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Showing 10301 - 10350Mammography-Detected Small Breast Cancers May Represent Overdiagnosis, With Declining Mortality Reflecting Improved Systemic Therapy
In a study using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, H. Gilbert Welch, MD, of Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and colleagues found that screening mammography has resulted in a substantial increase in...
New Supportive Care Resources From NCCN Help Patients With Cancer Confront Distress
All patients with cancer experience some level of distress associated with their cancer diagnosis and the effects of the disease and its treatment—regardless of the stage of disease. Not only does distress affect a patient’s mental and psychosocial well-being, but because distress is a...
Celecoxib or Celecoxib/Zoledronic Acid in Men Initiating Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer
As reported by Mason et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, long-term survival results of the UK-based, multiarm, multistage platform–design STAMPEDE trial showed no survival benefit with the addition of celecoxib or celecoxib plus zoledronic acid in men initiating long-term hormone...
Intermittent Sunitinib in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Moshe C. Ornstein, MD, of Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, and colleagues found that an intermittent schedule of sunitinib (Sutent) may be feasible in patients with previously untreated metastatic renal cell carcinoma. In...
Potential Surrogate for All-Cause Mortality Risk in Localized Prostate Cancer
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Trevor J. Royce, MD, of Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues found that a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) nadir > 0.5 ng/mL may be a dominant risk factor for all-cause mortality after radiation therapy and...
Reducing Debilitating Symptoms of Advanced Colorectal Cancer
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tamas Hickish, MD, of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Dorset, England, and colleagues found that treatment with MABp1, an antibody that targets interleukin 1α and exhibits antitumor activity, was associated with improvement in the composite ...
Examining the Impact of ‘Death With Dignity’ Legislation
Despite the controversy surrounding “Death With Dignity” laws, which allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients, they have a long history of majority support from Americans. According to a Gallup poll taken in 2015, nearly 7 in 10 Americans (68%) agreed that...
Discrimination in Medical Education—Another Perspective
I read with great interest Dr. Robert E. Montenegro’s comments in the The ASCO Post, January 25, 2017, where he felt “marginalized” when questioned about his country of origin or the quality of his English. As physicians, we constantly deal in a world of uncertainties and are required to address...
Acupuncture for the Management of Hot Flashes
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, authors Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present a case study...
Implications of SWOG S0777 and the Future of Combination Treatments for Multiple Myeloma
The treatment of multiple myeloma is becoming increasingly complicated. This is not only because of the complexity of the disease, but also because of the increasing number of effective combination treatments and continuous development of new drugs. This has resulted in an ever-increasing number ...
New First-Line Options for ALK-Positive Lung Cancer on the Horizon
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements define a subset of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients for whom ALK inhibitors are highly effective. In PROFILE 1014, the multitargeted ALK inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori) was shown to be superior to platinum/pemetrexed (Alimta) chemotherapy...
Markedly Improved Progression-Free Survival With First-Line Ceritinib vs Platinum Chemotherapy in ALK-Rearranged NSCLC
In the phase III ASCEND-4 trial reported in The Lancet, Jean-Charles Soria, MD, of Institut Gustave Roussy, and colleagues found that ceritinib (Zykadia) improved progression-free survival vs platinum-based chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of advanced anaplastic lymphoma kinase...
A Case of Mistaken Identity
In the February 25, 2017, issue of The ASCO Post, in the article “‘Watch-and-Wait’ Strategy Does Not Compromise Survival in Selected Patients With Rectal Cancer,” a photo labeled Maxime van der Valk, MD, was incorrect. A photo of Dr. van der Valk is shown here. Dr. van der Valk is a study...
ASCO Addresses New Policies That Threaten Access to Opioids
Since the mid-2000s, medication and illicit drug abuse in the United Sates has steadily increased, creating what has now been termed an “opioid epidemic.” In response, Congress and the Bush and Obama Administrations have launched intervention and regulatory proposals to help turn the troubling...
The Art of Medicine in the World of Evidence-Based Medicine
Christian Taverna, MD, a lymphoma specialist at the Hospital Münsterlingen in Switzerland, commented on this patient series for The ASCO Post. He noted that the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) tried to address the question of the optimal duration of rituximab (Rituxan) maintenance...
For One Hematologist, No Disease Progressions in Follicular Lymphoma With Rituximab Maintenance
Patients with follicular lymphoma are clearly living longer without disease progression, but what clinician has had no patients progress? Michael Auerbach, MD, a hematologist/oncologist in private practice in Baltimore and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University, may have these...
Plinabulin Improves Survival in Subset of Patients With Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The investigational small-molecule plinabulin yielded some interesting benefits when added to docetaxel in previously treated patients with stage III/IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in a phase II study.1 Although the benefit of the doublet was modest in the overall study population, the...
Expert Point of View: Shridar Ganesan, MD, PhD
Shridar Ganesan, MD, PhD, of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discussed the study by Cristescu et al at the 2017 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. He noted that data from many sources have shown that point mutation burden correlates with response rate to checkpoint blockade....
KEYNOTE Trial Data Suggest Features Predicting Response to Pembrolizumab
A high mutational load and the presence of a T-cell–“inflamed” environment may independently predict for treatment response to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and progression-free survival, according to a study presented by Tanguy Seiwert, MD, of the University of Chicago, at the 2017 ASCO-SITC Clinical...
Expert Point of View: Joseph Greer, PhD
“These data are consistent with other studies we have conducted in advanced lung cancer, in which we similarly found that one-third of patients believed that their metastatic lung cancer was curable. These patients ostensibly already had conversations with their oncologists about their prognosis...
Aligning Patient Expectations With Treatment Goals in the Metastatic Setting
More than one-third of men with incurable metastatic prostate cancer mistakenly believe that their cancer may be curable, according to a survey of patient expectations at an academic cancer center. “This study is part of a larger survey of treatment decision-making among men with metastatic...
Developing Better Multidisciplinary Strategies
“More than any other disease, head and neck cancer requires constant interplay between a number of different specialties,” Sandeep Samant, MD, Chief, Head and Neck Surgery, Northwestern Medicine, and Chair of the Multidisciplinary Head & Neck Symposium sponsored by the Robert H. Lurie...
Making the Case for Sentinel Node Biopsy in Early Cancers of the Oral Cavity
“The majority of patients with oral cavity cancers will undergo an unnecessary operation,” Sandeep Samant, MD, stated at a session on managing N0 neck cancer at the 2016 Lurie Cancer Center Multidisciplinary Head & Neck Symposium in Chicago.1 That operation is elective neck dissection, and it ...
Online Symptom-Management Curriculum May Improve Depression and Fatigue in Breast Cancer Survivors
With thousands of devices to track and manage health and wellness, eHealth tools are beginning to transform modern health care and research, demonstrating quantifiable improvements in patient outcomes. According to the results of a randomized controlled trial (Reimagine), breast cancer survivors...
Search Continues for Effective Way to Prevent Lymphedema in Breast Cancer Survivors
There was no difference in the incidence of lymphedema at 18 months in breast cancer patients randomized to a physical therapy intervention with education materials compared with a control.1 Although poor adherence to the intervention may have been a factor, these results, described as “very...
Expert Point of View: Manish A. Shah, MD
Manish A. Shah, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at NewYorkPresbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, commented that “the benefit seen in patients who regularly exercise is equal to or better than the benefit seen with some chemotherapy drugs,” although he cautioned that exercise in this...
Moderate Activity May Improve Overall and Progression-Free Survival in Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Patients with metastatic colon cancer who exercise may live longer, according to an analysis of the CALGB/SWOG 80405 trial presented at the 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 According to the authors, this is the first study to demonstrate an association between physical activity and...
Expert Point of View: Nancy Baxter, MD, PhD & Steven H. Lin, MD, PhD
“CALGB 80803 really helps move the field forward,” said press briefing moderator and ASCO spokesperson Nancy Baxter, MD, PhD, a surgeon from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “PET [positron-emission tomography] scans may prove to be a valuable tool to help oncologists fine-tune...
Early PET Imaging May Guide Treatment Decisions in Esophageal Cancer
In patients with resectable esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer, positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging was used to assess response to induction chemotherapy. PET nonresponders were identified after the first few cycles and were switched to an alternate regimen. This strategy greatly ...
Expert Point of View: Milind Javle, MD
Milind Javle, MD, Professor of Gastrointestinal Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, discussed the findings from the CheckMate 040 trial presented at the 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. There is a strong rationale for investigating immunotherapy in liver ...
New Antiviral Agent May Prevent Posttransplant Cytomegalovirus Infections
Patients receiving the antiviral letermovir (MK-8228, AIC246), as compared to placebo, were almost twice as likely to avoid infection with cytomegalovirus or fail for other reasons in a randomized phase III international trial presented at the 2017 BMT Tandem Meetings, the joint meeting of the...
Progress Being Made in Understanding Immunotherapy Resistance
A key challenge in advancing immunotherapies is to understand mechanisms of response and resistance. Emerging research in this area—including evidence that early on-treatment biopsies can predict response—was discussed at the 2017 ASCO-SITC (Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer) Clinical...
Novel Immunotherapeutic Vaccine Studied in Colorectal Cancer
Patients with advanced colorectal cancer mounted a robust response to an experimental vaccine and low-dose cyclophosphamide, and strong responses were associated with improvements in survival in a phase I/II clinical trial of modified vaccinia virus Ankara–5T4 (TroVax).1 Martin Scurr, PhD, of...
The Path Forward for Clinical Pathways in Oncology
The year 2016 was a memorable one for oncology. In January, President Barack Obama announced the launch of the National Cancer Moonshot initiative, spearheaded by Vice President Joe Biden, which aims to accelerate cancer research. And in December, through bipartisan Congressional support, the 21st ...
Active Surveillance Appears to Be Safe for Small Renal Masses
The prospective Delayed Intervention and Surveillance for Small Renal Masses (DISSRM) registry shows that over the intermediate term, active surveillance appears to be as safe as primary intervention for carefully selected, older, sicker patients with small renal masses.1 As the data mature,...
Expert Point of View: Ann W. Silk, MD
Ann W. Silk, MD, of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, presented the day’s highlights and commented that the study by Hellmann et al shows the utility, and, in fact, the necessity, of developing a new means of estimating outcomes for patients treated with immunotherapies....
Pembrolizumab Affords Long-Term Survival to One-Fourth of Selected Patients With NSCLC, Alternative Statistical Model Suggests
Statistical modeling of long-term survival from the KEYNOTE trials of the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)–inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) estimates that one-quarter of appropriately selected patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may attain long-term survival.1 “In...
Association of Metformin Use for Diabetes With Outcomes in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
In an analysis from the phase III ALTTO trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sonnenblick et al found that among patients receiving adjuvant therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer, those with diabetes who received metformin had better outcomes than those who did not receive...
Dexamethasone Mouthwash in Preventing Everolimus-Related Stomatitis in Women With Breast Cancer
In the phase II SWISH study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Rugo et al found that use of a dexamethasone-based mouthwash may prevent everolimus-related stomatitis in postmenopausal women receiving everolimus (Afinitor) for hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer....
Thoracic 2017: SBRT Offers Curative Option for Patients With Lung Cancer Aged 80 and Older
Patients in their 80s and 90s who have early-stage lung cancer but cannot undergo an operation can be treated safely and effectively with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), according to research presented by Cassidy et al at the 2017 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium (Abstract...
Thoracic 2017: Updated Data Confirm Benefits of Single-Fraction SBRT for NSCLC
New research led by a radiation oncologist at Roswell Park Cancer Institute indicates that less may be more when it comes to some forms of radiation therapy for cancer. In a presentation highlighted in a plenary session (Abstract 4) at the 2017 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium in San...
Belgian Study Combines BRAF and MEK Inhibition in Advanced BRAF 600–Mutant Melanoma
In a Belgian two-center phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Schreuer et al found that rechallenge with the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) showed activity in patients with BRAF V600–mutant melanoma whose disease had progressed on...
Charles B. Simone, II, MD, on NSCLC: CTCs as a Biomarker for Early Detection
Charles B. Simone, II, MD, of the University of Maryland Medical Center, discusses results from a large prospective study in locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer, which suggest that circulating tumor cells may be a promising biomarker of progressive or recurrent disease and may help guide...
Jennifer Ho, MD, on Thoracic Cancers: Reirradiation With IMPT
Jennifer Ho, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer, discusses study results on the use of intensity-modulated proton therapy, which can provide durable local control with minimal toxicity in patients who can have extended survivals; the data also suggest that higher doses may improve...
Thoracic 2017: Combination of Radiation and Immune Checkpoint Therapy Holds Potential for Lung Cancer
An emerging approach for cancer treatment seeks to combine radiation therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors to more effectively control tumors in the chest with an acceptable risk of severe treatment-related side effects. About 10% of patients in a retrospective analysis of metastatic lung...
Thoracic 2017: Proton Therapy Offers New Treatment Possibility for Recurrent Lung Cancer
A new study offers hope for patients with recurrent lung cancer, who historically have been considered ineligible for curative treatment. In the largest analysis to date of reirradiation using intensity-modulated proton therapy for lung and other thoracic tumors, more than three-fourths of patients ...
Thoracic 2017: Genetic Profile of Treatment-Resistant Lung Cancer More Variable Than Previously Thought
The genetic mutations underlying treatment resistance in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are more complex and dynamic than previously thought. Analysis of 355 biopsied tumors from patients who acquired resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, the most common form...
Thoracic 2017: Biomarker Test Shows Cancer Recurrence Months Before CT Scans
Results from a prospective clinical trial showed that a blood test looking at specific biomarkers was able to detect recurrences of lung cancer an average of 6 months before conventional imaging methods found evidence of recurrence. In the largest prospective clinical trial to date of circulating...
SGO 2017: Hospital Readmission Metrics May Not Be an Ideal Measure in Ovarian Cancer Cases
To reduce costs and improve quality of care, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has made reducing hospital readmission rates a priority, yet two research studies presented at the 2017 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer question the use...
SGO 2017: New Immunotherapy Axalimogene Filoslisbac Shows Positive Results in Cervical Cancer
A new immunotherapy drug, axalimogene filoslisbac (AXAL), showed improved survival rates for patients with cervical cancer, according to a study presented at the 2017 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. Study coauthor Charles Leath, MD, MSPH, an SGO member ...
