Articles
Older, frail patients are still being let down by the regulators
Hans Wildiers is frustrated. “This drug is well-tolerated in older persons – this is a very frequent conclusion in publications. And it is often not a correct conclusion,” says the immediate past president of SIOG, the International Society of Geriatric…
Not too little, not too much… a lesson for cancer prevention from ancient civilisations
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.” This quotation from Hippocrates pops up regularly in writings advocating a…
Can gene therapy be made to work against solid tumours?
Gene therapy to treat cancer has been on the research agenda for three decades, with the first examples having been developed in the 1990s, according to Hrvoje Miletic, Senior Consultant in Neuropathology at the Bergen/Haukeland University Hospital in Norway. “But…
The oncologist-patients who share their unique insights
“I try not to think about it. However, a few times a day, I have moments of a few seconds when I feel like panic is taking over me. After a while everything passes, but I can't handle it very…
Our pathways: advocates provide roadmaps for patients, clinicians and managers
Patient advocates have a collective understanding of the patient pathway, from the first suspicious symptoms to the realities of life as a survivor, that is unrivalled by any professionals. They also understand better than anyone how valuable that knowledge and…
Natural killers: a new tactical unit joins the cancer immunotherapy brigade
There was a time when all that oncologists treating solid tumours needed to know about leukocytes was how to measure the damage that cytotoxic drugs inflicted on their patients’ white blood cell count and their capacity to fight off infections.…
Immunotherapy toxicities demand a joined up approach from oncologists and organ specialists
Adverse effects of cancer therapies have long been at the root of decision making for interventions in all modalities – surgery, radiotherapy and medical – and especially in the latter category of anti-cancer drugs. Most people have heard of some…
Beating cancer is complex – our messaging must be clear
A window of opportunity is opening up across Europe to reverse the ever-rising trend of new cancers and improve outcomes for patients everywhere. It’s been brought about in part by a major shift in favour of Europe taking on a…
Who wouldn’t want to cure 100% of childhood cancers?
More than eight in ten children and young adults diagnosed with cancer now survive their disease, often going on to live long and fulfilling lives. But the serious life-long damage that is inflicted by many treatments is still a bit…
Berlin pilot project brings precision care to the peripheries
A decade ago, men with metastatic prostate cancer could typically expect to live two to three years. The arrival of new hormone drugs such as abiraterone radically changed the odds, and the equation is now changing every day, as trials…