Colonoscopy is heavily promoted in the VA healthcare system, and a new study sought to document its effect on colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality rates.
Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Rectal Cancer
The standard of care for locoregionally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) in the United States usually involves adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) following chemoradiation (CRT) and total mesorectal excision (TME).
Weight, Not Diet, Associated With Higher Veteran Mortality From CRC
While suspected, the relationship between dietary and lifestyle risk factors and long-term mortality from colorectal cancer remains poorly understood, according to a new study.
New Therapy Options Recently Approved for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
While the availability of novel therapies is making the future brighter for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) patients, new treatments also are coming on line for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is a hematological cancer distinct from NHL.
CTCL 6-10 Times More Common in Veterans; Agent Orange a Factor New Therapies Raise Optimism about Treatment
Chances are, if you haven’t trained or practiced at the VA, you haven’t seen cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
VA Care Not Timely in Early Lung Cancer; But Did It Matter?
Multiple organizations have recommended timely treatment for patients with lung cancer.
Maintenance Rituximab Increases Survival in Follicular Lymphoma
Because several studies have suggested it fails to increase overall survival (OS) despite prolonging progression-free survival (PFS), use of maintenance rituximab (MR) following chemoimmunotherapy in follicular lymphoma (FL) remains controversial.
Cabozantinib May Help Overcome Checkpoint Inhibitor Resistance in GU Cancers
The treatment armamentarium for renal cell carcinoma and other genitourinary cancers continues to expand.
VA Study Indicates That Location Matters in Colon Cancer Survival
More than 95,000 Americans develop colon cancer, making it the third most common cancer in the U.S., excluding skin cancers.
VA Develops, Validates Thromboembolism Risk Tool in Multiple Myeloma
While guidelines for multiple myeloma advise pharmacologic prophylaxis to prevent development of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in high-risk patients, current risk assessment tools differ in the factors considered indicative of high risk and in the patients determined to need preventive anticoagulation.
Vaccine Shows Early Promise in Metastatic Melanoma
Researchers reported positive results today for phase IIb testing of a vaccine for high-risk melanoma patients.
Therapy Combinations Were Safe, Active in Genitourinary Cancer Trials
Federal researchers reported updated results of trials of cabozantinib plus nivolumab with and without ipilimumab in patients with refractory metastatic urothelial carcinoma on Saturday at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.
Cabozantinib Improves Survival in Liver Cancer Regardless of Age
HOUSTON — For veterans with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), research presented today at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago offers encouraging the news. The study determined that a new tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)...
Pulmonary Events Affect 30% of Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients Post-Chemo
Bleomycin, the first line standard of care for Hodgkin lymphoma causes pulmonary events in some patients, but physicians have been uncertain how many patients are affected and how long they remain at risk.
VA Team Develops Reliable Measure of Cancer Drug Efficacy
Assessing tumor growth and regression to determine a treatment’s efficacy over time can be challenging on an individual basis.
Risk Predictor Guides Breast Cancer Treatment at MHS Facility
Physicians and patients want to do everything possible to minimize the risk of breast cancer recurrence without incurring unnecessary toxicity from chemotherapy.
Common Vitamin Deficiency Increases Mortality Risk 80% in Cancer Patients
Vitamin D deficiency doesn’t just increase the risk of osteoporosis and other bone disorders, it dramatically increases the risk of death in older cancer patients with solid tumors, according to researchers at the Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System in Temple, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Test Accurately Predicts Overall Survival in Prostate Cancer
For the physicians treating men with non-metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer, knowing the risk of progression or death provides valuable information to guide the timing and selection of treatment.
No Link Found Between H. Pylori Infection, Unexplained Anemia
Despite limited evidence to support the practice, testing for Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection is recommended for work-up of unexplained iron deficiency anemia (IDA).
VA Patients Lack Testing to Optimize CLL Treatment
SALT LAKE CITY — The presence of deletion 17p (del17), determined by chromosome analysis and/or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), is a strong negative prognostic marker in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1
Lobectomy Still Has Significant Survival Benefit in Early NSCLC
While increased use of stereotactic body radiation might have played a key role in doubling survival rates for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) among veterans between 2001 and 2010 compared to conventional radiation, a new study confirms that isn’t always the best way to assure longer survival.
Gene Assay Can Help Determine Active Surveillance Usefulness
BEDFORD, MA—Active surveillance (AS) has been widely implemented at the VA as a standard of care for low-risk prostate cancer (PCa). A study in the American Journal of Managed Care posits, however, that patient characteristics such as age, race and Agent Orange (AO)...
Chemotherapy Use Declines for Breast Cancer Patients
With growing concern about overtreatment of breast cancer as outcomes have improved over time, not much research has been performed on how chemotherapy use and oncologists’ recommendations have changed in recent years.
Laparoscopic, Robotic Surgeries Equivalent for Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer patients increasingly are receiving minimally invasive pancreaticoduodenectomy (MIPD).
Advanced NSCLC Patients Still Receive Aggressive Treatment
Aggressive care for cancer patients appears to be increasing at the end of life, and the VA is part of that trend, according to a new study.
Survey Results Add to Information About ECP Treatment for CTCL
LEBANON, NH -- Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is a leukapheresis-based therapeutic procedure that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) since 1988. In ECP, white blood cells are...
New Treatment Option Extends CTCL Progression Free Survival
STANFORD, CA -- Patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) might have a promising new treatment option, according to a study presented at a recent conference. In a presentation at the 2017 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in Atlanta, an international...
