Addressing Racial Disparities in Health Care
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Which BTK Inhibitor is Best Upfront for CLL?
Ibrutinib was once the only bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor. Now that acalabrutinib (brand name: Calquence) is available, you have a decision to make when choosing an upfront therapy for your chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients. Which of these two drugs is best?
Learn MoreWhich Ovarian Cancer Patients Should Get PARP Inhibitor Maintenance Therapy?
PARP inhibitors are becoming an increasingly important part of the care for ovarian cancer. Professional medical societies have started to weigh in on how these drugs should be incorporated into clinical care, but providers still have many unanswered questions about their use.
Learn MoreWhy Don’t Checkpoint Inhibitors Work for More Bladder Cancer Patients?
The FDA's approval of the first checkpoint inhibitors for metastatic bladder cancer in 2014 ushered in a new era of treatment. This was the first class of new drugs to be approved for this indication in decades. Yet despite initial optimism about checkpoint inhibitors, they only produce response rates of 15 to 25% in any setting -- chemorefractory, metastatic, BCG-unresponsive.
Learn MoreWhy Minorities Are Underrepresented in Clinical Trials and What Physicians Can Do About It
The idea that racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in clinical trials has been well documented. That disparity has meant that cancer therapies are not being tested in the full demographic of people who will one day make use of them in the clinical setting.
Learn MoreWhy Oncologists Have to Take Time to Educate Themselves on the Broader Patient Population
By Kayle Waterhouse Too often oncologists forget about a significant portion of their patient population. As SurvivorNet Connect acknowledges racial disparities in multiple myeloma, a group of top oncologists noted that patient education requires an active approach from oncologists. Dr. Brandon Blue, a hematologist-oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center, tells SurvivorNet Connect how important it is to recognize […]
Learn MoreWhy Physicians Should Prioritize Their Emotional Wellbeing
The issue of burnout has long plagued physicians given the many hours of physically and mentally draining work. But the past year of dealing with COVID-19 has ratcheted the demands on doctors even higher, and many may be experiencing profession-related mental health issues for the first time. Now more than ever it's important to pay attention to the idea of compassion fatigue, says Dr. Marianna Strongin, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Strong in Therapy, her Manhattan-based private practice.
Learn MoreWill Bladder Preservation Become More Common in the Future?
“For localized bladder cancer patients who have muscle invasive disease, a lot of departments across the country really do favor surgery,” Dr. Jeannie Hoffman-Censits, medical oncologist and bladder cancer specialist at Johns Hopkins, tells SurvivorNet Connect. Radiation has long been an option for selected patients who don’t have multi-focal disease, “who don’t have certain high-risk features."
Learn MoreWithdrawal of Durvalumab for Advanced Bladder Cancer “a Disappointing Loss”
On February 22, 2021, AstraZeneca announced that it was voluntarily withdrawing the checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab (brand name: Imfinzi) indication for previously treated patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer.
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