Articles

At the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, Value-Based Cancer Care (VBCC) asked Al B. Benson, III, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine, Associate Director for Clinical Investigations, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Immediate Past President, ACCC, and editorial board member of VBCC, to discuss the growing importance of molecular profiling in cancer care.

San Antonio, TX—One of the few clinical science symposia at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium focused not on clinical issues but on delineating the economic issues facing oncologists.

Ventura County Hematology Oncology Specialists has so far managed to avoid many of the financial difficulties facing a large number of community cancer practices. Value-Based Cancer Care asked Dr Parsa and Ms Rivera to discuss what makes their practice successful from a clinical and a business perspective.

Alternative versions of biologic agents—biosimilars—will be coming soon to a formulary near you. In the meantime, many details must be worked out before patients can be safely and effectively treated with these new products.

Adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have a poor prognosis compared with children, but recent studies suggest that using “pediatric-inspired” regimens can improve outcomes for patients with Philadelphia chromosome(Ph)- negative ALL.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a group of closely related hematologic malignancies that arise from abnormal development and function of the body’s bone marrow cells. Primary myelofibrosis (PMF), polycythemia vera (PV), and essential thrombocythemia (ET) comprise the Philadel phia chromosome (Ph)-negative MPNs.

The role of pathologists in gathering and interpreting oncologic information has never been as complex as it is today, but neither has it been as clinically impactful, suggested presenters at the 2011 College of American Pathologists meeting.

The House of Delegates of the American Medical Association (AMA) laid out guidelines for patient navigator programs during their November 2011 Interim Meeting. The aim is to ensure that patient navigators “enhance, rather than undermine, the delivery of high-quality patient care,” the resolution states.