Daniel A. Vorobiof, MD, of the Sandton Oncology Centre, and Bernardo Leon Rapoport, MD, of The Medical Oncology Centre of Rosebank, discuss the first study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single dose of intravenous fosaprepitant. The use of this NK1 inhibitor and another (rolapitant) in a...
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...
Eric Roeland, MD, FAAHPM, of the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, and Areej El-Jawahri, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discuss two important studies on early palliative care and the use of anamorelin in advanced NSCLC with cachexia.
Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, of OhioHealth Kobacker House discusses the ROMANA 1 and 2 trials on cachexia in NSCLC and a study on olanzapine vs fosaprepitant for the prevention of nausea and vomiting (Abstracts 9500 and 9502).
Irene Higginson, MD, of Cicely Saunders International, discusses the goals of psychosocial palliative care for patients around the world with advanced cancer.
Wendy Lichtenthal, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and David Kissane, MD, of Monash University, discuss the importance of and challenges with attending to the whole family during palliative care.
Eduardo Bruera, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses exciting developments in the assessment and management of cachexia, as well as a number of emerging pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions (Abstract 67).
Lorenzo Cohen, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses nonpharmacologic approaches to symptom control. Techniques such as acupuncture for managing pain and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, or yoga and meditation to help improve quality of life, can be safely...
Judith Vick, MD Candidate, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Rachelle E. Bernacki, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss a tool that could help clinicians identify seriously ill patients who would benefit from conversations about their goals and values (Abstract 8).
Diane Portman, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses clinical pathways that embed palliative care along the spectrum of care for a variety of cancer disease states.
Anthony L. Back, MD, of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, summarizes a general session on best practices and novel tools for enhancing communication between patients and oncology providers (Abstracts 8,9, 39).
Vicki Jackson, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital, summarizes her keynote lecture (plenary talk).
Lawrence H. Einhorn, MD, of Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, discusses the encouraging study findings on olanzapine for prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy (Abstract 176).
Kathleen Foley, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the challenges of integrating palliative care in areas without sufficient resources or health-care infrastructure.
Kathleen Elizabeth Bickel, MD, MPhil, of the White River Junction VA Medical Center, discusses the ASCO/AAHPM Guidance Statement, which will help oncology providers enhance their delivery of palliative care (Abstract 108).
Lawrence H. Einhorn, MD, of Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, discusses the ways in which a dedicated palliative radiation consult service can improve the quality of palliative cancer care (Abstract 110).
Ralph J. Hauke, MD, of Nebraska Cancer Specialists, discusses the application of scientific analysis and research to palliative care issues, which will allow better prognostication, implementation of measures, and improved quality of life.
Betty Ferrell, PhD, RN, of City of Hope, discusses two papers that look at an important issue from different perspectives: depression and anxiety among family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer, and the link between oncologists’ dispositional affect and depressive symptoms in their...
As Steering Committee Chair of this year’s symposium, Jennifer S. Temel, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the goals and highlights of the meeting.
Amelie Harle, MD, of the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, discusses a clinical trial––the first of its kind—designed to assess the efficacy of an antitussive in patients with lung cancer (Abstract 2).
Given the challenges of recruiting patients for palliative care studies, Eric Roeland, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses a way to increase the participation of those with cachexia, with the hope of improving treatment (Abstract 67).
Charles L. Loprinzi, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses olanzapine for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy (Abstract 176).
Nearly 15% of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer were younger than 50, the age at which screening recommendations begin. The study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center also found that younger patients were more likely to have advanced disease. The authors ...
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc, announced that an updated overall survival analysis of the phase III NAPOLI-1 study of irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde) in combination with fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin achieved a substantial improvement in 12-month overall survival compared to 5-FU and...
Findings from a Polish phase III study point to an additional treatment option for patients with advanced rectal cancer. Patients who received short-course (5-day) radiation followed by consolidation chemotherapy before surgery achieved outcomes similar to those of patients treated with...
A protein that is constantly expressed by cancer cells and quiescent in healthy cells appears to be a solid target for reducing cancer's ability to spread, scientists reported. The WASF3 protein enables cancer cell invasion, and by interrupting its relationship with another protein, CYFIP1, which...
A palliative care consultation initiated in the emergency department for patients with advanced cancer was associated with improved quality of life and did not seem to shorten survival, according to an article published by Grudzen et al in JAMA Oncology. Visits to the emergency department are...
Physicians treating patients with metastatic melanoma may soon have a superior tool in their efforts to closely track the disease. A new study shows that a blood test that monitors blood levels of DNA fragments from dead cancer cells does a better job than the current standard test at tracking the...
A study presented at the 2016 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium showed that 40% of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with docetaxel following abiraterone (Zytiga) had at least a 50% reduction in prostate-specific antigen (PSA), demonstrating the activity of...
In an Italian trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bandieri et al found that low-dose morphine provided better and more rapid pain relief than weak opioids in patients with moderate cancer pain. Study Details In the open-label 28-day trial, 240 adults with moderate cancer pain from ...
In October, ASCO will cosponsor the inaugural Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC). The Symposium is...
Palliative care is essential to good cancer care, but it is a topic that can raise red flags because of the common misperception that it is reserved for those in the terminal stage of the disease. In truth, palliative care is highly necessary for all patients with cancer, and when it is integrated...
ASCO recognizes that an array of efforts are needed to fully integrate palliative care into the cancer care continuum, and the Society is committed to facilitating the integration of palliative cancer care into existing health-care systems worldwide in order to realize the vision of comprehensive...
While some seek peace in the Middle East through political means, others are looking to help patients with cancer find peace through palliative care. This endeavor is bringing oncology professionals together across the region’s national borders and cultural boundaries to implement solutions and...
The booklet Palliative Care: Improving Quality of Life for Patients and Families is one of the latest additions to the ASCO Answers collection of patient education materials developed by ASCO for people with cancer and their caregivers. These materials provide oncologist-approved information in a...
ASCO University®, ASCO’s eLearning center, offers an array of courses and programs relevant to palliative care and multidisciplinary team–based cancer care. Below are descriptions of just a few of these offerings. Pain Management Released in March 2015, ASCO University’s “Pain Management Program”...
Samuel Chao, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, discusses the QMAP program and data-driven management, which offer ways to improve consistency and drive quality in radiation oncology departments (Abstract 39).
Alysa M. Fairchild, MD, of the Cross Cancer Institute and the University of Alberta, discusses her study on the use of dexamethasone to reduce pain flare in patients receiving palliative radiotherapy for bone metastases (Abstract LBA6663).
A new analysis indicated that many patients continue working after being diagnosed with metastatic cancer, but a heavy burden of symptoms may prevent them from doing so. Published by Tevaarwerk et al in Cancer, the study illustrates the need to treat difficult symptoms so that patients can maintain ...
Among women with locally advanced or metastatic hormone receptor–positive breast cancer that was resistant to hormone therapy, those who had mutated PIK3CA detected in their blood benefited from a combination of the investigational PI3K inhibitor buparlisib and fulvestrant (Faslodex),...
In a phase III study to be presented by Zelenetz et al at the 57th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, idelalisib (Zydelig) plus bendamustine (Treanda) and rituximab (Rituxan), or BR, proved superior to BR alone in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)...
In 1,048 prostate cancer patients previously treated with docetaxel, and 996 metastatic, castration-resistant patients, treatment with the androgen-lowering drug abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) led to longer overall disease control, even when a very high Gleason score indicated especially aggressive...
University of Southern California (USC) researchers have developed a mathematical model to forecast metastatic breast cancer survival rates using techniques usually reserved for weather prediction, financial forecasting, and surfing the Web. For decades, medical schools have taught doctors that...
Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with researchers from University of California Merced and Davis, have found that a secreted protein predominantly expressed in bone inhibits prostate cancer metastasis to bone. Their research was published recently by...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval for an oral medication to treat patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Osimertinib (Tagrisso) is now approved for patients whose tumors have a specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation ...
Although advanced breast cancer is incurable, there are some patients who have just a few small metastases who would respond well to systemic treatments such as chemotherapy and hormone therapy. In new guidelines agreed on by participants at the Advanced Breast Cancer Third International Consensus...
The steroid dexamethasone reduces radiation-induced pain flare in cancer patients with painful bone metastases, according to research presented by Chow et al (Abstract LBA1) October 18, 2015 at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO’s) 57th Annual Meeting in San Antonio,...
A study to examine racial disparities in end-of-life care among black and white patients dying of prostate cancer found that “significant racial disparities in end-of-life care" do exist. “Although diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are less frequent in black patients with...
A survey exploring the relationship between spiritual support and end-of-life care by evaluating clergy members’ opinions and experiences related to care provided to congregants at the end of their life has found that a majority of clergy endorse religious beliefs regarding their...
An innovative service model that partners radiation oncology with palliative care leads to better results for patients, according to a new analysis. The model of care, established at Mount Sinai Medical Center, is one of only a handful in the country. The study (Abstract 110) will be presented at...