Videos

There is far less patient education for oral agents, such as CDK4/6 inhibitors for breast cancer, as there is for chemotherapy. This is a major issue, explained Patricia Jakel, MN, RN, AOCN, advanced practice nurse at UCLA's solid tumor program and co-editor in chief of Oncology Nursing News.

With minimally invasive procedures to test lung cancer tumors, there often isn't enough tissue to undergo a full biomarker test, pointing toward the strength of liquid biopsies, explained Lynette M. Sholl, MD, chief of thoracic pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

There are multiple factors in making "cold" breast cancer tumors "hot," meaning that they respond to chemotherapy, explained Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Some patients with breast cancer might be apprehensive to undergo genetic testing, but it is crucial both for them and their family members. Lauren Carcas, MD, medical oncologist at the Miami Cancer Institute, discusses some main points nurses can make to these patients to encourage them to get tested.

Healthcare value has been defined as outcomes divided by costs, but it's not always that simple, especially in treating patients with cancer, explained Stuart L. Goldberg, MD, Chief, Division of Outcomes and Value-Based Care at the John Theurer Cancer Center and associate professor of medicine at Seton Hall School of Medicine.

Cell-free DNA could be the next big breakthrough in detecting gastrointestinal cancers, according to Brian M. Wolpin, MD, MPH, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center, and director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer.

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.