Articles

Boston, MA—In the United States right now, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has largely replaced 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy as the technique of choice for most patients with organ-confined prostate cancer that is being treated with radiation as the primary therapy.

San Francisco, CA—The Oncotype DX Recurrence Score (the 21-gene) test can help identify patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer with any number of positive lymph nodes who will have residual disease after adjuvant chemotherapy, and who may benefit from additional treatment, reported Eleftherios P. Mamounas, MD, Medical Director, Aultman Hospital Cancer Center, Canton, OH, at the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium.

We should all read with great interest the New York Times opinion piece by Peter B. Bach, MD, and colleagues from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on their rationale for not including ziv-aflibercept (Zaltrap) in its formulary for patients with metastatic or advanced colorectal cancer.

Houston, TX—Delta Air Lines has a commitment to preventive health and comprehensive cancer care for its 140,000 health plan members; the company is piloting a “high-performance cancer network,” said Lynn Zonakis, Managing Director of Health Strategy and Resources, Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, GA, at the 2012 Second Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

“Non–small cell is the most common type of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in the United States,” said Mark A. Socinski, MD, Director, Lung Cancer Section, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh, and lead investigator of phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials of paclitaxel protein-bound in lung cancer.

Pertuzumab, the third HER2-targeted agent with a unique mechanism of action, was approved in July 2012 by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer in combination with trastuzumab plus docetaxel.

Montreal, Canada—Telemedicine reduces time spent on new-patient consultations for palliative radiotherapy, according to a study presented at the 2012 World Cancer Congress.

Toronto, Canada—The first-ever analysis of Medicare payments for head and neck tumors shows that comorbidities and treatment choices are the primary drivers of the costs of each type of cancer; the study results were presented at the 2012 International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer.

Albuquerque, NM—Using yoga and other integrative medicine and complementary therapies can cut oncology-related inpatient costs by more than $150 per day as a result of the reduced need for pain medications, anxiolytics, and antiemetics, according to a recent study conducted at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.

Houston, TX—With the onslaught of drugs that will target genetic subsets of patients, companion diagnostic testing will become vitally important, said Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, Vice President of Clinical Innovation, Medco Health Solutions (now Express Scripts), New York, who spoke on personalized medicine during the 2012 Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.