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Showing 1151 - 1200Use of Hospice Care by Medicare Patients Associated With Lower Rate of Hospitalization, ICU Admission, Invasive Procedures, and Costs
Medicare patients with poorprognosis cancers who received hospice care had significantly lower rates of hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and invasive procedures at the end of life, along with significantly lower health care expenditures during the last year of life, according...
How the Earlier Introduction of Palliative Care Improves Quality of Life for Patients With Advanced Cancer
A 4-year study1 involving 461 patients with advanced stages of lung, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, breast, and gynecologic cancers has found that providing early outpatient palliative care vs standard oncology care alone improved quality of life and patient satisfaction. The study participants...
Systemic Therapy in Men With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: ASCO/CCO Clinical Practice Guideline
The ASCO Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee and the Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) program in evidence-based care have released a clinical practice guideline on systemic therapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The guideline was published in the Journal of Clinical...
The Harvard Global Equity Initiative: From Research to Policy
The Harvard Global Equity Initiative is a research program at Harvard University that is dedicated to promoting equitable global development, with a strong emphasis on health-care issues. This initiative brings together scholars, policymakers, advocates, and practitioners from around the world to...
Having Dependent Children Motivates Parents With Advanced Cancer to Pursue More Aggressive, Life-Extending Treatments
Findings from a pilot study of 42 parents with advanced cancer indicate that parental status is an important factor in treatment decision-making. When asked how having children influences their treatment decisions, the majority of parents (64%) responded that being a parent motivates them to pursue ...
When Should We Stop Prescribing?
This year’s European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting held in Madrid was attended by 19,000 delegates, and it was encouraging to see among that number so many young oncologists being given time off for education and discussion. There has never before been a time when so much new...
2014 Oncology Meetings
JANUARY 2015 Melanoma 2015: 25th Annual Cutaneous Malignancy UpdateJanuary 10-11 • San Diego, California For more information: www.scripps.org/events/melanoma-annual-cutaneous-malignancy-update-january-10-2015 7th Breast Gynecological International Cancer ConferenceJanuary 15-16 • Cairo, Egypt For ...
Debate Over Legalizing Physician-Assisted Death for the Terminally Ill
On November 1, 2014, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard ended her life through physician-assisted death, reigniting the controversy surrounding Death With Dignity laws, which allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients. Diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme in January, Ms. ...
Center to Advance Palliative Care
In the first quarter of 2015, the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) will become a member-based organization. Member organizations will have unlimited access to CAPC tools, training, and hands-on technical assistance. At that time, CAPC will launch the first of its online curricula, broken...
Palliative Care in 2014
Palliative care expert Diane E. Meier, MD, is the Director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), a national organization devoted to enhancing the number and quality of palliative care programs across the nation. Under her leadership, the number of palliative care programs in the United...
Cancer Care Incomplete Without Palliative Care Integration
ASCO recognizes that an array of efforts are needed to fully integrate palliative care into the cancer care continuum, and the Society is committed to facilitating the integration of palliative cancer care into existing health-care systems worldwide in order to realize the vision of comprehensive...
Benefits of Exercise for Relieving Fatigue in Cancer Survivors
Fatigue is such a common—and ongoing—problem among cancer survivors, last spring, ASCO published a clinical practice guideline1 to address screening, assessment, and treatment approaches for the management of fatigue after patients have completed treatment. Among the strategies included in the...
Expert Point of View: Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH
Formal discussant of this abstract, Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, praised this effort. “Dr. Stuver’s abstract provides ample evidence of overuse of intensive care at the end of life. Patients and their families do not want to be in the hospital or emergency department at...
Private Payer and Academic Center Data Capture Inappropriate Use of End-of-Life Care
Data sharing between a comprehensive cancer center and a private insurer appears to be a novel way to capture practice patterns that can point to potential quality improvements. A study that combined data from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts showed that some ...
Better Studies Needed to Dispel Confusion Over When to Refer a Patient to Hospice
I read the article on “Private Payer and Academic Center Data Capture Inappropriate Use of End-of Life Care” (The ASCO Post, December 15, 2014, page 11). The data highlight Dr. Deborah Schrag’s notion that there is “ample evidence of overuse of intensive care at the end of life.” However, there is...
Ten Best-Practice Measures Improve Quality of Care During Perioperative Period for Patients With Glioma
Ten best-practice measures identified by a multidisciplinary team at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, were used to improve the care provided to patients with glioma during the perioperative period. “Using a plan-do-study-act ...
Incorporating Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Into Palliative Care
Although cancer rehabilitation has been a part of oncology clinical practice for several decades, it has largely gone unrecognized as an integral part of palliative medicine and survivorship care. Now, the role of physical medicine and rehabilitation in oncology care may increase as patients with...
What It Means to Be Mortal
“I learned a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn’t one of them,” writes Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, in his new book on the medicalization of aging and dying, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Metropolitan Books, 2014). In the book, Dr. Gawande critiques the American...
2015 Oncology Meetings
JANUARY 2015 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons 51st Annual MeetingJanuary 24-28 • San Diego, California For more information: www.sts.org/education-meetings/educational-meetings-activities/future-meetings 7th Annual T-cell Lymphoma ForumJanuary 29-31 • San Francisco, California For more...
Panelists Lambast, Explore the High Cost of Cancer Drugs
At the 2014 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, a symposium on the high cost of cancer drugs proved provocative and a bit testy as panelists presented their various points of view. ‘Medical Darwinian System’ Already known for his outspoken views on the topic is Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD,...
Breast Health Global Initiative Tackles Third-World Health Care
Benjamin O. Anderson, MD, is the Director of the Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI) and surgical oncologist and Director of the Breast Health Clinic at the University of Washington in Seattle. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Dr. Anderson about the conceptual framework of the...
ASCO’s International Palliative Care Workshops
ASCO, in collaboration with international oncology societies, hosts International Palliative Care Workshops (IPCWs) designed to teach participants about palliative care best practices. IPCWs share communication strategies (such as how to deliver bad news), pain assessment methods, methods to manage ...
Palliative Care in the Middle East
While some seek peace in the Middle East through political means, others are looking to help patients with cancer find peace through palliative care. This endeavor is bringing oncology professionals together across the region’s national borders and cultural boundaries to implement solutions and...
Latest ASCO-SEP® Edition Includes 20-Point Maintenance of Certification Course
The 4th edition of ASCO-SEP®, ASCO’s self-evaluation program, was released in October and not only includes 21 chapters of up-to-date information on all major cancer types, cancer prevention and more, but now also includes a Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Course in addition to its traditional...
2015 Oncology Meetings
FEBRUARY AACR-SNMMI Joint Conference: State-of-the-Art Molecular Imaging in Cancer Biology and TherapyFebruary 11-14 • San Diego, California For more information: www.aacr.org 2015 BMT Tandem Meeting American Society for Blood and Marrow TransplantationFebruary 11 - 15 • San Diego, California For...
Transitioning From Volume to Value in Cancer Care
In an oncology health-care system that is increasingly changing its delivery and payment models, how do busy oncologists successfully bridge the transition from a volume- to value-based, patient-centric model? This, and other topics on value fueled a robust discussion at the Association of...
Thomas J. Smith, MD, Honored by the American Cancer Society
Thomas J. Smith, MD, has been selected by the American Cancer Society to be the recipient of the 2015 Trish Greene Quality of Life Award. This award honors the life and work of the late Patricia (Trish) Greene, RN, PhD. As progress in the detection and treatment of cancer prolonged lives and...
2015 Oncology Meetings
FEBRUARY Genitourinary Cancers SymposiumFebruary 26-28 • Orlando, Florida For more information: www.gucasym.org 5th Annual Texas Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology ConferenceFebruary 27-28 • Houston, Texas For more information:...
Radiotherapy Alone as Effective as Chemoradiation Therapy in Palliation of Dysphagia in Patients With Advanced Esophageal Cancer
Palliation of dysphagia associated with advanced esophageal cancer can be effectively accomplished with radiotherapy alone, without the addition of chemotherapy, according to a multinational phase III study presented at the 2015 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 “There was no significant...
Dianne Knight, MD, Awarded Fellow Status from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
Dianne Knight, MD, Physician in the Supportive Care Medicine Department at Moffitt Cancer Center, has been honored with the designation of Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The Academy is the professional organization for physicians and other health care...
2015 Oncology Meetings
MARCH Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus ConferenceMarch 12-14 • St. Gallen, Switzerland For more information: www.prostatecancerconsensus.org NCCN Annual Conference: Advancing the Standard of Cancer CareMarch 12-15 • Hollywood, Florida For more information:...
Improving the Quality of Palliative Care in Oncology
Two years ago, ASCO collaborated with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine to develop the Virtual Learning Collaborative, a virtual quality improvement program intended to address the complex care needs of patients with advanced cancer and the care quality for all patients with...
AAHPM Unveils List of Inspiring Hospice and Palliative Medicine Leaders Under 40
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) has released a list of Inspiring Leaders Under 40 in the field. Eligible candidates were evaluated on involvement in AAHPM, educating others about hospice and palliative medicine, participation in charitable work, mentoring of students ...
Highlights From the 2014 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium
The inaugural 2014 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium was held October 24 to 25 in Boston. Over 200 abstracts were presented, covering topics such as the integration of palliative care into treatment and the financial hardships facing people living with cancer. The following abstracts were among ...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Researcher Spotlight
James D. Murphy, MD, MS, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, received a 2012 Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of ASCO Young Investigator Award for his research focusing on access to the delivery of palliative radiation therapy. Dr....
Caregivers May Want to Know About a Patient’s Impending Death but May Be Afraid to Ask
The likelihood of impending death of patients with advanced cancer “is one of those questions that many people want to know about, but they are too afraid to ask,” David Hui, MD, MSc, said in an interview with The ASCO Post. Dr. Hui is lead author of a study, published in Cancer, on clinical signs...
Recognizing Physical Signs Associated With Impending Death Can Assist Clinicians, Patients, and Caregivers With Complex Decisions
In a recently published study of patients with advanced cancer whose status was systematically documented twice a day, from the time of admission to a palliative care unit until death or discharge, investigators identified eight physical signs associated with death within 3 days. Taken together...
The Center of Who We Are
The following essay by Eric M. Genden, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. There’s...
2015 Oncology Meetings
MARCH Personalised Cancer Medicine and Big Data Analysis – 7th International Conference of Contemporary OncologyMarch 25-27 • Poznań, Poland For more information: www.termedia.pl/Konferencje?Invitation&e=372&p=2787 Society of Surgical Oncology Annual MeetingMarch 25-28 • Houston, Texas For ...
Avoiding Burnout and Maintaining Well-Being While Caring for Seriously Ill Patients
A variety of studies, including one published this past year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 have showed that clinicians who care for seriously ill patients are at high risk for diminished personal well-being, including high rates of burnout; moral distress, defined as the inability to act in ...
ASCO’s Patient Resources for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
Stock your practice with Cancer.Net resources. Cancer.Net has a comprehensive guide to colorectal cancer at www.cancer.net/colorectal and a shorter, one-page colorectal cancer fact sheet. You will also find specialized resources for survivorship, palliative care, and managing the cost of cancer...
Helping Patients Understand Palliative Care
The booklet Palliative Care: Improving Quality of Life for Patients and Families is one of the latest additions to the ASCO Answers collection of patient education materials developed by ASCO for people with cancer and their caregivers. These materials provide oncologist-approved information in a...
2015 Oncology Meetings
APRIL Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies MeetingApril 10-11 • New York, New York For more information: www.healio.com/meeting/hemonctodaymelanoma/home?promocode689-8045 Hematologic Malignancies: New Therapies and the Evolving Role of TransplantApril 10-11 • Chicago, Illinois For more information: ...
Why Just Having ‘Good’ Communication Skills Is Not Enough for Talking With Seriously Ill Patients
In the Institute of Medicine’s 2014 report Dying in America,1 the report’s authors found that while frequent clinician-patient conversations about end-of-life care, goals, and preferences are necessary to avoid unwanted treatment, most patients do not have those conversations with their physicians. ...
Global Oncology Launches Global Cancer Project Map With NCI
Nonprofit Global Oncology, Inc (GO) announced the launch of the Global Cancer Project Map, a novel online resource and virtual information exchange connecting the global cancer community. Developed by Global Oncology in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center for Global...
Michael H. Levy, MD, PhD, Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Michael H. Levy, MD, PhD, Director of the Pain and Palliative Care Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center, and one of the founding leaders of the American hospice and palliative care movement, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine...
Widespread Use of Docetaxel Preceded Phase III Evidence of Usefulness in Patients With Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Docetaxel was being widely used by patients with metastatic prostate cancer before phase III evidence that it was more effective than the standard of care for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to an analysis of Medicare claims from before and after the trial results and...
2015 Oncology Meetings
MAY International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG): Cancer Care of the Older Adult Across the Cancer ContinuumMay 1 • New York, New York For more information: www.siog.org 1st Annual New Treatments in Oncology Conference (ANTO)May 1-2 • Scottsdale, Arizona For more information:...
Cancer Control in Primary Care Courses Offered in India
ASCO International’s mission is to optimize care for every patient with cancer in the world. To achieve that goal, it is critical to establish collaborations in all sectors of the health-care system. ASCO International’s newest course, Cancer Control in Primary Care, helps to address this need by...
Escalation of Oncology Services at End of Life May Be Moderated by Coordinated Care
“Use of oncology-related services is increasingly scrutinized, yet precisely which services are actually rendered to patients, particularly at the end of life, is unknown,” noted an article in the Journal of Oncology Practice. To address this knowledge gap, Eijean Wu, MD, of the Los Angeles County...
