Free Oncology CME

Target Audience: Hematologists

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online, self-learning activity:

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), making up just under a third of NHL cases. In the United States, there are roughly 7 cases of DLBCL per 100,000 patients per year. The pathophysiology of DLBCL is complex and not fully understood; but is characterized by a widespread increase of very large, mature B-cells arising from various gene mutations. DLBCL is heterogenous group of tumors and includes many diverse subtypes based on location, presence of other cells within the tumor, and whether the patient has other related illnesses. Advanced age, immunodeficiency, and Epstein-Barr virus are associated risk factors for DLBCL. The disease is considered an AIDS-defining malignancy, marking the point at which an HIV infection is considered AIDS. Diagnosis of DLBCL is made by a tissue biopsy, and morphology and immunophenotyping play a crucial role in determining which subtype of DLBCL a patient has.

This learning activity has been designed to bring HCPs’ knowledge of present and emerging strategies for treatment and management of DLBCL up to date and to improve their competence and performance in treating it.

Target Audience:

Hematologists and oncologists; physician assistants, nurse practitioners,  pharmacists who practice in oncology, and any other HCPs with an interest in or who clinically encounter patients with DLBCL.

Each year, an estimated 170,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed. Although early prostate cancer may be cured with surgery or radiation therapy, more than 50% of men will experience recurrence after definitive treatment. The use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for intermediate-risk, high-risk, and recurrent prostate cancer has greatly increased in the last 15 years, extending 10-year survival by nearly 25% compared with observation alone. New treatment options for advanced prostate cancer have further improved survival and increased the number of patients living with non-metastatic and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC and mCRPC). Despite the established improvements in survival associated with hormonal treatments, ADT has been associated with well-characterized negative effects on bone health. Indeed, bone metastases and subsequent skeletal-related events (SREs) are the primary driver of both morbidity and mortality among people with CRPC. In a study of 2234 men aged 65 years or older with a diagnosis of CRPC, 40% experienced SREs over a median follow-up of 10.6 months. Maintaining bone health in patients with CRPC requires routine monitoring and proactive management.

Target Audience:

The following healthcare professionals: urologists, medical and radiation oncologists, primary care physicians, nuclear medicine specialists and radiologists, and endocrinologists; physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists who treat prostate cancer; and any other healthcare professionals who commonly care for patients with prostate cancer.

By the end of the session the participant will be able to:

• Recall the relative efficacy and safety of presently available agents used to for bone health and fracture prevention in patients with prostate cancer
• Describe the identification and management of disease and intervention adverse effects on patients
• Using details in a patient case, recommend an appropriate pharmacotherapeutic treatment plan for the purpose of preventing SREs in patients with prostate cancer

Activity Description / Statement of Need: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented changes in health care delivery worldwide, affecting the way that nearly every medical specialty can safely practice. As with other fields of medicine, oncology has its own challenges in navigating the pandemic. Based on pre-pandemic estimates, 1.8 million new cancer diagnoses would be expected in 2020, equating to approximately 5,000 new cancer diagnoses per day. Evidence thus far suggests that COVID-19 is associated with significantly more complications and a higher risk of death in patients with cancer or with a history of cancer. Furthermore, patients with cancer have also been shown to have a higher COVID-19 infection rate than the general population, suggesting increased susceptibility, potentially due to immunosuppression, comorbidities, or poor health status related to cancer or its treatment. Based on these data, oncology specialists are said to be fighting “a war on two fronts” by balancing the risks of COVID-19 transmission and acquisition with the risks of delayed cancer diagnosis and treatment. This represents an unmet need among oncology practitioners as they navigate this new health care landscape.

Target Audience:

Healthcare professionals, including medical oncologists; radiation oncologists; surgical oncologists; surgeons; radiologists; nuclear medicine specialists; nurse practitioners and physician assistants who practice in oncology; and other healthcare providers who manage cancer.

By the end of the session the participant will be able to:

• Recall the symptoms of COVID-19 infection and best practices for screening patients, health care providers, and staff in the oncology setting.
• Develop a plan to provide oncology care in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Describe the risks of delaying cancer diagnosis and treatment against the risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection.
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Over a quarter million women and almost 2,700 men in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and it is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. The prognosis associated with breast has improved in the last few decades due in larger part to earlier detection. Detection at the loco-regional stage is associated with a five-year overall survival (OS) rate of ≥ 85% in contrast to 27% for distant or metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Because it is not curable, the goals of care in MBC are: palliation of symptoms, improvement of quality-of-life, and extension of survival. Hormone receptor positivity has traditionally conferred a better prognosis. In contrast, the presence the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is associated with a more negative prognosis. Finally, there remains a basal-like group lacking in those markers, miscellaneously labeled triple-negative (TNBC), with some cancers observed to be more aggressive, but with the overall population similar in prognosis to hormone-positive breast cancer, owing to TNBC’s heterogenous nature.

Target Audience:

The following healthcare professionals: Medical oncologists; physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists who practice in oncology; and any other HCPs with an interest in or who clinically encounter patients with breast cancer.

By the end of the session the participant will be able to:

• Describe the prognostic and treatment implications of TN status in the diagnosis and treatment of MBC.
• Describe treatment options presently available for TN MBC, including safety, and apply them to patient cases using evidence-based medicine.
• Describe emerging treatment options presently available for TN MBC, their mechanisms of action and safety, and anticipated place in therapy.
• Discuss barriers patients with TN MBC experience in attempting to access care, including burden of disease and adverse consequences of therapy, and propose ways to ameliorate them.

Earn CME with these new modules on lung cancer which include education on advances in lung cancer treatment, surgical and radiofrequency-ablative techniques, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies. Each takes less than 30 minutes to complete!

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Target Audiences:
Clinicians practicing interventional oncology (IO) or those who are interested in learning more about IO.

Endometrial cancer, a type of cancer that originates in the lining of the uterus, is the most common gynecologic cancer and the fourth most common cancer in women living in the United States. The vast majority of women are diagnosed with endometrial cancer after the age of 50, and the most common risk factors are obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and increasing age. Levels of the two hormone estrogen and progesterone fluctuate during the menstrual cycle, resulting in cell proliferation and differentiation that may lead to abnormalities that contribute to malignancies later in life. The costs associated with endometrial cancer may amount to tens of thousands of dollars per patient, depending on the stage of disease upon diagnosis.

By the end of the session the participant will be able to:

• Review guideline-recommended therapy for advanced and recurrent endometrial cancer
• Distinguish between the different forms of therapy presently approved for advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer and apply them to practice
• Describe investigational therapies for advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer and their anticipated place in therapy
• Describe the challenges and barriers to care associated with treating patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer

Target Audience:

The following HCPs: medical oncologists; physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists who practice in oncology; and other clinicians who commonly encounter patients with recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer.

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online, self-learning activity:

Biosimilar drugs are products meant to be similar in quality, safety, and efficacy to an already licensed reference biotherapeutic product. Whereas generics are virtually identical replicas of conventional medications, biosimilars are not the same as the original product – a practically unavoidable outcome because of the considerably large molecular structure that biologics mimic. The literature suggests that learning activities focused on the evolving landscape of biosimilars, which are germane to the therapeutic area because of their potential role in cost containment. Both the FDA and medical literature independently affirm the need for clinician education on biosimilars, including: Comparative efficacy; adverse event rates and management (potential concerns have included immunogenicity); regulatory guidance on interchangeability and substitution – including prescribers retaining some degree of ability to intervene in a product’s substitution at the dispensing stage; and cost considerations.

Given the rapid expansion of these product types and the presence of gaps in the area of hematologic malignancies and oncologic and supportive care therapies, this activity has been designed to bring HCPs’ knowledge of biosimilar products in those areas up to date and to improve their competence and performance in employing them in practice.

Target Audience:

The following healthcare professionals: Hematologist-oncologists and medical oncologists; physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists who practice in oncology; and any other healthcare professionals with an interest in or who clinically encounter patients with hematologic malignancy or oncologic disease states who may receive treatment with biosimilars.

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online, self-learning activity:

Neutropenia, a decrease in the number of a type of white blood cell (WBC) in the body, is a common complication in patients undergoing myelosuppressive chemotherapy that can result in serious, life-threatening infections. Febrile neutropenia (FN), or neutropenia accompanied by a fever, poses an even greater risk to patients and the frequent treatment complication results in over 100,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. each year. Neutropenia can manifest up to twelve days following treatment with a chemotherapy agent and FN occurs in about eight per 1,000 patients receiving chemotherapy. Fever is defined as a single oral temperature of 38.3+ °C or 38.0+ °C over the course of an hour, with neutropenia defined as less than 500 neutrophils/mcL or less than 1000 with a predicted decline to less 500 over the following 48 hours. Development of FN may lead to hospitalization with costs estimated at approximately $15,000 per visit, and it may also complicate care by reducing chemotherapy relative dose intensity (RDI) and possibly compromise treatment efficacy and lower survival rates.

Target Audience:

Oncologists and hematologists; physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists who practice in oncology; and other HCPs with an interest in or who clinically encounter patients with FN or at risk of developing it.

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

In this online, self-learning activity:

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States with over 235,000 new cases diagnosed and representing a quarter of all cancer deaths at a rate of 132,000 annually. While smoking contributes to 82% of lung cancer deaths, nonsmoking-related lung cancer deaths still fall in the top ten causes of cancer deaths and represents a growing proportion of cases. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer diagnosed, accounting for approximately 80% of patients diagnosed. Despite clear guidance on surveillance for disease in individuals at high risk, late diagnosis is a fundamental obstacle to improving lung cancer outcomes. 55% of NSCLC cases are diagnosed after metastasis, at which point the two- and five-year survival rates are 20% and 6.1%, respectively, whereas patients diagnosed with local disease experience survival rates of 81% and 61.4%, respectively. Treatment decisions are influenced by disease stage, histology (squamous vs. non-), and the tumor’s molecular features (e.g., PD-L1, EGFR, ALK, BRAF, NTRK, ROS1), although patient factors like performance status and comorbidities should also inform the development, optimization, and personalizing of individual treatment plans. First-line therapy for patients with advanced-stage NSCLC who are anti-programmed-death 1 (PD-1) positive is immunotherapy with a targeted monoclonal antibody. Targeted therapies are also preferred over platinum-based doublets as first-line therapy in patients whose tumors have targetable genetic mutations. The care plan need take into account management of adverse events from therapy, which may result in treatment delays, increased morbidity, or contribute to treatment failure.

Target Audience:

HCPs specializing in: Oncology, pulmonology, and pathology; physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists who practice in oncology; and any other healthcare professionals with an interest in or who clinically encounter patients with advanced NSCLC.