New NCCN guidelines: Smoking cessation for patients with cancer

Abstract

Even after a cancer diagnosis, for any stage and prognosis, patients with cancer can reap health benefits from smoking cessation. To address the clinical problems associated with smoking in cancer patients, the NCCN created a new set of NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for 2015. At NCCN 20th Annual Conference, Dr. Peter Shields presented these inaugural guidelines, focusing primarily on the adverse outcomes associated with smoking in patients with cancer, the common barriers to smoking cessation in this patient population, simple yet effective assessment approaches, and treatment recommendations that center on the combination of pharmacotherapy and behavioral therapy.