If you want better drugs consult a PRO
Our systems for evaluating new therapies are only as good as the accuracy of the judgements we make about how far patients benefit and how far they feel the burden of side-effects and other drawbacks. [more]
October 2014
Shelley Dolan: walking alongside patients
Nurses are not the only ones who care and can nurture, support and explain things to patients who are scared and vulnerable, says pioneering cancer nurse Shelley Dolan. But they are the only health professionals [more]
Deconstructing evolution: can number crunchers find the answer to resistance?
Is there a logic, a pattern, a system behind the way cancer cells adapt to develop resistance to agents designed to kill them? Cancer research is calling on systems biologists to see if they can [more]
Cancer and inequality: bringing the message home
Why do fewer people die of cancer in my neighbourhood than on the other side of town? Steve Buist of the Hamilton Spectator asked this question of his home city in southern Ontario, and used [more]
A seat at the table: patient advocates prepare for life on the inside
Little by little, patient advocates are winning their battle to be involved in decisions that affect them. They are now focusing on how to use their new-found voice to deliver real change for the people [more]
Learning the art of leadership
A course teaching leadership skills to cancer clinicians is proving a hit among the growing number of oncologists now finding themselves being asked to take on management roles. According to a 2012 report from Leeds [more]
Accreditation of breast centres: why and how
The European Commission is developing a Europe-wide accreditation scheme for breast centres to push up standards of diagnosis and care. Here experts from both sides of the Atlantic take a look at existing schemes, the [more]
The letter to which I couldn’t reply
With all the investigations, imaging and testing involved in personalising treatments, it can be hard to remember to listen to what the patient is saying. One doctor keeps a letter with him as a permanent [more]
Dropping bars or rising hoops phase III outcomes of NSCLC
Over the past three decades, the interpretation of clinical trial outcomes in studies of advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer has changed. The robustness of findings from these trials has been called into question. We believe this [more]