On April 13, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to sacituzumab govitecan (Trodelvy^®) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer  who previously received a platinum-containing chemotherapy and either a programmed death receptor-1 or a programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitor.

Only 4%–9% of patients with ovarian or cervical cancer use palliative care, but the numbers are much lower for Hispanic and Asian women than for non-Hispanic White women, according to researchers’ findings reported in Data in Brief.

Once patients stop responding to platinum-based chemotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer, their treatment options had been somewhat limited: PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors were effective in only 13%–29% of patients and taxanes in only 11%–13%. When the antibody drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin was approved in late 2019, it offered new hope for patients and providers, with clinical trials reporting a 44% objective response rate.

Only 19% of strategies to implement clinical practice guidelines are fully effective and the majority (43%) are not effective at all, according to the findings from a clinical review in the European Union. Effective guideline implementation requires teamwork, interprofessional engagement, and selecting the most appropriate tool for the job. 

Tyrone is a 74-year-old man with a history of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), type 2 diabetes, and hypertension who was admitted to the hospital after lab results revealed 40% circulating blasts in his peripheral blood that was concerning for relapsed disease. He was diagnosed with AML three years ago and achieved remission after treatment with a hypomethylating agent. 

Despite accounting for only 3% of all cancer survivors, patients with head and neck cancers often require significant support and survivorship care. And oncology nurses can expect survivorship to grow with recent improvements in prognosis and treatment options, such as with reductions in human papillomavirus-related oropharyngeal cancers, which tend to affect young people and offer improved long-term survival rates.

The Biden-Harris administration  to strengthen public perception of COVID-19 coronavirus vaccines and ensure all Americans, including communities of color, those in rural areas, low-income populations, and other underserved communities in the pandemic response, receive their vaccinations.

On April 7, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to sacituzumab govitecan (Trodelvy^®) for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who received two or more prior systemic therapies, at least one of which for metastatic disease.

Combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing allows clinicians to detect twice as many clinically significant prostate cancers than PSA testing alone, according to study results published in JAMA Oncology.

Although society has tried to take steps to confront gender disparities, women remain underrepresented across various sectors. Title IX in 1972 granted every American student the right to education without gender discrimination. However, female students still bear the brunt of sex-segregated programs and gender-based violence, two major obstacles to educational equality. Women consistently earn less than their male counterparts. The wage gap is larger for most women of color, and gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace perpetuate economic divides.