Raising the Bar for Real-World Data in Oncology: Approaches to Quality Across Multiple Dimensions.

Purpose: Electronic health record (EHR)-based real-world data (RWD) are integral to oncology research, and understanding fitness for use is critical for data users. Complexity of data sources and curation methods necessitate transparency into how quality is approached. We describe the application of data quality dimensions in curating EHR-derived oncology RWD.

Evaluating the Impact of Oncology Care Model Reporting Requirements on Biomarker Testing and Treatment.

Purpose: The Oncology Care Model (OCM) is Medicare's first alternative payment model program for patients with cancer. As of October 2017, participating practices were required to report biomarker testing of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (aNSCLC). Our objective was to evaluate the effect of this OCM reporting requirement on quality of care.

Impact of patient symptoms and caregiving tasks on psychological distress in caregivers for head and neck cancer (HNC).

Objective: To determine the association of caregiving task burden and patient symptom burden with psychological distress among caregivers of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients.

Methods: Adults with HNC and their primary caregivers were included. Patient symptom burden was assessed with the Vanderbilt Head and Neck Symptom Survey-2.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion and gains in health insurance coverage and access among cancer survivors.

Background: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act extends Medicaid coverage to millions of low-income adults, including many survivors of cancer who were unable to purchase affordable health insurance coverage in the individual health insurance market.

Methods: Using data from the 2011 to 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the authors compared changes in coverage and health care access measures for low-income cancer survivors in states that did and did not expand Medicaid.

Results: The study population of 17,381 individuals included adults aged 18 to 64 years, and was predominantly female, white, and unmarried.

Financial and socio-economic factors influencing pre- and post-cancer therapy oral care.

Purpose: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate how attendance at dental visits may change as cancer patients move through pre-diagnosis, diagnosis, and into survivorship.

Methods: The Health and Retirement Study consists of longitudinal survey data collected biannually detailing financial and health information in subjects over 51 years old. We assessed a subset of 4195 patients who received a new cancer diagnosis during the study period.

Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer.

Lung cancer has not traditionally been viewed as an immune-responsive tumor. However, it is becoming evident that tumor-induced immune suppression is vital to malignant progression. Immunotherapies act by enhancing the patient's innate immune response and hold promise for inducing long-term responses in select patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Re-Evaluating Progression in an Era of Progress: A Review of First- and Second-Line Treatment Options in Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase-Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Unlabelled: : The advent of crizotinib, the first small molecule inhibitor against anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), has led to impressive advances in the care of patients with advanced ALK-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer. The development of second-generation ALK inhibitors, starting with the recent U.S.

Making the Grade: The Impact of Low-Grade Toxicities on Patient Preference for Treatment With Novel Agents.

Background: Targeted therapies have shown clinical benefit in the treatment of solid tumors. The toxicity profiles and treatment duration and schedule of these agents differ considerably from those of traditional chemotherapy. Many studies of targeted therapies report sizeable numbers of grade 1 or 2 toxicities.

Generations of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors: Perils and Progress.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations have been detected in approximately 10 % of North American patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Approximately 90 % of these mutations are exon 19 deletions or exon 21 L858R point mutations. First- and second-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are approved as first-line therapy based on clinical trials demonstrating superior response rates, progression free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) compared to chemotherapy in patients with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC treated with an EGFR TKI prior to chemotherapy.

Sodium thiosulfate in the treatment of non-uremic calciphylaxis.

Calciphylaxis is a metastatic calcification-induced vasculopathy that results in the occlusion of small blood vessels. Although calciphylaxis is normally associated with end-stage renal disease, calciphylaxis from non-uremic origin occurs as well. While the number of reports continues to increase, a standard treatment for non-uremic calciphylaxis has yet to be established.

Treatment of early-stage pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death, and it is estimated that over 43,000 people would be diagnosed with and over 36,000 people would die of pancreatic cancer in the United States in 2010. Surgical resection remains the only chance for possible cure, but only 15% to 20% of patients newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are considered for surgical resection. Of these, the median five-year survival rate is still less than 20%, with most resections resulting in recurrent disease.