Editor’s Note
	The bond that heals

For women with metastatic breast cancer, no therapy is more powerful than the doctor-patient relationship. Most of these patients have received prior adjuvant systemic therapy, and the moment a relapse is diagnosed demands extreme courage in the face of a failed attempt to remain cancer free.

This "Meet the Professor" (MTP) program is our group's second attempt to provide a continuing medical education platform that addresses the complex issues associated with this clinical scenario. As with our prior MTP program, we gathered about a dozen community-based oncologists and asked them to present de-identified cases from their practices to a faculty panel of four national research leaders.

Our first meeting was held in Dallas, Texas. To provide some geographic variation, we visited New York City for this second foray into the art and science of oncology. This monograph provides abridged and edited versions of five of the 10 cases presented on the enclosed audiotapes and CDs. We have also included relevant clinical trials, research results and journal citations.

One of the major factors in our decision to bring back this educational platform was the extensive positive feedback we received on our inaugural issue. However, an email from an oncologist in Austin, Texas, proved that not everyone was satisfied. This physician is a longstanding and regular listener to our Breast Cancer Update series, but he did not like the "anecdotal nature" of the discussion on the MTP program.

As CME providers, we must balance the need to provide realistic and relevant clinical content with the imprimatur to deliver evidence-based research data, and we believe that there is a benefit to allowing oncologists to see how their colleagues manage situations in which research evidence is inconclusive.

In preparation for audio taping this second program, I first conducted individual teleconferences with the participating community-based physicians to help identify potential cases from their practices. As we explored tumor characteristics, imaging results and other standard clinical data, another factor emerged with overwhelming intensity - these physicians all had deep concern for the well being of their patients.

About 10 years ago I produced a video about the doctor-patient relationship called "The Bond That Heals." Working with the physicians in this MTP program helped me realize that this concept continues to hold relevance and importance. Hopefully, the deep humanness of these bonds is evident in the enclosed case discussions. And while the spiels of our research leader faculty are informative, we are optimistic that the anecdotes of the community panel will allow our listeners and readers the opportunity to compare notes and discover how others in similar situations face unanswerable dilemmas.

-Neil Love, MD

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