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.
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.
Mary Lou Smith, JD, MBA, of the Research Advocacy Network, discusses, from the perspective of a patient advocate, the value of the NCCN guidelines and the impact they have made on cancer care.
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, talks about the revolution in lymphoma treatment, which started with rituximab and continues with obinutuzumab, ibrutinib, and others.
John C. Grecula, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, discusses the evolution of precision delivery of radiation for patients with small cell lung cancer and advances that include prophylactic cranial radiotherapy, thoracic radiotherapy, and the use of PET-CT.
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.
