In ‘Supportive Oncology’, Catherine Terret and Jean-Pierre Droz discuss the unmet disease for both standardisation and co-ordination of quality-of-life (QoL) evaluation tools in genito-urinary cancers. They believe that the availability of good QoL tools would enable an increase in the efficiency of decision-making in these cancers where comparisons between the side of effects of the different treatments are difficult.
In the ‘Lung Cancer’ section, Athanasios G Pallis hopes that advances in understanding the molecular biology of cancer and mechanisms of tumourigenesis will facilitate the discovery and development of novel ‘targeted agents’ and will further improve outcomes for these patients. He discusses these thoughts in his review of treatment in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Noah Federman and William Tap focus on the current chemotherapeutic treatments of localised osteosarcoma, in the ‘Musculoskeletal Cancer’ section. They discuss the controversies surrounding adjuvant therapy and future directions and additions to our armamentarium in their discussion of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with osteosarcoma. In ‘Fertility-preserving Management of Endometrial Carcinoma’, Luis M Chiva and Sonsoles Alonso review the literature for a better assessment of selection criteria, risk of concomitant neoplasias, hormonal treatment and clinical and reproductive outcome. They have concluded that fertility-preserving management of endometrial cancer is feasible in selected patients with an acceptable clinical and reproductive outcome.
Articles relating to haematological conditions examine treatment options for myelodysplastic syndromes, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell donation. Hillary Prescott et al. discuss three treatments for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) which have recently been approved: lenalidomide, decitabine and azacitidine. These agents have dramatically improved the outcomes for patients with MDs. These novel agents and combination regimens are being explored in an effort to further improve patient outcomes.
Maria D Cappellini, Khaled M Musallam and Ali T Taher highlight the molecular and cellular mechanisms leading to hypercoagulability in thalassaemia, with a special focus on thalassaemia intermedia, being the type with the highest incidence of thrombotic events as compared with other types of thalassaemia. Clinical experience and available clues regarding optimal management are also discussed.
European Oncology & Haematology would like to thank the authors for their contribution. We would also like to thank the supprting organisations and members of the Editorial Board for their continued support. We hope that you find this an enjoyable read.
