Fab five.

Jeffrey Drazen, Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine for the past two decades and Denier-in-Chief of what we think were some really interesting case reports, is retiring. He’s put together “Drazen’s Dozen” articles that have been the most practice changing and/or life saving over his tenure. Among these are 5 oncology-related articles. To start is the 2012 National Polyp Study, which found that polypectomy reduced not only colon cancer incidence but colon cancer mortality by 53%. Next is the 2002 report of imantinib (Gleevec) efficacy in patients with CML. This landmark study helped usher in the era of targeted cancer therapy. The FUTURE II study demonstrated that the quadrivalent HPV vaccine (the first vaccine to specifically prevent cancer) was effective at reducing the incidence of high-grade cervical neoplasia mainly in young women with no prior HPV infection. SPCG-4 was one of the first big trials to publish on the benefit of treatment versus watchful waiting for localized prostate cancer. And last are the long-term results of the Fisher and Veronesi trials demonstrating the long-term safety and efficacy of breast conservation. TBL: Drazen’s Dozen includes a really interesting look back at some of the oncology landmarks of the past 20 years. | Drazen, N Engl J Med 2019