Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes nearly all cervical cancers and is attributed to some cancers of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus, and oropharynx. Although most HPV infections are asymptomatic and usually resolve within 1 to 2 years, persistent infections can lead to precancer and cancer. According ...
City of Hope recently announced that several of its researchers and faculty have been named as the recipients of several awards and grants. These accolades recognize individuals for their work in their respective fields of human genetics education, genomic research, and leptomeningeal disease....
As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Shanafelt and colleagues recently published the interim analysis of E1912, a U.S. Intergroup–led randomized phase III trial comparing ibrutinib/rituximab, followed by ibrutinib to disease progression vs 6 months of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and...
I gave my first national presentation of my original clinical research on a topic that was to become a professional obsession: finding a cure for esophageal cancer. (Spoiler, I failed.) It was late May 1982. Writing about this now is undoubtedly predicated on my recent retirement, my desire to...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate...
Recurrent high-grade glioblastoma has a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival of 6 to 9 months. Treatment is limited, partly because immunotherapy has not yet been shown to be effective in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of this tumor. A novel treatment approach involving...
In the past few weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued regulatory decisions in prostate cancer, urothelial cancer, myelofibrosis, breast cancer, pediatric brain cancer, leukemia, and skin cancer. Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Niraparib in Metastatic...
Discussant of the LIBRETTO-001 trial, Robert Doebele, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, was enthusiastic about the response rates reported in this preliminary trial. “Older trials of multikinase inhibitors have shown response rates in the range of ...
The term “sexual and gender minorities” encompasses people whose sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or reproductive development varies from traditional, societal, cultural, or physiologic norms1 and includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. More than 3 ...
The addition of the immune checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab to standard therapy significantly improved overall survival vs standard therapy alone for patients with previously untreated extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to a preplanned interim analysis of the phase III CASPIAN...
In late August, experts from around the globe convened in Basel, Switzerland, at the 2019 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) to discuss controversial areas related to the management of advanced prostate cancer. Although the full proceedings of the conference will be published in...
Recurrent high-grade glioblastoma has a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival of 6 to 9 months. Treatment is limited, partly because immunotherapy has not yet been shown to be effective in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of this tumor. A novel treatment approach involving...
The novel FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib prolonged survival in patients with FLT3-mutated relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) across all mutation cohorts, including NPM1, DNMT3A, DNMT3A/NPM1, and WT1, with the greatest benefit seen in patients with NPM1 and DNMT3A co-mutations,...
ASCO’s global vision is, “A world where cancer is prevented or cured, and every survivor is healthy.” In its work toward achieving this vision, the Society offers a robust portfolio of programs that are continually expanding around the world that improve access to quality cancer care, support...
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001*, on the World Trade Center in New York City resulted in the deaths of more than 2,700 people.1 Nearly 2 decades later, that number may soon be exceeded by the more than 2,000 deaths—and climbing—of first responders to the attack, including firefighters,...
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane….” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Progress has been made in expanding access to health care for low-income populations, but the quality of care still lags behind and can result in less successful outcomes...
In the early fall of 2015, my daughter and I were on our way to our favorite nail salon to get picture-perfect ready for a gala later that evening at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, when I got a call from my gynecologist saying I had “flunked my Pap test.” The Pap smear showed...
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,...
OCE Insights is a periodic column developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this first installment, Vishal Bhatnagar, MD, Acting Associate Director of Patient Outcomes; Bellinda King-Kallimanis, PhD, Senior...
Findings from a recent SWOG study could cast doubt on the generalizability of treatment effects observed in positive clinical trials, especially among underinsured patients. According to data presented at the 2019 ASCO Quality Care Symposium,1 patients with Medicaid or no insurance had no observed...
Today, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2019, which highlights how research largely supported by federal investments in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is spurring improvements in public health and innovations across the spectrum...
In the POLO trial, which is discussed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Golan and colleagues evaluated the potential benefit of maintenance olaparib after disease stability or response to a minimum of 4 months of platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and a...
Findings from the randomized phase III NRG Oncology/RTOG 9601 trial were initially reported in 2017, and showed that the addition of 2 years of antiandrogen therapy to postsurgical radiation treatment for men with recurrent prostate cancer increased their long-term overall survival rate. That study ...
Following the closure of nearly 100 women’s health clinics across the United States from 2010 to 2013, fewer women were screened for cervical cancer; more women were diagnosed with advanced stages of the disease; and disease mortality rates rose. Findings from a new analysis combining several...
The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) used the platform of the 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) to call attention to the importance of tobacco cessation after cancer diagnosis and urged all physicians to screen patients with cancer for tobacco use and...
The emergence of online technologies over the past few decades has fundamentally changed the way society communicates and shares information. This sea change has also had profound influence on the practice of medicine, from real-time information-sharing among colleagues, to having instant access...
Over the past few decades, our understanding of transplant immunology has moved from basic allograft rejection to the current molecular level that offers life-saving treatments for patients with cancer. The scientific elegance of this remarkable therapy’s arc from experimental to standard of care...
Imagine undergoing major surgery in a grimy operating room without any form of antisepsis. That was the grim reality in the 1800s, when the ruling theory was that damage from “bad air” was responsible for infections in surgical wounds. Hospitals simply aired out the surgical wards at midday to...
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,...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Tatiana M. Prowell, MD, who currently serves as Associate Professor of Oncology in the Breast Cancer Program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and as a Medical Officer and...
Karen M. Winkfield, MD, PhD, has made patient advocacy—with a specific emphasis on health equity and access to high-quality care—front and center of her oncology practice since she completed her residency at the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program in Boston, where she noticed that most of the...
In a clinical trial testing the toxicity of a KRAS inhibitor, the treatment demonstrated early promising antitumor activity and few adverse side effects in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring a KRAS G12C mutation. The research was presented by Govindan et al at the...
Women who experienced six or more symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in life had a twofold greater risk of developing ovarian cancer compared with women who never experienced any PTSD symptoms. These findings were published by Roberts et al in Cancer Research. The...
Early intervention in smoldering multiple myeloma prevents progression to symptomatic disease and should be strongly considered for patients meeting new criteria for high risk, according to Sagar Lonial, MD, Professor and Chair of Hematology and Medical Oncology and the Anne and Bernard Gray...
When The ASCO Post asked physician-scientist Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, where she was from, she answered, “North America.” Actually, she was born in Canada, but her father worked for a large international company, so the family moved regularly through Canada, the United States, and Mexico. “I...
A growing number of middle and high school students are being exposed to secondhand aerosols from electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by living with or being around individuals who are vaping, according to data from a national survey. Such exposure increased rapidly in 2018 compared to the years...
There were numerous notable presentations at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, many of which were covered in The ASCO Post over the past few months. To add to our continued coverage of this meeting, here are some highlights from studies focusing on novel therapeutics in renal cell carcinoma ...
Black men suffer disproportionately from prostate cancer, both in terms of incidence and mortality, compared with their white counterparts. However, a newer study conducted by investigators at the University of California, San Francisco, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, found that black...
At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, and simultaneously in The New England Journal of Medicine, we heard the third paper reporting results from TAILORx.1,2 The first, in 2015,3 indicated that women with node-negative breast cancers with Oncotype DX recurrence scores less than 11 did extremely well...
There were numerous notable presentations at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, many of which were covered in The ASCO Post over the past few months. To add to our continued coverage of this meeting, here are some highlights from studies focusing on novel therapeutics in renal cell carcinoma ...
In the wake of the opioid crisis in the United States, patients with cancer pain are often undeservedly confronted with rigid barriers to receiving the opioids they need. To compound this problem, the research around opioids in cancer pain has been limited—placebo-controlled trials are lacking,...
You don’t have to be a geriatrician to properly evaluate and manage older patients with cancer. The wave of older patients with cancer predicted over 30 years ago is now fully upon us. The oncology community finds itself ill-prepared to manage the increased number of older patients. It is not just...
Researchers have developed the largest descriptive genomic analysis of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma to date. Their analysis, published by Knepper et al in Clinical Cancer Research, will provide important information to improve the care and treatment of patients with Merkel cell...
In an extensive data mining analysis of British medical records, researchers found that taking even a single course of antibiotics might boost—albeit slightly—the risk of developing colon cancer, but not rectal cancer, a decade later. The findings, reported by Zhang et al in Gut,...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Gilberto de Lima...
Physicians should attempt to maintain full doses of chemotherapy, especially early in the course of treatment, for patients with intermediate- or high-risk breast cancer, according to research published by Veitch et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The...
The staff of The ASCO Post were sad to learn of the passing of Michael D. Becker on July 9, 2019. When Michael was diagnosed with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal cancer in 2015, he made the decision to go public with his diagnosis to raise awareness of the importance of having...
Since the 1970s, there has been an alarming increase in obesity. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese. Excess body weight is linked to numerous diseases, including more than 14 types of cancers. ...
In medical school, I learned a five-step model on how to deliver bad news to a patient. I still fall back on this method, time and again, in my primary care clinic; I have even used it when giving really tough feedback to a learner who is struggling in some aspect of performance. But I honestly...
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), whose founding mission was to standardize the anatomic staging of cancer based on the size of a tumor and any spread to nearby tissue (T); the spread of the cancer to nearby lymph nodes (N); and...