From the Editor

TON - September 2017, Vol 10, No 5
Beth Faiman, PhD, APRN-BC, AOCN
Founding Editor in Chief

The September issue of The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA (TON) is full of important news and updates for oncology nurses. In this issue, we feature a profile of the Intermountain Southwest Cancer Center of Cedar City Hospital, UT, which provides hematology and oncology services, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, clinical research trials, navigation services, and rehabilitative/survivorship programs.

“With our Intermountain Precision Genomics program, we are conducting tumor genomic profiling trials, as well as genome sequencing of breast tumor samples, to determine genomic biomarkers predictive of severe adverse reactions to chemotherapy,” said Cheryl Bellomo, MSN, RN, OCN, ONN-CG, Nurse Navigator and Clinical Trials Coordinator, Intermountain Southwest Cancer Center of Cedar City Hospital, in an interview with TON.

Other valuable insights that can be gleaned from articles in this issue include the association between maintaining a healthy lifestyle and improving overall and recurrence-free survival in patients with colon cancer, and the potential for daratumu­mab to improve outcomes in patients with multiple myeloma.

We also feature key presentations and studies from recent national meetings, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, the annual meeting of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, the 42nd annual meeting of the Oncology Nursing Society, and the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

At the annual meeting of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, Deborah Watkins-Bruner, RN, PhD, FAAN, Professor and Robert W. Woodruff Chair in Nursing, Associate Director, Mentorship, Education, and Training, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, told attendees that patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly being incorporated into clinical trial design, which has led to advances that benefit patients. She went on to discuss 2 examples of the influence of PROs on practice changes in radiation oncology.

At the same meeting, Mario E. Lacouture, MD, Director, Oncodermatology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, presented data from an ongoing clinical trial demonstrating that endocrine therapy–induced alopecia (ETAL) is generally mild, and responds to topical and oral drugs. He told attendees that ETAL usually responds to topical minoxidil or to oral spironolactone, and that, among 41 patients participating in his team’s study, 75% had moderate to significant improvement with topical minoxidil treatment.

This issue also includes articles on the FDA’s recent approval of a new formulation of olaparib (Lynparza) for the maintenance treatment of women with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer whose disease completely or partially responded to chemotherapy that was platinum-based, regardless of their BRCA mutation status, and the key role nurses play in managing checkpoint inhibitor–associated adverse events in patients receiving immunotherapy.

We also wish to share our enthusiasm for the upcoming Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) Eighth Annual Conference, which is set to take place in Orlando, FL, November 16-19. This year’s conference will feature dynamic keynote speakers; updates on the AONN+ metrics program, certification exam offerings, and CEU opportunities; and intriguing poster sessions featuring the culmination of navigation research. The AONN+ conference will also feature a robust N.E.X.T. (Navigators Exploring Xtra Tracks) educational lineup designed to enhance your clinical knowledge. Invest in your career, invest in yourself, and join us in Orlando!

Register today at https://annual.aonnonline.org.

As always, we hope you will enjoy this issue of TON and look forward to receiving your feedback. You can contact us via e-mail at info@TheOncologyNurse.com.

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