Adverse Event Management

Here are the top 5 Oncology Nursing News® stories for January 2020.

Optimal management of treatment-related dermatologic adverse events (AEs) in patients with melanoma is essential for proper care, according to Tracey Liebman, MD.

Combining ovarian suppression and an aromatase inhibitor is an efficacious treatment method for premenopausal women with breast cancer. However, the regimen (which is given long-term) can cause some major adverse events, explained Dawn L. Hershman, MD, MS, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Do a head-to-toe scan when discussing adverse events for melanoma treatment, says a nurse practitioner.

In this special edition podcast, we spoke with both a physician and a nurse about the management of immune-related adverse events in patients with melanoma.

Treatment with luspatercept-aamt (Reblozyl) reduced the severity of anemia in patients with very low- to intermediate-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with ring sideroblasts who require red blood cell (RBC) transfusions, according to findings from the phase III MEDALIST trial that have now been published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Frequent communication between patients and providers is key in getting ahead of adverse events that can occur during breast cancer treatment, explained Madeline Kuiper, MSN, RN, OCN, an oncology nurse practitioner at UCLA.

Not taking opioids as prescribed can be extremely risky to patients, but oncology nurses can help.

The FDA has accepted a biologics license application (BLA) to review eflapegrastim (Rolontis) for the management of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, according to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, the developer of the novel long-acting granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF).

It is important that nurses talk with their patients about what kind of adverse events to expect while being treated for HER2-positive breast cancer.

Patients who develop immunotherapy-related colitis tend to have better outcomes, so it is important to get them back on treatment as soon as possible.

A majority of adult patients with β-thalassemia who require regular red blood cell (RBC) transfusions experienced clinically meaningful and durable transfusion burden reduction associated with luspatercept (Reblozyl) in the phase III BELIEVE trial.

Steroid use while cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurologic toxicities are at grade 1, instead of waiting until grade 3, reduces the rate of CAR T-cell treatment–related CRS and neurologic events.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted breakthrough therapy designation to abatacept (Orencia) to prevent moderate or severe acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in patients who underwent a hematopoietic stem cell transplant and are not related to their donors, according to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the manufacturer of the drug.

New findings show that while nurses need to provide more palliative care to patients, they are not prepared to do so, leading to high levels of moral distress.

As immune checkpoint inhibitors begin to reshape how to treat patients with cancer, understanding treatment-free survival as an endpoint in clinical research can better characterize the effects of the treatment.

The first-in-human trial for tebentafusp findings are in, and they show promise for managing a patients side effects to it.

With new immune checkpoint inhibitors being utilized in treating patients with ICC, physicians need to study new ways to address irAEs associated with this treatment.

Canada’s first immunotherapy oncology program provides patient education to not only help them understand the therapy but also mitigate immune-related adverse events.

Patients with cancer undergoing stem cell transplant are experiencing depression at higher rates than other cancer survivors, and special interventions are required to address their psychosocial needs.

Lung cancer treatments are advancing. With these changes come new complications and questions that nurses will have to address with their patients.

Palliative care is often associated with a patient entering end of life treatment and giving up on their treatment, but that isn't the reality of what id can do for patients. And oncology nurses can help guide patients to the right supportive care for them.

The FDA has approved the biosimilar pegfilgrastim for treatment to decrease the incidence of infection exhibited from febrile neutropenia.

For patients with hairy cell leukemia, it's complications after treatment that can be life-threatening.

An update to the biologics license application of eflapegrastim has been resubmitted to the FDA to include chemo-induced neutropenia.

At the 2019 Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation Annual Conference new findings showed promise in the safety of vemurafenib to treat patients with hairy cell leukemia.

Chemotherapy is often associated with devastating toxicities, but moxetumomab pasudotox appears to be manageable based on the findings from a new trial.

Following concerns over breast implant-associated cancer and illnesses, the Food and Drug Administration issued draft guidelines for additional labeling measures on devices.

Even if survivors of pediatric neuroblastoma received treatment before 1 year old, they are still at risk for cognitive issues years later.

For patients with cancer, their journey does not end after treatment is over.