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Showing 10351 - 10400The Evolving Role of Surgery in Germ Cell Tumors
Over the past several decades, the role of postchemotherapy surgery for advanced testicular cancer has evolved with regard to patient selection, surgical planning, lymph node dissection, and surgical technique. To add clarity to this complex clinical setting, The ASCO Post recently spoke with...
Enzalutamide and the Landscape of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Integrating New Indications With Existing Agents
The androgen receptor axis is a validated target for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Several perturbations in this pathway are postulated to lead to androgen-independent growth, including androgen receptor mutation and amplification as well as the autocrine production of...
PREVAIL Trial: Enzalutamide Before Chemotherapy Prolongs Survival in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
The androgen-receptor inhibitor enzalutamide (Xtandi) has been shown to prolong survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with progressive disease after chemotherapy. In the phase III PREVAIL trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tomasz M. Beer, MD, of...
EGFR as a Therapeutic Target for Gastroesophageal Cancer—or Is It Really?
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene is often amplified and its protein overexpressed in upper gastrointestinal cancers—and overexpression has prognostic value. With the advent of monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors against EGFR, we have witnessed a rash of randomized...
Supportive Care in Pediatric Patients With Cancer: Recent Developments in Treating Febrile Neutropenia
Recent developments in supportive care for children with cancer can be broken down into three categories: doing the simple things well, applying evidence-based medicine to daily practice, and extending the benefits to everyone, according to Scott C. Howard, MD, of St. Jude Children’s Research...
NEPA for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: Key Endpoints and Additional Analyses Show Strong Efficacy
For the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, NEPA, a novel combination of a neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor antagonist and the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist palonosetron (Aloxi), has been studied in three pivotal trials that were recently published in the Annals of Oncology.1-3 Further...
Mucositis Remains a Challenge in Head and Neck Cancer
Chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer requires intensive supportive care by a knowledgeable and proactive multidisciplinary team, according to Avraham Eisbruch, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “Aggressive chemoradiotherapy has improved the cure...
Tackling the Heterogeneity of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Triple-negative breast cancer is now recognized as a very complex subtype for which one treatment will not be applicable to all, according to Mohammad Jahanzeb, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Miami and Director of the UM Sylvester Deerfield Campus, who gave an update on...
Rational Strategies Are Advancing Combination Lymphoma Therapies
Rational strategies informed by knowledge of a drug’s molecular mechanisms are helping to bring new combinations of lymphoma therapies to the clinic, according to Anas Younes, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The Challenge of Too Many Drugs...
Precision Medicine: Precisely Where Are We Really?
Having attended ASCO Annual Meetings for almost 40 years, I believe that this year’s 50th anniversary celebration was one of the best ever. In many of the presentations and discussions, I experienced a sense of reality about the true state of cancer management that in previous years has sometimes...
New Research Presented in Wilms Tumor, Pediatric Sarcoma, Head and Neck Cancer, and Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
In the past few months, numerous presentations from this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting have been covered in depth in the pages of The ASCO Post and online at ASCOPost.com. The brief summaries below capture additional important highlights that have not been covered thus far. We hope you will find them...
Mixed Results for Targeting MET in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Two different abstracts explored the potential for MET as a therapeutic target in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with different results. A phase III study found that onartuzumab, an antibody that targets the MET receptor, combined with erlotinib (Tarceva) was not as...
Studies Assess Response to Platinum Therapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Studies in triple-negative breast cancer presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting sought to determine predictors of response to platinum agents. One identified a subset of responders to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but prediction proved more elusive in metastatic disease. Neoadjuvant Carboplatin The...
Anti–PD-1 Agent Shows Activity in Renal Cell Carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma can be added to the growing list of tumors that respond to programmed death (PD)-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to the results of the CheckMate trials, presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting. The phase II CheckMate-010 trial evaluated three doses of nivolumab as a ...
Who Will Care for Patients With Cancer?
The workforce numbers show a disturbing trend. According to a recent study by ASCO, by 2025, overall demand for oncology services is projected to grow by 40%, but physician supply is predicted to increase by only 25%, generating a shortage of 2,258 oncologists providing full-time equivalent...
Does the United States Have the Best Health-Care System in the World?
Many concerns were raised and dire speculations predicted during the further implementation of the Affordable Care Act this year. So far, the trickling news is good: An estimated total of 20 million people gained coverage under the new law as of May 1,1 about 6 million enrolled in the law’s...
Recent FDA Drug Approvals Foster Growing Treatment Armamentarium for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Rare B-Cell Lymphomas
Recent approvals announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have led to increased treatment options for managing several difficult-to-treat hematologic B-cell cancers. The newly approved drugs and/or their indications include the oral PI3K delta inhibitor idelalisib (Zydelig) for the...
Jesse L. Steinfeld, MD, Past Surgeon General, ASCO President, Dies at 87
The 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health started a culture change in the way Americans viewed tobacco and their health, and has saved countless million of lives. But the 1964 Report remained scientifically ambiguous on certain vital issues, such as the effect smoking had on the...
NIH Announces Launch of Precision Medicine Trials in Early-Stage Lung Cancer
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced the launch of the Adjuvant Lung Cancer Enrichment Marker Identification and Sequencing Trials, or ALCHEMIST. The purpose of the trial, which has three components, is to identify patients with early-stage lung cancer whose tumors harbor...
Survival Benefit of Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy Less Than 1% at 20 Years, but Numbers of Procedures Have Increased
For women with stage I and II breast cancer without BRCA mutations, the absolute 20-year survival benefit from contralateral prophylactic mastectomy was less than 1%, regardless of age, estrogen receptor status, and cancer stage, according to a decision analysis study using a Markov model to...
Cancer Has Given Me Courage
In 1986, I was pregnant with my third child and excited to be interviewing for a job on the assembly line at a General Motors plant near my home in Brodhead, Wisconsin. Hiring requirements included a physical examination and a chest x-ray, which was done by my obstetrician to avoid any radiation...
NIH Awards Two New Grants to Explore the Understanding of Genomics Research in Africa
Two grants totaling more than $300,000 will support studies on genomic literacy among Africans as it relates to research conducted in Africa by African investigators. The 3-year grants are part of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) program, funded by the National Institutes of...
Ongoing Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Kidney Cancer
The information in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with kidney cancer. The list includes a pilot study and observational, randomized, and nonrandomized phase II and phase III studies evaluating new therapies, combination therapies,...
How Pharmaceutical Companies Are Partnering With Patient Advocates to Ensure Access to Oncology Care
Thomas P. Sellers, MPA, has been a tireless advocate for patients’ rights for more than 20 years. A 15-year prostate cancer survivor and only child, Mr. Sellers said it was his mother’s death from lung cancer when she was 51, followed by the death of his father from glioblastoma multiforme that led ...
Identifying Impending Death Helps Patients and Caregivers
Significant weight loss, cachexia, and being bedbound signal that a cancer patient is dying. However, identifying the specific signs that give physicians the ability to predict death is not well described in the literature. To better understand why predicting death is an important part of the care...
ASTRO Awards $35,500 in Individual Grants to 43 Researchers
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected 43 recipients to receive a total of $35,500 for the 2014 Annual Meeting Abstract Awards. The awardees will be recognized at ASTRO’s 56th Annual Meeting. ASTRO’s 56th Annual Meeting, takes place San Francisco’s Moscone Center,...
Program Offers Unique Intervention for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia
If Anand P. Jillella, MD, has his way, no future patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) will experience a delay in treatment or lack for an expert consult—and few, if any, will die of this condition. Mortality from APL is much higher than most oncologists think, especially during the first ...
Failure of IGF-1R Inhibitor Figitumumab in Advanced Nonadenocarcinoma Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The vast majority of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients present with advanced disease, and many will develop metastases after primary curative therapy. Until recently, despite its low efficacy, chemotherapy remained the only treatment modality in metastatic NSCLC. Within the past decade,...
A World Free From the Fear of Cancer—Is It Possible?
By every definition, ASCO’s 50th Annual Meeting was a huge success. The halls were buzzing as nearly 35,000 attendees shared excitement about cancer research. This was a banner year for federally funded clinical trials—all four of the abstracts selected for ASCO’s Plenary Session were backed by...
#WeConquerCancer: Creative Fundraisers From Committed Conquerors
Conquer Cancer Foundation donors are a consistently creative bunch when it comes to encouraging others to help conquer cancer: Tyler invited his friends and family to a charity spin class; elementary school students in Malibu, California, sold bracelets in honor of their principal; Steve competed...
The Role of Integrated Palliative Care in Radiation Oncology
Three years ago, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, launched a Supportive and Palliative Radiation Oncology (SPRO) program to integrate generalist palliative oncology services, including the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual aspects of care, into radiation...
Protocol Modifications Decrease Toxicity, Increase Event-Free Survival in Children With Down Syndrome Treated for ALL
Protocol modifications to address increased risk of toxicity and excess early mortality among children with Down syndrome being treated for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) proved safe for patients with Down syndrome, and these patients had event-free survival similar to those without Down ...
Bortezomib Retreatment in Multiple Myeloma
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On August 8, 2014, the approved use of bortezomib (Velcade) in...
FDA Approves Bortezomib Retreatment in Patients With Multiple Myeloma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved bortezomib (Velcade) for the retreatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who had previously responded to bortezomib therapy and relapsed at least 6 months following completion of prior bortezomib treatment. The labeling update includes...
FDA Grants Fast Track Designation to Novel JAK2 Inhibitor for the Treatment of Myelofibrosis
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track designation to pacritinib for the treatment of intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis, including patients with disease-related thrombocytopenia on other JAK2 therapy or patients who are intolerant to or whose symptoms are suboptimally...
Systematic Model Identifies Factors Associated With Adherence in Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial
Healthy men participating in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial who actively participate in all steps of the clinical trial are most likely to undergo an end-of-study biopsy, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.1 The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial...
Understanding the Impact of Results From CALGB/ SWOG 80405 and Other New Data in Colorectal Cancer
The Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB)/Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 80405 trial, presented during the Plenary Session at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting, demonstrated that cetuximab (Erbitux) and bevacizumab (Avastin) confer similar benefits as first-line treatment with chemotherapy for KRAS...
Charles LeMaistre, MD, and Hans Mark, PhD, Named Chancellors Emeritus by the University of Texas System Board of Regents
Two former Chancellors, Charles LeMaistre, MD, and Hans Mark, PhD, were recently given the honorific title Chancellors Emeritus by the University of Texas System Board of Regents. “Charles LeMaistre and Hans Mark were visionary chancellors who expanded the UT System into new directions that...
Emerging Approaches in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
With the emergence of molecular diagnostics and new therapeutics, the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is entering a new era. Hugo F. Fernandez, MD, Associate Chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, spoke with The ASCO Post about how he...
Treating Multiple Myeloma in 2014
The field of multiple myeloma is rapidly changing, and the shifts that are occurring impact the management of these patients, from initial diagnosis through multiple relapses. At the 9th Annual New Orleans Summer Cancer Meeting, Sergio A. Giralt, MD, Chief of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant...
Targeting KRAS Mutations in Lung Cancer: No Longer Impossible
The KRAS mutation has long been considered “undruggable,” but new approaches in drug development may change this. The end result could be effective new treatment options for KRAS-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to David R. Gandara, MD, who described the emerging findings at...
Jury Still Out on Interim PET for Response-Adapted Therapy in Hodgkin Lymphoma
Interim positron-emission tomography (PET) scans provide good prognostic information in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, but more research is needed to determine whether patients benefit when the findings are used to alter treatment, according to Oliver Press, MD, PhD, Professor at the University of ...
Expert Point of View: Richard L. Schilsky, MD
Information on the drivers of cancer care is important in helping to deliver higher-quality and potentially less costly cancer treatments, noted Richard L. Schilsky, MD, ASCO’s Chief Medical Officer, in a commentary accompanying the study by Dotan et al.1 Moreover, practice change can be a complex ...
Oncology Practice: What Are the Factors Driving Change?
Clinical practice changes in response to new medical evidence, but not always immediately or all at once. So what else determines whether and how quickly practice changes in response to evidence, for instance, that a widely used drug is effective only in patients with a certain biomarker? In a new...
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy an Effective Option for Early-Stage Lung Cancer Patients
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is safe and effective in early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as it confers local control in 90% or more patients with T1 disease, according to Roy Decker, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale Cancer...
How Evolutionary Game Theory Is Offering Clues to Disrupt Cancer Cell Metabolism
Kenneth J. Pienta, MD, and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore are using the principles of evolutionary game theory to learn how cancer cells cooperate within a tumor to gather energy and metastasize. Game theory, the mathematic study of strategic decision-making that is commonly...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Launches Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy Programs for Terminally Ill Patients, Cancer Survivors, and Caregivers
Although most major cancer centers in the United States offer support groups and individual counseling sessions to help patients with cancer cope with their disease and treatment, over the past decade Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York has broadened its psycho-oncology programs to...
Allogeneic Conditioning Regimen Reduces Myelosuppression, Graft-vs-Host Disease in Lymphocytic Leukemia/Lymphoma
The combination of bendamustine (Treanda), fludarabine, and rituximab (Rituxan), or BFR, was shown to be safe and effective conditioning for patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia/lymphoma receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation from related or unrelated donors. “Remarkably,...
Substantial Reductions in Surgical Site Infections After Colorectal Surgery With Bundling Approach
Use of a preventive surgical site infection bundle that spanned the phases or perioperative care “was associated with a substantial reduction in [surgical site infections] after colorectal surgery,” according to results of a retrospective study of 559 patients who underwent major elective...
Most Women Who Choose Breast Reconstruction Are Satisfied With Decision-Making Process
Most patients who choose to have breast reconstruction following mastectomy are satisfied with the decision-making process. Reasons for not choosing reconstruction vary by race and include the desire to avoid additional surgery and fear of implants. These and other conclusions of an analysis of...
