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Study could result in new strategies for treating juvenile cancer
A detailed analysis of the DNA of more than 1,100 children is shedding light on one of medicine's most perplexing mysteries: Why do kids get cancer? Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis found that hereditary genetic mutations account for 8.5 percent of childhood malignancies, a higher amount than expected. Yet they found a family history of cancer in only 40 percent of children with such mutations. READ MORE
Novartis gets FDA approval for skin cancer drug combination
Novartis AG said recently it received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's regular approval for a drug combination to treat an aggressive form of skin cancer. The FDA approved Tafinlar and Mekinist for treatment of metastatic melanoma based on two years overall survival in patients, the company said. READ MORE
The number one thing patients want: 5 steps to improve the physician-patient relationship
Patients are demanding more from their physicians than ever before. Patients visit their physicians when they are most vulnerable, and they need to have trust and confidence in their physician, especially when they discuss some of the most intimate details about their lives and families. However, when it comes to the patient-physician relationship, the two parties are not always aligned. READ MORE
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The Journal of Clinical Oncology: Patients Diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer Should Receive Genetic Counseling
Thanksgiving is Family History Day! Do your patients know about their genetic risks?
New test may improve diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancers
University of Chicago Medical Center via Medical Xpress
By collecting samples from the portal vein — which carries blood from the gastrointestinal tract, including from the pancreas, to the liver — physicians can learn far more about a patient's pancreatic cancer than by relying on peripheral blood from a more easily accessed vein in the arm. READ MORE
CoC announces Oncology Medical Home Accreditation Pilot Program
The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a Quality Program of the American College of Surgeons, is launching the Oncology Medical Home (OMH) Accreditation Program. The OMH uses a team-based approach to deliver, ensure, and measure quality cancer care. It's a comprehensive patient-focused system that can be designed to meet the needs of patients, payers and providers. The OMH's goal is to provide better access to care and treat patients outside of the acute care hospital setting. READ MORE
You Are Invited!
You are invited to submit an abstract for the NCoBC's 26th Annual Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference April 9-13, 2016. This is an opportunity to share innovative programs, ongoing research and results from retrospective and prospective trials with breast health care professionals from breast care centers around the world.
As local cancer centers grow, hospitals look for ways to advertise their superiority
Competition is building in the cancer-care field, as hospitals, health systems and physician groups are constructing new cancer centers in response to the aging of the baby boomers and a projected increase in cancer diagnoses over the next 20 years. READ MORE
Clinical Congress 2015 Webcasts available
It is not too late! You may purchase the Webcast packages to view the sessions you were not able to attend at Clinical Congress. Webcast sessions are available on your computer, tablet or mobile device anytime, anywhere. Maximize your learning opportunities and earn CME Credit and Self-Assessment Credit when it's convenient for you. Click here to see more.
Young Investigators in Lung Cancer Apply Today
Virtual Journal Club - ALK NSCLC
Review of Data Presented in Orlando - NYC, Chicago, SFO and Houston
Missed the Lung Cancer Meeting in Denver - Catch Up Here
Doctors using new treatments on leukemia
In what is being billed as a medical first, scientists in London have used a new technique in a last-ditch effort to cure a child with otherwise untreatable leukemia. They altered genes in immune cells to make them hunt down and destroy the malignant blood cells that threatened the year-old girl's life. The experimental procedure was performed in June at Great Ormond Street Hospital, physicians there announced recently. The hospital said it was the first time that a genome-editing technology called TALENs had been used to treat a patient. READ MORE
'Humanizing' patient experience: Increasing the demand for chief experience officers
Vocera Communications has released the findings of its first Humanizing Efficiency in Healthcare study, which surveyed more than 100 senior level healthcare executives. The results are eye-opening. More than ever, hospitals are seeing a growing need to improve population health by putting a face to data, incorporating measures to engage and support team members in humanizing their work. READ MORE
CQIP 2015 now available (CoC-accredited programs only)
The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) is pleased to announce the release of Cancer Quality Improvement Program (CQIP) 2015. The CQIP report is unique in providing not only short-term quality and outcome data, but also long-term outcome data including five-year survival rates for commonly treated malignancies stratified by stage. CQIP allows each CoC-accredited program access to a confidential and individualized report, in PowerPoint format, to allow programs the ability to modify the presentations and select topic-based slides to review in meetings as needed. CQIP is accessed through CoC Datalinks, under NCDB Reporting Tools; the Cancer Quality Improvement Program (CQIP) Reports link will provide access to the three most recent CQIP reports allowing programs to assess changes in their reports over time. The column named "Reporting Year" distinguishes each CQIP report.
Forecasting the path of breast cancer in a patient
University of Southern California via Medical Xpress
University of Southern California researchers have developed a mathematical model to forecast metastatic breast cancer survival rates using techniques usually reserved for weather prediction, financial forecasting and surfing the Web. For decades, medical schools have taught doctors that the best way to treat cancer and metastatic progression is to memorize a list of tumors and their typical migration patterns. Metastasis is the development of malignant tumor growths elsewhere from the primary site of cancer. READ MORE
Strategies for managing aging clinicians
The healthcare industry is filled with people who view what they do for a living not as a job, but as their reason for being. "Many people feel they are defined by the medical profession," says Karen Speirs, DO, MPH, president of the medical staff at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Michigan. But the American workforce is aging, and that workforce includes healthcare professionals. Unlike other industries, where retirement and slowing down professionally is often eagerly anticipated, many healthcare professionals are reluctant to retire. And as the years tick on, there will be more older workers than ever before. READ MORE
Are you afraid of the health data challenge?
Advancements in connectivity, such as the continued development of the Internet of Things, illustrate how comfortable we are with data assimilation. However, in the healthcare domain it is discouraging when industry experts are reluctant to leverage data, citing fallacious complexities, or simply avoid using it altogether. In fact, the failure to adopt data-centric practices is contradictory to the current environment, in which data is being tracked, saved and managed by people every day. Are we being disillusioned by experts to think that health data is too cumbersome and has no scope for normal people to understand and use? READ MORE
The CoC and the NAPBC are going social
Follow the CoC (@COC_ACS) and the NAPBC (@NAPBC_ACS) on Twitter. Make sure you also like the NAPBC Facebook page. READ MORE
Physical activity communications should be part of oncology care clinic visits with patients (Oncology Nurse Advisor)
NCDB report updates available: Completeness and default overuse report and CP3R (CoC)
Huge cancer research fraud, but only one doctor blamed (Medscape)
Prostate cancer screening, early cases, in decline (Reuters)
Metabolic profiles distinguish early-stage ovarian cancer with unprecedented accuracy (Georgia Institute of Technology via Medical Xpress)
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Ashley Whipple, Senior Content Editor, 469-420-2642 | Contribute news
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