Lauren M. Green

When trained, advanced practice nurses followed up written heart screening guidelines with telephone calls to survivors of childhood cancers, screening uptake more than doubled among those who received the telephone-based counseling.

Researchers have identified a new way to boost the enrollment of Latina patients with breast cancer in clinical trials via a culturally sensitive video, a tailored booklet, and the help of a patient navigator.

A systematic review of published results from 203 randomized clinical trials, involving more than 80 different integrative therapies, has yielded evidence-based recommendations for clinicians and their patients with breast cancer about which of these therapies may be most helpful to manage their symptoms.

The new Midwest Cancer Alliance Survivorship Transition Clinic is slated to open November 6-one of six adult care clinics in the country specializing in addressing long-term health issues in survivors of childhood cancer who are at high risk for late effects of their cancer treatment.

Eighty-nine percent of patients with cancer reported making lifestyle modifications to cope with the high costs of cancer treatment, and more than one-third altered their medical care, according to the results of a new nationwide survey, underscoring the need for oncology practitioners to screen for and anticipate potentially harmful cost-coping behavior to alleviate patient distress and promote optimal care.

For the sixth year running, the sun shined brightly on the more than 3000 patients, survivors, caregivers, and staff from the John Theurer Cancer Center (JTCC) who gathered last month at Liberty State Park in New Jersey to celebrate life, reflect on their journey, and pay tribute to what they have achieved together.

A new tool to help oncology practitioners working across all settings to develop their own survivorship care plans (SCPs) was unveiled today, and the experts who have worked hard to develop it hope that it will make the process less time-consuming and more straightforward for the nation's 14.5 million survivors and the healthcare providers who treat them.

Patients with certain lung and colorectal cancers whose physicians participated in weekly, treatment-focused tumor board meetings had improved survival and were 60% more likely to enroll in a clinical trial

When patients with multiple myeloma relapse or become refractory to prior therapy, FDA approval of additional therapeutic options such as pomalidomide and carfilzomib was certainly welcome news.

Underscoring the need to raise awareness among oncology nurses of the importance of adhering to safety precautions when administering chemotherapy and other hazardous drugs, the NIOSH has awarded a $2.3 million research grant to identify exposure risks and promote strategies to combat them.

Women who received the hormone suppressor goserelin (Zoladex) along with their chemotherapy were significantly less likely to develop premature ovarian failure and were more likely to have successful pregnancies, than women who received chemotherapy alone, according to findings from the federally funded phase III S0230/POEMS clinical trial.

At the 2014 ASCO meeting, Oncology Nursing News sat down with Jimmie C. Holland, MD, the Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the recipient of the 2014 Giants of Cancer Careâ„¢ Award for her pioneering contributions in the field of supportive care.

An approach using heat to alleviate the pain commonly associated with bone metastases has proven to be safe and effective in a multicenter phase III clinical trial, yielding a 64% response rate based on self-reported pain scores among patients receiving the noninvasive intervention.

Susan C. McMillan, PhD, ARNP, FAAN has conducted extensive research on treatment-related constipation, which, she noted, is the most common side effect of all of the opioid medications, and one that is "very amenable to nurse intervention."

Despite decades of research, experts agree that, for many patients with advanced cancer, clinicians may still fail to accurately assess-or sufficiently manage-the symptoms associated with a cancer diagnosis and its treatment.

Each year in connection with the ONS Annual Congress, CURE magazine announces the winner of its Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing, and the 2014 recipient Cindi Cantril, RN, OCN, was honored not only for the outstanding care she provides to individual patients with breast cancer, but also for going above and beyond to forge a number of programs to support other patients living with cancer.

Doxepin rinse may prove to be a viable option for the relief of pain associated with oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancers

When advanced practice palliative care nurses offer a formal program of palliative care to the family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer soon after diagnosis, the caregivers experience better quality of life, less depression, and a lower sense of caregiver burden,

A noninvasive stool DNA test may be a new option to increase rates of colorectal cancer screening, proving more sensitive in identifying colon cancer, advanced precancerous lesions, and polyps than currently available fecal immunochemical testing (FIT).

Obesity significantly increases the risk of dying of breast cancer in premenopausal women with ER-positive early disease, according to findings from a large, retrospective study involving 80,000 patients.

Low sexual desire is a common problem among women diagnosed with breast cancer, ranking as one of the top three causes of post cancer distress

Attendees at the 2014 ONS Annual Congress were encouraged to "Get Up, Get Moving" by recommending physical activity to improve patient outcomes.

Oncology practitioners and patients are increasingly looking to holistic interventions, such as aromatherapy, healing touch, guided imagery, and massage, to improve patient outcomes.

Oncology nurses attending today's keynote at the 2014 ONS Annual Congress received a rousing call to action from speaker Devon Harris, who told a packed arena at the Anaheim Convention Center that recognizing and deploying their own considerable leadership skills can reap manifold benefits for their patients, their peers, and their practices.

The 39th Annual ONS Congress opens in Anaheim May 1 with an array of presentations and interactive programs aimed at offering attendees practical tips and tools they can use right away in their practices.

Each year, the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Annual Congress showcases leading nursing research to advance evidence-based practice, and this year's meeting is no exception.

Adult survivors of childhood cancer face significant health problems as they age and are five times more likely than their siblings to develop new cancers, heart, and other serious health conditions beyond the age of 35 years

Breast cancer patients whose chemotherapy is initiated more than 60 days following surgery experience worse survival outcomes, and the impact of treatment delay is greatest among patients with stage III or triple-negative breast cancer and those whose HER2-positive tumors have been treated with trastuzumab

The premature termination of clinical trials in the oncology setting is a problem that continues to vex researchers, and results of a new study that involved more than 7500 adult cancer clinical trials suggest that the concern is justified, with as many as 20% of these studies failing to complete for reasons unconnected to either the efficacy of the intervention or side effects.

The FDA's approval of ibrutinib February 12 for the second-line treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was exciting news indeed for thousands of patients with CLL who stand to benefit from the drug