Dr. Victoria Blinder recently led a study that followed 267 breast cancer patients at MSK throughout their treatment. Dr. Blinder’s team found that between 20 and 30 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer will eventually lose their job due to their diagnosis. But what was even more troubling is that poor women were four times more likely to be jobless by the end of treatment. The biggest factor in this difference is workplace accommodations for women with higher-paid, salaried jobs, where low-income women are half as likely to have accommodating work environments.
Blinder V, et al. Women with breast cancer who work for accommodating employers more likely to retain jobs after treatment. Health Affairs. 2017 Feb 1;36(2):274-81.

“Watson for Oncology” is coming to the US! IBM’s partnership with MSK will go live at it’s first use in a US community hospital. Florida’s Jupiter Medical Center will be deploying this new artificial intelligence clinical decision support tool. Currently Watson can assist clinicians with six different cancer types, and IBM and MSK are working to add an additional seven types in 2017. Watson for Oncology has already been in use in hospitals in Thailand, South Korea, and India.

The future of precision medicine was outlined in a report in Cell by MSK doctors David Hyman, Barry Taylor and José Baselga. According to the authors, this report is a roadmap for future efforts in cancer care. One of the hurdles the team addressed is that of a “engineering problem” which limits information sharing between the two vital role players, the researchers, and the clinicians.
Hyman, David M. et al. Implementing Genome-Driven Oncology. Cell 2017 Feb 9; 168(4):584-99

A new prediction tool developed by an Interventional Radiologist team led by Dr. F. Edward Boas helps surgeons determine where and how long to position probes during cryoablation. The searchable database uses simulations to identify the best probe spacing and ablation time for different tissues and tumors. View the Prediction Tool here.
Boas, F.E., Srimathveeravalli, G., Durack, J.C. et al. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol (2017). doi:10.1007/s00270-016-1562-4

Dr. Howard Scher joins forces with Seven Bridges biomedical data analysis company and Dr. Geoff Otto of the Foundation Center to present an update to their Cancer Moonshot project, the Blood Profiling Atlas, at the Precision Medicine World Congress in Silicon Valley. Blood profiling allows for identifying changes at the genetic level using a simple blood test instead of invasive tissue biospies. And the atlas provides access to enormous amounts of data to further research in identifying the most effective therapies for individual patients based on their blood.

Dr. Peter Bach makes the bold argument that the U.S. government should buy Gilead, the maker of the hepatitis C drugs that can cost upwards of $42,000 for a curative treatment course. By buying the company, the U.S. government can provide affordable therapy to quickly treat and cure the 2.7 million Americans who suffer from hepatitis C. This will save money in the long term, thanks to the drug’s ability to stop, and in some cases even reverse, liver damage.

Last week at the Critical Care Congress in Honolulu, Dr. Stephen Pastores moderated a session on the high risk of burnout for critical care clinicians.  Best practices were discussed during the session, including shortening the length of rotations and modifying weekend call schedules. According to Dr. Pastores, “data show that if a physician takes care of 12 or more patients or a nurse takes care of more than 2.5 to 3 patients,” the rate of burnout can increase. Providing a supportive work environment is essential, prioritizing staff self-care. MSK provides clinicians with reflection time, afternoon tea, and a meditation room to combat burnout.

Stem cell transplants may get less risky for lymphoma patients, thanks to preliminary research by Drs. Marcel van den Brink and Michael Sadelain. They found that using CD19 specific CAR-T cells does not increase the risk of graft-versus-host-disease after allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplants. They are planning a phase 1 trial using these donor-derived CAR-T cells to prevent relapse after bone marrow transplants, scheduled for later this year.

New York Jets safety, Calvin Pryor, took time out of his Christmas Day to visit 19-year-old Aeden Wall at MSK. In the Jets final game of the season Pryor dedicated his performance in the Jets 30-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills to Aeden, tweeting out “That was for you Aeden”. Aeden passed away just two days later after an eight-month battle with rhabdomyosarcoma. Continue reading →