This message was sent to ##Email## June 20, 2019     Home  |   About   Subscribe  |   Archive  |   Advertise    ACS CANCER PROGRAMS UPDATES NAPRC Hosts Sessions at ACS Quality and Safety Conference The National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC) is hosting two information-packed sessions on Saturday, July 20 at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) 2019 Quality and Safety Conference in Washington, DC. The morning session, How NAPRC and NCDB Can Drive Quality Improvement Efforts in YOUR Hospital, will provide an update on resources offered by the National Cancer Database (NCDB) and NAPRC that can be used for quality assurance and quality improvement efforts at both a local and national level. Later that afternoon, Establishing a NAPRC in Your Hospital: How to Do It! will explore the challenges and opportunities in instituting a rectal cancer quality improvement program across a diverse spectrum of practices. The goal of the session is to explore how NAPRC accreditation can be implemented in both community and academic practices, regardless of unit volume. These sessions are two of several special cancer education sessions offered at the 2019 ACS Quality and Safety Conference. A complete list of Cancer Programs-sponsored sessions is available online. Register today at the 2019 Quality and Safety Conference website.    SERVICE SHOWCASE Advertisement Help Doctors Without Borders Today Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is actively recruiting general and trauma surgeons with experience in emergency obstetrics for international missions in developing countries. Learn more Join CAnswer Forum Live June 26 CAnswer Forum Live, a 60-minute webinar open to staff at current and prospective Commission on Cancer (CoC), National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) and NAPRC programs is scheduled for June 26, 2019. Register today for this event. Additional CAnswer Forum Live webinars have been scheduled for September 25 and December 11, 2019. Go to CAnswer Forum Live to learn more and to access recordings of the January 23 and March 27 broadcasts. For additional information, contact Sue Rubin at srubin@facs.org.     .  SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT Advertisement      AJCC NEWS New Podcast Features AJCC Leaders The Annals of Surgical Oncology and the Society of Surgical Oncology have launched a new podcast series, "Speaking of SurgOnc." In the first episode, host Frederick L. (Rick) Green, MD, FACS, Emeritus member of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Executive Committee, was joined by AJCC Chair David R. Byrd, MD, FACS. Drs. Green and Byrd discussed the future of cancer staging, the use of technology and artificial intelligence, and the role of cancer registrars and surgical oncologists in the staging process.    SPONSORED CONTENT Advertisement Promoted by InformedDNA Cracking the Code: CPT Coding Inaccuracies Lead to Inefficient Authorization for Genetic Testing Provider Outreach Facilitates Better Outcomes for Prior Authorizations of Genetic Testing Genetic Counseling Referral Guide Rebecca Sutphen, MD, FACMG, shares advice on when genetic counseling is beneficial for patients   Learn How to Meet CoC Standard 1.10 with Staging Moments® The AJCC's Staging Moments® facility-level educational series offers succinct, contemporary case-based presentations following the cancer conference (tumor board) format of: symptom presentation; imaging work-up; and pathology diagnosis. Disease sites include breast, colorectal, lung, head and neck, and melanoma. Presentations can be used to meet the requirements for CoC Standard 1.10 Clinical Education Activity. Review the manual for the full requirements. .  PRODUCT SHOWCASE VTI 8 MHz Surgical Doppler The VTI 8 MHz Surgical Doppler is FDA cleared for intraoperative evaluation of vasculature, unlike some other Doppler systems. The sterile, single-use probes help to ensure your patient's safety, offer reliability with every use, and can be itemized as a billable supply. Access Free Educational Resources AJCC's Physician to Physician webinars are concise, 15-minute presentations available online at no charge. Registration is now open for the August 2 webinar on AJCC prostate staging. Past webinars covering the pancreas and neoadjuvant staging can be accessed online. There are no CE or CME's for these webinars.  NCDB NEWS 2019 NCDB Call for Data Update The 2019 NCDB Call for Data deadline is June 30, 2019. We have been in constant communication with the vendor and hospital registry community. Based on the feedback we have received an extension of the open window is not planned at this time. Thank you to all programs that have completed their submission(s) to date. Please see the Information for Registrars page for specific details for submissions. For any questions regarding the NCDB Call for Data please contact the NCDB User Support Specialist Staff at ncdb@facs.org.  HEALTH CARE NEWS AND UPDATES A novel way of discovering cancerous tissue in brain tumors Interesting Engineering A big step has been made for neurosurgeons, thanks to newly developed instruments at Tampere University in Finland. Neurosurgeons can now immediately, and more accurately, identify cancerous cells during surgery, leading to a more precise excision of the tumors. Up until now, neurosurgery techniques revolved around the use of electric knives, or diathermy blades—which use electrical current to cut biological tissue. When this tissue is burned, the tissue molecules are dispersed in what is called surgical smoke. With the new technique created by researchers at Tampere University, this surgical smoke is directed into a new measuring system that identifies malignent tissue.  READ MORE Improving palliative care for patients with metastatic breast cancer Medscape News In the past decade, studies have demonstrated that in patients with a variety of cancers, telephone-based and in-person palliative care interventions improve quality of life, reduce symptom burden, improve survival, and reduce healthcare costs. Although strides have been made to improve palliative care for metastatic breast cancer, palliative care is still underused.  READ MORE Working together, data scientists and cancer researchers can transform cancer treatment STAT At a time when data and data science are increasingly essential to improving cancer care, oncologists and cancer researchers often lack the training needed to understand and leverage the data to their fullest extent. Similarly, data scientists often lack an understanding of cancer biology and a patient's journey through the disease, both of which are necessary to gather and query data appropriately to answer a myriad of important biological and clinical questions.  READ MORE Harvard scientists make 'landmark' discovery in synthesizing anti-cancer molecules found in sea sponges Gizmodo Harvard and Japanese scientists say they've made a "landmark" discovery in cancer drug development. In a new study published Monday, they say they have finally found a way to synthesize in bulk a complex class of promising cancer-fighting molecules derived from sea sponges. Their new strategy has already helped speed up research into these molecules, including a planned clinical trial in humans.  READ MORE New methods from material sciences find their way into cancer research Medical Xpress A new study on the behavior of water in cancer cells shows how methods usually limited to physics can be of great use in cancer research. The researchers, Murillo Longo Martins and Heloisa N. Bordallo at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, have shown how advanced methods in materials analysis—a combination of neutron scattering and thermal analysis—can be used to map the properties of water in breast cancer cells.  READ MORE More evidence links body fat with prostate cancer MedPage Today Increasing body fat accumulation significantly raised men's odds of developing advanced and fatal prostate cancer, data from a large prospective study of men in Iceland showed. Higher concentrations of visceral and thigh fat increased the odds of aggressive or fatal prostate cancer by 30-40 percent as compared with leaner men.  READ MORE IBM AI helps predict breast cancer a year before it appears Engadget IBM isn't just using AI to predict diabetes. Its researchers have developed an AI model that can predict malignant breast cancer within a year with an 87 percent accuracy rate comparable to human radiologists. While there are already AI prediction methods that rely on either mammogram images or medical records, IBM's stands out by using both—and it's potentially more reliable as a result.  READ MORE The woman who revealed the missing link between viruses and cancer Smithsonian Magazine If you're an adolescent girl getting your annual checkup in the U.S., your doctor will almost certainly double-check that you've gotten the HPV vaccine, otherwise known as Gardasil. The vaccine, which is 100 percent effective against certain strains of the human papillomavirus, is a no-brainer. Today, it's just one of the standard battery of vaccines recommended for preteen boys and girls across the country. But when it was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006, it was revolutionary. Until the 1960s, scientists considered the idea of a cancer-causing virus to be preposterous. At the same time, more than 8,000 women a year were dying of cervical cancer, and researchers couldn't figure out what was causing it. It was only in 1976 that a virologist named Harald zur Hausen identified the human papillomavirus, one of the first viruses known to lead to human cancer.  READ MORE FDA approves Keytruda for metastatic small cell lung cancer Healio The FDA approved pembrolizumab monotherapy for patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer that progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy and at least one other prior line of therapy.  READ MORE New study finds dogs are 97 percent accurate when sniffing out lung cancer Yahoo News A small U.S. study has found that beagles may be able to sniff out lung cancer with nearly 100 percent accuracy, suggesting that using dogs to detect the disease could be an effective way for mass cancer screening. Carried out by researchers at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, the team chose three beagles for the study, a breed of dog known for its excellent sense of smell.  READ MORE  IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES Date Event June 30 NCDB Call for Data, Final Date for Initial Submissions and Corrections Due July 19-22 ACS Quality and Safety Conference, Washington, DC July 31 Commission on Cancer Paper Competition Deadline Sept. 20 Pursuing Excellence Through NAPBC Accreditation Workshop Sept. 25 CAncer Forum Live Oct. 1-31 National Breast Cancer Awareness Month Oct. 27-31 ACS Clinical Congress, San Francisco, CA Nov. 21-22 Commission on Cancer Educational Summit, Rosemont, IL Dec. 11 CAncer Forum Live   The Brief Connect with AJCC Connect with CoC Connect with NAPBC Recent Issues | Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Advertise | Web Version  Colby Horton, Vice President of Publishing, 469-420-2601 | Download media kit Victoria Scott, Content Editor, 289-695-5367 | Contribute news Disclaimer: The Brief is a digest of news selected for the American College of Surgeons Cancer Programs from thousands of sources by the editors of MultiBriefs, an independent organization that also manages and sells advertising. The American College of Surgeons and Cancer Programs do not endorse any of the advertised products and services. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not of the American College of Surgeons, and the Cancer Programs. American College of Surgeons 633 N Saint Clair Street | Chicago, IL, 60611-3211  | 800-621-4111 | Contact Us  Learn how to add us to your safe sender list so our emails get to your inbox. 7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063