Current Oncology, Volume 23, Issue 3

An article in this issue by Srikanthan, [...]

Background: Colorectal cancer (crc) has a median diagnostic age of 68 years. Despite significant progress in chemotherapy (ctx) options, few data on outcomes or toxicity from ctx in patients 80 years of age and older are available. We investigated ct...

Background: Concerns have been raised about the potential influence of political pressures on drug funding decisions. We evaluated the temporal relationship between cancer drug funding and provincial elections in 9 Canadian provinces. Methods: New in...

Purpose: We compared the efficacy, toxicity, and use of granulocyte colony–stimulating factor (g-csf) with tac (docetaxel–doxorubicin–cyclophosphamide) and fec-d (5-fluorouracil–epirubicin–cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel) in women less than 50...

Background: Despite lack of a true comparative study, the folfox (5-fluorouracil–leucovorin–oxaliplatin) and capox (capecitabine–oxaliplatin) regimens are believed to be similar in their efficacy and tolerability in the treatment of stage III colorec...

Background: Despite its importance for patient outcomes, biomarker testing for lung cancer is not uniformly integrated into the Canadian health care system. To better understand current practice patterns for lung cancer biomarker testing, we assessed...

Background: The management of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) with radiotherapy (RT) varies, with many treatment regimens having been described in the literature. We created a survey to assess patterns of practice and clinical decision-making in the ma...

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (alk) is an oncogenic driver in non-small-cell lung cancer (nsclc). Chromosomal rearrangements involving the ALK gene occur in up to 4% of nonsquamous nsclc patients and lead to constitutive activation of the alk signalling...

Evidence shows that continued smoking by cancer patients leads to adverse treatment outcomes and affects survival. Smoking diminishes treatment effectiveness, exacerbates side effects, and increases the risk of developing additional complications. Pa...

Adolescents and young adults (AYAS) with cancer in active treatment face a number of barriers to optimal care. In the present article, we focus on the 3 critical domains of care for ayas—medical, psychosocial, and research—and how changes to the syst...

Each February, the Canadian Lung Cancer Conference brings together lung cancer researchers, clinicians, and care professionals who are united in their commitment to improve the care of patients with lung cancer. This year’s meeting, held 11–12 Februa...

Facts do not go away while scientists debate rival theories for explaining them. [...]

Background: Unlike cytotoxic agents, novel antineoplastic drugs can variably affect thyroid function and so impair patient outcomes. However, the widely used standard thyroid tests have demonstrated low sensitivity for detecting early thyroid damage...

Background: Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (epcam) is a multifunctional transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on both normal epithelium and epithelial neoplasms such as gastric, breast, and renal carcinomas. Recent studies have proposed that the pr...

Background: Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening has been shown to reduce mortality from lung cancer; however, the optimal screening duration and “at risk” population are not known. Methods: The Cancer Risk Management Model developed by Stat...

Objective: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is used in China as part of the treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and often includes prescription of herbal therapy based on syndrome differentiation. Studies of various Astragalus-based Ch...

Background: The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the complexity of its diagnosis and treatment are increasing. We estimated trends in net health care utilization, costs of care attributable to HCC in Ontario, and rate ratios of resourc...

Background: The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) colorectal guideline has been implemented widely across Alberta. Our study examined the clinical and cost impacts of ERAS on colon cancer patients across the province. Methods: We first used both...

Background: Radiotherapy is a common treatment for many cancers, but up-to-date estimates of the costs of radiotherapy are lacking. In the present study, we estimated the unit costs of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (imrt) and 3-dimensional conform...

Purpose: We evaluated the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the Brain Metastases Symptom Checklist (BMSC), a novel self-report measure of common symptoms experienced by patients with brain metastases. Methods: Patients with first-presentation...

Background: Gastric cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Malignant bowel obstruction (mbo) is a common complication in advanced gastric cancer because of peritoneal dissemination. A multicentre prospective study reported that pa...

Background: Metronomic chemotherapy (mCTX) combined with radiation therapy (RT) is an emerging anticancer strategy. The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of mCTX combined with RT as salvage treatment in children with refractory or r...

Background: Efforts to streamline the diagnosis and treatment of breast abnormalities are necessary to limit patient anxiety and expedite care. In the present study, we examined the effect of a rapid diagnostic unit (rdu) on wait times to clinical in...

Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PTC) represents advanced malignant disease and has generally been associated with a grim prognosis. Peritoneal surface malignancy is often the major source of morbidity and mortality; it is of major concern in cancer manage...

Introduction: The accrual rate to clinical trials in oncology remains low. In this exploratory pilot study, we prospectively assessed the role that engaging a referring surgeon plays in enhancing nonsurgical oncologic clinical trial accrual. Methods:...

Nurse navigation is a developing facet of oncology care. The concept of patient navigation was originally created in 1990 at the Harlem Hospital Center in New York City as a strategy to assist vulnerable and socially disadvantaged populations with ti...

A substantial proportion of women who undergo BRCA1/2 testing learn that they carry a variant of uncertain significance[...]

We read with great interest the article by Pervez et al. about genitourinary (GU) small-cell carcinoma (SCC) [...]

I thank Dr. Nabil Ismaili for reading our article1 and giving his valuable comments with regard to the management of genitourinary small-cell carcinoma (scc). [...]

In his response to Constantine Kaniklidis and to my colleague Dr. Steven Narod, Martin Yaffe makes two assertions about the Canadian National Breast Screening Study (CNBSS), one of which we have previously responded to; the other, however, is new [.....

Scientific progress is made by building upon the findings of other researchers and confirming those findings through repeated experiment [...]