Oncology News

• The Robot Comes to Mastectomy, But Cancer Outcomes Data Not Attached A series of clinical trials of robotic mastectomy for the prevention and/or treatment of breast cancer have recently started in the US, but oncologic outcomes and randomized trial designs are not in the mix.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• CLARIFY Confirms Meds, Watchful Waiting in Angina, Stable CAD Few cardiovascular events and favorable evolution of angina in most patients allows for a watchful waiting strategy before failure of medical management is declared, the authors say.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• Hematologic Cancer Increases Risk for Delivery Complications The risk of in-hospital complications and poor birth outcomes were greater in pregnant women with current or historical cancer diagnoses, new research suggests.
  Medscape Medical News, July 22, 2021
• Sharp Decrease in Opioid Access for Dying US Cancer Patients There was a substantial decline in opioid use among patients over a 10-year period; during that period, patients increasingly sought pain relief in hospital emergency departments.
  Medscape Medical News, July 22, 2021
• Alert FDA Fully Approves Combination for Advanced Endometrial Cancer Pembrolizumab plus lenvatinib for the treatment of patients with advanced endometrial carcinoma is now fully approved.
  FDA Approvals, July 22, 2021
• Pfizer Expands Recall of Smoking Cessation Drug Chantix The FDA says the health benefits of stopping smoking outweigh the cancer risk from the nitrosamine impurity potentially contained in the recalled varenicline lots.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Lack of After Care Leaves Cancer Patients in 'Survivorship Abyss' Ten years after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, 98% of men are still alive – but many report ongoing adverse effects that make life a struggle.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Sickle Cell Disease, Trait May Up Risk for Poor COVID Outcomes The risk for hospitalization quadrupled and mortality risk doubled in a cohort of patients with sickle cell disease; excess risk was also seen among carriers, but the magnitude was smaller.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Recent Trend: Melanoma Mortality Declining Rapidly The drop in death rates has occurred despite increased incidence rates for both men and women.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• AHA Concerned, Others Pleased by Price Transparency Penalty Hike CMS intends to raise the stakes to compel compliance with a mandate for disclosure of hospital prices, with a proposed annual penalty of as much as $2 million for larger organizations.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• ASCO 2021 Sharp Turn in Career Path: Leaving Academic Medicine Behind Dr David Schenkein had aspired to, and achieved, a career in academic medicine and envisaged staying "until they take me out in a box." So why did this physician move to industry?
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• Florida Oncologist Fired by Health System, Files Lawsuit Simon Vinarsky, MD, argues that allegations of aggressive behavior toward other employees and negative feedback from patients are untrue.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• FDA Allows Impure Smoking Cessation Drug to Stay on the Market To ensure uninterrupted access to varenicline, the FDA will allow distribution of the smoking cessation drug to continue; some lots of pills were found to contain the carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Recent Cyberattack Disrupted Cancer Care Throughout US Cyberattacks on healthcare are on the increase, and a recent attack disrupted oncology care across the US after hackers disrupted software involved in radiotherapy.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Physicians Turning to Side Gigs for Extra Pay Nearly 4 in 10 doctors currently pursue another source of income in addition to medicine. A new survey explores what they are doing, how much they earn, and why they do it.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Benefits From Moving More, Sitting Less for CRC Survivors More physical activity and less sedentary behavior are associated with better quality of life and less fatigue among colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors up to 2 years after treatment.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Alert FDA Approves New Drug for Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Belumosudil, a small molecule inhibitor of the ROCK2 signaling pathway, is for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with cGVHD after failure of at least two prior lines of systemic therapy.
  FDA Approvals, July 19, 2021
• New Roadmap for High-Quality Cancer Care Delivery 'Oncology Medical Home' acts as a comprehensive guide for how oncology practices can deliver high-quality, evidence-based cancer care.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• High Medicaid Claims Denial Affecting Doc Participation: Study Physicians are less likely to take Medicaid patients in states where they lose a higher portion of potential revenue because of denials and billing costs.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• ILC 2021 Good Survival, Outcomes With TARE for HCC Transarterial radioembolization (TARE) was successfully and safely employed across 25 centers in eight European countries.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021