November 2019 Vol 10, No 11

Many breast cancer survivors experience changes in their sexual health related to cancer treatment.

Studies demonstrate that many gynecological (Gyn) cancer patients are reluctant to exercise during and after treatment due to fatigue and general weakness. This is the most distressing symptom affecting their quality of life.

Our team implemented a survivorship needs assessment in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to determine the specific needs of the cancer survivors in a specified geographic area.

The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) promotes the goal to share best practices for survivorship and to address the question “Does the Survivorship Care Plan (SCP) Meet Patient Goals?” (Staci Oertle, RN, MSN, APN, AOCNP, AONN+ Survivorship Committee).

Per the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 20 million cancer survivors by 2026.

Survivorship care plans (SCPs) have played an important role in cancer care for over a decade and are included in the quality metrics or accreditation standards of several institutions, including the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (ACS CoC).

Breast cancer survivors often report depression, anxiety, and stress before and after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Acalabrutinib is a highly selective, potent, covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has shown clinical benefit in patients with relapsed/refractory (RR) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Activating mutations in PIK3CA (the gene encoding the p110α catalytic subunit of class I phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase [PI3K] [PI3Kα]) lead to increased activity of the PI3K pathway and play a role in endocrine treatment resistance in breast cancer.

In the COMBI-AD trial (NCT01682083), 12 months of adjuvant D+T led to significant improvement of RFS versus PBO (hazard ratio [HR], 0.47; P <.001) in pts with resected BRAF V600–mutant stage III melanoma; 3- and 4-year RFS rates were 59% and 54%, respectively.

Talazoparib is a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor approved in the US for HER2-negative germline BRCA1/2-mutated (gBRCA1/2mut) locally advanced/metastatic breast cancer.

Evidence exists showing that enabling patients to engage in treatment decisions through education and shared decision-making is an effective tool in promoting self-efficacy, reducing barriers to care, and increasing the perceived benefits of self-involvement in one’s cancer diagnosis and treatment plan.

Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists are the most frequently used drugs for the delivery of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in prostate cancer (PCa).

Acalabrutinib is a highly selective, potent, covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, approved for use in adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (R/R MCL), an aggressive B-cell malignancy.

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare B-cell malignancy, diagnosed in ~1000 new patients a year in the US.

Ibrutinib, a first-in-class, once-daily inhibitor of Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK), is approved in the US for the treatment of CLL/SLL and allows for treatment without chemotherapy.

Ibrutinib, a first-in-class, once-daily inhibitor of Bruton tyrosine kinase, is approved in the US for CLL/SLL treatment, including in combination with obinutuzumab.

Twelve months of adjuvant oral dabrafenib + trametinib therapy significantly prolonged relapse-free survival versus placebo in patients with resected BRAF V600E/K–mutant stage III melanoma.