Posts by month
October 2020
Dose dense chemotherapy in Luminal B breast cancers
Interview with Lucia Del Mastro, MD, Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, School of Medicine, University of Genova, Italy. Q. Your recent paper in the European Journal of Cancer (EJC 136 (2020) 43-51) on the GIM2 trial is clearly…
A silver lining: Could changes forced by the pandemic point to better ways to conduct our clinical trials?
Pragmatic adjustments to trial protocols were seen to be essential during the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid trials being abandoned or delayed. Most changes involved reducing the requirements for travelling to centralised trials centres and reducing the level of reporting requirements.…
Their fingers on the button: why neglecting radiation therapists is no longer an option
The job of a radiation therapist may sound straightforward: deliver the right dose of radiation to the right location. But it’s not. These are complex tasks that involve working with data, high-tech equipment and patients. Moreover, by doing each task…
Four steps to eliminating HPV-related cancers: a call for action
A new report underlines that vaccination, screening, treatment and public awareness, provide the cornerstone for eliminating cancers linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV) in Europe. The report was published by The European Cancer Organisation, Brussels on 7th October. The report,…
These COVID days
‘Tackling cancer in interesting times’ was the theme of my first Editorial for Cancer World. I wrote that at the start of February this year, at a time when Europe remained largely oblivious to the implications of a new virus…
Delivering cancer care during the pandemic: lessons from the ‘first wave’
“My partner had to be admitted to hospital with neutropenia earlier on in her treatment cycle, and she and I are constantly discussing what to do: whether we should ask about suspending treatment, how the risk/benefit equation adds up, whether…
Smoke without fire? Should cancer of unknown primary be treated as a separate disease?
Metastases, but no primary tumour – the diagnosis ‘cancer of unknown primary’ still presents great challenges, even in this age of precision oncology. Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is an entity that encompasses a heterogenous group of metastatic cancers without…
Cancer deaths fall, health disparities persist, cancer research affected, reports AACR
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual Cancer Progress Report for 2020, published 23 September, portrays a mixed picture. On a positive note, the report features advances in cancer treatment and falls in cancer-related deaths; while on the negative…
Metastatic prostate cancer: cabazitaxel shows quality of life benefits over both abiraterone and enzalutamide
In addition to previously reported survival benefits, the taxane cabazitaxel improved quality of life in patients with advanced metastatic prostate cancer compared to the androgen signalling targeted inhibitors abiraterone and enzalutamide, reports the latest analysis of the CARD trial (Fizazi…
Combined therapies offer the key to drug-resistant cancer
For the first time, an investigator initiated phase 1b study tested the combination of the PARP inhibitor olaparib, and the AKT inhibitor capivasertib, and showed this combination was well tolerated and achieved durable responses in patients with treatment-refractory breast, ovarian…