In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Evron et al found that patients with thyroid cancer who were declared disease-free after initial treatment were more likely to have increased numbers of physician visits and imaging tests if they reported a generalized preference for greater vs less medical care on the Medical Maximizer-Minimizer Scale.

This week on The ASCO Post Podcast, we’ll be discussing selected breast cancer abstracts presented at the ESMO Congress 2019, including the MONALEESA-3 and MONARCH-2 studies of CDK4/6 inhibitors for advanced breast cancer; the BROCADE 3 trial of veliparib plus carboplatin and paclitaxel in some advanced BRCA-mutated breast cancers; and the KATE-2 study of atezolizumab and trastuzumab emtansine in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Nationally regarded melanoma researcher Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD, was born in La Jolla, California, a seaside community surrounded by ocean bluffs and beaches within the city of San Diego. She was reared in a Navy family that moved from the West Coast to the East Coast during her childhood, eventually settling in West Virginia. Dr. Hendrix told The ASCO Post there were four major influences in her life that have stood her in good stead to this day, starting with her paternal grandfather who, as a surgeon in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, used to take her on house calls.

In a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pooled analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Howie et al found that progression-free survival and benefit were similar for older vs younger postmenopausal women treated with combined cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) plus aromatase inhibitor therapy vs aromatase inhibitor therapy alone for hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Older women had higher rates of toxicity.