Telemedicine in Cancer Care Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Oncology 2.0?

Purpose Of Review: This paper summarizes early experiences of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, the patient and physician experience, limitations in accessibility introduced by telemedicine, and the opportunities and anticipated sustained role of telemedicine for cancer care.

Recent Findings: Research from a wide range of oncology facilities consistently demonstrates the feasibility of delivering telemedicine services over audio (telephone) and/or video platforms. Emerging work highlights that telemedicine is well suited for a subset of patients and clinical settings and that there are methods by which current disparities could potentially be ameliorated.

Virilization by an Ovarian Tumor: Presentation Is Not Always Acute.

Androgen-producing steroid cell ovarian tumors are rare, comprising less than 1% of ovarian neoplasms, and can present with infertility and rapid virilization. Here we discuss the case of a 28-year-old woman who presented with an unusually insidious 2-year history of infertility, hirsutism, and clitoromegaly who was found to have an elevated serum testosterone and a left ovarian mass. She underwent oophorectomy and pathology revealed a steroid cell tumor, not otherwise specified (NOS), with no malignant features.

Novel Program Offering Remote, Asynchronous Subspecialist Input in Thoracic Oncology: Early Experience and Insights Gained During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: AccessHope is a program developed initially by City of Hope to provide remote subspecialist input on cancer care for patients as a supplemental benefit for specific payers or employers. The leading platform for this work has been an asynchronous model of review of medical records followed by a detailed assessment of past and current management along with discussion of potential future options in a report sent to the local oncologist. This summary describes an early period of development and growth of this service, focusing on cases of lung cancer, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Successful use of immunotherapy to treat advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is a multisystem inherited disorder associated with fragile skin, blister formation and poor wound healing. Patients with RDEB are at significantly increased risk of recurrent and aggressive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) and because of their disease complexity, conventional therapies may not be possible. Recent advances in cancer immunotherapy have led to the successful use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in melanoma and other malignancies.

Diet and cancer prevention: evidence-based medicine to genomic medicine.

The practice of medicine, including health promotion and disease prevention, is on the verge of being revolutionized once again as the scientific and medical community transitions from evidence-based medicine to genomic medicine. Evidence-based medicine entails the systematic approach of formulating a question, developing literature search strategies, and evaluating and applying evidence to establish clinical practice guidelines. In 1982, when the National Research Council published the first comprehensive review of diet and cancer, the literature was primarily based on epidemiological studies, comparing dietary patterns between countries of low and high incidence for particular cancers.

Diet, nutrition, and cancer prevention: the postgenomic era.

The genomic era of human nutrition is upon us: the human genome and several plant genomes have been characterized, and genetically modified foods are now abundantly available in the marketplace. The link between diet and cancer is well established, and new genomic technologies have made possible the investigation of nutritional modulation of the carcinogenesis pathway with nutrients, micronutrients, and phytochemicals. Current study of nutrient-modulated carcinogenesis involves exploring the effect of nutrients on DNA damage and repair mechanisms; DNA methylation, which influences gene expression and cellular phenotypes; antioxidant rearranging and oxidative stress; target receptors and signal transduction pathways; cell cycle controls and check points; apoptosis; and antiangiogenic processes.