November 2013, Vol 4, No 9

Hollywood, FL—As new models of oncology care evolve, they should not dismiss the importance of multi­discipline involvement, Thomas A. Marsland, MD, President, Integrated Community Oncology Network, Orange Park, FL, maintained in his talk at the 3rd Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

Hollywood, FL—Many current forces are colliding to challenge community oncology, according to David Eagle, MD, Immediate Past President of Community Oncology Alliance (COA), Lake Norman Oncology, Mooresville/Huntersville, NC. At the 3rd Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care, Dr Eagle described the seriousness of the plight faced by community oncology practices.

With the development of targeted therapies, there has been a clear evolution in the pathway to the approval of drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a rapid approval of a drug after phase 1 clinical trials, which show definitive proof of activity and safety, and “breakthrough” designation, are now possible.

Atlanta, GA—The adoption of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for the management of patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has had a mixed impact on clinical and economic outcomes, according to findings from a large retrospective cohort study.

For the past 30 years, awareness and screening have led to an emphasis on the early diagnosis of cancer. The goals were to get screened and to catch cancer early to reduce the rate of late-stage disease and to decrease cancer mortality.

Surgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) proved cost-effective strategies for stage I non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when applied to specific patient populations, according to a study reported at the 2013 American Society for Radiation Oncology meeting.

Unnecessary treatment, imaging, and testing all came into focus in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s 2013 choices for the Choosing Wisely campaign to eliminate the overuse and misuse of medical care resources.

A new sense of urgency surrounds the need to improve quality measurement, even as major gaps persist in existing measures, said Jennifer L. Malin, MD, PhD, Medical Director, Oncology, WellPoint, at the 2013 ASCO Quality Care Symposium.

The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) tool can inform clinical care delivery for patients with cancer, according to the initial results of a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded project.

In a new study, researchers analyzed data from 2 trials to determine if early tumor shrinkage was associated with long-term outcomes in patients with colorectal cancer receiving first-line treatment with cetuximab (Piessevaux H, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2013;31:3764-3775).