Download August 2013

MASCC • Supportive Care makes excellent cancer care possible
NEWS
Message from the Editorial Team
Message from Anna Ugalde and Anna Boltong
Welcome to the August edition of MASCC Society News. This month we feature an update from two conferences
earlier in the year: the American Society of Clinical Oncology Congress in Chicago and the Oncology Nursing
Society Congress in Washington. We also profile CAPhO: the Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology and
the MASCC Nutrition and Cachexia Study Group. We have a list of selected publications by MASCC members and
we also would like to introduce and welcome two new members to the MASCC community, Rebecca Verity (UK)
and Leanne Kolnick (USA). We hope you enjoy the August edition, and we look forward to bringing you all the news
from the 2013 MASCC Congress in Berlin in the September issue!
From the editors, Anna & Anna
Update from the American Society of Clinical Oncology Congress!
Supportive care was on the agenda at ASCO 2013, with
Eduardo Bruera and Mellar Davis (pictured) in conjunction
with Daniel Morganstern presenting a key education session
to over 400 delegates on June 2nd. The presentation was
entitled: Early Integration of Palliative and Supportive Care in the
Cancer Continuum: Challenges and opportunities.
Terminology was a key feature of this session with Dr Bruera
discussing the history, importance and implications of the
terms Supportive Care, Palliative Care and Hospice Care.
He underscored how Palliative Care is considered by most
medical oncologists as an end of life service, rather than a
service to be utilised in early stage cancer. In what he
described as 'the branding problem of palliative care', he
Mellar Davis,(left) and Eduardo Bruera,(right)
reminded attendees that the name of a service actually
conditions the results of that service. Dr Bruera provided a
fascinating example of this in practice, where a service name change from Palliative Care to Supportive Care
resulted in a 41% increase in referrals to the service and a change in patient referral time from 4.7 to 6.2 months
before death. The key components of a palliative care consultation were described and the fact that palliative care
involvement reduces intensive care mortality and complicated bereavement, and improves quality of life and
symptom management, were reinforced.
Dr Davis focused on the barriers to implementing best practice models. He stated that symptom control and quality
of life have traditionally been viewed as secondary outcomes in oncology clinical care and research. Results from a
MASCC international study were discussed - 80% of cancer centres considered integration of palliative care into
oncology as important, but only 17% of institutions were prepared to financially resource integration. Additionally,
exposure to palliative care is limited from both a clinical and general public point of view and research to establish an
evidence base for specialist palliative care services requires complex intervention trials and well defined patient
outcomes. In concluding the session, Dr Davis stated that the potential of palliative care could only be realised when
it is provided by a team of palliative care specialists as a cross-sectional network integrated into early cancer care.
This session generated a great deal of discussion and interest.
Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer • www.mascc.org
MASCC • Supportive Care makes excellent cancer care possible
Effective Symptom Management profiled at Oncology Nursing Society
From the 25th – 28th of April, the Oncology Nursing Society ran the 38th annual congress in Washington, DC.
One highlight was the clinical lecture at the meeting entitled: Effective Symptom Management to Optimize Care
with Oral Cancer Therapies led by Peg Esper DNP©, MSA, RN, ANP-BC, AOCN.
Ms Esper praised the MASCC Oral Agent Teaching Tool (MOATT) in her lecture
and sent attendees to our booth where we were able to hand out copies and explain
how to use the tool. We also had copies of the MOATT User's Guide to help the
attendees use the MOATT in clinical and research settings. Pictured is MASCC
Executive Director, Dr Åge Schultz, at the MASCC booth!
The Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology
We often use the opportunity in our newsletters to profile different groups that may be relevant to MASCC members. This month, we
share our talk with Chris Ralph, from the Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology (CAPhO).
Who is CAPhO and what are the goals of your organisation?
The Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology (CAPhO) is the national forum for oncology pharmacy
practitioners and other health care professionals interested in oncology pharmacy. CAPhO promotes the practice
of oncology pharmacy in Canada by conducting educational events, maintaining appropriate professional practice
standards, facilitating communication between oncology pharmacists and other interested health professionals and
advocating for oncology pharmacy as an area
of specialty practice.
What is unique about CAPhO?
The annual National Oncology Pharmacy
Symposium (NOPS) is Canada’s only national
conference that supports oncology pharmacy
as a specialty practice.
How many members do you have?
285, comprised of pharmacists, pharmacy
technicians, pharmacy assistants and students.
What events or programs are CAPhO currently involved in?
2014 will be an especially exciting year for CAPhO as we will jointly
host ISOPP (The International Society of Oncology Pharmacy
For more information about CAPhO,
Practitioners: http://isopp.org/) conference in Montreal.
visit the website: http://www.capho.org
Additionally, Oncology Practice Essentials is CAPhO's newest series
of educational programs, to enhance one’s ability to practice in the
field of oncology pharmacy. The first released program is Oncology
Basics. Also in November, this year’s National Oncology Pharmacy Symposium is in beautiful Vancouver, BC,
which will be held November 14-17 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver (http://vancouver.hyatt.com/en/hotel/
home.html). We also have a CAPhO Compass blog which is a way to keep up to date with what is happening with
CAPhO as well as providing unique and important information in oncology pharmacy.
Meet a new MASCC Member! - Rebecca Verity
I am a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Doctoral
Research Fellow from King’s College London. My PhD study aims to
identify and develop potential interventions and strategies health
professionals could use to prepare and support family and friends in the
chemotherapy setting. My professional background is cancer nursing
and before I was awarded the NIHR doctoral fellowship, I was a
Lecturer in Cancer Nursing at the Florence Nightingale School of
Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London. I have joined MASCC
as I believe it would provide valuable opportunities to learn from and
network with other experts in the field.
Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer • www.mascc.org
MASCC • Supportive Care makes excellent cancer care possible
Profile of the MASCC Nutrition and Cachexia Study Group
This month we profile the Nutrition and Cachexia Study Group, which comprises some 100 members.
Why does MASCC need a nutrition and cachexia study group?
Nutritional problems such as poor appetite and cachexia syndrome are common in patients with cancer, and
particularly those receiving treatment. Yet, these problems are often under-recognised and hence go un-managed or
are poorly managed, thereby adversely affecting patients’ quality of life and participation in treatment.
Who is in the group?
The Nutrition and Cachexia study group is chaired by Dr Florian Strasser and co-chaired by Dr Jann Arends, Dr
Sami Antoun and Dr Liz Isenring. There are over 100 members worldwide, including oncologists, dietitians and
nutritionists, nursing, pharmacists, other allied health professionals and palliative care specialists.
What are the goals of this group?
The goals of this group are to improve the supportive care of oncology patients with nutrition and cachexia related
conditions and to increase the awareness of current evidence-based practice guidelines. These include the ESPEN
Guidelines on Enteral Nutrition: Non-surgical Oncology produced by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition
and Metabolism www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(06)00040-9/abstract and the Clinical
Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) Evidence based practice guidelines for the nutritional management of adult
patients with head and neck cancer. These guidelines are kept constantly updated via a wiki platform and can be
accessed via the link below:
http://wiki.cancer.org.au/australia/COSA:Head_and_neck_cancer_nutrition_guidelines
When gaps in the literature are identified, the group encourages research to improve patient care by focusing on
research efforts relevant to the interface between between clinical nutrition, cachexia and oncology disciplines.
What recent achievements are you proud of?
We ran a successful joint workshop with the Fatigue study group at the MASCC / ISOO Symposium in Berlin in
June. This combined workshop was chaired by Karin Olson and Florian Strasser and presented state-of-the-art
information on recognition, practical assessment and management in oncology practice based on current
definitions, mechanistic understanding and clinical research developments. The session provoked lively discussion on
current definitions and standardized strategies for screening and assessment of cachexia and fatigue as well as the
comparison of mechanisms of cachexia and fatigue in the context of anti-cancer treatment.
What is the group looking forward to in the near future?
Welcoming new members to our study group!
If you wish to become a member of the MASCC Nutrition and Cachexia Study Group, please visit:
http://www.mascc.org/join-study-groups. Remember that you can join up to three study groups as a part of your
MASCC membership.
Meet a new MASCC Member! - Leanne Kolnick
I am a third year Oncology fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in
Nashville, TN, USA. In the coming year I will be a chief resident of our program.
I am interested in supportive care because a growing number of survivors face a
lifetime living with chronic side effects. It is at this juncture that I felt I could have a
significant impact on their lives. To me, the convergence of the art and science of
medicine is Supportive Care. In medical school, I began my path towards
Supportive Oncology and Palliative Medicine through my community-health based
research project on volunteerism and end-of-life care and I successfully applied for
a grant to study symptom burden in patients with metastatic or recurrent Head and
Neck Cancer. The goal is to identify symptoms related to recurrent cancer,
including both residual symptoms and current side effects from treatment that may
be alleviated by palliative interventions. I am fortunate to have a dedicated and knowledgeable mentor, Dr.
Barbara Murphy, who heads our Supportive Oncology group and is active in MASCC. She encouraged me to
join as a means of sharing my work, collaborating with like-minded professionals, and broadening my exposure
to other aspects in the Supportive Care field.
Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer • www.mascc.org
MASCC • Supportive Care makes excellent cancer care possible
Call for Stories!
We would like to hear from you with any stories relevant to MASCC members,
including publications, presentations, reports on supportive care research at conferences, profiles from
new members, awards and academic achievements. To contact us, please email:
[email protected] or [email protected]
Some New Supportive Care Publications by MASCC Members
Nicolatou-Galitis O, Sarri T, Bowen J, Di Palma M, Kouloulias VE, Niscola P, Riesenbeck D, Stokman M, Tissing W,
Yeoh E, Elad S, Lalla RV; For The Mucositis Study Group of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in
Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology (MASCC/ISOO). Systematic review of anti-inflammatory agents
for the management of oral mucositis in cancer patients. Support Care Cancer. 2013 May 24.
Tralongo P, Annunziata MA, Santoro A, Tirelli U, Surbone A. Beyond Semantics: The Need to Better Categorize
Patients With Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2013 May 20.
Dionne F, Mitton C, Macdonald T, Miller C, Brennan M. The challenge of obtaining information necessary for
multi-criteria decision analysis implementation: the case of physiotherapy services in Canada. Cost Eff Resour Alloc.
2013 May 20;11(1):11.
McNamara BA, Rosenwax LK, Murray K, Currow DC. Early Admission to Community-Based Palliative Care
Reduces Use of Emergency Departments in the Ninety Days Before Death. J Palliat Med. 2013 May 15.
Karanicolas PJ, Graham D, Gönen M, Strong VE, Brennan MF, Coit DG. Quality of life after gastrectomy for
adenocarcinoma: a prospective cohort study. Ann Surg. 2013 Jun;257(6):1039-46. doi: 10.1097/SLA.
0b013e31828c4a19.
Riley WT, Glasgow RE, Etheredge L, Abernethy AP. Rapid, responsive, relevant (R3) research: a call for a rapid
learning health research enterprise. Clin Transl Med. 2013 May 10;2(1):10. doi: 10.1186/2001-1326-2-10.
Costales AB, Milbourne AM, Rhodes HE, Munsell MF, Wallbillich JJ, Brown J, Frumovitz M, Ramondetta LM,
Schmeler KM. Risk of residual disease and invasive carcinoma in women treated for adenocarcinoma in situ of the
cervix. Gynecol Oncol. 2013 Jun;129(3):513-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2013.03.015.
Klastersky J, Raftopoulos H, Rapoport B. The MASCC Neutropenia, Infection and Myelosuppression Study Group
evaluates recent new concepts for the use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors for the prevention of febrile
neutropenia. Support Care Cancer. 2013 Jun;21(6):1793-5. doi: 10.1007/s00520-013-1776-9.
Brennan ME, Spillane AJ. Uptake and predictors of post-mastectomy reconstruction in women with breast
malignancy - Systematic review. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2013 Jun;39(6):527-41. doi: 0.1016/j.ejso.2013.02.021.
Dinan MA, Curtis LH, Carpenter WR, Biddle AK, Abernethy AP, Patz EF Jr, Schulman KA, Weinberger M.
Variations in Use of PET among Medicare Beneficiaries with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, 1998-2007. Radiology.
2013 Jun;267(3):807-17.doi: 10.1148/radiol.12120174.
Ellis CL, Walsh PC, Partin AW, Epstein JI. Multiple cores of Gleason score 6 correlate with favourable findings at
radical prostatectomy. BJU Int. 2013 Jun;111(8):E306-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2012.11680.x.
Taylor RM, Pearce S, Gibson F, Fern L, Whelan J. Developing a conceptual model of teenage and young adult
experiences of cancer through meta-synthesis. Int J Nurs Stud. 2013 Jun;50(6):832-46. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.
2012.09.011.
Have any news items to share?
Please send contributions for the MASCC News to [email protected] or the co-editors:
Anna Ugalde - [email protected] & Anna Boltong - [email protected]
For more information please contact: Åge Schultz, MASCC Executive Director - [email protected]
Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer • www.mascc.org