Richard L. Schilsky, MD, of ASCO, and R. Donald Harvey, PharmD, BCOP, of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discuss their study findings that expanding the clinical trial eligibility criteria for patients with advanced NSCLC would enable nearly twice as many people to be considered for...
A study that examined 10,500 health records of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer from ASCO’s CancerLinQ database found that the use of expanded clinical trial inclusion criteria—as proposed by ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research in 2017—would nearly double...
David J. Kwiatkowski, MD, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses an interim analysis and biomarker data from a multicenter study showing that 19% of patients with NSCLC had a major pathologic response to preoperative treatment with atezolizumab (Abstract...
Hirotsugu Kenmotsu, MD, of Shizuoka Cancer Center, discusses the phase III JIPANG trial findings, which showed that pemetrexed plus cisplatin was not superior to vinorelbine plus cisplatin in terms of recurrence-free survival for patients with completely resected nonsquamous non–small cell lung...
Taofeek Kunle Owonikoko, MD, PhD, of Emory University, discusses the findings of his phase II study, which assessed the efficacy of combined immune checkpoint inhibitors with or without radiation in relapsed small cell lung cancer (Abstract 8515).
Edward B. Garon, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses long-term survival data on patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer treated with pembrolizumab and those with PD-L1 expressed in at least half of their tumor cells (Abstract...
Five-year data from the phase Ib KEYNOTE-001 trial showed that treatment with pembrolizumab was safe and effective and substantially increased overall survival in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Specifically, 23.2% of people who had not previously been treated with...
New research published by Bagley et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network used a large real-world data set to demonstrate a modest but consistent survival benefit associated with adding bevacizumab to carboplatin/pemetrexed in advanced nonsquamous non–small...
On May 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the NovoTTF-100L System in combination with pemetrexed plus platinum-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic malignant pleural mesothelioma. NovoTTF-100L is a noninvasive,...
Results from a study published by Cykert et al in The Journal of the National Medical Association show that a pragmatic system-based intervention within cancer treatment centers can nearly eliminate existing disparities in treatment and outcomes for black patients with early-stage...
In long-term follow-up of a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gomez et al confirmed superior outcomes with local consolidative therapy vs maintenance therapy or observation in patients with oligometastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the open-label,...
Elderly survivors of breast cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma face risk of brain metastasis later in life, and may require extra surveillance in the years following initial cancer treatment, according to results of a study published by Ascha et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, &...
As reported in JAMA, Singal et al used a clinicogenomic database in routine clinical practice to identify associations between treatment outcomes and patient characteristics or tumor genomic profiles in the setting of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study cohort of 4,064 patients...
Patients with mesothelioma are twice as likely to survive for 2 years or longer if they are treated with a high dose of radiation to the affected side of the trunk, according to research presented by Minatel et al at ESTRO 38, the annual congress of the European Society for Radiotherapy...
A study examining trends in patient-reported physician-patient discussions about lung cancer screening and the association of these discussions with smokers’ attempts to quit and intent to quit has found that discussions about screening have declined since 2012. Moreover, they were not...
In an interim analysis of the phase III NEJ026 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saito et al found that the addition of bevacizumab to erlotinib improved progression-free survival in patients with EGFR-positive, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the open-label...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Mak et al found that a crowd innovation contest produced automated artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms “that replicated the skills of a highly trained physician” in segmenting lung tumors for radiotherapy targeting. The investigators also noted...
A study by Xu et al in Clinical Cancer Research evaluating deep-learning networks that analyze time-series computed tomography (CT) images of patients with locally advanced NSCLC has found these networks can integrate imaging scans at multiple time points to improve clinical outcome...
As reported in The Lancet by Mok et al, the KEYNOTE-042 trial has shown an improvement in overall survival with pembrolizumab vs standard chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without a sensitizing EGFR mutation or ...
In the phase I/II NRG Oncology/RTOG 0813 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bezjak et al found that five-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) was associated with relatively low rates of serious treatment-related toxicity and good outcomes in patients with centrally...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bayman et al found that prophylactic radiotherapy to the chest wall after diagnostic or therapeutic procedures did not reduce the risk of chest wall metastases in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. In the open-label,...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the first-line treatment of patients with stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are not candidates for surgical resection or definitive chemoradiation, or those with metastatic NSCLC....
Maintenance immunotherapy did not improve survival in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to late-breaking results from the CheckMate 451 study presented today by Owonikoko et al at the European Lung Cancer Congress 2019 (Abstract LBA1_PR). Around 60% to 70% of...
Two studies reported at the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2019 provided new insights on the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although around half of all people newly diagnosed with NSCLC are elderly (Pallis ...
Two nonprofit organizations serving the lung cancer community—the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) and Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA)—have announced they are joining forces as the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer. With more than 3 decades of combined expertise, a...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Mor et al found that veterans with advanced lung cancer treated in Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers with high hospice use were more likely to receive concurrent cancer care but less likely to receive aggressive care. Moreover, veterans treated at...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Sun et al, a long-term update of the phase III NRG Oncology/RTOG 0214 trial has shown that prophylactic cranial irradiation was associated with a reduced incidence of brain metastases and improved disease-free survival—but not overall survival—compared...
The results of an analysis of pooled data from the phase Ib KEYNOTE-028 trial and the phase II KEYNOTE-158 study of the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 monoclonal antibody pembrolizumab in the treatment of advanced small cell lung cancer has found that the therapy provided antitumor...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shaw et al found that lorlatinib showed greater efficacy in patients with vs without anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) resistance mutations among patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in whom one or more...
A new method of determining the sequence of molecules in DNA can be used to detect small fragments of cancerous genetic material in blood samples from patients with lung cancer with a high degree of accuracy, according research published by Li et al in Annals of Oncology. Liquid Biopsies and...
Matthew A. Gubens, MD, of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines in non–small cell lung cancer, including the use of pembrolizumab as a single agent or in combination based on PD-L1 status, treatment selection in squamous and...
Jyoti D. Patel, MD, of the University of Chicago, discusses immunotherapy for locally advanced NSCLC, selecting patients for these treatments, and the potential toxicities of combination therapies.
Susan Y. Wu, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses how patient exposure to treatment guidelines improved smoking cessation counseling and the use of molecular testing, and decreased the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage disease (Abstract 5).
Mark K. Ferguson, MD, of the University of Chicago Hospital, discusses frailty and loss of muscle tissue, which are common among patients with lung cancer. These conditions are linked with decreased survival as well as increased surgical complications, chemotherapy toxicity, and cost of care.
Jing Zeng, MD, of the University of Washington, discusses upstaging disease from stage III to stage IV, which can occur with repeat PET and/or CT scans for patients with locally advanced NSCLC, and the need for clinicians to stage disease properly to ensure appropriate treatment.
Ruqin Chen, MB, of the Mayo Clinic Florida, discusses early study findings that show molecular profiling with NF1, CD79a, and AKT3 could potentially improve prediction of progression-free survival in patients with lung cancer who are receiving immunotherapy.
Kyle F. Concannon, MD, of the University of Washington/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses study results on the delays in biopsy after radiographic findings among homeless vs housed patients with lung cancer, and the higher rates of missed appointments following diagnosis (Abstract 125).
J. Fletcher Drogos, MD, of Rush University, discusses study findings on overall survival and toxicity among patients who undergo multiple radiation treatments for lung cancer.
Shraddha M. Dalwadi, MD, MBA, of Baylor College of Medicine, discusses the nearly 12% of potentially curable patients with stage I NSCLC who do not receive treatment, the various socioeconomic reasons why, and how some patients may benefit from minimally invasive therapies (Abstract 127).
Aaron S. Mansfield, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, summarizes a session he moderated on rare thoracic cancers such as mesothelioma and thymic epithelial tumors, as well as novel imaging and treatments in neuroendocrine tumors.
Heather A. Wakelee, MD, of Stanford University, discusses the most recent FDA-approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors that target EGFR and ALK mutations, how these agents fit into the treatment landscape, and the rapidly evolving field of TKI resistance.
Leora Horn, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, discusses the progress made treating extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, improvements in progression-free and overall survival, and the fact that it’s still difficult to determine which patients will benefit most from immunotherapy.
On March 18, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with carboplatin and etoposide for the first-line treatment of adult patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. IMpower133 Approval was based on the IMpower133 study, a...
In a linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results and Medicare study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Salz et al found that chronic opioid use varied by cancer among older cancer survivors. By 6 years after diagnosis, survivors were no more likely to be chronic opioid users...
A new survey of radiation oncologists points to a sharp decline in the use of prophylactic cranial irradiation for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), indicating a rapid change in standard practice for the disease following the 2017 publication of a major clinical trial by...
A new clinical trial found that exposing patients to tailored versions of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN®) Guidelines for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may help drive smoking cessation, testing for potential biomarkers and, for early-stage disease, more...
A new analysis of patients treated with local consolidative therapy for oligometastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) found that the intensive treatment approach is associated with improved overall survival. Local consolidative therapy—consisting of radiation therapy or...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ready et al, the phase II CheckMate 568 trial has shown that higher tumor mutational burden is associated with response, irrespective of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in first-line nivolumab plus low-dose ipilimumab treatment of ...
Edward B. Garon, MD, of the Olive View–UCLA Medical Center, discusses phase IIIb/IV study findings on reducing the frequency of nivolumab dosing, from 480 mg every 4 weeks to 240 mg every 2 weeks, in patients with previously treated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (Abstract 100).
Nicolas Guibert, MD, PhD, of Toulouse University Hospital, discusses a simple algorithm built to predict durable outcomes of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer that has been treated with immunotherapy. He notes that early changes in circulating tumor DNA burden may also predict...