Articles

San Francisco, CA—A new tool called the Prostate Health Index (phi) can identify which patients with favorable-risk prostate cancer can safely be managed with active surveillance and which patients will probably require treatment. The phi index is relatively low tech and is calculated using 3 serum measurements: prostate-specific antigen (PSA), free/total PSA, and a measurement called [-2]proPSA.

San Francisco, CA—Phase 3 data from a global clinical trial have demonstrated an improvement in overall survival (OS) when the investigational angiogenesis inhibitor ramucirumab is added to chemotherapy as second-line therapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Value Propositions from April 2014.

Therapies targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and mTOR signaling pathways are standard first-line and second-line treatment options for patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma. However, an unmet medical need exists for patients who had previously received VEGF-targeted and mTOR inhibitor therapies.

Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) is a rare type of Hodgkin lymphoma that represents approximately 5% of all cases. Unlike classic Hodgkin lymphoma, the malignant cells of NLPHL universally express CD20. Because rituximab (Rituxan) is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, it has been evaluated as a treatment option for this patient population.

Metastatic breast cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with almost 40,000 women in the United States succumbing to the disease in 2013. Although advances in the treatment of breast cancer have been made, metastatic disease is still largely considered incurable. In a prospective, multicenter, molecular-screening study, researchers investigated whether the identification of individual genomic alterations could lead to personalized targeted therapy in women with advanced breast cancer (André F, et al. Lancet Oncol. 2014;15:267-274).

A mutation in any 1 of a suite of DNA repair pathway genes may predict not only the risk for familial prostate cancer, but also indicate the presence of a particular aggressive form of the disease, according to results of a new UK study from the Institute of Cancer Research in London.

Results of a new study investigating the probability of a cervical cancer diagnosis among women aged 65 to 83 years using data from the UK Cervical Screening Call/Recall System indicate that the current practice may need to be changed.

The promise of big data–driven personalized healthcare mandates reform of the oncology reimbursement system, suggested Jeffery C. Ward, MD, Medical Oncologist, Swedish Cancer Institute, Edmonds, WA, in a recent commentary.

Hollywood, FL—The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is in its infancy, but it is already changing oncology practice, said panelists at the 2014 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Conference roundtable discussion. The consequences of the ACA include the changing composition of oncology patients, the risk pool of the exchanges, new payment and reimbursement models, acquisition fever, and oncology workforce demands, the panelists said.