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Blogs

ASCOconnection.org is a forum for the exchange of views on topical issues in the field of oncology. The views expressed in the blogs, comments, and forums belong to the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Please read the Commenting Guidelines.

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Recently, a very dear friend learned that her breast cancer (diagnosed in 2010) had spread to her brain. Despite my many years as an oncologist, having faced questions from my own patients about "Why me?", "What did I do to deserve this?"—questions I am fully aware have no answer—I found myself...
Do you remember the 1998 movie You've Got Mail, starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks? I saw it on cable recently. Ryan's character runs a small bookstore in New York. Tom Hanks owns a megastore, which moves into Ryan’s neighborhood. He and Meg Ryan fall in love with each other over the (then...
Please share your favorite iPhone (or other OS) hematology / oncology mobile applications (“Apps”). A few of mine: iPhone (iOs): ASH Guides Cancer.Net (ASCO) CCF (ASCO)  CTCAE v4.0 Dropbox ePocrates Expensify – for trips Evernote FRAX Heme Calc iPlanner ASCO Molecules NCCN Guidelines...
Around this time each year I find myself thinking about patients usually—and especially those that have passed away. I wonder how their families are coping, how their children are, and whether each day has gotten easier. I think about how my patients died—and whether or not I did enough to ensure...
Every year several thousands of cancer researchers converge on south Texas for fajitas, margaritas, and the latest in breast cancer science (not necessarily in that order, though the fajitas and margaritas are outstanding). The San Antonio...
This month we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the National Cancer Act—the initial declaration of our country’s so-called “war on cancer.” Some have found the symbolic war metaphor distasteful, suggesting that progress against cancer is more akin to problem solving than to...
I had a phone call last week that I was expecting but dreading. Like many oncologists, I travel to smaller area hospitals for outreach clinics. This was a call from one of those hospitals telling me that they could not get one of the chemotherapy drugs for a patient there. This is a patient being...
The other morning, National Public Radio publicized a clinical study revealing that working mothers multitask more frequently than working fathers and are more likely to worry that they are inadequate parents. Talk about a perceptive glimpse into the obvious. As my friend, also an oncologist and a...
Every once in a while I get an opportunity to speak at a meeting in which oncologists are not the primary audience. Of course, it is always to speak on either gynecologic- or breast-cancer-specific issues, but I always welcome the opportunity to educate a non-oncology audience about what we can do...
A recent article in the ASCO Post has me thinking quite a bit about information and communication and the application of these concepts to...
It’s now time for my books of the year. Book lists are always personal: what I like isn’t what you’ll like or even what you would be willing to read. And what I enjoy doesn’t always make the list: I love mindless trash as much as the next person, but I would never inflict it on anyone. So no guilty...
Fact: If you are African American and you have cancer, you are more likely to die than if you are white. Fact: If you are uninsured and you have cancer, you are more likely to die than if you have medical insurance. We all know this but what are we doing about it?
In my presidential address at the Annual Meeting in June, I spoke about the perils and promise of the new genomic era, and our need as a profession and as a professional...
The essayist Christopher Hitchens is battling esophageal cancer, and like most fighting that battle, appears to be losing: he calls this “the year of living dyingly.” His writing on his encounters with the disease have been morbidly funny and heartfelt. I recently came across...
In my first blog post on this topic, I discussed the challenges of creating a culture of cure. It seems that the first hurdle we have to overcome before we talk further about...
Today, one-third of ASCO’s 30,000 members practice outside of the United States. Totaling more than 9,000 clinicians who collectively practice in more than 100 countries, ASCO’s international members represent extraordinary diversity of needs, challenges, and interests. Each and every one of these...
This week the FDA decided to withdraw bevacizumab's indication for treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The earlier indication had been approved under FDA's accelerated approval process wherein final approval was conditional on the generation of confirmatory evidence based on clinical trials.

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