Author: Editor

Neal D. Shore, MD, FACS of Carolina Urologic Research Center explains how BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing are significantly changing how prostate cancer should be treated. He believes that guidelines are a bit premature, but nonetheless, they are helping with therapy options for patients. This was recorded at the 2017 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (Annual Meeting GU) in Orlando, Florida.

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Wendy S. Harpham, MD, FACP of Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas discusses the medical benefits of finding and nourishing hope, which help patients deal with their uncertainty. She defines hope as a pleasant feeling linked to the belief that the desired outcome can happen. Ultimately, hope is a shared mission, and doctors can help patients by sharing their own hopes for them having the best possible outcome. This was recorded at ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship Symposium: Advancing Care and Research in San Diego, CA.

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Wendy S. Harpham, MD, FACP of Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas advises on how to focus on hope for the best clinical outcomes for patients. She believes that hope is a feeling that is based on a belief of a future outcome. Patients are basing their beliefs on what doctors show them, which are stories, impressions, and facts that are based on a reality. If doctors succeed in providing these truths, then hope should naturally occur in patients, and that is the best outcome. This was recorded at ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship Symposium: Advancing Care and Research in San Diego, CA.

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Wendy S. Harpham, MD, FACP of Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas explains why there is no one or right approach to survivorship. She states that in order to treat all patients, doctors have to help each patient individually. This was recorded at ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship Symposium: Advancing Care and Research in San Diego, CA.

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Marcus Butler, MD, from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada, discusses data on the efficacy of pembrolizumab treatment in advanced mucosal melanoma, which he presented at the European Cancer Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This type of melanoma develops for unknown reasons unrelated to UV light exposure, and historically has a lower response rate and overall survival (OS) following various treatments. The development of new melanoma treatments, particularly immunotherapy, led Dr Butler to investigate the efficacy of these in mucosal melanoma by combining the results from the KEYNOTE-001 (NCT01295827), KEYNOTE-002 (NCT01704287), and KEYNOTE-006…

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Patrick Miqueu, PhD, from the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels, Belgium, describes a pilot project to improve the collaboration and communication between cancer patient organizations and hospitals, recorded at the European Cancer Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He describes how together with the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) and Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI), the Jules Bordet Institute aims to develop a minimalist model of fostering collaboration which can be applied in different European countries with existing frameworks. The project focusses on the atmosphere in cancer centers, developing a model which will be…

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Lydia Makaroff, PhD, from the European Cancer Patient Coalition, introduces the coalitions new position paper, The Value of Innovation in Oncology, at the European Cancer Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The European Cancer Patient Coalition represents more than 400 cancer patient organizations across Europe. Dr Makaroff describes the new position paper, which contains cost effective and pragmatic recommendations for European institutions and EU member states to ensure cancer patients throughout Europe have access to innovative care, technologies and treatments. The European Cancer Patient Coalition recommends that the assessment of cost effectiveness within Europe should…

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Scott Murray, MD, FRCGP, FRCP Edin from the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, discusses the talk he gave on different features of palliative care at the European Cancer Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He highlights three important aspects. Firstly, palliative care needs should be identified as early as possible, starting at diagnosis, and services should be available within the community. Secondly, an assessment of the patients well-being should be made, including not just physical, but also psychosocial, social and existential issues the patient may be experiencing. Thirdly, a plan should be made together with…

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Richard Neal, MB, ChB, PhD, FRCGP, from the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, Leeds, UK, discusses his talk on reducing diagnostic delay for better cancer outcomes, which he presented at the European Cancer Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He describes that early diagnosis is associated with better cancer outcomes, and suggests that health care systems with a slower diagnosis process can learn from countries with faster diagnosis, resulting in better outcomes. Prof. Neal highlights three ways in which earlier diagnosis can be achieved. Firstly, patients should be encouraged to visit their healthcare practitioner when…

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Katsuo Usuda, MD, PhD, from Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan argues that diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI, MRI) will soon replace PET-CT for lung cancer diagnosis at the European Cancer Congress of the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He discusses the benefits of diffusion-weighted MRI, which is not only cheaper than PET-CT, but also does not expose the patient to radiation.

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Jeffrey M. Holzbeierlein, MD of University of Kansas Hospital discusses presentations he found interesting at the symposium, specifically David J. McConkey’s keynote lecture “Urothelial Carcinoma: Emerging Impact of Genomics on the Clinical Management of Bladder Cancer,” which was presented at the 2017 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (Annual Meeting GU) in Orlando, Florida.

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