Cancer
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Palliative care is recognized as integral to the practice of oncology, yet many oncologists report inadequate training in critical palliative care domains, such as symptom management, psychosocial care, and communication skills. The authors of this report sought to assess the quantity and quality of palliative care education within oncology fellowships. ⋯ Fellows rated the quality of palliative care education as inferior to overall oncology training and may benefit from more teaching on pain management, psychosocial care, and communication skills.
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Several trials have been conducted to determine the feasibility of preoperative radiotherapy (RT) for gastric cancer. However, the absolute benefit from radiotherapy remains to be defined. In this study, the authors examined the use of preoperative RT (Pre-RT) and postoperative RT (PORT) in patients with gastric cancer from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. ⋯ The current results supported the use of Pre-RT in select patients with gastric cancer. However, additional trials will be needed to confirm these findings.