Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and John A. Gentile, Jr, Chairman, Harborside Press, LLC, discuss the early days of NCCN, controversies that surrounded the first meeting, oncologists’ embrace of the guidelines, and how the organization has evolved over the past 20 years.
Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses the advances in immunotherapy generally and for melanoma in particular.
Mario E. Lacouture, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the effect on patients of dermatologic toxicities associated with targeted therapies: their psychosocial impact, financial burden, physiological pain, and potential to alter therapy. But the side effects of targeted treatments can and should be addressed.
Although guidelines worldwide mandate fertility preservation for newly diagnosed patients within their reproductive window, most patients are still not referred or offered this option. Rebecca H. Johnson, MD, of Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, explains the steps that need to be taken when counseling patients.
Peter E. Clark, MD, of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center discusses the highlights of the 2015 NCCN Guidelines for bladder cancer in both non–muscle invasive and muscle-invasive disease.
Wui-Jin Koh, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses the program to adapt NCCN guidelines to regions of the world with different resource availability. The first guideline to be adapted in this way is for cervical cancer, which is prevalent in the developing world.
