High Error Rates for Outpatient Cancer Treatment

According to MedPage Today, "Outpatient chemotherapy treatment is riddled with mistakes, for both adults and children, researchers here found in a chart review."

The article went on to state, ""Improved communication between health care providers and families of patients with cancer about home medication administration may be an important first step for preventing frequent home medication errors among pediatric patients with cancer," they said.

They added that, for parents who are dosing their children at home, color-coding or marking lines on syringes has been shown to reduce mistakes. Demonstrating dosing techniques is also beneficial, the researchers said.

Dr. Walsh and colleagues noted that the error rates they found were substantially higher than in other studies that used different methods"

Most errors were the result of at-appointment changes in medication that differed from the original chemotherapy regimen ordered at the outset of the months'-long therapy.

To read the rest of this article, click HERE.

Platinum Standard for Treatment of Small Cell Lung Cancer is Being Questioned

As reported by MedPage Today, platinum regimens caused significantly more nausea, vomiting, anemia, and thrombocytopenia, the investigators found.

"These data suggest nonplatinum chemotherapy regimens have a more advantageous risk-benefit profile," the authors concluded.

"This systematic review highlights the lack of quality-of-life data in trials involving chemotherapy treatment for [small-cell lung cancer]. With poor long-term survival associated with both treatment groups, the issue of the quality of the survival period takes on even more significance," they said.

Only three of more than two dozen studies included in the analysis reported data on quality of life, they added.

Read the rest of the article at MedPage Today.

Cancer Drug Tarceva Linked to Kidney and Liver Problems

OSI Pharmaceuticals and Genentech, makers of Tarceva, said in a letter sent to physicians that the new safety information comes from a pharmacokinetic study in patients with advanced solid tumors and moderate hepatic impairment, as measured by Child-Pugh criteria.

In the study, 10 of 15 patients died on treatment or within 30 days of the last erlotinib dose.

Eight of the patients died of progressive disease, but the deaths from hepatorenal syndrome and rapidly progressing liver disease prompted today's notice.

Erlotinib is approved for monotherapy of locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. It is also approved in combination with gemcitabine (Gemzar) for first-line treatment of locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Read more about this at MedWatch

Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer Mortality Cut

According to a long-term study in Sweden, 18% of men given hormone therapy for locally advanced prostate cancer died of their tumor after a median follow-up of 10 years, said Anders Widmark, M.D., of Umea University in Umea, Sweden.

Surprisingly, he added, the cancer mortality was reduced to 8.5% for those who also had localized radiation therapy, Dr. Widmark said at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting here.

"External beam radiation treatment should be used along with hormone therapy to increase survival for men with locally advanced prostate cancer," Dr. Widmark said before his late-breaking plenary presentation.

The study didn't just focus on longevity, but also on quality of life. It monitored and measured factors not commonly considered like erectile dysfunction and other side effects experienced by prostate cancer patients both during and following treatment.

To read the rest of the article, go to MedPage.

Drug Combination Shows Hope for Ovarian Cancer

According to an article in the Washington Post this week, the anti-cancer drug trabectedin shows promise in treating women with recurrent ovarian cancer, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine.

With more than 20,000 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 deaths from the disease yearly, early detection and treatment are imperative. In cases where the cancer is caught early and confined to the ovaries, survival rates are as high as 90% for five years following treatment. Once the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries, the survival rate drops to 30%.

Trabectedin (brand name Yondelis) is used in Europe and South Korea to treat advanced soft tissue sarcoma. It's also being tested for treatment of prostate, breast and pediatric cancers.

The international Phase III study included 672 ovarian cancer patients whose disease had progressed after first-line treatment. Half the women received standard treatment with the chemotherapy drug pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, while the other half received the chemotherapy drug and trabectedin.

Women who received the combination therapy had no cancer progression for an average of 7.3 months, compared to 5.8 months for those who received the chemotherapy drug alone.

Read more about this at the Washington Post.