Volume 4 Issue 1, January 2007

Therapy that effectively shrinks tumor bulk is often unable to completely eliminate disease. One theory is that chemotherapeutic agents target rapidly growing cells, but can leave a pool of slowly proliferating, quiescent cells (stem cells) unharmed. These cells can then divide and reestablish the tumor once therapy ceases. This Viewpoint presents evidence that gastric cancer stem cells could originate from bone marrow.

Many women with ovarian cancer undergo both surgery and chemotherapy and because the majority of women will eventually experience recurrent disease, it is important to recognize how such treatments may disrupt patient quality of life. The authors of this review discuss the quality of life issues, and emphasize the importance of developing further strategies to identify women at risk of serious quality of life disruption so that effective interventions can be designed.

The presence of tumor cells in the bone marrow of primary breast cancer patients at surgery has been shown to be an independent prognostic indicator of relapse. Studies are underway to improve methods of detection, such as immunobead enrichment and real-time RT-PCR. This article reviews the current methodologies and technical improvements that are being investigated, and the authors discuss the major hurdles that should be overcome before analysis of minimal residual disease to predict prognosis can become standard practice in the clinical setting.

Bisphosphonates are used for skeletal protection in osteoporosis, cancer bone metastasis, multiple myeloma, and Paget's disease of the bone; however, these drugs also have the potential for causing a number of adverse effects. While these do not limit bisphosphonate use, the incidence of these adverse events can be minimized if appropriate care is taken with their administration, and by maintaining appropriate surveillance and patient care, as discussed in this review.

This article describes the case of a 78-year-old man who was presented with a rapidly growing mass in the left axilla but no other symptoms. Excisional biopsy of the mass revealed a primary adenocarcinoma with apocrine features. The patient underwent dissection of the left axillary lymph node and received radiation therapy. Fifteen months later, a biopsy revealed metastatic apocrine carcinoma. The authors discuss the differential diagnosis and treatment options for patients with apocrine carcinoma, a rare subtype of sweat-gland carcinoma.