The oncologist
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Scientific advances have led to the discovery of novel treatments with high prices. The cost to publicly fund high-cost drugs may threaten the sustainability of drug budgets in different health care systems. In oncology, there are concerns that health-benefit gains are diminishing over time and that the economic evidence to support funding decisions is too limited. ⋯ High-cost oncology drugs may threaten the ability of health care systems to provide access to promising new drugs for patients. In order to make better drug-funding decisions and enable equitable access to breakthrough treatments, discussions in the oncology community should include economic evidence. This study summarizes the extra benefits and costs of newly approved drugs from pivotal trials during the postgenomic era of drug discovery. The reader will gain an appreciation of the need for economic evidence to make better drug-reimbursement decisions and the dynamics at play in today's oncology drug market.
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Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is characterized by neurologic symptoms with typical lesions on neuroimaging and may be associated with chemotherapy and immunosuppressive agents used in patients with cancer. We described the spectrum of PRES at a major cancer center. ⋯ Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome is characterized by neurologic symptoms with typical lesions on neuroimaging and may be associated with chemotherapy and immunosuppressive agents used in patients with cancer. Clinical and radiographic presentations are protean, and magnetic resonance imaging is more sensitive than computed tomography. Recovery is common, and many patients can be successfully rechallenged with the apparently offending chemotherapy agent or regimen.
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Lung cancer is frequently a disease of elderly patients. However, these patients are often treated less actively owing to a higher comorbidity rate and poor performance status. The efficacy of different treatments in elderly patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated lung cancer is still unknown. ⋯ The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of first-line epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) treatment in elderly patients and the outcomes of subsequent salvage chemotherapy after disease progression. The most important finding was that elderly patients with disease progression after first-line EGFR-TKI treatment can receive salvage chemotherapy and have a response rate similar to that of younger patients who received salvage chemotherapy.