Completing up to a year of pembrolizumab immunotherapy after surgical resection of stage IIB or IIC melanoma decreases patients’ risk for disease recurrence or death by 35%, according to study findings presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2021 annual meeting. The new findings led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expand its approval of pembrolizumab to use as adjuvant therapy in both adults and children aged 12 and older with early-stage melanoma.

Stress, such as fear and worry about cancer coming back or many other life burdens and concerns, may activate dormant cancer cells remaining in the body to form tumors again, researchers reported in Science Translational Medicine.

Most cancer diagnoses in the United States occur later in life, in patients older than 60 years, although most of the common pediatric diagnoses occur in those younger than 10 years. Pediatric and adult patients receive similar cancer therapies. The goal is to kill rapidly dividing cancer cells. Unfortunately, most of a child’s cells also undergo rapid division, and treatment can damage healthy tissue. Therefore, treatment that cures pediatric cancer can also cause long-term survivorship issues.

A child’s cancer diagnosis can tear apart a family’s sense of security. After successfully navigating the cancer experience and all that comes with it, no one wants to face that again, and patients and families may fear an increased risk for secondary cancers. Oncology nurses can support pediatric cancer survivors and their families with resources for monitoring and reassurance about the possibility of facing secondary cancer.

The Adjuvant Radiotherapy Intensification Classifier (ARTIC) predicts which women with early-stage breast cancer will benefit the most from radiotherapy, as well as their risk for locoregional recurrence after radiation, researchers reported in study findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. 

Liquid biopsies—blood tests that detect circulating tumor cells—may help healthcare providers predict which women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer are at higher risk of recurrence, according to the results of a study published in JAMA Oncology.

Overall cancer incidence rates continue to fall for men and remain stable for women, according to the Cancer Statistics, 2018, report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 

Patients who miss two or more regularly scheduled radiation therapy sessions may be at increased risk of recurrence even if they eventually complete their course of treatment, researchers reported after a recent study.