From the Editor - TON February 2019

TON - February 2019, Vol 12, No 1
Beth Faiman, PhD, APRN-BC, AOCN
Founding Editor in Chief

The February issue of The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA (TON) is packed with important news and insights for today’s oncology nurse. We start off our coverage with a profile of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, which, in collaboration with RWJBarnabas Health, provides patients with cancer many advanced treatment options. This interview is with Renee Kurz, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, AOCNP, Associate Director, Statewide Research, and Patient and Nursing Education, who was excited to discuss the center’s accreditation as a Provider of Continuing Nursing Education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Dr Kurz explained how this accreditation has allowed Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey to offer nurses high-quality oncology education to meet certification or licensure requirements. She also discussed how these educational offerings benefit patients (click here).

“The benefit of this accreditation for patients is the assurance that their care is being provided by nurses who have demonstrated current, evidence-based knowledge in the spectrum of cancer care,” she noted.

We also feature key presentations and studies from recent national and international meetings, including the 2018 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the ESMO 2018 Congress, and the 2018 ASH annual meeting.

At the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Andrea De Censi, MD, Director, Medical Oncology Unit, National Hospital E. O. Ospedalia Galliera, Genoa, Italy, discussed promising results from the TAM-01 clinical trial, which compared low-dose tamoxifen for 3 years versus placebo in women with early localized breast cancer who had undergone surgery.

“Our data show that in a randomized trial, low-dose tamoxifen was effective…without causing significant serious adverse events or any increase in menopausal symptoms,” Dr De Censi told attendees (click here).

In a presentation at the 2018 ASH annual meeting, Shannon L. Maude, MD, PhD, Attending Physician, Division of Oncology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, discussed encouraging results of a study conducted at her institution, which assessed the safety and efficacy of using pembrolizumab to augment CAR T-cell response in heavily pretreated pediatric patients.

“We showed that the combination is safe, and that a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor may be used to improve CAR T-cell persistence. More than 18 months later, at least half of the patients exhibited response with a checkpoint inhibitor,” she noted (click here).

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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