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Volume 1, Number 1 |
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| Comment: New title for a new era |
Graham H Jackson, Editor |
Welcome to the British Journal of Cancer Management, a new journal that will be sent, on request, four times a year – free of charge. Who needs a new journal, you may ask, when we seem to get so many papers and magazines in this age of information overload? Well, our aim is to keep it simple: short, illustrated reviews of current ‘hot’ topics in haematology and oncology, from authors with great expertise. |
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| The changing face of informed patient consent |
Robert Thomas FRCP MD FRCR Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Addenbrooke’s and Bedford Cambridge University NHS Trust, Cambridge |
The level and style of information required for truly informed patient consent remain a subject of considerable debate among healthcare professionals. The spectrum of opinion still ranges from the ‘ignorance is bliss’ to the ‘knowledge is power’ protagonist, but doctors walk a daily tightrope between giving too much information and thus appearing callous, or withholding sensitive information and being accused of paternalism. |
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| A guide to the new therapies in multiple myeloma |
Graham H Jackson MA(Cantab) MBBS(Hons) FRCP FRCPath MD Clinical Director of Haematology, The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust, Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
Over the last decade steady progress has been made in the treatment of multiple myeloma. The introduction of long-term bisphosphonate therapy,1 stem cell transplantation2 and guidelines of care3 has led to an improvement in the management of patients with this disease. The last four years, however, have seen the emergence of a number of new drugs, leading to further improvements in outcome. |
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| NSAIDs: are they effective in treating cancer pain? |
Abdullah Alkhenizan, Consultant, Department of Family Medicine and Polyclinic, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Larry Librach, Director, The Temmy Latner Center for Palliative Care, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, W Gifford-Jones Professor of Pain Control and Palliative Care, University of Toronto; Joseph Beyene, Assistant Professor, Division of Neonatology, University of Toronto, Canada |
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown in several randomised clinical trials (RCTs) to be effective analgesics in mild-to-moderate cancer pain, both when studied as a single dose and with chronic dosing.1 According to the analgesic ladder for the management of cancer pain proposed by the WHO, NSAIDs should be used for mild-to-moderate pain. When pain persists or increases, opioids should be added to the NSAIDs to control pain. If pain persists, opioid potency or dosage can be increased.2 |
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| PET saves man |
Robert Thomas FRCP MD FRCR Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Primrose Oncology Unit, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, Bedford; Sally Old BSc MRCP FRCR Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Addenbrooke’s Hospital NHS Trust, Cambridge |
Although the effectiveness of sophisticated and expensive new diagnostic images cannot be determined by anecdotal cases, occasionally a case comes along that so clearly exemplifies their benefits it is worthy of publication. |
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| Why the prognosis is good for prostate brachytherapy |
Brendan Carey MB BCh BAO(NUI) FRCR Consultant Radiologist, Cookridge Hospital, Leeds |
Prostate brachytherapy is a method of delivering radiation to the prostate using radioactive sources implanted directly into the gland. Brachytherapy is not a new technique: Barringer inserted radium needles into the prostate in 1917, but the introduction of newer isotopes such as iodine 125 led to the development of this treatment in the 1970s. |
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| Effects of tumour-associated macrophages on tumour growth and their role in gene therapy |
Craig Murdoch PhD Research Fellow; Claire E Lewis BSc MA DPhil Professor of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, Division of Genomic Medicine, University of Sheffield Medical School, Sheffield |
Most tumours arise due to genetic alterations within genes controlling the cell cycle, leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation. A developing malignant tumour, however, will not grow beyond a threshold size of 2–3 mm3, because once the distance between a functional blood vessel and the dividing tumour cells reaches 100–150 mm oxygen, nutrients and waste products can no longer diffuse in and out of the tumour mass. This results in a central tumour area that is hypoxic (partial oxygen pressure of less than 10 mmHg) and hyperglycemic.1 |
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