Information and a Resource for Managing EGFR-Based Rash

   There’s a really helpful resource for patients, developed by several leading experts in EGFR-based therapy and specifically the very common skin toxicity associated with EGFR inhibitors like iressa, tarceva, erbitux, and some others.  I’ve already described some early ideas about rash management (prior post) and a more recent medical education program video on the same […]

An Example of Successful Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs): Tarceva’s Effect on Lung Cancer Symptoms

    One of the successful examples of incorporating patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures into an important clinical trial was in the NCI-Canada study BR.21 (abstract here).  This study assigned patients to either tarceva or placebo in a 2:1 randomization to the active drug:

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   This study showed a 9% response rate and an improvement […]

More Challenges with EGFR Rashes

  Rashes from EGFR inhibitors: we like to see them, because we know that many trials have shown that skin toxicity on drugs like tarceva is associated with better survival (see prior post), but the fact is that sometimes a rash is more than an inconvenience and can really make people miserable, or at least […]

Acupuncture for Treating Nausea & Vomiting

   I reviewed a few general principles of acupuncture in my last post on its use for pain control. In addition, acupuncture has also been studied as a potential treatment modality for other nausea/vomiting, with some evidence to support its use in addition to anti-nausea (also called antiemetic) medications. Current ACCP guidelines (abstract here, again) […]

Acupuncture: Introduction and Use for Pain Control

   Acupuncture is a complementary approach that originated from traditional Chinese medicine, from a theory that the flow of vital energy, or “Qi” (pronounced CHEE, I believe, unless someone who speaks Chinese tells me otherwise) can be regulated by stimulation of key body areas with needles, heat, or pressure. It is generally felt to be […]

MP3 Interview and Transcript Available on Treatment-Related Side Effects

  A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post announcing a series of interviews I did with other members of the faculty at a large conference on Lung and Head/Neck Cancers in Chicago back in October, 2006.  Those were developed into a program collection called “Oncology Unplugged” that is in MP3 format for ITunes, and I […]