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Showing 1051 - 1100Using Machine Learning to Prompt Serious Illness Conversations
Despite research showing that among patients with cancer, early advance care planning conversations lead to care that is in alliance with patients’ goals and wishes, especially at the end of life,1 most patients die without having discussions about their treatment goals and end-of-life preferences ...
Bispecific Antibody Shows Activity in Post–CAR T-Cell Therapy for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Mosunetuzumab, an investigational bispecific antibody, demonstrated activity in preliminary studies of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), including those who are refractory to or relapsed after third-line chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. With further study, mosunetuzumab,...
States With Highest Rates of Cutaneous Melanoma Due to Ultraviolet Exposure
A new study found a wide state-by-state variation in rates of melanoma caused by ultraviolet (UV) exposure, with highest rates in several states on the east and west coasts (including Hawaii), but also a few landlocked states (including Utah, Vermont, and Minnesota). The report, published by Islami ...
ASCO/CCO Update Guideline for Selecting Systemic Treatment in Stage IV NSCLC Without Driver Mutations
ASCO and Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) have published an update to a joint guideline on systemic therapy for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without driver mutations.1 “The treatment of stage IV NSCLC has become increasingly more complicated, and, with the advent of immunotherapy and the...
Overcoming Barriers to Alleviating Cancer-Related Pain in Ethiopia
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 70% of deaths from cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries, where late-stage presentation and inaccessibility to diagnosis and treatment are common.1 In the sub-Saharan African country of Ethiopia, cancer is becoming an...
Genetic Mutations in Donor Stem Cells May Affect Hematopoietic Transplant Recipients
A new study on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that extremely rare, harmful genetic mutations present in healthy donors’ stem cells—though not causing health problems in the donors—may be passed on to patients with cancer...
Expert Point of View: Michael Jain, MD, PhD
Michael Jain, MD, PhD, Assistant Member in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, commented on Dr. Kilgore’s findings. Dr. Jain was coauthor of a study by the U.S. Lymphoma CAR T Consortium that presented real-world data...
Denial’s Many Faces
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Doctoring in the Digital Age: Modern Stressors, Ancient Strategies to Cope
In my 45 years of practicing hematology/oncology at a major urban academic medical center, I have observed a sea change in daily practice that contributes to physician burnout. Although the emotional stresses of caring for seriously ill people play a part in physician burnout, I find the daily...
A Retired Oncologist Remains Involved in the Science and Policy of Oncology
The history of medicine once was featured in medical school curricula. That is becoming less common due to time restriction and the increased prevalence of more technical topics. However, the importance of the history of medicine cannot be overstated: It shapes every aspect of our cultural,...
Novel Guideline Addresses the Clinical Utility of Molecular Biomarkers in Localized Prostate Cancer
In men, prostate cancer has the highest incidence of any neoplasm and is the second-leading cause of cancer-related mortality. A plethora of tissue-based biomarkers are available to inform the diagnosis and prognosis for men with newly diagnosed, clinically localized prostate cancer. However, to...
Gabrielle Rocque, MD, MSPH, Followed Three Generations of Doctors Into a Career in Medicine
In 2017, breast cancer expert Gabrielle Rocque, MD, MSPH, received an American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant for her work in enhancing shared decision-making for patients with advanced breast cancer. “I come from three generations of physicians,” shared Dr. Rocque. “My father (Dr. ...
How Real-World Data Can Help Contextualize New Treatments in Older Patients
Consider a patient who is referred for neoadjuvant therapy for stage IIIA, HER2-positive breast cancer. She is otherwise healthy, with no significant medical history, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0, unremarkable baseline labs, and a left-ventricular ejection fraction...
Few Patients Enroll in Clinical Trials of First-Line Therapies
Patient enrollment in clinical trials as the first course of treatment after cancer diagnosis is low, despite the fact that enrollment may increase life expectancy, according to research published by Zaorsky et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Researchers also found ...
CMS Expands Coverage of Next-Generation Sequencing for Patients With Breast or Ovarian Cancer
On January 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took action to cover U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved or –cleared laboratory diagnostic tests using next-generation sequencing (NGS) for patients with germline ovarian or breast cancer. Over the last several years, CMS ...
Study Reports Similar Efficacy but No Less Toxicity With Adjuvant T-DM1 vs Taxane/Trastuzumab in Early Breast Cancer
The antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) failed to show improved safety when compared with paclitaxel plus trastuzumab as adjuvant therapy in patients with stage 1 HER2-positive breast cancer. These results of the randomized, phase II ATEMPT trial were presented at the 2019 San ...
Largest Single-Year Drop in Cancer Mortality Ever Reported: 2016–2017
The cancer death rate declined by 29% from 1991 to 2017, including a 2.2% drop from 2016 to 2017—the largest single-year drop in cancer mortality ever reported. These findings were reported in “Cancer Statistics, 2020,” the latest edition of the American Cancer Society’s annual report on cancer...
A Deeper Understanding of the Miracle of the Human Body
Despite millennia of anatomic and biomedical search and discovery, there are parts and functions of the human body that remain a mystery. For years, medical students were taught that there are 78 organs in the human body. In February 2017, that number was revised, with the announcement of a new...
A Caregiver’s Tale of Struggle and Lingering Questions
The role of caregiver in the cancer scenario is complicated by various emotions and circumstances beyond the control of the caregiver and the person with cancer. Caregiver stress occurs when there isn’t the time to do all that’s asked or expected of one. Caregiver stress evolves into burnout when...
Seven Haircuts
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Cancer No Longer Scares Me
Cancer was a disease I feared until 3 years ago, when I was diagnosed with gastric cancer. After receiving the diagnosis, I knew I didn’t have any time to indulge in fear; I had to take action if I was going to survive. In hindsight, symptoms of the cancer, including some fatigue and indigestion,...
Radiation Oncologist Felix Y. Feng, MD, Strives for Balance Between Work and Family Life
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Felix Y. Feng, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology, Urology, and Medicine; George and Judy Marcus Distinguished Professor; Vice Chair of Translational Research in the Department of Radiation...
Transplantation Specialist Karen Ballen, MD, Treasures Long-Term Connections With Her Patients
Karen Ballen, MD, an international expert in stem cell transplantation, particularly for patients who have a difficult time finding a donor, was born and reared in the Bronx in a family that encouraged academic and professional pursuits. “My grandfather was an old-fashioned pediatrician who made...
Patient Access to High-Quality Oncologic Pathology Improves Care
Accurate and timely diagnoses are critical components for developing treatment plans for patients with cancer and also for informing prognosis and assessment of responses. Pathologists are an essential part of the oncology team because they have specialized knowledge that helps inform diagnostic...
Step Counts May Help Predict Treatment Outcomes for Patients With NSCLC
A new study suggests step counters could play a role in predicting outcomes for people undergoing chemoradiation therapy for lung cancer. These findings were published by Ohri et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. “I consider step counts to be a new vital...
Largest Single-Year Drop in Cancer Mortality Reported in ‘Cancer Statistics, 2020’
The cancer death rate declined by 29% from 1991 to 2017, including a 2.2% drop from 2016 to 2017—the largest single-year drop in cancer mortality ever reported. These findings were reported in “Cancer Statistics, 2020,” the latest edition of the American Cancer Society’s annual report on cancer...
Is Pembrolizumab Active in Pediatric Patients With PD-L1–Positive Advanced Solid Tumors or Lymphoma?
Interim analysis of the phase I/II KEYNOTE-051 trial, reported in The Lancet Oncology by Geoerger et al, indicated minimal activity of pembrolizumab in pediatric patients with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive advanced, relapsed, or refractory solid tumors; however, activity was...
Final Answers
Emily Johnston, MD, MS, thinks about death a lot. “I wish we would stop saying people ‘lost a battle’ with cancer when someone dies,” she said. Dr. Johnston specializes in pediatric oncology at Children’s of Alabama hospital. Conquering cancer, she believes, doesn’t simply mean surviving it—it...
My Dream Is That Multiple Myeloma Will One Day Be in My Past and No Longer a Part of My Future
A year before my diagnosis of multiple myeloma, in 2010, my husband Paul and I moved with our six children to Monterrey, Mexico, where Paul was helping to create a venture capital industry. We were so busy settling into a new country and getting our children integrated into school that when I...
Selected Abstracts From the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). For full details of these...
The WHO Classification of Tumors of Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Syed Ali Abutalib, MD, and L. Jeffrey Medeiros, MD, explore the updated World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid ...
Coexisting With Cancer and Depression
Among the highlights at the 2019 Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium in October was the keynote address by Thomas J. Smith, MD, FACP, FASCO, FAAHPM, the Harry J. Duffey Family Professor of Palliative Medicine and Director of Palliative Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Professor of Oncology ...
ESMO Immuno-Oncology 2019: Safety Analysis Results for First-Line Durvalumab Plus Platinum/Etoposide in Extensive-Stage SCLC
Few grade 3 or higher immune-related adverse events were observed in patients treated with first-line durvalumab plus platinum/etoposide for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to findings from the safety analysis of the phase III CASPIAN study presented by Özgüroğlu et al at...
ASTRO Issues Clinical Guideline on Radiation Therapy for Basal Cell and Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinomas
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides recommendations on the use of radiation therapy to treat patients diagnosed with the most common types of skin cancers. The guideline details when radiation treatments are appropriate as stand-alone therapy...
Immunotherapy for Head/Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Questions Raised by KEYNOTE-048
There is a new first-line treatment option for patients with newly diagnosed, recurrent, or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. As reported by Burtness et al in The Lancet, pembrolizumab improved overall survival vs the standard-of-care regimen of cetuximab and platinum-based...
Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, on HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: ATEMPT Trial on T-DM1 vs Paclitaxel Plus Trastuzumab
Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses phase II findings on patients receiving T-DM1 monotherapy as adjuvant treatment for stage I HER2-positive breast cancer, a regimen associated with few recurrences in the study population (Abstract GS1-05).
SABCS 2019: IBIS-II Study Finds Long-Term Preventive Benefit With Anastrozole Among Postmenopausal Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer
A 10-year median follow-up analysis of the IBIS-II trial on the efficacy and safety of the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole for healthy postmenopausal women at increased risk of developing breast cancer has found that the therapy reduced the likelihood of breast cancer incidence by 50% and had few...
Having Cancer Should Not Make You Homeless
In the spring of 2005, I was launching a new career as a sales consultant for a startup graphics company and wanted to cross off a few essential things on my to-do list, including getting my annual mammogram and physical, before I started my new job. Although I was surprised when I got a call from ...
Working to Improve Survival Rates in Pancreatic Cancer
Although pancreatic cancer survival rates have slowly improved over the past few decades for all stages of pancreatic cancer combined, the 1-year rate is 20%, and the 5-year rate is about 9%. There is no single diagnostic test to detect pancreatic cancer, and less than 20% of tumors are confined to ...
The Light at the End of the Tunnel in Urothelial Cancer Is Not a Train: Enfortumab Vedotin and Other Developments
There is an urgent need to develop new drugs for the treatment of urothelial cancer. Chemotherapy was the only approved treatment in advanced disease for 40 years, which was associated with response rates of between 30% and 50% in the front-line setting.1-3 However, durable remissions were...
I Do Not Have a Multiple Myeloma Precursor Condition. Why Not?
For the country, and for me personally, 2001 was a watershed year. In May, my mother died; the following month my brother, Dom, then 57, called to tell me he had just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Except for some fatigue Dom had complained about at our mother’s funeral, there were no...
Trastuzumab Biosimilar HLX02 Shows Activity in HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
The trastuzumab biosimilar HLX02—manufactured in China—achieved a similar overall response rate to reference trastuzumab in women with HER2-positive recurrent or previously untreated metastatic breast cancer, according to a large, randomized phase III study. Binghe Xu, MD, PhD, of the Department of ...
ASH 2019: Should African American Patients With AML and Evidence of Abnormal Kidney Function Be Enrolled Into Clinical Trials?
A study of more than 1,000 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) revealed that African Americans were more likely to have evidence of abnormal kidney functioning than whites, but this was not associated with any difference in overall survival. The findings, presented by Statler et al at the...
ClarIDHy and FIGHT-202 Trials Show Positive Results in the Treatment of Patients With Biliary Tract Cancer
Two studies reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2019—ClarIDHy and FIGHT-202—demonstrated clinical benefits with novel molecularly targeted agents in the treatment of advanced cholangiocarcinoma. Currently, first-line treatment for locally advanced or metastatic...
ASH 2019: Early Data Signal Potential for Bispecific Antibody in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
The investigational bispecific antibody mosunetuzumab is showing activity in preliminary studies of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), including those who are refractory to or relapsed after third-line chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. If preliminary findings are validated by...
Promising New Treatments for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Immunotherapy and Other Targeted Therapies
Clinical trials continue to demonstrate that combining immunotherapy with chemotherapy and other targeted therapies can improve survival for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to results presented at the 21st Annual Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium in Chicago. Nearly 700...
RSNA 2019: High-Dose Brachytherapy for Older Patients With Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer
High-dose brachytherapy for elderly patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer produces excellent cure rates and cosmetic outcomes, according to a new study presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) (Abstract SSM24-02). “For elderly patients [with...
Checkpoint Inhibitor Pneumonitis: A Pulmonologist’s Perspective
Oncologists have become accustomed to seeing pneumonitis associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), requiring intervention by pulmonologists in the management of severe cases. At CHEST 2019, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest...
Immunotherapy Strategies in Renal Cell Carcinoma: Present and Future
Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors is now considered a standard of care for the front-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma. Despite better outcomes with these agents, there is still room for improvement. At the 2019 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, Robert J. Motzer, MD, of...
Assessing Cancer Pain Management in the Era of the Opioid Epidemic
A vast majority of patients with cancer receiving opioids for the management of pain will adhere to the opioids as prescribed and will have no major difficulties with dose reduction and even treatment discontinuation if the pain syndrome resolves. However, about 20% of patients with cancer are at...
