March 1, 2012 (View All Issues)
Two Novel Agents Prolong Survival in Advanced Prostate Cancer
Two novel agents with distinct mechanisms of action join ranks of treatments that extend survival for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer: MDV3100 and radium-223. Both drugs achieved a survival advantage compared with placebo, with relatively benign side-effect profiles, according to ...
A Visionary Call for the ‘Creative Destruction’ of Medicine
According to nationally regarded cardiologist and geneticist Eric Topol, MD, Chief Academic Officer of Scripps Health, the next frontier of the digital revolution can create exponentially better health care. Dr. Topol, who is also Director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and...
Inefficient Markets Impede Cancer Pain Relief
The potent analgesic property of morphine was first isolated in 1804, and after more than 2 centuries morphine is still the gold standard for moderate to severe pain. It is relatively easy to produce, and compared to most pharmaceuticals, morphine is dirt-cheap. Therein lies the cruel conundrum:...
Lung Cancer Alliance Announces National Framework for Lung Cancer Screening Excellence
The Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) moved lung cancer screening to a national platform by announcing a Framework for Lung Cancer Screening Excellence, which includes a bill of rights for the at-risk public and guiding principles for lung cancer screening sites.
“The science is indisputable: Screening...
What Were the Take-home Messages from the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium?
Richard M. Goldberg, MD, of The Ohio State University Medical Center, chaired the steering committee of the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, which attracted approximately 4,000 registrants who viewed data from some 700 scientific abstracts. The ASCO Post asked Dr. Goldberg...
Atypical Breast Lesions: How High Is the Cancer Risk?
Women with atypical breast lesions have approximately a 5% to 11% risk of developing breast cancer within 5 years, depending on histology, and this risk can be reduced with chemoprevention, according to a presentation at the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1
Investigators tracked the...
Genomics Projects Plumb Breast Cancer’s Inner Workings
Two large collaborative genomics projects are producing new and sometimes surprising findings about what makes breast cancers tick—information that may ultimately be applied to improve clinical outcomes. In a special session titled “Genome Data for the Masses: Presentation of TCGA and ICGC Breast...
SWOG S0226 Findings Revive Interest in Combination Hormonal Therapy
Two hormonal therapies combined are more efficacious than one when used as first-line treatment for hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women, finds Southwest Oncology Group trial S0226.
Results of the phase III trial, reported at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio...
Career Development Award Recipient Susan K. Parsons, MD, Supports Next Generation of Researchers
Like all pediatric oncologists, Susan K. Parsons, MD, MRP, knows that when a child is diagnosed with cancer, it happens to the whole family.
Siblings must cope with everything from disruption of routine to reduced parental attention, to the often-new possibility of mortality. Parents must navigate ...
ASCO Seeks Better Access to Clinical Trials for Patients with Cancer
ASCO and other organizations submitted recommendations to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to influence development of a clinical trials coverage regulation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The health-care law requires insurers to cover routine care costs for...
Starting Down the Path toward Electronic QOPI®: ASCO and US Oncology Collaborate in Quality Measurement
The Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®), ASCO’s quality measurement program, is entering its 6th successful year and continuing to grow, both in number of participants and in quality measures evaluated. In the truest spirit of quality improvement, ASCO’s oncologist leaders have determined...
Cancer.Net Mobile App 2.0: Available Now!
With the recent updates to the free Cancer.Net app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, your patients can use interactive tools to help manage their care. Patients with iCloud-enabled devices can use the cloud service to back up the questions, symptoms, and medications they’ve entered into the...
A Dose of Destruction and Tough Love for Health Care
Title: The Creative Destruction of Medicine:
How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care
Author: Eric Topol, MD
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: February 1, 2012
Price: $27.99 / $31.00 (CAN), Hardcover,
320 pages
More information:
Adding Thalidomide to Chemoradiation Increases Toxicities but Not Survival for Stage III Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Adding thalidomide (Thalomid) to the third-generation chemotherapy doublet of paclitaxel and carboplatin and radiation for patients with stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increased toxicities but did not improve survival. These results from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)...
Challenges, Progress, and Future Directions in Head and Neck Cancer
Although head and neck cancer remains a major therapeutic challenge, significant advances have been made over the past few decades. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Marshall R. Posner, MD, Medical Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, about the...
What You Should Know about Peginterferon Alfa-2b for Adjuvant Treatment of Melanoma
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs.
Indication
Peginterferon alfa-2b (PegIntron, Sylatron) was...
Long-term Survival Benefit and Safety Confirmed for VMP Regimen in Multiple Myeloma in Patients Who Were Not Transplant Candidates
Five-year analysis of the VISTA trial confirms a survival advantage with VMP (bortezomib [Velcade], melphalan, and prednisone) for upfront treatment of multiple myeloma in patients who were not transplant candidates. At a median follow-up of 60.1 months, a 13-month improvement in overall survival...
Which Is Better: Peripheral Blood or Bone Marrow as Unrelated Donor Stem Cell Source?
Over the past decade, the use of peripheral blood stem cells has increased, and now about 75% of unrelated living donor transplants are performed using peripheral blood stem cells without supportive data in the unrelated donor setting. This trend is called into question by results of a large phase...
Similar Morbidity, Higher Costs for Robotic vs Laparoscopic Hysterectomy in Women with Endometrial Cancer
A population-based analysis comparing laparoscopic hysterectomy and robotic hysterectomy for endometrial cancer “found similar morbidity but increased cost compared with laparoscopic hysterectomy,” investigators reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 After adjusting for patient, surgeon,...
Carfilzomib May Offer Advantages in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma
Carfilzomib is an oral second-generation proteasome inhibitor with a mechanism of action that may increase efficacy and reduce adverse effects currently associated with proteasome inhibitor therapy. It is being investigated for use in multiple myeloma and select solid tumors, and the FDA has...
Reexcision Rates Following Breast-conservation Surgery Vary Widely
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field.
Reexcision rates for women with...
A Patient with Cancer Saw a Need and Left a Living Legacy
It is well documented that the rigors of delivering cancer care can unintentionally supersede valuable doctor-patient communication. Before he died in 1995, Kenneth B. Schwartz, a patient with cancer at Massachusetts General Hospital, recognized this phenomenon and founded the Kenneth B. Schwartz...
PI3K Inhibitors May Improve Response to Cancer Immunotherapy
The induction of antitumor immunity by vaccines or immunotherapies is inhibited by the immunosuppressive microenvironment of tumors. Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists have the potential to increase inflammatory antitumor effects in the microenvironment, but these ligands can exert a mixture of both ...
Significant Differences in Genetic Characteristics of Primary Colorectal Cancer and Hepatic Metastases
Vermaat and colleagues from the University Medical Center Utrecht, Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands, and Hoffman-La-Roche Inc./Genentech, Nutley, New Jersey, recently showed that there was significant genetic variation between individual primary colorectal cancer tumors and their...
Six1-Eya2 Interaction a Potential Target in Blocking Breast Cancer Metastasis
The Six1 gene is a key regulator of embryonic development that requires interaction with the Eya family of proteins (Eya1-4) to activate transcription of genes involved in neurogenesis, myogenesis, and nephrogenesis. Overexpression of Six1 and Eya is observed in a number of cancers. In breast...
Combination of Oncolytic Virus and Chemotherapy Holds Promise in Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma remains a uniformly lethal disease. Both the alkylating agent temozolomide and oncolytic viruses (engineered to preferentially infect and kill cancer cells) hold promise in treatment of glioblastoma. The effects of combining the two and the mechanisms of their interaction on cancer...
Addition of Bevacizumab to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Increases Pathologic Complete Response Rate in HER2-negative Disease
Two studies reported in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy significantly increased the pathologic complete response rate in women with HER2-negative breast cancer. In one study, from the German Breast Group, the benefit...
Nearly Identical Survival for Laparoscopy vs Laparatomy in Patients with Stage I/IIA Disease
Building on previously reported results that laparoscopic surgical management of uterine cancer is superior for short-term safety and length-of-stay endpoints, the Gynecologic Oncology Group reported small and lower than anticipated potential for increase risk of cancer recurrence with laparoscopy...
Facing the Future without Fear of Breast Cancer Recurrence
A year ago, I was living my dream. Married to a wonderful man, Danny, and with two young children to raise, Karl, 7, and Marcus, 4, I had given up a career in accounting to be a stay-at-home mom. At age 34, I was enjoying life, helping my children with their homework and going to their soccer and...
2012 Oncology Meetings
MARCH
ACR 5th Annual PET/CT Symposium
March 1-4 • Stowe, Vermont
For more information: www.acr.org
3rd Asian Breast Cancer Congress
March 3-4 • Bangalore, India
For more information:
http://abcconline.net
TAT 2012 (International Congress on Targeted AntiCancer Therapies)
March 8-10 • Amsterdam,...
FDA Issues Draft Guidance on Biosimilar Product Development
The FDA recently issued three draft guidance documents on biosimilar product development to assist industry in developing such products in the United States.
“When it comes to getting new biosimilar products on the market, FDA has taken an innovative approach to supporting their development at...
Pertuzumab Gets Priority Review for Metastatic Breast Cancer
The FDA has accepted Roche’s Biologics License Application for pertuzumab (Omnitarg) and granted Priority Review. The proposed indication is pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and docetaxel chemotherapy for people with HER2-positive metastatic or locally recurrent,...
