The scientific revolution in determining the genetic basis of cancer is finally bearing fruit in hematologic neoplasms such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), where over the past decade a number of effective new drugs have expanded our armamentarium and provided effective—and in some cases...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yeh et al found that childhood cancer survivors who received abdominopelvic radiation, who are at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer, can benefit from early screening to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer and associated...
Based on the phase III CLL17 trial, a fixed duration of targeted treatment demonstrated noninferiority to continuous treatment with respect to progression-free survival in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The findings were presented at the Plenary Session of...
The combination of the hypomethylating agent azacitidine and the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax is an established regimen in older, unfit patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Now, a phase II randomized trial indicates potential for less intensive therapy in the newly diagnosed fit population. In...
Studies show that while the overall rates of colorectal cancer are decreasing, for individuals younger than age 50, the incidence has risen by an alarming 50% since the mid-1990s. While the exact causes are unknown, poor diet and alcohol consumption are believed to be contributing factors. A study...
Researchers have proposed a new mechanism of acute kidney injury to account for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have an inferior vena cava (IVC) tumor thrombus, according to findings presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO).1 By analyzing...
The combination of azacitidine and venetoclax led to improved efficacy outcomes with fewer complications than standard intensive induction chemotherapy as upfront treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to trial findings presented at the 2025 American Society of...
For individuals diagnosed with cancer, participation in a clinical trial offers the opportunity to explore new treatment options; however, for many, finding and navigating the right clinical trial can be challenging due to various barriers in the process. To address these issues, the American...
The Combined Analysis of Pathology and Artificial Intelligence (AI; CAPAI) model effectively stratified patients with colon cancer into distinct prognostic groups, identifying nearly half as low-risk, with “favorable” cancer-specific survival outcomes in the absence of adjuvant chemotherapy,...
Amir Fathi, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses data from the phase II PARADIGM trial, which prospectively tested whether azacitidine plus venetoclax was superior to intensive induction chemotherapy in fit patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML)—and could challenge...
The pace of therapeutic innovation in hematologic oncology continues to accelerate, moving clinical practice away from broad-spectrum chemotherapy and toward an era of highly personalized, biologically driven treatment. This transformation was the central theme of the 2025 National Comprehensive...
“Pretreatment geriatric assessment in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia is feasible, can identify several functional impairments, and [can] guide the selection of treatment intensity,” resulting in low rates of early mortality, according to Vijaya R. Bhatt, MBBS, MS, of the University of...
Older individuals up to the age of 80 who are eligible for lung surgery may achieve a survival benefit from lung cancer screening comparable to that for younger patients, according to the results of a multicenter cohort study from the United Kingdom presented at the International Association for...
After decades of incremental progress in the treatment of multiple myeloma, survival has increased from 3 years in the late 1990s to between 8 and 10 years today.1 Could cure for a disease that kills more than 12,000 individuals each year in the United States2 finally be within reach? The long-term ...
Based on the results of a single-center phase II trial published by Bhatt et al in the American Journal of Hematology, pretreatment geriatric assessment in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) appeared to be feasible, to identify several functional impairments, to help guide the selection ...
July marks a significant transition for many professionals, particularly those beginning structured training programs on July 1. This article is designed to support new and current hematology-oncology fellows and trainees in making the most of their training experience. Although not all suggestions ...
The main symptom that eventually led to my diagnosis of stage IV adenocarcinoma non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) started in the fall of 2009. I was just 17 and in my freshman year at college when I began experiencing a persistent cough. The coughing became so unrelenting over the next month, I...
It has been widely reported that colorectal cancer incidence has been increasing among younger adults under age 50 since the mid-1990s, with a consistent annual increase of 2% among adults aged 20 to 39. This increase prompted the American Cancer Society (ACS), in 2018, and the United States...
Updated clinical guidelines for the management of patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) recommend use of more minimally invasive procedures and methods where possible. The guidelines, published in the journal CHEST,...
Over the past 20 years, increased understanding of the biological mechanism of disease has led to improved treatment options for all malignancies. Within each disease subtype, we have molecularly characterized tumors and developed specific treatment algorithms to optimize patient outcomes. Among...
In a subset analysis from the phase III SWOG S1826 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rutherford et al compared the survival outcomes of nivolumab plus AVD (doxorubicin, vinblastine, dacarbazine; N-AVD) vs brentuximab vedotin plus AVD (BV-AVD) in patients with advanced-stage...
Uterine cancer is the fourth most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States, with about 69,120 new cases and nearly 14,000 deaths from the disease expected this year. Black women experience a twice as high mortality rate compared with women of other races and ethnicities, and that...
Christian Rolfo, MD, PhD, MBA, has been appointed Director of the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James). He will assume this position on August 15. Dr. Rolfo will ...
For the adjuvant treatment of stage III colon cancer with DNA mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) tumors, the addition of the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab to standard chemotherapy significantly improved disease-free survival in the phase III ATOMIC trial. The results position this approach as a...
Within hours of the start of his second administration, on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order proclaiming that the country would now recognize only two sexes, male and female, essentially rejecting transgender identity, and directing all federal agencies to use the...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has announced the publication of the latest version of its scale that measures the clinical benefit of cancer treatments, the ESMO-MCBS (ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale). The ESMO-MCBS was first introduced in 2015 and updated to version 1.1...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) released its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) in 1996, covering eight tumor types. Today, guidelines are available for more than 60 tumor types, subtypes, and related topics. During the NCCN’s 30th Annual...
“Knowledge is like a lion; it cannot be gently embraced.” –South African Proverb Long-term efficacy and safety confirm that a hypomethylating agent and venetoclax is an improvement in the standard of care for patients with AML who are not eligible for intensive chemotherapy because of advanced age...
A 20-year initiative that offered flexible options for colorectal cancer screening at a major integrated health system doubled colorectal cancer screening rates, cut cancer incidence by a third, halved deaths, and brought racial differences in outcomes to nearly zero, according to a study that will ...
In a Spanish study (COLONPREV) reported in The Lancet, Castells et al found that invitation to fecal immunochemical test (FIT) vs colonoscopy screening for colorectal cancer was associated with noninferiority in colorectal cancer mortality. Study Details In the multicenter study, eligible...
Two recent studies have elucidated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on colorectal cancer screenings and diagnostic colonoscopies in Central Indiana. The findings—reported by Kumar et al in PLOS One and Richter et al in Preventive Medicine Reports—contribute to the compendium of knowledge on...
In a Scottish study (TEMPO) reported in The Lancet, Robb et al found that a behavioral intervention adding a deadline for fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) return in the invitation letter to FIT colorectal cancer screening resulted in superior uptake of testing. Study Details In the trial, 40,000...
“Care more particularly for the individual patient than for the special features of the disease.” —Sir William Osler Chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) is the most common leukemia in the Western hemisphere. The majority of patients who require treatment are older than ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Veenstra et al found that pathogenic variants (PVs) in ATM, CHEK2, or PALB2 were not associated with significant differences in mortality from breast, colorectal, or pancreatic cancer compared with the absence of such PVs. Study Details The...
In an analysis reported as a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, Rousseau et al found a relationship between the duration of neoadjuvant immunotherapy and the likelihood of pathologic complete response in patients with localized mismatch repair–deficient (MMRd) colorectal...
“Care more particularly for the individual patient than for the special features of the disease.”—Sir William Osler Chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) is the most common leukemia in the Western hemisphere. The majority of patients who require treatment are older than ...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jennifer Brown, MD, and colleagues, the phase III AMPLIFY trial found that fixed-duration acalabrutinib combined with venetoclax or venetoclax/obinutuzumab improved progression-free survival vs chemoimmunotherapy in fit, previously untreated...
Although there’s no history of breast cancer in my family, when I was 10, my pediatrician introduced me to breast self-exams, so I would become familiar with my breasts and learn to spot any unusual changes as I got older. I remember her telling me this was an especially important exercise to do...
ASCO has updated its guidelines on the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients newly diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, underscoring key considerations in selecting patients for treatment and where to go from there.1 Since ASCO’s previous guidelines were published in 2016, there has been ...
The recently approved menin inhibitor revumenib is poised to improve the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), specifically for disease with a KMT2A rearrangement. Promising results for other novel menin inhibitors now in development—with their unique safety and activity profiles—suggest the...
Two pivotal phase III trials presented at the 2024 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition mark a significant shift toward chemotherapy-free approaches in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), offering potentially more effective and tolerable treatment options for both...
A new University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Center study has identified a particular strand of microRNA as a promising new target for overcoming breast cancer treatment resistance and improving outcomes. The research was recently published in the journal Cancers. Study Background Study author...
For patients with “good-risk” ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who underwent breast-conserving surgery and did not receive radiotherapy, tamoxifen significantly decreased the risk of recurrence in the same breast, according to results presented at the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium...
Researchers have revealed that high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation may not benefit patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who are in remission following initial treatment, according to new findings presented by Fenske et al at the 2024 American Society of...
Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, discusses the findings from the prespecified interim analysis of the phase III AMPLIFY trial (Abstract 1009), which compared fixed-duration acalabrutinib/venetoclax—with or without obinutuzumab—with investigator’s choice of...
Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, discusses the findings from the prespecified interim analysis of the phase III AMPLIFY trial (Abstract 1009), which compared fixed-duration acalabrutinib/venetoclax—with or without obinutuzumab—with investigator’s choice of...
Intense pain on the right side of my lower rib cage, in 2020, sent me first to my chiropractor for relief and then to my primary care provider for tests. Because of the location of the pain, the chiropractor thought I might be having a gallbladder attack, but the results from a urine test showed a ...
Over the past decade, ASCO has focused its resources on advancing health equity for sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals with cancer. In 2017, the Society published a position statement “Strategies for Reducing Cancer Health Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minority Populations,” which...
The soaring number of cancer survivors since the National Cancer Act of 1971 was enacted into law provides a snapshot of the profound progress made against cancer over the past half-century: 3 million survivors in the 1970s,1 compared to more than 18 million today, and that number is expected to...
Worldwide, more than a billion people have obesity—including 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents, and 39 million children1—a rate that has nearly doubled since 1980.2 In the United States alone, about two out of three adults are overweight or have obesity, and one out of three have...