Miller on Oncology

• Must All DCIS Patients Undergo Radiation?   Dr. Kathy Miller reports on a new look at an old study that indicates how to identify DCIS patients at sufficiently low risk for local recurrence such that they do not need radiation after lumpectomy.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, January 2012
• HER2-Positive Breast Cancer and Long Life   Dr. Kathy Miller takes another look at CLEOPATRA and predicts that dual HER2 blockade, when offered in the adjuvant setting, will make HER2+ breast cancer a disease patients can live with, for years.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, January 2012
• Sniper Attacks in the War on Cancer   Drs. Kathy Miller and George Sledge talk about strategies, past and future, in the war on cancer.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, December 2011
• Bevacizumab Gone: Where to From Here?   The FDA's withdrawal of bevacizumab for breast cancer prompts Dr. Kathy Miller to ask where we go from here for patients receiving benefit and for future studies in the metastatic setting.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, December 2011
• SABCS Preview: New Data, Old Controversies   Dr. Kathy Miller previews studies to be presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, including the eagerly awaited CLEOPATRA trial.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2011
• Breast Cancer Prevention: The New Primary Care?   If primary care physicians treat hypertension to prevent heart attacks, reasons Dr. Kathy Miller, why shouldn’t they prescribe SERMs and AIs to at-risk patients to prevent breast cancer?
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2011
• When Therapies Are Ineffective   Dr. Kathy Miller discusses the negative data on lapatinib from the ALTTO trial in HER2-positive breast cancer and questions how best to share information with patients on ineffective therapies.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, October 2011
• Paradoxical Findings in Local Breast Cancer Therapy   Paradoxical findings from recent studies suggest that what have been considered equivalent therapies for local breast cancer may not be, as reported by Dr. Kathy Miller.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, August 2011
• Objective Response Rates: No Such Thing   A study in the variability of tumor measurements on repeat CT scans suggests to Dr. Kathy Miller that objective response rates in clinical trials may be anything but.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, July 2011
• Breast Cancer: New Data on Prevention and Treatment   Dr. Kathy Miller highlights what she expects to be the big news at ASCO in breast cancer, from prevention to metastatic disease.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, May 2011
• ASCO® Plenary Session: 5 Practice-Changing Studies   Dr. Kathy Miller says that the plenary session, which features 5 studies that are certain to change practice, and the AACR/ASCO session with Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn are not to be missed.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, May 2011
• What It Takes to Beat Metastatic Disease   Dr. Kathy Miller reports on indisputable evidence for why oncologists should get tissue samples from patients with metastatic disease. If patients are willing to take this step, why aren’t oncologists?
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, April 2011
• Balancing Treatment Efficacy and Toxicity   Dr. Kathy Miller reports on 2 trials in which investigators examine how to maximize the benefit of treatment while minimizing its drawbacks.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, April 2011
• ASCO: Early Bird Report   Dr. Kathy Miller reports that the breadth and depth of abstracts submitted to the ASCO Program Committee -- coupled with an easily navigated program -- will make this year's meeting a quality experience.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, March 2011
• Are You as Smart as This Fourth Grader?   Dr. Kathy Miller wants to recruit to her staff a fourth-grade student who won top honors in a science fair for her discovery in regard to patients who receive chemotherapy.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, February 2011
• Iniparib News Leaves Breast Cancer Patients in Limbo (Again)   The announcement that a trial of iniparib in breast cancer did not meet a primary endpoint prompted Dr. Kathy Miller to call for immediate disclosure of the data, the lack of which affects treatment.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, February 2011
• HER2 Testing: Accuracy Remains an Issue   A review of HER2 testing by experts found discordant results, suggesting to Dr. Kathy Miller that oncologists must confer with pathologists and retest samples if there is any question of HER2 status.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, January 2011
• Bevacizumab: Is Cost the Elephant in the Room?   Dr. Kathy Miller says that drug approval in the United States jumbles issues of cost and benefit and that a discussion is long overdue to determine what we want from medicine and how to pay for it.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, January 2011
• SABCS: Focus on Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Therapy   Dr. Kathy Miller gives an overview of key studies to be presented at SABCS, which this year highlight breast cancer therapy in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, December 2010
• Pink Ribbons: The Good, the Bad, and the Backlash   Pink ribbons have raised awareness for breast cancer, but Dr. Kathy Miller sees a downside to the symbol and advocates that national focus be directed to research into all cancers, not just the pink kind.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2010
• Rework but Do Not Repeal Healthcare Reform   Flawed as the Affordable Care Act may be, it provides important healthcare benefits to patients, which Dr. Kathy Miller worries may be lost if the law is repealed.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2010
• Lessons From the Wright Brothers -- and Cancer Cells   Dr. Kathy Miller sees a parallel between the approach used by the Wright brothers to achieve flight and the ability of cancer cells to proliferate -- both provide a lesson for scientific discovery.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2010
• Cancer Screening Overutilized in Patients With Advanced Cancer   Dr. Kathy Miller reports on a study that indicates routine cancer screening tests are overutilized in patients with advanced cancer and grossly underutilized in healthy patients over 65.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, October 2010
• Bevacizumab Ruling: FDA Delay Is Worst Possible Decision   Dr. Kathy Miller takes aim at the FDA for skirting the Avastin decision and effectively putting breast cancer patients, researchers, and treating physicians in limbo for another 3 months.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, September 2010
• Palliative Care Integrated With Chemotherapy Improves Survival in NSCLC   Dr. Kathy Miller praises a study indicating patients with metastatic NSCLC who receive early palliative care live longer and have better quality of life than those receiving regular therapy.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, August 2010
• Clinical Trials: A WEIRD and Cautionary Tale   A recent anthropology study prompts Dr. Kathy Miller to question the practice of generalizing clinical trial results achieved in a subset of patients to a wider population.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, July 2010
• Do You Want a Cola or a Cure?   Dr. Miller reports that US funds for cancer research amount to 69 cents per person per week. Put another way, cancer research dollars amount to one sixth of what Americans spend on soft drinks.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, July 2010
• Is Mandatory Biopsy in Clinical Trials Justifiable?   Dr. Kathy Miller weighs the ethical concerns about requiring biopsies to participate in breast cancer clinical trials against the critical gains in therapeutic efficacy those biopsies permit.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, July 2010
• Where to Find Secret Pearls at ASCO® 2010   Dr. Kathy Miller highlights the patient and survivor care sessions at ASCO that abound in science and practical methods for improving the lives of cancer patients.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, May 2010
• A Commitment to the Cure Well Outside the Normal Range   Dr. Kathy Miller lauds her colleagues who spearheaded the tissue bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center and the 1000 women who donated normal breast tissue to support breast cancer research.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, May 2010
• Predicting Brain Metastases: Is It a Good Thing?   The development of a tool that accurately predicts brain metastases in patients with metastatic breast cancer prompts Dr. Kathy Miller to consider the potential benefit and harm of such information.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, May 2010
• CYP2D6 Testing: Not Ready for Prime Time   Studies have examined whether CYP2D6 testing can identify breast cancer patients who ought (or ought not) to be treated with tamoxifen, but Dr. Kathy Miller says the jury is still out on this assay.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, April 2010
• The Decline in Scientific Literacy and Its Impact on Medicine   The public decline in scientific literacy, according to Dr. Kathy Miller, may be the most important problem facing medicine.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, April 2010
• Exercise May Put Breast Cancer on the Run   Dr. Kathy Miller discusses a study that found that sedentary postmenopausal women who exercise regularly experience changes in estradiol and SHBG levels consistent with a lower risk for breast cancer.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, April 2010
• Can Aspirin Prevent Breast Cancer Recurrence?   Dr. Kathy Miller reviews findings from the Nurses Health Study suggesting that regular aspirin consumption is associated with a decreased risk for distant recurrence and breast cancer death.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, April 2010
• Breast Cancer Testing: A Matter of Medicine or Marketing?   Direct-to-consumer marketing for BRCA analysis leads women to question whether to be tested, prompting Dr. Kathy Miller to advise physicians to talk to their patients about breast cancer risk.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, March 2010
• DCIS and the Power of Words   The word carcinoma impacts how patients and physicians think about ductal carcinoma in situ. Dr. Kathy Miller considers whether a change in name could influence a change in practice.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, February 2010
• Can Acupuncture Control Hot Flashes in Breast Cancer Patients?   Vasomotor symptoms are common side effects of antiestrogen hormone treatment in breast cancer care. In this video blog, Dr. Kathy Miller discusses acupuncture as a promising therapy for hot flashes.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, February 2010
• Lymph Nodes May Provide Clues for Targeted Breast Cancer Treatment   In this video blog, Dr. Kathy Miller talks about differences in receptor expression between primary and nodal disease that may help identify subsets of breast cancer cells most likely to metastasize.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, February 2010
• How Low Would You Go?   In this video blog, Dr. Kathy Miller discusses factors affecting the use of systemic adjuvant therapy for HER2 breast cancer patients who have small tumors.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, January 2010
• Mining the Data of Clinical Trials   Re-examining clinical data proves a goldmine of new information for other areas of cancer study, as examined by Dr. Kathy Miller in this video blog from SABCS.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, December 2009
• The Real Issue in the Debate Over the USPSTF Guidelines   In this video blog, Dr. Kathy Miller identifies the real issue in breast cancer screening: One third of American women who would benefit do not get screened because of lack of access.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, December 2009
• Breast Cancer Screening: How Important Is Breast Self-Examination?   In this video blog, Dr. Kathy Miller discusses a large Chinese study that found that breast self-examination did not improve disease stage at diagnosis or overall survival.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2009
• Joint Pain Associated With Aromatase Inhibitors in Patients With Breast Cancer   In her latest video blog, Dr. Kathy Miller comments on a new study examining the incidence of arthralgia associated with aromatase inhibitor therapy in patients with breast cancer.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2009
• Can Doctors Ever Tell Patients They Are Cured of Cancer?   In her first Medscape video blog, Dr. Kathy Miller asks whether doctors should avoid using the term cured to describe patients who have been in remission for several years.
  Medscape Hematology-Oncology, November 2009