer test might be more accurate at predicting the recurrence of breast cancer, compared with the recurrence score of Oncotype DX.

The ROCKET trial was halted last week following news of 3 patient deaths due to cerebral edema.

As immunotherapy-particularly the checkpoint inhibitors-continues to show promise in solid as well as liquid tumors, clinicians have been evaluating these agents in combination to improve efficacy and outcomes.

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held June 3-7, 2016, phase 1 data from the CheckMate 143 trial was presented during a poster session.

Researchers assessed balugrastim’s efficacy, safety, and tolerability in 4 different clinical trials and found it to be a suitable alternative to pegfilgrastim in regard to reducing the mean duration of severe neutropenia.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that the aging US population will contribute to a substantial increase in the number of older cancer survivors over the next 25 years.

According to a study conducted in the United Kingdom, statins can reduce the risk of dying from breast, prostate, lung, and bowel cancer.

In an unusual case, a patient was diagnosed with febrile neutropenia after starting benazepril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. The treatment is rarely associated with agranulocytosis, which is defined as severe neutropenia.

While discussion of value frameworks has grown in academic and policy meeting settings, physician education on the subject is still in its very early stages, said Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.

The cost of maternity care varies greatly across the top 30 major US cities and a recent study found that the west coast may actually be the most expensive.

This week in managed care, the top stories included a report on how much Americans spend on complementary health approaches, more trouble with the Affordable Care Act's risk adjustment program, and researchers linked the BRCA1 gene to deadly uterine cancer.

A nomogram could help to predict patients at risk of Grade 4 neutropenia during treatment, according to a study published in Clinical Genitourinary Cancer.

What we're reading, July 8, 2016: Aetna will meet with the Department of Justice to discuss Humana purchase; Pfizer will disclose serious risk of addiction when marketing opioids; and US insurers' spending on prescription drugs nearly quadrupled from 2003 to 2014.

The FDA has asked Juno Therapeutics to halt the phase 2 clinical trial of JCAR015 in adult patients with relapsed or refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the ROCKET trial.

What we're reading, July 7, 2016: the House passed legislation to overhaul mental health care; the NFL is accused of being quick to hand out powerful painkillers; and one student outlines 5 ways to reform medical schools.