November 10, 2022 (View All Issues)
- A total of 90% of girls being fully vaccinated against human...
‘TRANSFORMING’ Our Thinking About Second-Line Therapy for High-Risk Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Bring in the CARs
As reported in The Lancet by Kamdar et al,1 and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post, the international phase III TRANSFORM trial was completed in 184 patients with primary refractory or early (≤ 12 months) relapsed large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL). Patients were randomly assigned to receive...
Newly Diagnosed AML: Induction to Maintenance
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Low-intensity therapy for older or unfit patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was introduced in the early 2000s in the form of low-dose cytarabine or hypomethylation therapy (azacitidine or decitabine). Recent studies...
Increased Mortality From Comorbid Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Associated With Increased Social Vulnerability
In a U.S.-based cross-sectional study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Sarju Ganatra, MD, of Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Burlington, Massachusetts, and colleagues found that mortality from comorbid cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) was significantly higher in counties with higher...
How to Advance Antiracist Approaches to Patient Engagement in AYA Oncology and Research
Among the topics discussed at the 4th Global Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Congress held online in December 2021 was the urgent need for clinicians, researchers, and advocates in adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology to join forces to eradicate racist approaches to patient engagement in...
Study Finds Nearly Half of Black Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer Never Receive Information About Clinical Trial Participation
When Stephanie L. Walker, RN, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2015, she was not given information about an appropriate clinical trial or help navigating her way through the financial difficulties she was having after a stroke from complications of the cancer forced her to leave her...
Sotorasib: A New Standard of Care for Second- or Third-Line Treatment of KRAS G12C–Mutated NSCLC?
The KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib doubled the rate of progression-free survival at 12 months and reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 34% compared with standard second-line docetaxel for patients with previously treated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and KRAS G12C mutations....
Integrative Approaches to Managing Pain in Patients With Cancer: SIO-ASCO Guideline
Pain is highly prevalent in people with cancer throughout the disease trajectory. Often persisting for years after initial diagnosis and undertreated, it is associated with poor functional, mental, and cancer-related outcomes.1 Consequently, the need for effective pain management strategies has ...
International Career Joins Cancer Research and Clinical Care of Patients With Lung Cancer
Pilar Garrido, MD, PhD, is Head of the Medical Oncology Department, University Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid. She is also Co-Director of the Cancer Research Group at Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS). Her main areas of research and clinical interest are thoracic tumors,...
New Directions for Cancer Care: Major Trends in U.S. Health Policy
The pace of cancer drug development may have accelerated over the past decade, but so too has the cost of care, which threatens to limit access for a large percentage of Americans in the decade to come. During the keynote lecture at the 2022 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, ...
Pediatric Surgeon Henri R. Ford, MD, Chosen New President-Elect of American College of Surgeons
Pediatric surgeon and surgeon-scientist Henri R. Ford, MD, MHA, FACS, FRCS, FAAP, has been chosen as President-Elect of the American College of Surgeons during the organization’s recent annual business meeting of members. The First Vice-President-Elect, Tyler G. Hughes, MD, FACS, and Second...
High-Dose Chemotherapy and Stem Cell Transplant vs CAR T-Cell Therapy for Resistant DLBCL
Which is the preferred second-line treatment option for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL): high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy? This was the subject of a debate at the...
Lutetium Lu-177 Vipivotide Tetraxetan for PSMA-Positive Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
On March 23, 2022, the radioligand therapeutic agent lutetium Lu-177 vipivotide tetraxetan was approved for treatment of patients with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have been treated with an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor ...
With Newer Therapies, AML Diagnosis and Prognosis Evolve
For many years, treatment options for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were limited mainly to the 7 + 3 regimen. However, more recently, a mini-explosion of AML therapies aimed at newly identified genetic targets makes discussions about treatment of this disease much more complicated. In fact, these...
NCI Honors Augusto Ochoa, MD, for Contributions to Community-Based Cancer Clinical Trials
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) chose Augusto Ochoa, MD, of Louisiana State University (LSU) Health, as the 2022 recipient of the Harry Hynes Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Trials and Community Research. The award was presented during the NCI Community Oncology Research Program ...
The Evolving Role of PI3K Inhibitors in Double-Refractory CLL
The treatment paradigm for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) continues to evolve in the first-line setting and beyond, with the availability of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax, and novel combinations of these agents with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies.
...
Global Effort to Eliminate Cervical Cancer: HPV Vaccinations Are Steadily Increasing in the United States, but Barriers Still Exist
To achieve its goal of eliminating cervical cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on all countries “to reach and maintain an incidence rate of below 4 per 100,000 women.” Doing so would depend on the following:
ECHELON-1 Shows Benefit for First-Line Brentuximab Vedotin Plus AVD in Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma
The results of ECHELON-1 were presented by David J. Straus, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, at the 2022 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies. Dr. Straus said: “It is a great honor and privilege to present updated results...
Multilayered Approach to Financial Toxicity Solutions for Patients With Cancer and Their Families
With out-of-pocket costs of cancer care exceeding $21 billion in 2019, financial toxicity among patients and their families in the United States has become too prevalent to ignore. In fact, more than 50% of working-age survivors now report at least one material, psychological, or behavioral domain...
I’ve Had Two Primary Lung Cancers, and They Haven’t Defeated Me
I don’t know why I am so susceptible to developing lung cancer. Since 2014, I have been diagnosed with both non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer, each occurring in my right lung. I have also been diagnosed with precancerous colon polyps, which necessitated invasive surgery. ...
Erica Huelsmann, MD, Wins a Conquer Cancer Annual Meeting Merit Award
Erica Huelsmann, MD, a gynecologic oncology fellow at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, has been awarded a 2022 Conquer Cancer Merit Award by Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. The award, given at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, supports researchers with projects that span many areas of...
Overall Survival in Two Monarch Trials of Abemaciclib in Advanced Breast Cancer
Overall survival results from two trials of abemaciclib in advanced breast cancer were reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022. Both MONARCH 3 and monarcHER previously met their primary endpoints of progression-free survival. The current results for overall...
National Lung Screening Trial Results Highlight Importance of Lifelong Follow-up
Approximately 6% of patients with stage I to III lung cancer develop a second primary lung cancer within 5 years of their initial diagnosis, according to research presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer.1
Analysis of data ...
UChicago Medicine Names New Associate Director of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences
Jasmin A. Tiro, PhD, MPH, has joined the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center as the new Associate Director of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences. Dr. Tiro was formerly Professor of Population and Data Sciences at Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at The...
Prolonging Remission in Anti–PD-1 Refractory Melanoma With Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy
For the first time in a multicenter randomized trial, T-cell therapy has been shown to improve outcomes in a solid tumor. In the phase III M14TIL trial, first-line or second-line treatment with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) led to a 50% reduction in disease progression or death from advanced ...
Lisocabtagene Maraleucel Improves Event-Free Survival in Second-Line Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory LBCL
As reported in The Lancet by Manali Kamdar, MD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III TRANSFORM trial has shown significantly improved event-free survival with second-line lisocabtagene maraleucel vs standard-of-care salvage...
ASCO Treatment Guidance for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Updated to Include LuPSMA
An updated ASCO guideline recommends lutetium-177–labeled PSMA-617 (LuPSMA), a targeted radioligand therapy, for patients with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have been treated with one prior line of androgen receptor pathway...
POSEIDON Follow-up Suggests Chemoimmunotherapy Triplet Extends Survival in Difficult-to-Treat NSCLC Mutational Subtypes
After 4 years, a limited course of five cycles of tremelimumab added to durvalumab plus chemotherapy extended overall survival in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with chemotherapy alone, according to an updated exploratory analysis of the phase III POSEIDON...
Study Sheds Light on Need for Optimal Dosing Standards for Patients With Metastatic Cancer
A new study, published recently in JCO Oncology Practice, found that oncologists have different perspectives on how to select starting doses for patients with metastatic cancer.1 The study shared findings from a 2021 international survey of 367 medical oncologists who treat patients with metastatic ...
TROPiCS-02: Efficacy of Sacituzumab Govitecan Within HER2-Negative Subsets of Breast Cancer
In a post hoc analysis of the phase III TROPiCS-02 trial, sacituzumab govitecan-hziy improved efficacy outcomes in HER2-negative immunohistochemistry (IHC) subgroups.1 Results were consistent with those of the intent-to-treat population of hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast...
ASCO Releases Updated Resource-Stratified Guideline for the Secondary Prevention of Cervical Cancer
A new resource-stratified ASCO guideline update provides new evidence-based recommendations for the secondary prevention of cervical cancer in various resource settings.1 In the updated guideline, the screening recommendations cover basic, limited, enhanced, and maximal resource settings.
Since...
Phase III FRESCO-2 Trial of Fruquintinib Meets Primary Endpoint in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
HUTCHMED (China) Limited recently announced that the global phase III FRESCO-2 trial evaluating the investigational use of the anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tyrosine kinase inhibitor fruquintinib met its primary endpoint of overall survival in patients with advanced, refractory...
SWOG Names Don S. Dizon, MD, Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Professional Integrity
After nearly a year-long search, the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) has announced its new Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and Professional Integrity: Don S. Dizon, MD, who is currently Chair of the organization’s Digital Engagement Committee. Dr. Dizon is Director of the Pelvic...
Eytan Stein, MD, Appointed Chief of the Leukemia Service at MSK
Eytan M. Stein, MD, will assume the role of Chief of the Leukemia Service in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), New York. Dr. Stein joined MSK as a medical oncology/hematology fellow in 2010, became a faculty member in 2013, and was appointed...
Yuan Yuan, MD, PhD, Joins Cedars-Sinai Cancer Medical Center as Director of Breast Oncology
Cedars-Sinai Cancer Medical Center recently announced the appointment of Yuan Yuan, MD, PhD, a breast medical oncologist and physician scientist who specializes in triple-negative breast cancer and breast cancer immunotherapy, as Director of Breast Oncology.
Finding Cutting-Edge Therapies
FDA Approves Pemigatinib for Patients With Myeloid/Lymphoid Neoplasms and FGFR1 Rearrangement
On August 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pemigatinib (Pemazyre), a selective fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor, for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with FGFR1 rearrangement. Myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with...
KEYNOTE-412: Pembrolizumab Plus Chemoradiation Falls Short in Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer
Pembrolizumab plus chemoradiation failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in event-free survival vs chemoradiation alone in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but favorable numerical trends were demonstrated, according to results of the phase ...
FDA Approves Selpercatinib for Locally Advanced or Metastatic RET Fusion–Positive NSCLC
On September 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to selpercatinib (Retevmo) for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a RET gene fusion (as detected by an FDA-approved test).
FDA Grants Accelerated Approval to Futibatinib for Previously Treated Patients With FGFR2-Mutated Cholangiocarcinoma
On September 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to futibatinib (Lytgobi) for adults with previously treated, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma harboring fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) gene fusions or...
Lenvatinib Plus Pembrolizumab in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: LEAP-002 Fails to Meet Co-primary Endpoints
The highly anticipated final analysis of the phase III LEAP-002 trial failed to meet expectations, as first-line treatment with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab did not significantly improve outcomes in unresectable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Both progression-free survival and overall survival ...
My White Coat Doesn’t Fit
There I was, crying once again all the way from the hospital’s parking lot to my apartment, into the shower, and while trying to fall asleep. This had become the norm during my internal medicine residency. For years, I tried hard every day to be someone else to fit in. It started with off-hand...
