Based on study findings presented at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, Arif Kamal, MD, MHS, of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, listed six points for clinicians to consider that could change practice now or in the near future for cancer survivors.
- “Drugs for cancer cachexia are on their way,” Dr. Kamal noted. “This is really exciting, because it gives us a new target to improve performance status of patients with supportive care drugs.”
- “Zoledronic acid every 3 months is noninferior to once a month. It will be interesting to see how many people are actually changing their practice.”
- Chemobrain has been validated as a multidomain clinical entity and should not be just “brushed off.” Oncologists should listen to and validate patients’ concerns about chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment.
- “Children are less likely than ever before to die of cancer but have significant health morbidities,” Dr. Kamal noted. Modifying therapy for childhood cancer may reduce the occurrence of late effects and late mortality.
- “My recommendation is to get rid of the neutropenic diet unless someone can show me a study that it does anything at all,” Dr. Kamal stated.
- “Try some menthol” to prevent chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity. ■
