Despite the appeal of personalized medicine (that is treatment selection based on the presence of a particular marker), uncertainty remains regarding the broad utility of this selection strategy in oncology. A recent meta-analysis by Jardim et al. in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute attempted to provide some clarity by comparing efficacy outcomes between personalized… Continue reading Shedding (Dim) Light on Clinical Benefit in Biomarker-Based Drug Development
Author: Brianna Barsanti-Innes
Acting on “Actionable Mutations”
The new buzzword in personalized cancer medicine is “actionable mutation”. This label is given to the genetic aberrations that are present in some patients’ tumors, and that are intended targets of new drugs. Increasingly, treatment decisions in routine clinical care, and enrollment in trials are being guided by the concept of “actionable mutations”. However, determining… Continue reading Acting on “Actionable Mutations”
Charting the Unpredictable: Using fMRI patterns to determine outcome in acutely comatose patients
Every year in Canada around 50,000 people suffer brain injuries, with those experiencing severe traumas often becoming comatose for days or weeks post-incident. While there exists a battery of physiological prognostic indicators, such as pupillary light reflex (or lack thereof), and patterns of EEG activity, there remains a significant subset of patients who retain an… Continue reading Charting the Unpredictable: Using fMRI patterns to determine outcome in acutely comatose patients