Articles

San Antonio, TX—Studies have suggested that musculoskeletal toxicity associated with aromatase inhibitor therapy can lead to noncompliance in up to 33% of women with breast cancer. A new, large cohort study at a single regional cancer center showed that the rate of musculoskeletal toxicity in women with early breast cancer who were treated with endocrine therapy was 64%.

San Antonio, TX—The uptake of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs for risk reduction of breast cancer is still poor, as was confirmed by a study using the electronic health records (EHRs) from Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA.

Atlanta, GA—Dutch investigators found that rituximab (Rituxan) maintenance in the second-line treatment of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) was cost-effective, as reported at the 2012 American Society of Hematology meeting.

Atlanta, GA—Ruxolitinib (Jakafi) alleviates symptoms such as fever, headache, weight loss, and fatigue, and reduces spleen size in patients with myelofibrosis.

Socioeconomic status and other nonphysiologic factors may be largely responsible for the apparent association between having fathered a child and an increased risk for prostate cancer, Swedish researchers have concluded.

On January 17, 2013, nearly 3 years after its initial proposed rule, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the long-awaited and much- anticipated HIPAA “omnibus” rule, extending the scope of the privacy law beyond providers to their business associates and subcontractors and adding increased penalties.

Boston, MA—Patients with prostate cancer reported significantly better sexual function for up to 2 years after radiation therapy when they took sildenafil (Viagra) on a daily basis during and after treatment, according to results of a placebo-controlled clinical trial.

San Antonio, TX—Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) was strongly associated with BRCA1 status, but not with BRCA2 status, in a large study of medically insured women. The study showed that the number of patients with BRCA mutations with a TNBC profile is statistically significant.

San Antonio, TX—A multigene score called EndoPredict can help to identify women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer who are likely to develop metastatic disease in the long-term.

San Antonio, TX—Molecular subtyping of early breast cancers using Mamma­Print and BluePrint assays allows the precise and accurate prediction of the molecular phenotype of the disease, which has the potential to guide the selection of personalized therapy if the tests are used prospectively.