To give top-quality care an oncologist must understand the slightest changes in tumour characteristics. But when it comes to understanding human reactions and emotions, some scarcely know where to start. Doctors who want to explain [more]
EGFR inhibitors represent a bright hope for modern cancer therapies. But treatment comes at a price an acne-like rash and other skin problems that can blight people’s lives. As these drugs become used more [more]
Many patients are still being let down by a failure to follow clinical guidelines. It’s all very well to blame know-it-all doctors, but if the guidelines are hard to access and tricky to use, and [more]
Patients want the option of consulting a second doctor, and the evidence shows that, for a minority of them, treatment decisions have altered significantly as a result. But could granting every patient the legal right [more]
If you had cancer, you’d want to be treated by experienced specialists working within a specialised multidisciplinary team. So why are so many of Europe’s cancer patients still being treated in hospitals whose case-loads are [more]
Bringing the new wave of targeted cancer drugs to the market poses new challenges for researchers and clinicians. It is not enough to design a smart drug to hit a molecular target. Researchers need to [more]
Doctors use trial-based evidence and years of experience to assess risks of treatment and relapse. But patients make choices based on their own experiences and priorities. How can doctors best explore treatment options with patients? [more]
Multidisciplinary teams provide the best quality cancer care, as specialists come together to discuss diagnoses and plan treatments. They raise standards, improve patient experiences and save lives. Sadly, most of Europe’s cancer patients never have [more]
Cancer drugs often deliver less than they promise. The BDA believes the problem may lie not in the drugs themselves, but in the way they are targeted, tested and used. It organises regular get-togethers where [more]
A panel of experts is predicting that colorectal cancer patients will soon feel the benefits of the sort of individualised therapies that are beginning to be used in breast cancer. More effort is needed to [more]
Cicely Saunders touched the lives of millions of terminally ill patients through her promotion of hospices and palliative care. Though she died this summer at the London hospice she founded in 1967, her fight for [more]
The European Union aims to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. Why then does it put so many obstacles in the way of research? And why is a world-beating breast [more]
Members of the Federation of European Cancer Societies are debating how to present a united front to win a better deal for research and treatment. But how can disciplines with different priorities and agendas speak [more]