April 2010

The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey has been a leader in the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of cancer for more than 30 years.

Palonosetron (Aloxi) is the only 5-HT3 receptor antagonist approved for treatment of delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) following administration of moderately emetogenic chemotherapeutic agents.

In the April issue of Hepatology, researchers from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, reported that administering sirolimus (Rapamune)after liver transplantation in patients with nonresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) significantly increased survival rates.

We interview hematologist Neal Weinreb, MD, director of the University Research Foundation for Lysosomal Storage Diseases and a researcher involved in studying Gaucher disease for more than 3 decades. Dr Weinreb talks about the risks of cancer in patients with type 1 Gaucher disease and why hematologists and oncologists need to know about this rare inherited disorder.

Three presentations at the recent Third Annual Interdisciplinary Prostate Cancer Congress in New York are reviewed. Urologist Leonard Gomella, MD, addresses truths and myths about prostate cancer prevention;Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, discusses the timely topic of immunotherapy; and E. David Crawford, MD, talks about screening controversies.

Healthcare professionals and patients are facing a longer wait for the FDA to approve generic drugs than they were just 5 years ago--1 year longer, in fact. The delayed approval process is due to a growing backlog of applications at the FDA.

Being able to predict which women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are likely to develop subsequent invasive breast cancer could prevent a lot of unnecessary treatment, said researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).

Oncology & Biotech News is now united with the experienced publishing, editorial, and creative staff of Oncology Net Guide and OncNurse under the Oncology Specialty Group umbrella, which also includes our newest publication, Contemporary Oncology.