James H. Doroshow, MD, of the National Cancer Institute, describes a new precision medicine initiative called the MATCH trial: Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice. In 2,400 NCI clinical trial sites, 3,000 patients will be screened and their tumors analyzed to determine whether they contain genetic abnormalities for which a targeted drug exists.
Robert W. Carlson, MD, of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and Richard G. Margolese, MD, of McGill University, discuss the improvement in breast cancer–free interval with anastrozole vs tamoxifen in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ undergoing lumpectomy plus radiotherapy (Abstract LBA500).
Thomas W. LeBlanc, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, and Eric Roeland, MD, FAAHPM, of the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, discuss the use of palliative and hospice care for patients with solid tumors vs hematologic cancers and clinicians’ attitudes (Abstracts e20554 and 9524).
James L. Mulshine, MD, of Rush University Medical Center, and Carolyn Jean Presley, MD, of Yale Cancer Center/Yale School of Medicine, discuss the burden on patients and the Medicare system as new lung cancer CT guidelines are put into effect and treatment of early-stage NSCLC increases (Abstract 7533).
Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Clifford A. Hudis, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss the delivery of cancer care in resource-constrained settings such as Rwanda and Haiti, and plans to conduct research in basic tumor biology of patients in these areas.
Patrick Schöffski, MD, of the University Hospital Leuven, discusses a phase III study in which he and his colleagues found, for the first time in soft-tissue sarcomas, a significant overall survival benefit of a single agent compared to a standard treatment (Abstract LBA10502).
