Syed Yousuf Zafar

Journal article Cancer · February 15, 2013 Featured Work BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine how patient preferences guide the course of palliative chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. METHODS: Eligible patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) were enrolled nationwide in a p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Financial toxicity, Part I: a new name for a growing problem.

Journal article Oncology (Williston Park) · February 2013 Featured Work Link to item Cite

Stigma, perceived blame, self-blame, and depressive symptoms in men with colorectal cancer.

Journal article Psychooncology · January 2013 Featured Work BACKGROUND: We measured the prevalence of stigma, self-blame, and perceived blame from others for their illness among men with colorectal cancer (CRC) and examined whether these factors were associated with depressive symptoms, independent of clinical and ... Full text Link to item Cite

The financial toxicity of cancer treatment: a pilot study assessing out-of-pocket expenses and the insured cancer patient's experience.

Journal article Oncologist · 2013 Featured Work PURPOSE: Cancer patients carry rising burdens of health care-related out-of-pocket expenses, and a growing number of patients are considered "underinsured." Our objective was to describe experiences of insured cancer patients requesting copayment assistanc ... Full text Link to item Cite

A phase II study of capecitabine, oxaliplatin, and bevacizumab in the treatment of metastatic esophagogastric adenocarcinomas.

Journal article Oncologist · 2013 Featured Work BACKGROUND: Esophageal and gastric cancers often present at an advanced stage. Systemic chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment, but survival with current regimens remains poor. We evaluated the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the combination capec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Phase I study of bevacizumab, everolimus, and panobinostat (LBH-589) in advanced solid tumors.

Journal article Cancer Chemother Pharmacol · August 2012 Featured Work PURPOSE: To define the maximum tolerated dose, clinical toxicities, and pharmacodynamics of bevacizumab, everolimus, and panobinostat (LBH-589) when administered in combination to patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies. EXPERIMENT DESIGN: Subjects ... Full text Link to item Cite

A phase I study of bevacizumab, everolimus and panitumumab in advanced solid tumors.

Journal article Cancer Chemother Pharmacol · July 2012 Featured Work PURPOSE: Preclinical data suggest concurrent inhibition of VEGF, mTOR and EGFR pathways may augment antitumor and antiangiogenic effects compared to inhibition of each pathway alone. This study evaluated the maximum tolerated dose/recommended phase II dose ... Full text Link to item Cite

Carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater: patterns of failure following resection and benefit of chemoradiotherapy.

Journal article Ann Surg Oncol · May 2012 Featured Work BACKGROUND: Ampullary carcinoma is a rare malignancy. Despite radical resection, survival rates remain low with high rates of local failure. We performed a single-institution outcomes analysis to define the role of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in add ... Full text Link to item Cite

Refining a checklist for reporting patient populations and service characteristics in hospice and palliative care research.

Journal article J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2012 Featured Work CONTEXT: In specialist hospice and palliative care services, variations occur in diagnoses and prognoses of subpopulations referred, service configuration, and the health systems delivering care. These three levels of variation limit the ability to general ... Full text Link to item Cite

Gastrointestinal symptoms in cancer patients with advanced disease: new methodologies, insights, and a proposed approach.

Journal article Curr Opin Support Palliat Care · March 2012 Featured Work PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes recent developments in the management of gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by cancer patients and provides a framework for education, assessment and monitoring, and treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Although many via ... Full text Link to item Cite

Consensus-based standards for best supportive care in clinical trials in advanced cancer.

Journal article Lancet Oncol · February 2012 Featured Work Best supportive care is poorly defined in clinical trials, and a standard framework for delivery of such care is needed, using best available evidence and allowing replication of studies. We convened a panel of 36 experts to develop consensus statements vi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Early dissemination of bevacizumab for advanced colorectal cancer: a prospective cohort study.

Journal article BMC Cancer · August 16, 2011 Featured Work BACKGROUND: We describe early dissemination patterns for first-line bevacizumab given for metastatic colorectal cancer treatment. METHODS: We analyzed patient surveys and medical records for a population-based cohort with metastatic colorectal cancer treat ... Full text Link to item Cite

A phase I study of bevacizumab (B) in combination with everolimus (E) and erlotinib (E) in advanced cancer (BEE).

Journal article Cancer Chemother Pharmacol · February 2011 Featured Work PURPOSE: VEGF, mTOR, and EGFR inhibitors have demonstrated anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic effects alone and in combination with each other. This study evaluated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of bevacizumab, everolimus, and erlotinib combin ... Full text Link to item Cite

The need for a re-evaluation of best supportive care studies reported to date.

Journal article Br J Cancer · February 1, 2011 Featured Work Full text Link to item Cite

Capecitabine in the management of colorectal cancer.

Journal article Cancer Manag Res · 2011 Featured Work 5-Fluorouracil has been a mainstay in the treatment of colorectal cancer for nearly five decades; however, the use of oral formulations of the medication has been gaining increasing traction since capecitabine was approved for use in adjuvant settings by t ... Full text Link to item Cite

A phase II trial of bevacizumab plus everolimus for patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer.

Journal article Oncologist · 2011 Featured Work PURPOSE: For patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), no standard therapy exists after progression on 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, irinotecan, bevacizumab, and cetuximab or panitumumab. Preclinical data demonstrated that combined vascular endothe ... Full text Link to item Cite

A strategy to advance the evidence base in palliative medicine: formation of a palliative care research cooperative group.

Journal article J Palliat Med · December 2010 Featured Work BACKGROUND: Palliative medicine has made rapid progress in establishing its scientific and clinical legitimacy, yet the evidence base to support clinical practice remains deficient in both the quantity and quality of published studies. Historically, the co ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Validation of the Patient Care Monitor (Version 2.0): a review of system assessment instrument for cancer patients.

Journal article J Pain Symptom Manage · October 2010 Featured Work CONTEXT: The Patient Care Monitor (PCM) is a review of systems survey delivered by means of an electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) data capture system that uses wireless tablet computers. Although the PCM 1.0 is validated, the updated PCM 2.0 has n ... Full text Link to item Cite

Establishing a regional, multisite database for quality improvement and service planning in community-based palliative care and hospice.

Journal article J Palliat Med · August 2010 Featured Work BACKGROUND: Outpatient palliative care, an evolving delivery model, seeks to improve continuity of care across settings and to increase access to services in hospice and palliative medicine (HPM). It can provide a critical bridge between inpatient palliati ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Quality of nonmetastatic colorectal cancer care in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Journal article J Clin Oncol · July 1, 2010 Featured Work PURPOSE: The Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system treats approximately 3% of patients with cancer in the United States each year. We measured the quality of nonmetastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) care in VA as indicated by concordance with National Compr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Electronic patient-reported data capture as a foundation of rapid learning cancer care.

Journal article Med Care · June 2010 Featured Work BACKGROUND: "Rapid learning healthcare" presents a new infrastructure to support comparative effectiveness research. By leveraging heterogeneous datasets (eg, clinical, administrative, genomic, registry, and research), health information technology, and so ... Full text Link to item Cite

Management of gastrointestinal symptoms in advanced cancer patients: the rapid learning cancer clinic model.

Journal article Curr Opin Support Palliat Care · March 2010 Featured Work PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Gastrointestinal symptoms are prevalent, often persistent, and detrimental to patients' quality of life. This review discusses evaluation of gastrointestinal symptoms as patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and presents an information techno ... Full text Link to item Cite

Adverse events among the elderly receiving chemotherapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Journal article J Clin Oncol · February 1, 2010 Featured Work PURPOSE: To describe chemotherapy use and adverse events (AEs) for advanced-stage, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in community practice, including descriptions according to variation by age. METHODS: We interviewed patients with newly diagnosed, stages ... Full text Link to item Cite

Standards for palliative care delivery in oncology settings.

Journal article Cancer J · 2010 Featured Work This review aims to describe available standards for delivery of palliative and supportive care for cancer patients and discuss to what extent these guidelines have been evaluated and disseminated into standard care. Ovid searches were conducted to identif ... Full text Link to item Cite

Treatment-related toxicity and supportive care in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Journal article J Support Oncol · 2010 Featured Work As survival of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) increases, patients have more exposure to chemotherapy and related toxicity. The objective is to determine how toxicity patterns affect care. Via a population-based strategy, mCRC cases diagnosed between J ... Link to item Cite

Improving the methodologic and ethical validity of best supportive care studies in oncology: lessons from a systematic review.

Journal article J Clin Oncol · November 10, 2009 Featured Work PURPOSE: To systematically review the best supportive care (BSC) literature and to evaluate the ethical and methodologic validity issues by using widely acknowledged criteria. METHODS: Two search strings that included both cancer and supportive as terms (w ... Full text Link to item Cite

Longitudinal patterns of chemotherapy use in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Journal article J Oncol Pract · September 2009 Featured Work Multiple agents and combination therapies available to patients with advanced colorectal cancer have significantly improved survival and provided an opportunity for individualization of care, allowing clinicians and patients to prioritize risks and benefit ... Full text Link to item Cite

Quality management of potential chemotherapy-induced neutropenic complications: evaluation of practice in an academic medical center.

Journal article Support Care Cancer · June 2009 Featured Work GOALS: Management of the risk of potential chemotherapy-induced neutropenic complications such as febrile neutropenia (FN) and severe neutropenia (SN) is a quality of care priority. How frequently does care at our institution conform to established guideli ... Full text Link to item Cite

Detailing of gastrointestinal symptoms in cancer patients with advanced disease: new methodologies, new insights, and a proposed approach.

Journal article Curr Opin Support Palliat Care · March 2009 Featured Work PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes recent developments in the palliative management of gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by advanced cancer patients and provides a framework for detailing that encompasses education, assessment and monitoring, an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Decision making and quality of life in the treatment of cancer: a review.

Journal article Support Care Cancer · February 2009 Featured Work INTRODUCTION: Complexity in decision making for cancer treatment arises from many factors. When considering how to treat patients, physicians prioritize factors such as stage of disease, patient age, and comorbid illnesses. However, physicians must balance ... Full text Link to item Cite

Use of tablet personal computers for sensitive patient-reported information.

Journal article J Support Oncol · 2009 Featured Work Notebook-style computers (e/Tablets) are increasingly replacing paper methods for collecting patient-reported information. Discrepancies in data between these methods have been found in oncology for sexuality-related questions. A study was performed to for ... Link to item Cite

Comorbidity, age, race and stage at diagnosis in colorectal cancer: a retrospective, parallel analysis of two health systems.

Journal article BMC Cancer · November 25, 2008 Featured Work BACKGROUND: Stage at diagnosis plays a significant role in colorectal cancer (CRC) survival. Understanding which factors contribute to a more advanced stage at diagnosis is vital to improving overall survival. Comorbidity, race, and age are known to impact ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Defining best supportive care.

Journal article J Clin Oncol · November 1, 2008 Featured Work Full text Link to item Cite

Malignancy after solid organ transplantation: an overview.

Journal article Oncologist · July 2008 Featured Work With improving survival following solid organ transplantation, clinicians must be aware of post-transplant complications. One increasingly frequent complication is the development of malignancy after transplantation. The most common malignancies encountere ... Full text Link to item Cite