When patients with hematological malignancies do not receive referrals for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), they may face a risk of poorer outcomes. Common reasons behind this lack of referrals include provider confusion over eligibility criteria for HSCT, overestimation of the risks associated with transplant, and confusion regarding the...
Of all women diagnosed with cancer in the United States, 30% have breast cancer, which is the second-leading cause of cancer death in this group. Many women have benefitted from regular screening as well as earlier and improved treatment; however, 6% of women present with metastatic disease, and 30% with no initial lymph node involvement will devel...
Prostate cancer is the tumor type with highest incidence in men in the United States. Typically, the first line treatment for progressive disease is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). However, most men eventually stop responding to ADT treatment and develop castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The therapeutic options for this highly hetero...
Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a heterogeneous disorder that involves a shortage of platelets, or thrombocytes, and can result in excessive bruising or bleeding. Diagnosis and treatment are challenging due to the lack of specific diagnostic criteria and the widely varying clinical features: some patients remain asymptomatic, whereas others experi...
Waldenström macroglobulinemia is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder, with an estimated 1,500 new cases reported in the United States each year. This malignancy, which accounts for 2% of non-Hodgkin lymphomas, is characterized by lymphoplasmacytic bone marrow infiltration and the presence of serum monoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM). It is important ...
Due to the advances in treatment options for metastatic gastric cancer in recent years, oncology physicians and nurses can individualize treatment selection for patients by considering pathologic and molecular characteristics and emerging efficacy and safety data on novel therapies. Baseline data collected from i3 Health's continuing medical educat...
Pre-activity assessment data from i3 Health's nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) activity "Understanding and Optimizing CAR T-Cell Therapy for Patients With B-Cell Malignancies" has revealed significant baseline knowledge gaps regarding the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for the treatment of patients with B-ce...
At the 67th Society of Government Service Urologists (SGSU) Kimbrough Urological Seminar, held from January 15th to 19th, 2020, in Charlotte, North Carolina, i3 Health conducted a survey of participants regarding the formats in which they wished to receive continuing medical education (CME). Thirty-six individuals completed the survey, of whom 35 (...
Pre-activity assessment data from i3 Health's continuing medical education (CME)/continuing nursing education (CNE) activity "Optimizing the Management of Advanced Cervical Cancer With Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy" has revealed significant baseline knowledge gaps in the area of checkpoint inhibitor therapies for advanced cervical cancer. Three hund...
Due to the increase in treatment options for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in recent years, some confusion exists over the optimal therapeutic approach. A number of factors must be considered in CRPC treatment, including patient health status, rate of disease progression and disease burden, presence of bone or visceral metastases, mec...
Optimal management of carcinoid syndrome in patients with neuroendocrine tumors poses a challenge, due to the fact that the primary symptoms of carcinoid syndrome are associated with more common diseases. Because timely recognition is difficult, symptoms of carcinoid syndrome can negatively impact patients' quality of life and functioning. Baseline...
As the number of treatments for recurrent ovarian cancer expands, confusion may develop over which therapeutic strategy is best to use. Numerous patient factors need to be taken into account when deciding on a treatment plan, such as patient health status, predictive/prognostic markers, disease-free interval, number of lines and agents used previou...
In the constantly evolving field of cancer immunotherapy, it is crucial that community practitioners keep abreast of the latest advances. In this interview with i3 Health, Latha Shivakumar, PhD, CHCP, discusses her poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting concerning the initiative she led at the Associ...
Over the past few years, the treatment options for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) have increased to include novel hormone therapies, second-generation taxanes, immunotherapy, and bone-targeted and bone metastasis-targeted agents. Due to an absence of large prospective trials, clinical decision making needs to be based on many different...
At the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 44th Annual Congress in Anaheim, California, in April 2019, i3 Health surveyed oncology nurses regarding their educational needs on a variety of topics, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, cyclin dependent kinase (CDK)4/6 inhibitors, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, poly(ADP)-ribose polymera...
Immune checkpoint inhibition is a form of immunotherapy that blocks checkpoint proteins on immune cells, boosting the body's immune response against cancer cells. Checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab (Keytruda®, Merck), nivolumab (Opdivo®, Bristol-Myers Squibb), atezolizumab (Tecentriq®, Genentech), durvalumab (Imfinzi®, AstraZeneca), cemipl...
Cyclin dependent kinase (CDK)4/6 inhibitors have produced tremendous advances in the treatment of hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative metastatic breast cancer through their targeting of hormone signals that stimulate the proliferation of cancer cells. Three CDK4/6 inhibitors have been FDA approved fo...
A biosimilar is a biological agent that is very much like another previously FDA-approved biological agent, called the reference drug. Biosimilars and their reference drugs are both made from living organisms, but they may be made in different ways and of slightly different substances. A biosimilar must demonstrate the same safety and efficacy and ...
Poly(ADP)-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibition is a new form of targeted therapy that has exhibited effectiveness in treating several solid tumor types. Olaparib (Lynparza®, AstraZeneca), rucaparib (Rubraca®, Clovis Oncology), and niraparib (Zejula®, Tesaro) have all been approved for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. Olaparib has also been ...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy in which a patient's own T cells are collected and genetically altered to target cancer cells. Although CAR T-cell therapies have shown encouraging results in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and B-cell lymphomas, they are associated with several serious adverse ev...