Articles related to Oncology, Medical

From the pages of Clinical Advances in Hematology & Oncology comes this review of selected presentations from the 2021 TCT Meetings Digital Experience, which took place February 8-12, 2021. Expert commentary is provided by Dr. Yi-Bin Chen, Director of the Hematopoietic Cell Transplant & Cellular Therapy Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The third case in a three-part series, this article chronicles the treatment journey of a 50-year-old male patient who had been diagnosed with left-sided colon cancer in January 2016. After multiple FOLFOX doses, FOLFIRI cycles, and resection, the patient began treatment with regorafenib in July 2020 as a third-line treatment, with the hope that this agent could potentially re-sensitize the tumor to subsequent anti–epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy.

Dead may be the wrong word – antiquated, maybe? – as the white-color 9-to-5 office job is becoming a thing of the past. According to this article, a new workforce and new work demands require a fresh approach to work/life balance. A 2019 Mayo Clinic Proceedings article detailed this approach for physicians, transforming work/life into three categories to consider: Work, Yourself, and Others.

Baby steps. It’s what it sometimes takes to just get started in changing habits or building the momentum needed to push through. Although five minutes a day doesn’t seem like much, the benefits of doing these incremental activities will make a profound difference in your professional life. From tried-and-true exercise habits to practice mindfulness, learn what you can start today to become a better doctor tomorrow.

This Research Article from Blood – available as a PDF – discusses two main points. First, antibody response to BNT162b2 mRNA COVID19 vaccine in CLL patients is markedly impaired and affected by disease activity and treatment. The second point shows that, in patients treated with either Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) or venetoclax ± anti-CD20 antibody, responses are relatively low.

From the pages of Blood Advances comes this Clinical Trials & Observations piece discussing the IDEAL trial. Backed by visual abstracts, tables, and charts supporting the data, the article explores two key points in augmenting chemotherapy efficacy: caloric restriction and using insulin and adiponectin as potential biomarkers of B-ALL chemosensitivity.