Volume 1, Number 3

Nikki McKeag RGN Onc Cert BSc(Hons) MSc Clinical Nurse Specialist in Bone Marrow Transplantation, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton

Bone marrow transplantation has been used as a method of treating patients with malignant haematological conditions since the early 1960s and more recently for non-malignant conditions, such as inherited blood disorders and inherited metabolic disorders.1 The role of the nurse is very extensive in supporting patients through the whole transplant process, including the long-term follow-up.

Roberto Alonzi BSc MBBS MRCP FRCR Specialist Registrar in Clinical Oncology; Andreas Makris MA MRCP FRCR MD Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Clinical Oncology, Mount Vernon Hospital, Middlesex

Aromatase inhibitors have been used in the treatment of breast cancer for almost 30 years. In this time their role has changed from a thirdline palliative treatment in hormone refractory breast cancer, to an important component of treatment at all stages of the disease. Recent trials suggest that they may be superior to tamoxifen in the adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer.

Geoffrey P Summerfield DM FRCP FRCPath Consultant Haematologist and Senior Lecturer in Haematology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Sheriff Hill, Gateshead

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) has a variable clinical course with a median survival of about ten years. Clinical staging systems remain useful prognostic parameters in CLL, but are unable to identify subgroups of early-stage patients with progressive disease. Moreover, the mechanism of cytopenia is not considered, so that criteria used to define clinical stages do not necessarily parallel tumour mass.

Richard E Clark MA MD FRCP FRCPath Professor of Haematology and Consultant Haematologist, Lihui Wang MD Clinical Scientist in Haematology, Department of Haematology, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is an uncommon disease that, over the last five decades, has provided seminal discoveries about cancer biology. The vast majority of cases have a cytogenetic abnormality known as the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome, which comprises a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22.

Robert Thomas FRCR MD FRCP Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Addenbrooke’s and Bedford Hospitals, Cambridge University NHS Foundation Trust; Daniel Epurescu MRCP FRCR Consultant Oncologist, Norfolk and Norwich NHS Trust; Madeleine Williams BA Research Manager, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust; Karen McAdam MD FRCP Consultant Oncologist, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

The burden of fatigue has now overtaken nausea and pain as the most distressing symptom during chemotherapy.1 Clinician awareness of fatigue has also been increased by the steady stream of randomised trials in literature, improvements in patient information materials,2 and campaigns from advocacy groups. However, not so long ago studies showed that clinicians underestimated the importance of fatigue in their patients.

Robert Thomas FRCP MD FRCR Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Addenbrooke’s and Bedford Hospitals, Cambridge University NHS Foundation Trust, Alison Richardson RN PhD Chair in Cancer, Palliative Nursing Care, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on supportive and palliative care1 published this year is likely to have significant ramifications for the daily working practices of oncology professionals – if we think we can sit back, relax and read this over a cup of hot cocoa, then place it on the top shelf to collect dust, we’ve got another think coming.

Graham H Jackson, Editor

Thank you again for your kind comments on the journal so far. The feedback on the second issue continues to be positive and your comments remain very welcome. I have to say that being editor is a pleasure as the standard of the articles is very high and they remain topical.