Current Oncology, Volume 25, Issue 5

Once, I was invited to give a lecture to undergraduate medical students during their cancer biology course. [...]

Background: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is the most common hematologic malignancy. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) constitute 55% of new nhl cases and are initially treated with rituximab-based chemoimmunotherapy. Re...

Introduction: Patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP) have pathologically confirmed metastatic tumours with unidentifiable primary tumours. Currently, very little is known about the relationship between the treatment of patients with CUP and th...

Background: Inhibition of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) oncogenic driver in advanced non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLS) improves survival. In 2015, Canadian thoracic oncology specialists published a consensus guideline about the identificat...

Management of anticoagulant therapy for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in cancer patients is complex because of an increased risk of recurrent VTE and major bleeding complications in those patients relative to the general population. S...

Background: Cancer research is essential in evaluating the safety and effectiveness of emerging cancer treatments, which in turn can lead to ground-breaking advancements in cancer care. Given limited research funding, allocating resources in alignmen...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIS) such as inhibitors of CTLA-4, PD-1, and PD-L1, given as monotherapy or combination therapy have emerged as effective treatment options for immune-sensitive solid tumours and hematologic malignancies. The benefits o...

Introduction: Neuroendocrine tumours (NETS) are a poorly understood malignancy lacking standardized care. Differences in socioeconomic status (SES) might worsen the effect of non-standardized care. We examined the effect of SES on NET peri-diagnostic...

Background: Up to 90% of breast cancer survivors report low levels of physical activity (PA) and spend approximately 70% of the day in sedentary behaviour. Survivors might not be receiving information about the health benefits of PA and the consequen...

Immunotherapy has emerged as a new standard of care, showing survival benefit for solid tumours in multiple disease sites and indications. The survival improvements seen in diseases that were highly resistant to traditional therapies, with a poor pro...

Background: Afatinib, an irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR TKI), is approved for first-line therapy in advanced EGFR mutation–positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and has previously demonstrated acti...

Background: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is characterized by peripheral blood cytopenias, with most patients developing significant anemia and dependence on red blood cell (RBC) transfusion. In paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), mutations i...

Purpose: We aimed to elucidate predictive factors for the development of immune-related adverse events (iraes) in patients receiving immunotherapies for the management of advanced solid cancers. Methods: This retrospective study involved all patients...

Background: Malnutrition is a common and critical problem that influences outcome in cancer patients. Body composition reflects a patient’s metabolic profile and physiologic reserves, which might be the true determinant of prognosis. In the present s...

Objective: We compared failure patterns and survival after elective nodal irradiation (eni) or involved-field irradiation (ifi) in patients with thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (escc), clinical stage T2–4N0M0, to determine whether ifi is...

Background: In 2010, a multicentre randomized controlled trial reported increased postoperative complications in pancreaticoduodenectomy (PDE) patients undergoing preoperative biliary decompression (PBD). We evaluated the effect of that publication o...

Background: Gastrectomy with negative resection margins and adequate lymph node dissection is the cornerstone of curative treatment for gastric cancer (GC). However, gastrectomy is a complex and invasive operation with significant morbidity and morta...

Background: Although surgical resection remains the standard of care for localized kidney cancers, a significant proportion of patients experience systemic recurrence after surgery and hence might benefit from effective adjuvant therapy. So far, seve...

Background: Radiation therapy (RT) is a longstanding treatment modality for cancer. In addition, immune checkpoint blockade has been a significant development in the field of immunotherapy, modifying key immunosuppressive pathways of cancer cells. Me...

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (cll) is the most common adult leukemia in North America. In Canada, no unified national guideline exists for the front-line treatment of cll; provincial guidelines vary and are largely based on funding. A group of clinic...

Background Physical function is important for defining treatment strategies in patients with cancer and can be estimated using patient-reported outcomes (pros). Although pros are subjective, physical activity and fitness can be tested objectively wit...

Palliative care (pc) is part of the recommended standard of care for patients with advanced cancer. Nevertheless, delivery of pc is inconsistent. Patients who could benefit from pc services are often referred late—or not at all. In planning for impro...

Medical assistance in dying (MAID) is a new medical service in Canada. Access to maid for patients with advanced cancer can be daunting during periods of declining health near the end of life. In this report, we describe a collaborative approach betw...

Therapy for breast cancer involves a complex interplay of three main treatment modalities: surgery, systemic therapy, and radiation therapy. The Canadian Consortium for Locally Advanced Breast Cancer (LABC) was established with the goal to convene a...

Background: Mutations in BRAF are rare oncogene mutations, found in 2% of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCS). Little information is available about the management of patients with BRAF-mutated nsclc, except for those included in clinical trials. We...