Supportive Care

Once a terminal illness, HIV is now considered a chronic disease due to the advances in highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART).

Kim M. Hirshfield, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Stacy Goldstein Breast Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discusses selecting individuals to screen for genetic mutations and the challenges of better selecting patients to screen.

A new study has shown that men with a high fitness level in midlife are not only at a lower risk of developing lung and colorectal cancer, they're also at a lower risk of dying from cancer if they're diagnosed later in life.

The continuing contentious debate about screening for prostate cancer remains top of mind among the public and lay press, but, Leonard G. Gomella, MD, told attendees at the 8th International Prostate Cancer Congress, the decision to screen or not to screen boiled down to "using common sense, shared decision making, and choosing the right patients to screen."

Margaretta Page, MS, RN, clinical nurse specialist, UCSF School of Medicine, discusses the importance of caring for the caregiver.

Screening for psychosocial distress is an important component of care, and has even been referred to as the "sixth vital sign."

When motivating people to get screened for cancer, fear may not be the best way to do it.

Few clinicians are asking about their use and most lack knowledge about them.

This NCI-funded educational program will train cancer care clinicians over two years to develop, implement, and maintain comprehensive psychosocial distress screening programs.

Debbie's Dream Foundation is hosting a free webinar on nutrition and clinical trials

Tara Sanft, MD, assistant professor of medicine (medical oncology), medical director, Adult Survivorship, Yale Cancer Center Survivorship Clinic, discusses the benefits of providing survivorship care to patients with cancer.

Two recent studies outline the importance of nutrition in preventing obesity-related cancers as well as the potential benefits of a nutrition education intervention in preventing breast cancer recurrence.

Bart C. De Jonghe, PhD, assistant professor, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, discusses obesity and cancer prognosis, discusses the connections between nutrition and cancer.

Findings from a long-term analysis of the Women's Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS) show that the deaths of women with hormone receptor–negative breast cancers were reduced by up to 54% when they followed a program to reduce their dietary fat intake, which could provide benefit for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

Margaretta Page, MS, RN, clinical nurse specialist, UCSF School of Medicine, offers advice to nurses for how to care for the caregiver.

Patricia Ganz, MD, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses palliative care and survivorship care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the agency plans to cover lung cancer screening using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for certain former and current smokers, a decision that could affect an estimated 4 million people.

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.

Michelle Farnan, RN, MSN, OCN, palliative care nurse coordinator, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, discusses the impact of a palliative care screening tool for inpatient oncology patients.

The Colon Cancer Alliance will be awarding 20 individuals with $300 each to help offset the cost of receiving a colonoscopy.

Electronic health records (EHR), which have been found to improve care and management of multiple chronic diseases in older adults, could also be customized to improve cancer screening rates in this population by integrating recommended screening protocols based on age, family history and other environmental, occupational, and behavioral risk factors (ie, smoking and alcohol use).

Carol Cannon, RN, BSN, OCN, Oncology Program Specialist, Nurse Oncology Education Program, Austin, Texas, discusses the ONS Get Up, Get Moving Campaign.

Many studies have found a link between regular exercise and a lower risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer or breast cancer coming back (recurrence). As a result, the American Cancer Society and many doctors recommend that women who've been diagnosed with breast cancer, as well as those who haven't, exercise regularly – about 4 to 5 hours per week at a moderate intensity level. (Brisk walking is considered moderate intensity exercise.)

My eye doctor recently added an extra wide chair in his waiting room, which got me thinking about the prevalence of obesity.

When depression is identified, it often goes untreated.

Deirdre Kiely, MS, MPA, RN, ANP, nurse practitioner, Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses some of the challenges of getting breast cancer patients to exercise routinely.

A new study has found that postmenopausal women who undertook regular physical activity equivalent to at least 4 hours of walking per week in the last 4 years had a lower risk for invasive breast cancer compared with women who exercised less during those 4 years.

When the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended last year that asymptomatic, high-risk individuals should receive annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), it made a healthy decision for the American population.