Patient groups must reveal corporate sponsorship, urges campaign group - BMJ

Care for Caregivers: Groups Offer a Unique Support for Caregivers - Cancerwise | Cancer blog from MD Anderson Cancer Center

While friends and family may try to offer assistance and support, a feeling of "you don't know what it's like for me" is both common and reasonable.

Research uncovers possible new targets for attacking ovarian cancer - Cancerwise | Cancer blog from MD Anderson Cancer Center

Note: in research

Two studies led by scientists at MD Anderson open new areas of research that could potentially improve ovarian cancer treatment.

The discoveries published today in the journal Cancer Cell are preclinical - they employ laboratory experiments to better understand the molecular processes that drive formation and growth of cancer. Both studies found previously unknown roles for two proteins, singling them out for further research and possible drug development. ...cont'd

Understanding Patient Perspectives on Communication About the Cost of Cancer Care: A Review of the Literature — JOP

Conclusion: To my knowledge, patient preferences surrounding discussion of cost of cancer care have gone largely unstudied and are thus unknown. If the goal is to provide high-quality care while controlling rising health care costs, more research is needed to better understand patient perspectives on communication surrounding the cost of oncologic care, particularly given the significant impact such discussions may have on cancer outcomes, cost, and overall patient satisfaction.

full free access: Practice and Productivity of Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners in Outpatient Oncology Clinics at National Comprehensive Cancer Network Institutions — JOP

short video (45 seconds): Health 2.0 Washington DC Conference: Interview with Gilles Frydman

Interview with Gilles Frydman, Founder and President of ACOR

Are Some Hospitals Afraid of “Powerful Patients”?--Editorial - EmpowHER.com

E-Health Insider :: Government to scrap Audit Commission UK

"It is less clear where its medication and patient safety work will go, since the government has already announced that it will be scrapping the National Patient Safety Agency as part of its bid to reduce the number of arms length bodies in the health service."

Survivors display artwork-Ovarian Cancer Awareness and Treatment in Saskatchewan group (OCATS)

It's Our Time - American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

A phase II study of sunitinib in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian and primary peritoneal carcinoma: an NCIC Clinical Trials Group Study

Results: Of 30 eligible patients, most had serous histology (67%), were platinum sensitive (73%) and had two prior chemotherapies (60%). One partial response (3.3%) and three CA125 responses (10%) were observed, all in platinum-sensitive patients using intermittent dosing. Sixteen (53%) had stable disease. Five had >30% decrease in measurable disease. Overall median progression-free survival was 4.1 months. Common adverse events included fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms, hand–foot syndrome and hypertension. No gastrointestinal perforation occurred.

Conclusions: Single-agent sunitinib has modest activity in recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, but only at the 50 mg intermittent dose schedule, suggesting that dose and schedule may be vital considerations in further evaluation of sunitinib in this cancer setting.

Cancer epigenomics: Implications of DNA methylation in personalized cancer therapy - Cancer Science

Note: in research; see Table 1 for references to ovarian cancer/cisplatin

"Methylation of FANCF has been found in 20% of primary ovarian cancers not previously exposed to cisplatin, but the correlation between chemosensitivity and FANCF methylation in primary tumors remains to be determined."

Review Symptom research in gynecologic oncology: A review of available measurement tools (abstract)

 define: heterogeneity - diverse and not comparable

 Results

Nine studies examined symptom assessment, quality-of-life assessment, or symptom indexes for various gynecologic cancers. Studies varied in design, patient profiles, symptoms assessed, and outcomes measured. Meta-analysis was not performed due to heterogeneity in the studies.

Conclusion

Although pain is well-studied and well-characterized, other disease-specific and general systemic symptoms of gynecologic cancers need better understanding and assessment. Accordingly, assessment of symptoms throughout the course of disease is crucial for treatment decisions and outcomes monitoring for patients with gynecologic cancer. This is especially true for survivors of gynecologic cancer, for patients whose treatment was unsuccessful, or for choosing between treatments with comparable survival outcomes. However, measurement and assessment of cancer-related symptoms is challenging because of the complex interaction between disease progression, multi-modality treatments, and symptoms. In this review, we evaluate the currently available symptom assessment tools for gynecologic cancers, along with quality-of-life assessment tools that include symptom items, and we give recommendations for further research.

Informa Healthcare - Summary: Standardized FDG uptake as a prognostic variable and as a predictor of incomplete cytoreduction in primary advanced ovar

Discussion
FDG uptake in the primary tumor of patients with advanced ovarian cancer was not a prognostic variable and the FDG uptake did not predict complete cytoreduction after primary surgery. Future prospective clinical trials will need to clarify if other PET tracers can serve as prognostic variables in ovarian cancer.