Joseph R. Bertino, MD

Harry S. Jacob

Every December, we ask members of the HemOnc Today Editorial Board for their suggestions about the most important developments in the fields of hematology and oncology during the past year.

Three new therapies bring us closer to personalized treatments for melanoma, lung cancer and Hodgkin’s disease

The standard of care in dosing chemotherapeutic agents is based on body surface area — or BSA. The BSA-based dose for any given drug is recommended by the manufacturer according to the maximum tolerated dose established during phase 1 studies. MTD, in turn, is generally determined using the Fibonacci dose escalation “3 + 3 schema” in which three patients are enrolled at each proposed dose level and if one patient experiences a drug limiting toxicity, three additional patients are then enrolled at that same dose level. If two or more additional patients at a particular dose level present a drug limiting toxicity, enrollment of patients to that dose level is discontinued and the immediate preceding dose level is considered the MTD.

This year, Harry Jacob, MD, and I, with the assistance of our other Editorial Board members, again chose to emphasize some of HemOnc Today’s recently published articles. This column presents some comments about several oncology contributions to the top stories of 2009.

This year, Harry Jacob, MD, and I, with the assistance of our other Section Editors, again chose to emphasize some of HemOnc Today’s recently-published articles. This column presents some comments about several oncology contributions.

The number one story in 2007 was the FDA approval of human papillomavirus quadrivalent vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.