In a Korean study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jin et al found that increased alcohol intake may be associated with an increased risk of early-onset colorectal cancer. Study Details The study involved data from 5,666,576 individuals aged 20 to 49 years from the Korean National...
Researchers have identified seven potential risk factors for early-onset colorectal cancer in male patients and developed a novel risk evaluation model, according to a recent study published by Imperiale et al in Cancer Prevention Research. The findings may help 45- to 49-year-old patients accept...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Cannioto et al found that greater adherence to cancer prevention lifestyle recommendations before, during, and after treatment for high-risk breast cancer was associated with a reduced risk of disease recurrence and all-cause mortality. Study Details The...
A new study presented at Digestive Disease Week 2023 has shown that just 4% of patients with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery developed obesity-associated cancer in a 10-year follow-up, compared with 8.9% among those who did not have a weight-loss procedure.1 These findings indicate that the ...
Patients who continue smoking after a cancer diagnosis may have almost a twofold risk of experiencing a heart attack, stroke, or death as a result of cardiovascular disease compared with nonsmokers, according to a new study published by Lee et al in the European Heart Journal. Background According...
The fight against cancer has made remarkable progress worldwide over the past decade. Through corporate investment in research and technology, the incidence of cancer and death rates in developed nations have steadily declined. The number of people living longer and fuller lives after a cancer...
The improvement in cancer survival rates since President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law is staggering. The legislation further committed the United States to greater investments in cancer-focused research to drive down the rates of cancer diagnoses, boost patient...
Investigators have found that in the majority of countries studied, the recent mortality rates for all major cancer types have decreased except for lung cancer among female patients and hepatic cancer among male patients—where increasing rates were observed in most countries, according to a novel...
Researchers have found that patients who are obese and undergo bariatric surgery may have a greater than 50% decreased incidence rate of obesity-related cancer compared with patients who did not have the weight-loss procedure, according to new findings presented by Chittajalu et al at Digestive...
In a Korean nationwide cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Park et al found that individuals aged 20 to 39 years with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were at an increased risk of developing early-onset digestive tract cancers. Study Details The study included data on ...
Investigators discovered both favorable and unfavorable changes in major cancer risk factors, preventive behaviors and services, and screenings in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published by Star et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention....
Researchers have provided strong evidence that a healthy lifestyle may significantly reduce mortality in adults who have survived pediatric cancer, according to a new study published by Dixon et al in The Lancet. The findings are among the first to reveal that the specific primary causes of...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien (Jason) Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus...
“There is and always has been, more to me than medicine. Ever since the university, I have loved flying. Ever since school, I have adored choral singing,” writes John F. Smyth, MD, in his memoir Taming the Beast: Memoirs of a Pioneering Cancer Physician. Dr. Smyth is Emeritus Professor of Medical...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology, guest editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Rajendra Toprani, MBBS, MS, MCh, Head of the Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology at HCG Cancer Centre, Ahmedabad, India. Dr. Toprani’s areas of interest include oral,...
Patients with prostate cancer who reported the highest amounts of plant-based foods in their diets had a 52% lower risk of disease progression and a 53% lower risk of recurrence compared with those who had the lowest amounts of plants in their diets. The diet assessments were based on...
Investigators have confirmed that rates of pancreatic cancer are rising overall, but they are rising faster among younger female patients—particularly among patients who identified as Black—than among male patients of the same age, according to a new study published by Abboud et al in...
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)—in light of World Cancer Day, taking place on February 4—has called on governments around the world to prioritize policy actions to reduce preventable cancers caused by tobacco use and the consumption of alcohol and ultraprocessed foods, including...
As an oncologist, I had cared for patients facing grave illness and death. I imagined the loss of loved ones and expected grief to be an unbearable sadness, most poignant in the earliest days and lessening with time. I somehow expected that counseling people who grieved would make me more prepared. ...
World Cancer Day 2023 is now only 1 month away! Led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and organized annually on February 4, World Cancer Day is a global initiative to improve awareness and knowledge of cancer risks and better prevent, detect, and treat the disease. World Cancer...
After a 4-year in-person hiatus because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the World Cancer Congress, hosted by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), held its first hybrid in-person and virtual meeting in October in Geneva. The conference brought together more than 2,000 attendees from...
As the population of women at increased risk for breast cancer grows, with an estimated 140,000 high-risk lesions diagnosed each year, “the landscape for surgical excision of high-risk lesions continues to evolve,” Melissa Pilewskie, MD, reported at the 2022 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium in...
The statistics are grim: Worldwide, pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer and the seventh leading cause of cancer mortality.1 In the United States, the malignancy has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. It is currently the third leading cause of cancer-related death after...
Research shows that all beverage types containing ethanol, including wine, beer, and hard liquor, increase cancer risk, and that the risk increases with higher alcohol consumption. Even light drinking—no more than one drink per day—increases the risk for some cancers, including esophageal and...
Researchers have created a model for predicting an individual’s breast cancer risk that could be used to create personalized breast cancer screening strategies, according to a new study published by Louro et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The research, also presented at the 13th European...
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 ...
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...
Pembrolizumab plus chemoradiation therapy failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in event-free survival vs chemoradiation therapy alone in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but favorable numerical trends were demonstrated, according to...
It has been well documented that breast cancer is the most common malignancy in adolescent and young adult (AYA) women aged 15 to 39 years, accounting for 30% of cancers among this population.1 In addition, 5.6% of all invasive breast cancers occur in AYA women.1 A presentation by Rebecca H....
Esophageal adenocarcinoma is a type of cancer affecting the mucus-secreting glands of the lower esophagus and is the most common form of esophageal cancer. It is often preceded by Barrett’s metaplasia, a deleterious change in cells lining the esophagus. Though the cause of esophageal adenocarcinoma ...
Studies show that Hispanic individuals have higher incidence rates of developing liver cancer and higher mortality rates—by 50% or more—than non-Hispanic White individuals for several cancers, including liver cancer. A new study investigating hepatocellular carcinoma among successive generations of ...
Over recent decades, more and more adults under the age of 50 are developing cancer. A recently published study revealed that the incidence of early-onset cancers (those diagnosed before age 50)—including breast, colon, esophageal, kidney, liver, and pancreatic cancers, among others—has...
Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the world, with 1.1 million new diagnoses reported annually.1 In the United States, the incidence of oral and pharyngeal cancers is over 54,000 cases per year, resulting in over 11,000 yearly deaths.2 Although smoking and alcohol consumption ...
In an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 reported in The Lancet, researchers from the GBD 2019 Cancer Risk Factors Collaborators found that cancers attributable to behavioral, environmental/occupational, and metabolic risk factors accounted for 44% of all cancer deaths globally...
Rates of most types of cancer are higher in men than in women for reasons that are unclear. Results from a recent study published online by Jackson et al in the journal Cancer suggest that the cause may be underlying biological sex differences rather than behavioral differences related to smoking,...
A new large study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) shows older age and smoking are the two most important risk factors associated with a relative and absolute 5-year risk of developing any cancer. The findings also demonstrate that in addition to age and smoking history,...
A study looking at the correlation between daily insulin dose and cancer incidence among patients with type 1 diabetes found that higher insulin dose is positively associated with cancer incidence and that the association is stronger among those with insulin resistance. The results were published...
Telling children about their mother’s risk of hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer does not adversely influence the offspring’s lifestyle or quality of life in the long term, according to a new study published by McDonnell et al in the journal Pediatrics. The study looked at the mutation status...
Hispanic and Black men are dying from human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated throat cancer at a higher rate than White men, and most new cases being diagnosed in non-Hispanic White men are late-stage disease, according to a new study published by Villalona et al in the Annals of Cancer ...
A study of more than 90,000 postmenopausal women found that those who consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage daily faced a 78% higher risk of developing liver cancer compared with people who consumed less than three servings per month of such beverages. These findings were presented by Zhao ...
Rakesh Chopra, MD, former Chairman and Head of the Oncology Department of Artemis Hospitals, was born in New Delhi, the capital of modern India. As a child, he attended the Lawrence School, Sanawar, a private boarding school in Himachal Pradesh, among beautiful sylvan surroundings. “Sanawar was...
Adults aged 45 to 64 years experienced a nearly doubled rate of esophageal cancer and a 50% increase in the precancerous condition Barrett’s esophagus between 2012 and 2019, according to a database analysis of roughly 5 million patients presented by Qumseya et al at Digestive Disease Week 2022...
The 5-year survival for younger adults with colorectal cancer improved for White patients alone between 1992 and 2013, according to a new analysis presented by Zaki et al at Digestive Disease Week 2022 (Abstract 895). However, no survival gains were found for Black, Hispanic, or Asian patients with ...
The risk of invasive breast cancer in men may be associated with self-reported infertility, according to a study published by Swerdlow et al in the journal Breast Cancer Research. The authors interviewed 1,998 males in England and Wales diagnosed with breast cancer, with 112 (5.6%) also...
The Iranian revolution of 1979 transformed Iran from an absolute monarchy under Shah Mohammad Pahlavi to an Islamist republic under Ayatollah Khomeini. The author of a new book called The Magic of Normal, Maky Zanganeh, PhD, was born in Iran in 1970. As a young woman, she experienced the war in her ...
In an analysis from the Women’s Health Initiative reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Kerryn W. Reding, PhD, MPH, RN, of the University of Washington at Seattle, and colleagues, identified the incidence of hospitalization for heart failure among postmenopausal breast cancer survivors. They reported...
We are all following the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine with surprise and horror. I’m sure few readers of The ASCO Post imagined the invasion of a European country by its European neighbor was possible again, naively thinking wars like this ended with the Allied victory in World War II. But...
In a prospective cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Erin L. Van Blarigan, ScD, and colleagues found that higher intake of unprocessed red meat or processed meat was not associated with poorer recurrence-free or overall survival in patients with stage III colon cancer. As stated by the...
A new meta-analysis adds to evidence that taller adults may be more likely than shorter ones to develop colorectal cancer or colon polyps that can later become malignant. While the association between taller height and colorectal cancer has been previously investigated, researchers from Johns...
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning, intersexed (LGBTQI+) community face numerous challenges and barriers when accessing the health-care system in the United States, including cancer care; as a result, they may be at greater risk for developing cancer and...