ONCOLOGY & HEMATOLOGY REVIEW (US) – VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1 – SPRING 2012

This issue of Oncology & Hematology Review presents a variety of topics sure to be of practical use to our readers. We are pleased to offer a range of subjects that are relevant to the practice of hematology and oncology. To start, one will find an update of medical ethics in the setting of gynecologic […]

Section 1. Current Treatment Practice for Spinal Metastases

Gynecologic oncologists play a crucial role not only in the physical treatment of their patients, but also in the emotional and psychological adjustments to their cancer diagnoses. Frequently, this involves addressing ethical issues, including end-of-life decision-making and mediating family disagreements about treatment goals. We recently reported on a review of the ethics consults for gynecologic […]

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women in the US.1,2 Improvements in the treatment of early-stage disease have led to a decline in the incidence of metastatic breast cancer (MBC).3 Nonetheless, 20–85 % of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer develop recurrent and/or metastatic […]

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with varied morphological appearances, natural histories, and treatment outcomes. From an oncologist’s perspective, management relies primarily on chemotherapy and drugs that target the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor-2 receptor (HER2). For this reason, clinicopathological examination and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for hormone receptors and […]

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for approximately 3 % of adult malignancies and 90–95 % of neoplasms arising from the kidney. It is estimated that, in 2011, 60,920 people in the US will be diagnosed with cancers of the kidney and of the renal pelvis, and 13,120 will die of the disease.1 At the Memorial […]

The incidence of lung cancer diagnosed in the elderly population is rising as a result of increasing life expectancy. Patients aged over 65 years at diagnosis represent half of the population of newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), while 30–40 % of cases are diagnosed in patients older than 70 years.1 As reported by […]

The liver is a common site of metastatic disease from some of the most prevalent malignancies, in particular gastrointestinal tumors for which metastatic deposits travel through the portal venous system. Approximately one-third of patients with solid tumors will develop liver metastases. In a large autopsy series the prevalence of liver involvement was 86 % for […]

In North America and in many European countries, pre-operative 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and radiation followed by total mesorectal excision (TME) and post-operative adjuvant 5-FU is one of the standard treatments for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) stage II and III. This approach has resulted in a five-year cumulative local relapse rate of less than 10 % […]

Cervical and vaginal cancers remain grave health problems worldwide. While structured screening programs based on the Papinicolaou exfoliative cytology smear have lowered the incidence for invasive disease and thus mortality attributed to cervical and vaginal cancer,1,2 these diseases are still the leading causes of life years lost to cancer in nations poor in health resources.3 […]

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in men in the USA and the third most common cause of death in developed countries.1 For patients with metastatic prostate cancer, androgen deprivation therapy via medical or surgical castration is the standard treatment for improving symptoms and to prolong progression-free survival.2 After a […]

Retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas (RSTSs) are uncommon tumors composing less than 1 % of all adult cancers. They account for approximately 15 % of soft tissue sarcomas (STSs), i.e., the most frequent site of mesenchymal malignancy after the lower extremities.1 Although many different sarcoma histotypes exist, the most common in the retroperitoneum are liposarcoma (41 […]

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most commonly occurring form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), accounting for approximately one-third of adult lymphomas. There was an unprecedented rise in NHL incidence (3–4 % per year) from the 1970s to the mid-1990s, comparable only to the rise in skin cancers.1 It is estimated that there will be […]

Prognostic factors of clinical outcomes in patients with cancer are a useful tool in the practice of medicine, especially in the fields of oncology and malignant hematology. A good prognostic factor should reflect the biology of its targeted disease, be inexpensive, reliable, reproducible, and standardized. Furthermore, a universal prognostic factor that can predict survival regardless […]

The symptoms of sickle cell disease (SCD) as well as underlying disease processes affect sleep across development, which has important implications for academic and behavioural functioning and overall health outcomes in children and adolescents with SCD. High frequencies of arousals and fragmented sleep related to sleep disorders that are more prevalent in SCD coupled with […]