website: Choosingwisely - An Initiative of the ABIM Foundation

Choosing Wisely™ aims to get physicians, patients and other health care stakeholders thinking and talking about the overuse or misuse of medical tests and procedures that provide little benefit, and in some instances harm.

As part of the campaign, national organizations representing medical specialties are working with the ABIM Foundation to identify Five Things to Question — tests or procedures commonly used in their field whose necessity should be questioned and discussed. Consumer Reports is also working with the campaign to develop and disseminate materials to patients to help them engage their physicians in these conversations and ask questions about these test and procedures.

abstract: Physician Knowledge and Awareness of CA-125 as a Screen for Ovarian Cancer in the Asymptomatic, Average-Risk Population - CDC study

Physician Knowledge and Awareness of CA-125 as a Screen for

Abstract

Effective early detection strategies for ovarian cancer do not exist. 

Current screening guidelines recommend against routine screening using CA-125 alone or in combination with transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS). 

In this study, the authors used the 2008 DocStyles survey to measure clinician beliefs about the effectiveness of CA-125 and TVS in the asymptomatic, average-risk population in the United States. 

To assess the need for provider education, the authors used the 2008 HealthStyles survey to examine public awareness of CA-125. 

Of 1,250 physician respondents, 40.4% said both CA-125 and TVS were effective screens, and 28.3% said neither was an effective ovarian cancer screen in the asymptomatic, average-risk population. 

Obstetrician/gynecologists [OB/GYNs] more often had responses consistent with current guidelines: 56.5% of OB/GYNs, compared with 34.4% and 29.8% of family/general practitioners and internists, respectively, said neither CA-125 nor TVS was an effective screen. 

Almost one third of women (patients/the public) surveyed reported having heard of CA-125, and about one tenth said they had the CA-125 test. 

These findings support the need for additional provider education. Educational efforts should include lack of evidence for, as well as the potential harms of, screening for ovarian cancer with CA-125.

abstract: Frequency of Rearrangements in Lynch Syndrome Cases Associated with MSH2: Characterization of a New Deletion Involving both EPCAM and the 5′ Part of MSH2

".......The tumors of the carriers show high-level MSI and MSH2 protein loss. The clinical correlation provided evidence that the type of mutation and the extension of the deletions involving the MSH2 gene could have different implications in cancer predisposition. Thus, the identification of EPCAM-MSH2 rearrangements and their comprehensive characterization should be included in the routine mutation screening protocols for Lynch syndrome."

Norway to bring cancer-gene tests to the clinic : Nature News & Comment

"Norway is set to become the first country to incorporate genome sequencing into its national health-care system. The Scandinavian nation, which has a population of 4.8 million, will use ‘next-generation’ DNA sequencers to trawl for mutations in tumours that might reveal which cancer treatments would be most effective.

In its three-year pilot phase, the Norwegian Cancer Genomics Consortium will sequence the tumour genomes of 1,000 patients in the hope of influencing their treatments. It will also look at another 3,000 previously obtained tumour biopsies to get a better idea of the mutations in different cancers, and how they influence a patient's response to a drug. In a second phase, the project will build the laboratory, clinical and computing infrastructure needed to bring such care to the 25,000 Norwegians who are diagnosed with cancer each year......"

"Similar projects are under way in the United Kingdom and at research hospitals in the United States, France and elsewhere. But Norway’s will be among the first to look for tumour mutations using next-generation DNA sequencing rather than conventional genetic testing."

Keeping patients safe : The Lancet (patient safety/whistleblowers/gag clauses....)

Canadian Health Reference Guide - Invisible Healthcare System Taking Toll on Canadian Caregivers

A Lesson for Global Donors from the Susan G. Komen Fallout: Transparency is a Virtue - Up Front Blog - Brookings Institution

Komen reverses cuts to Planned Parenthood funding - The Globe and Mail

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what others were reading Feb 2nd (top 5) - Ovarian Cancer and Us blog

open access: Participatory Medicine: Must You Be Rich to Participate...

Picture this: The new imaging techniques that can help doctors select the right treatment ...

(Canada) Romanow Commission - Health Human Resourc...

2012 Feb: Chemotherapy and Fingerprint Loss: Beyond Cosmetic...

in research:NIH study uncovers probable mechanism ...   Ovarian Cancer and Us - top 5 read items Feb 2nd

"Call It Cancer" - Editorial - the Oncologist

Blogger's Note: comments/interpretation:

excerpt from article: "...A more controversial aspect of the NIH panel’s report wasthe statement that it may be a mistake to call low-grade low-volume prostate cancer a “cancer” in these patients...."

• the Oncologist is a subscriber-based publication; 

• the 'gist' of the article is a focus on prostate cancer, but the theme is transferable to all cancers - a discussion on what to call (prostate) cancers eg. those at low/high risk of recurrence, the same could be applied to ovarian cancer eg. LMP; the authors conclusions are just to call it cancer so as not to distract patients from understanding that risks including those still outstandsing and unknown issues (and of course those with rare subtypes of differing cancers, as an example)
• a good discussion for those who are getting 'off track' - psychosocial aspects and what is meaningful to patients/providers who deal with cancer in real life

Research ethics: Coercive citations in academic publishing

abstract: Role of Fear of Movement in Cancer Survivors Participating in a Rehabilitation Program: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Conclusions

Fear of movement is associated with the perceived global health status of cancer survivors.

2012 conference notice: SGO Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer Austin, Texas March 24-27 (early bird deadline Feb 6th)

Blogger's Note:

the SGO  has had for many years a tradition of a reduced fee for ovarian cancer advocates not to mention their inclusion- Dr David Mutch was instrumental in the inclusion of ovarian cancer advocates in the SGO's annual conference, which continues to be noteworthy, as this is not necessarily the 'standard' at all medical/oncology conferences

Registration fee: Advocate Supporter $325.00

                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 2012 Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer®

March 24-27, 2012
The Austin Convention Center
Austin, Texas

For the most up to date information, please visit our dedicated, interactive Annual Meeting website at www.sgomeetingsonwomenscancer.com

This meeting focuses on offering programming and cutting-edge scientific research that demonstrates the latest data the subspecialty has to offer.

Register for the Annual Meeting

Book your Hotel Room

Schedule of Events (opens in pdf)

 

 SGO is offering open access for all education sessions at the 2012 Annual Meeting for all registration categories. This allows attendees access to: Scientific Plenary Sessions, Sunrise Seminars, Education Forums, Exhibit Hall and Social Functions. The registration price also includes access to select ‘on-demand’ sessions through the 2012 Annual Meeting Webcast. Revisit some of your favorite sessions or view those you might have missed due to scheduling conflicts.

Stem Cell Network Blog: News roundup: open access, new funding for personalized medicine and spinal cord injury update (eg. Elsevier - subscriber-based publisher)

February 01, 2012

News roundup: open access, new funding for personalized medicine and spinal cord injury update

Some updates and news items of note:

Call for boycott of subscriber-based journals gains momentum
The ongoing friction between proponents of open access and the academic publishers has jumped into the spotlight once again with calls from a number of academics, most notably from prominent British mathmetician Tim Gowers, who publicly announced his decision to stop submitting and reviewing for Elsevier. His objections are worth reading. Within days of his comments, a web site was created that allows other researchers to pledge their support for open access and against the practices of Elsevier and other academic publishers. At time of writing, there were over 2400 signatures. Of course, this is not the first time such calls for open access have surfaced from within the research community, the last big push resulted in the formation of the Public Library of Science in 2000.....

Picture this: The new imaging techniques that can help doctors select the right treatment at the right time - Cutting Edge - Cancer World (eg. MRI/PET/CT/therapies/biomarkers....)

Blogger's Note: worth reading

Cancer Risks for the Relatives of Colorectal Cancer Cases with a Methylated MLH1 Promoter Region: Data from the Colorectal Cancer Family Registry

Blogger's Note: focus on MLH1

".....The cohort consisted of 3,128 first- and second-degree relatives of the 233 MLH1-methylated CRC cases with no MMR or MUTYH gene mutations.

The standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for CRC was 1.60 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.22–2.16] for first-degree relatives and 1.08 (0.74–1.60) for second-degree relatives.

The SIR for gastric cancer was 2.58 (1.52–4.71) for first-degree relatives and 4.52 (2.23–10.61) for second-degree relatives and, for ovarian cancer, it was 2.16 (1.29–3.86) for first-degree relatives.

The risk of liver cancer was also increased significantly in first-degree relatives but the estimate was on the basis of only two cases.

These data imply that relatives of CRC cases with MLH1 methylation may be at increased risk of CRC and stomach cancer and possibly ovarian and liver cancer, suggesting that there may be a heritable factor for CRC and other cancers associated with MLH1 methylation in non–Lynch syndrome."

abstract - Identification of Cancer Patients with Lynch Syndrome: Clinically Significant Discordances and Problems in Tissue-Based Mismatch Repair Testing

(open access publisher) BioMed Central Blog : OSTP publishes public comments in response to RFIs on public access to publications and data

BioMed Central Blog

Friday Feb 03, 2012

OSTP publishes public comments in response to RFIs on public access to publications and data

The US Office of Science and Technology Policy has published the comments received as part of the latest phase of its public consultations on Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications Resulting From Federally Funded Research and Public Access to Digital Data Resulting From Federally Funded Scientific Research.

BioMed Central responded to both Requests for Information, and our contributions are now publicly available online:

• BioMed Central response to RFI on Publications
• BioMed Central response to RFI on Data