Oncology Vol 28 No 5

The 50th anniversary of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health is not a time for celebration, but rather one of sober reflection about missed opportunities. Our progress in reducing the prevalence of smoking is undeniable, but our current efforts have become more symbol than substance.

To ultimately find what we are actually looking for, the invasive malignant nodule in a haystack of benign lesions, new strategies and qualitative and quantitative tools are needed to propel noninvasive evaluation of solitary pulmonary nodules into the 21st century.

While the multifunctional role of steroid hormones in prostate cancer and men’s health was recognized early, the apparent clinical benefit afforded by ADT tipped the scales in favor of androgen deprivation in men with advanced prostate cancer.

Are there ways in which testosterone administration may be beneficial? Basic science and a number of clinical experiences have suggested for years that steroid hormones may have bifunctional roles.

In some cases the added cost of PET imaging is offset by the savings achieved through the avoidance of unnecessary surgery.

In order for a test to be reliable, it must be reproducible and minimize test-retest variability. Yet, as with many imaging tests, FDG-PET has variance in standard uptake value (SUV) calculations, and even if standardization could be achieved, there is the issue of treatment effects, which introduce additional complexities.

The patient is a 58-year-old woman who was diagnosed at an outside hospital with a World Health Organization (WHO) grade III non–contrast-enhancing right frontal anaplastic astrocytoma, with spread into the genu of the corpus callosum.

What distinguishes those practices that are successful in their use of the EMR is their commitment to the product and their recognition that it is the central element in the treatment of their patients.

The progress that has been made by the surgical breast oncology community is a well-deserved source of pride. This is not to say, however, that our work is complete.

Validation of sentinel lymph node (SLN) dissection (SLND) as an alternative to axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) has been a significant advance in the surgical management of breast cancer.

Molecular imaging allows accurate detection of metastatic disease. It also allows for noninvasive assessment of tumors and is a predictor of response to therapy.

However, it is becoming ever clearer that tumor characteristics can change during the course of disease. Given this change over time, other supporting techniques for guiding therapy would be of value. Molecular radionuclide imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) can potentially fulfill this need.

The number of lesions detected with low-dose CT, only some of which are early cancers, is so great that algorithms are being developed for more efficient evaluation and management of solitary pulmonary nodules. This article will discuss current tools, approaches, and concerns regarding patient care in this setting.

We review how radiolabeled glucose and estrogen analogs can be used in breast cancer patients. We focus this review on the application of positron emission tomography imaging to ER-positive metastatic breast cancer as an example of how imaging can guide breast cancer treatment.

This review examines the relevance of a translational framework for studying therapeutic androgens in prostate cancer.

Here we review the evolution of sentinel lymph node biopsy for the management of clinically node-negative breast cancer, and we address the current controversies and management issues.

The simple answer, according to some, is that lung cancer screening’s time has come. However, in my opinion, the answer is not that simple.