Curr Oncol
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The 16th annual Western Canadian Gastrointestinal Cancer Consensus Conference was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, September 4-5, 2014. The Consensus Conference is an interactive, multidisciplinary event attended by health care professionals from across western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) involved in the care of gastrointestinal cancer. Surgical, medical, and radiation oncologists; pathologists; radiologists; and allied health care professionals participated in presentation and discussion sessions for the purposes of developing the recommendations presented here. This consensus statement addresses current issues in the management of colorectal cancer.
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This systematic review addresses the question "What is the optimal targeted therapy for female patients with early-stage human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (her2)-positive breast cancer?" ⋯ Taking into consideration disease characteristics and patient preference, 1 year of trastuzumab should be offered to all patients with her2-positive breast cancer who are receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Cardiac function should be regularly assessed in this patient population.
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Palliative sedation (ps), the continuous use of sedating doses of medication to intentionally reduce consciousness and relieve refractory symptoms at end of life, is ethically acceptable if administered according to standards of best practice. Procedural guidelines outlining the appropriate use of ps and the need for rigorous documentation have been developed. As a quality improvement strategy, we audited the practice and documentation of ps on our palliative care unit (pcu). ⋯ The lack of documentation and standardized practice of ps on our pcu has resulted in a quality improvement program to address those gaps. They also highlight the importance of conducting research and developing clinical guidelines in this area.
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We set out to determine the rate, time-trend, and defining factors associated with publication of abstracts presented at two annual scientific meetings of the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology (caro). ⋯ Half the abstracts presented at the 2007 and 2010 caro meetings were ultimately published in journals indexed in PubMed by about 1.5 years after presentation. Half the abstracts and publications came from just 2 universities; more must to be done to close the gap.