CANCER PAIN MANAGEMENT TEAMWORK IS THE KEY! Not everyone with cancer has pain. Those who do know that pain can affect you in many ways. It can keep you from…

CHEMOTHERAPY (DRUG THERAPY FOR CANCER) WHAT IS CHEMOTHERAPY? Chemotherapy is the use of medicines to control, slow, or cure medical conditions. The term chemotherapy is most often used to refer…

Communication in Palliative Care Debra E. Heidrich Good communication is essential for decision making throughout the course of an illness. As a disease progresses, new symptoms emerge, more specialists are…

CANCER TREATMENT TEAM WHAT TYPES OF SPECIALISTS HELP TREAT CANCER? The different members of your cancer team offer many kinds of help. They can help you deal with the physical…

CANCER: SEVEN WARNING SIGNS There usually are no signs or symptoms when cancer is in its very early stage. Sometimes early symptoms do not seem like anything serious. Learning what…

CANCER PREVENTION AND DIET DOES MY DIET AFFECT MY CHANCES OF GETTING CANCER? Although the cause of cancer is not known, about 1 in 3 cancers may be related to…

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Dorothy Lynn Crider DEFINITIONS Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) includes conventional medical treatment and alternative therapies (natural modalities). Often the health care professional is not…

Hormonal Therapy Agents Kristi Orbaugh Abarelix (Plenaxis) DRUG CLASS • Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone antagonist ROUTE OF ADMINISTRATION • Intramuscular (IM) injection PRETREATMENT GUIDELINES • Baseline tumor marker (if appropriate)…

Hormonal Therapy Kristi Orbaugh INTRODUCTION As early as the 19th century, investigators began to recognize the importance of hormonal suppression in the treatment of breast cancer. In 1896, George Beatson…

Targeted Therapy Agents Bevacizumab (Avastin) Sandra E. Remer DRUG CLASS • Antiangiogenesis agent ROUTE OF ADMINISTRATION • Intravenous (IV) route by IV infusion • DO NOT ADMINISTER AS AN IV…