Conference Correspondent

Many primary care physicians (PCPs) are unaware of the long-term side effects of 4 commonly used chemotherapy drugs for breast and colorectal cancer, according to results of the large Survey of Physician Attitudes Regarding the Care of Cancer Survivors (SPARCCS). Oncologists were much more likely to be aware of the late effects of all 4 drugs, but the survey suggested that there is still room for improvement in educating oncologists about late effects of cyclophosphamide, 1 of the 4 drugs included in the study.

Patients with breakthrough chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) can gain superior relief from olanzapine (Zyprexa), a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as an antipsychotic, compared with standard antiemetic therapy with metoclopramide. The results from this phase 3 study address an important unmet need for patients who experience these side effects despite being given standard antiemetic therapy.

The antidepressant duloxetine (Cymbalta) appears to reduce painful peripheral neuropathy associated with taxane-or platinumbased chemotherapy in some, but not all, patients, according to a randomized phase 3 study presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). About one-third of patients treated with duloxetine reported at least a 30% or greater reduction in pain scores versus 17% of placebo patients.

An online chemotherapy therapy education program based on Emmi Solutions is an effective way to educate patients and is a time-saver for oncology nurses, according to nurses from the Hillman Cancer Center at the University of Pittsburgh. They described their program at the 37th Annual Congress of the Oncology Nursing Society held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Their healthcare system was already using Emmi Solutions in other departments, and based on the success of those programs, the program was introduced into oncology, said Lynda Tunon, RN, MSN, OCN.

Antipsychotic Controls Breakthrough Nausea and Vomiting

For patients with hematologic cancers, an educational DVD about the bone marrow transplant process can explain complex concepts and facilitate discussions with nurses, according to representatives of Be The Match (www.BeTheMatch.org/patients), a program of the National Marrow Donor Program, which is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

At the 37th Annual Congress of the Oncology Nursing Society held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Elizabeth A. Murphy, RN, EdD, and Ellen M. Denzen, MS, shared their experience with this teaching approach.

The need to optimize the treatment of patients with cancer while using healthcare resources wisely—in other words, providing “value-based cancer care”—is not a topic of debate, but how to achieve this pressing goal is far from clear. In a panel discussion during the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care’s Second Annual Conference, held in Houston, Texas, strategists from the payer side of the issue discussed the current trends and the challenges they are facing.

At the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) second annual meeting, Winston Wong, PharmD, expressed concerns that the site of delivery of cancer care affects efforts to rein in costs and provide value in cancer care. Wong expanded on this issue in the following interview.

Why do you believe that the site of delivery of cancer care can impact the attempt to rein in costs of cancer care and provide value?

The inaugural annual conference of the Global Biomarkers Consortium brought together an international panel of oncology experts to explore the rapidly evolving field of biomarker research. Cochairs of the event were Hope S. Rugo, MD, director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California San Francisco, and Rüdiger Hehlmann, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg. Michael Kattan, PhD, Vincent Miller, MD, Edith Perez, MD, and Charles Bennett, MD, PhD, served as session chairs.

The Oncotype DX breast cancer assay for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a strong and significant predictor of 10-year risk of recurrence in women with DCIS, according to a study presented at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) held in December 2011. It is the first clinically validated genomic assay to predict risk of local recurrence for women with DCIS, and it is now available from Genomic Health.