Financial toxicity among head and neck cancer patients and their caregivers: A cross-sectional pilot study.

Objectives: Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients experience greater financial toxicity than other cancer patients. Research on financial toxicity has concentrated on patients despite many informal caregivers sharing finances and reducing work hours to provide patient care. Thus, our pilot study: (1) assessed the feasibility of financial toxicity screening of HNC patients and their caregivers, and (2) described financial toxicity levels of HNC patients and their caregivers.

Health insurance literacy among head and neck cancer patients and their caregivers: A cross-sectional pilot study.

Objective: Health insurance literacy interventions may reduce financial burden and its effects on cancer patients and their caregivers. However, little is known about the health insurance literacy levels of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients and their caregivers. We assessed the feasibility of screening for health insurance literacy in a pilot study and described the health insurance literacy levels of HNC patients and their caregivers.

Absence of anaplastic lymphoma kinase translocations in signet ring cell carcinomas of the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Background: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion oncogenes are present in multiple cancer types. The inversion of echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) genes on chromosome 2 is present in a subset of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ALK-rearranged lung cancers demonstrate a significantly higher incidence of signet ring cell histology than do ALK-negative tumors.

Managing early-stage breast cancer in your older patients.

As the aging population in the United States continues to grow, the incidence of diseases of the elderly, such as breast cancer, are increasing. Many more elderly women are expected to be diagnosed with new breast cancers, most of them in an early stage. Appropriate treatment of these women is important, as they have poorer outcomes when undertreated.