Hematology-Oncology News

• Alert Recall of Medtronic's Intrathecal Infusion Pumps Guidelines issued by the FDA advise that use of the lowest effective dose and concentration of opioids may reduce the risk for granuloma formation.
  Medscape Medical News, March 2008
• Recurrent Low-Grade Ovarian Cancer Less Responsive to Chemotherapy Recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary is more resistant to chemotherapy than the more common high-grade tumors.
  Medscape Medical News, March 2008
• Darbepoetin Alfa Not Helpful in Some Anemic Cancer Patients Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) such as darbepoetin alfa do not appear to be clearly effective for the treatment of anemia in certain patients with active cancer and may reduce survival, researchers report in the March 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• FOBT Screening Reduces Emergency Colorectal Cancer Admissions A population-based fecal occult blood test (FOBT) screening initiative appears to reduce emergency presentations of colorectal cancer (CRC), and improve 30-day mortality rates, according to findings from a UK study published in the February issue of Gut.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• Integrated PET-MRI Scanner Developed Researchers have developed a 3-dimensional scanner that combines positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in which PET spatial resolution and signal sensitivity are not compromised and MRI images are not substantially affected.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• Combination Chemotherapy Better Than Erlotinib as Initial Treatment for Advanced NSCLC For patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and a performance status (PS) of 2, combination chemotherapy is superior to erlotinib therapy as initial treatment, according to a report in the February 20th Journal of Clinical Oncology.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• Sentinel Lymph Node Approach Seen Safe for Early Vulvar Cancer Sentinel node dissection appears to be a safe approach in women with early-stage vulvar cancer, according to a report in the February 20th issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• AmerisourceBergen Unit Recalls Heparin Vials American Health Packaging, a unit of AmerisourceBergen Corp, said on Thursday that it is voluntarily recalling 1,421 units of heparin injection vials as part of Baxter International Inc's broader recall of heparin products.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• EU Agency Backs New Use of Bayer's Drug Zevalin The European Medicines Agency said on Thursday it had recommended approval of Bayer's cancer drug Zevalin in treating follicular lymphoma.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• EU Body Warns Against Velcade Use in Some Patients The European Medicines Agency has recommended that Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc's cancer drug Velcade (bortezomib) should not be used in patients with certain severe pulmonary or heart problems.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• Cephalon Wins U.S. Approval of Treanda for CLL Cephalon Inc has won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell Treanda (bendamustine) to treat patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, the company said on Thursday.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• Chemotherapy After Gastric Cancer Surgery Remains Controversial Treatment with the combination of cisplatin, epirubicin, L-leucovorin, and 5-fluorouracil, referred to as the PELF regimen, has little or no effect on overall or disease-free survival in patients with completely resected gastric cancer, Italian researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• First-Line EGFR Inhibition May Benefit Selected Lung Cancer Patients There is "strong evidence" that selected groups of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may benefit from first-line therapy with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, according to the authors of a report in the March issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• EBV Load Predicts Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disease Monitoring the level of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) allows early intervention in post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, according to a report in the March issue of the Journal of Medical Virology.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• PSA-Activated Doxorubicin Prodrug Effective in Prostate Carcinoma Model A doxorubicin prodrug designed to be cleaved by prostate specific antigen (PSA) is effective in a mouse model of prostate carcinoma, according to a report in the March 1st International Journal of Cancer.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• What Your Patients Are Reading: AHA: Ask Younger MI Patients About Cocaine Use Younger MI/ACS patients should be asked about cocaine use, empiric antibiotic use for acute rhinosinusitis is unwarranted, Alzheimer's risk runs in the family, smokers told of their "lung age" may be shocked into quitting, and imatinib use in pregnancy may increase risk of minor or serious fetal abnormalities.
  Medscape Medical News, March 2008
• Genomic Medicine Shifting to Predictive Approaches in Clinical Practice A review article suggests approaches to translating burgeoning knowledge about the genomics of common diseases into clinical benefits for patients.
  Medscape Medical News, March 2008
• Growth Protein May Provide New Target for Prostate Cancer Inhibition of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 5a/b (Stat5a/b), the key mediator of prolactin effects in prostate cancer cells, kills cancer cells and inhibits xenograft growth in mice, researchers report in the March 1st issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• Perioperative Chemotherapy Lowers Recurrence of Hepatic Metastases Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy administered before and after resection of liver tumors secondary to colorectal cancer improves progression-free survival compared with tumor resection alone, according to the results of a multinational trial.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2008
• Heparin Contaminant Identified The contaminant found in samples of heparin that had been linked to an increase in adverse reactions has now been identified as oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.
  Heartwire, March 2008