Register for your FREE account now and join thousands of oncology professionals who stay informed about patient care issues, practical oncology-care management techniques, and drug administration and dosage information.

Email*

Password*

Keep me logged in Forgot your password?

Email*

Drug Side Effects

Posttransplant lenalidomide can slow down multiple myeloma

Delicia Honen Yard May 29, 2012

Lenalidomide use after autologous stem-cell transplant significantly improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with myeloma.

Modified stem cells keep glioblastoma at bay

Delicia Honen Yard May 25, 2012

Three patients with glioblastoma lived longer than predicted after receiving transplants of their own blood stem cells that had been gene-modified.

Vemurafenib (Zelboraf)

Bette Weinstein Kaplan, Maribel Pereiras, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP May 11, 2012

Vemurafenib is a B-RAF enzyme inhibitor indicated for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600E mutation.

Potentially treatable side effects plague breast cancer survivors for years

Delicia Honen Yard May 11, 2012

Six years after breast cancer treatment, more than 60% of women experienced at least one side effect amenable to rehabilitative intervention.

Fewer cycles of higher-dose chemotherapy best in advanced Hodgkin lymphoma

Delicia Honen Yard May 10, 2012

Six cycles of higher-dose chemotherapy, not the standard eight cycles or a lower-dose variant, should be the treatment of choice for advanced Hodgkin.

Lung cancer drug lowers testosterone

Delicia Honen Yard May 09, 2012

Crizotinib appears to be the culprit in reducing testosterone levels among men taking the drug as a treatment for a form of lung cancer.

Experimental agent acts against aggressive lymphoma subtype

Delicia Honen Yard May 03, 2012

The drug ibrutinib can provide significant anticancer responses with modest side effects in persons with diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs).

PET response signals increased survival in soft-tissue sarcoma

Delicia Honen Yard May 02, 2012

Patients with soft-tissue sarcoma who have an early PET response after initial chemotherapy survive longer than patients showing no such response.

New marker flags DNA repair response to platinum therapy

Delicia Honen Yard April 24, 2012

A new marker of DNA damage may predict which triple-negative breast cancers or serous ovarian cancers will respond to platinum-based chemotherapy.

Opioids may spur tumor growth

Delicia Honen Yard April 20, 2012

Although opioid-based painkillers are a standard treatment for relieving cancer pain, they may actually contribute to disease progression.

Managing side effects of tamoxifen

Lisa A. Thompson, PharmD, BCOP April 18, 2012

What is the risk for endometrial cancer in a patient taking tamoxifen to reduce recurrence of ER/PR positive breast cancer after treatment?

Cabazitaxel (Jevtana)

Bette Weinstein Kaplan April 17, 2012

Cabazitaxel is a taxane derivative indicated for treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer in patients previously treated with a docetaxel-containing regimen.

Heart risks of cancer drugs underestimated

Delicia Honen Yard April 12, 2012

The system for monitoring adverse events in oncology clinical trials is in urgent need of reform, say the authors of a recent commentary.

Many women with cancer missing fertility risk info, services

Delicia Honen Yard April 11, 2012

Few women of childbearing age who are diagnosed with cancer are taking steps to preserve their fertility during treatment.

More evidence shows aspirin might stave off cancer

Delicia Honen Yard April 05, 2012

Results from three new studies are consistent with earlier findings that aspirin can reduce cancer risk and, in some cases, metastasis.

Asian breast cancer patients unaware of "chemobrain"

Delicia Honen Yard April 04, 2012

The cognitive effects of chemotherapy are unfamiliar to Asian breast cancer patients even though these disturbances have affected their daily lives.

Long-term cognitive effects seen with once-common breast chemotherapy regimen

Delicia Honen Yard March 19, 2012

Cognitive deficits subsequent to breast cancer chemotherapy using cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil can be long-lasting.

Vemurafenib extends survival in metastatic melanoma

Delicia Honen Yard March 12, 2012

People with an advanced form of melanoma have been shown to survive nearly twice as long, to almost 16 months, with vemurafenib (Zelboraf) therapy.

New drugs change treatment landscape for advanced prostate cancer

Delicia Honen Yard March 05, 2012

Several newly approved drugs plus more in the pipeline present the real possibility of prolonging survival in men with advanced prostate cancer.

Impact of CYP3A4 pathway

Lisa A. Thompson, PharmD, BCOP February 23, 2012

How does the CYP3A4 pathway impact metabolism of the new oral targeted agents in oncology?

An exit strategy for opioid therapy

Lisa A. Thompson, PharmD, BCOP February 23, 2012

What exit strategy do you recommend for discontinuing opioid therapy?

Side effects of certain cancer drugs may be fatal

Delicia Honen Yard February 22, 2012

Sorafenib, sunitinib, and pazopanib have been found to carry a heightened risk of fatal complications, but the incidence remains low overall.

Two approaches recommended to reduce oxaliplatin toxicity during colorectal therapy

Delicia Honen Yard February 20, 2012

A review addresses the need to balance the effectiveness of oxaliplatin against its dose-limiting complication of neurotoxicity.

Diabetes drug reduces cancer mortality

Delicia Honen Yard February 17, 2012

Cancer patients with diabetes who took metformin were found to have a significantly lower overall mortality than cancer patients without diabetes.

Gleevec wins wider approval for use in GI cancer

Delicia Honen Yard February 07, 2012

Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) has been granted regular approval by the FDA for use in adults following surgical removal of CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).

Melanoma treatment creates risk of secondary skin cancer

Delicia Honen Yard February 06, 2012

Investigators have discovered why the pill Zelboraf (vemurafenib), effective against melanoma, may also cause the development of a secondary skin cancer: squamous cell carcinoma.

Experimental agent slows progression of colorectal cancer

Delicia Honen Yard February 02, 2012

The investigational drug regorafenib conferred a statistically significant survival benefit in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in whom no standard therapy was effective.

In HER2 breast cancer, lapatinib works better with trastuzumab than without

Delicia Honen Yard February 01, 2012

Lapatinib is not as effective as trastuzumab against (HER2)-positive breast cancer, but combining the two nearly doubles the effectiveness seen with either one alone.

Bevacizumab delays return of ovarian cancer

Delicia Honen Yard January 13, 2012

The use of bevacizumab (Avastin) improved progression-free survival in women with ovarian cancer, particularly those at high risk for disease progression.

Stem cell treatment does not improve overall survival in follicular lymphoma

Delicia Honen Yard January 12, 2012

High-dose chemotherapy combined with autologous stem cell transplantation did not improve overall survival in previously untreated adult patients with follicular lymphoma.