Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, has been elected President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for the term beginning in June 2016. He will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2015. “I'm honored to be elected incoming President of...
As more experience is gained with the use of genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the data continue to be highly encouraging. To date, 36 of 39 pediatric ALL patients (92%) treated with...
A novel mechanism—similar to how normal tissue stem cells respond to wounding—might explain why bladder cancer stem cells actively contribute to chemoresistance after multiple cycles of chemotherapy drug treatment. Targeting this “wound response” of cancer stem cells can...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved a new use for ruxolitinib (Jakafi) to treat patients with polycythemia vera, a chronic type of bone marrow disease. Ruxolitinib, a JAK inhibitor, is the first drug approved by the FDA for this condition. Polycythemia vera occurs when too...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Surgery, Fenton et al found that a sizable proportion of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) diagnoses are attributable to computer-aided detection in mammography screening in the Medicare population and that use of computer-aided detection in this...
The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) awarded the Gold Medal, the organization’s highest honor, to three individuals at the RSNA 100th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting: Gary J. Becker, MD, of Tucson; Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, of Alexandria, Virginia; and Etta D. Pisano,...
Two studies have found that bisphosphonates may be effective in preventing certain cancers—including lung, breast, and colon—by blocking abnormal growth signals passed through HER family receptors. The studies suggest that bisphosphonates, the most commonly prescribed medications for...
Available data indicate that a majority of cancer patients use complementary and alternative medicine. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lee et al found that oncologists responding to a survey on herb and supplement use did not discuss herb and supplement use with most of...
In a retrospective single-institution study reported in JAMA Surgery, Gangi et al found a low risk of breast cancer after diagnosis of ovarian cancer in women harboring BRCA mutations. The study involved 364 women who had BRCA mutation testing for stage I to IV epithelial ovarian...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Nguyen-Tan et al, long-term follow-up in the phase III Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0129 trial indicates no difference in overall survival or late toxicity with use of accelerated vs standard radiation therapy plus cisplatin in patients...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it is taking immediate steps to help reduce the risk of spreading unsuspected cancer in women being treated for uterine fibroids. In an updated safety communication, originally issued in April 2014, the FDA warned against using...
High-dose interleukin-2 can be effective in selected metastatic renal cell cancer patients pretreated with VEGF-targeted agents, according to research presented recently at the ESMO Symposium on Immuno-Oncology in Geneva (Abstract 4O). “Despite the wide and increasing range of therapies...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Wagner et al found that use of two units vs one unit of umbilical cord blood in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation did not improve 1-year overall survival in children and adolescents with hematologic cancers. Use of...
New evidence that immune checkpoint inhibitors may work in glioblastoma and brain metastases was presented today at the ESMO Symposium on Immuno-Oncology 2014 in Geneva (Abstract 1O). The novel research shows that brain metastases of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, providing an immunoactive...
As reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Mitra et al have identified a novel genomic-based signature that improves prediction of postcystectomy recurrence in patients with high-risk bladder cancer. Use of the signature could help guide selection of patients for adjuvant therapy...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pawel et al found no difference in overall survival with amrubicin vs topotecan as second-line therapy in patients with first-line sensitive or refractory small cell lung cancer. An overall survival benefit of amrubicin was observed ...
Findings from a new study show that hookah smokers and nonsmokers exposed to hookah (or waterpipe) secondhand tobacco smoke at social events in hookah lounges and in private homes had significant increases in uptake of benzene, a leukemogen that causes lymphohematopoietic cancers, especially acute...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved hydrocodone bitartrate (Hysingla ER), an extended-release opioid analgesic to treat pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment and for which alternative treatment options are inadequate. The product...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to BGB324 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). BGB324 is a first-in-class, highly selective small-molecule inhibitor of the Axl receptor tyrosine kinase. It blocks the epithelial-mesenchymal transition...
Current guidelines discourage tumor marker assessment in surveillance of nonmetastatic breast cancer. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ramsey et al found that > 40% of Medicare patients with early-stage breast cancer had at least one tumor marker assessment and that...
Scientists have found that altering members of the p53 gene family, known as tumor-suppressor genes, causes rapid regression of tumors that are deficient in or totally missing p53. Study results suggest existing diabetes drugs, which impact the same gene-protein pathway, might be effective for...
The combination of different patterns of sun exposure experienced by children and biomarkers of melanoma risk, such as the number of freckles or moles that develop as a result, may play a large role in future melanoma risk, a study investigating gene and environmental interactions has found....
In a study on use of the most common definitive therapies for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Medicare patients reported in JAMA Surgery, Shirvani et al found that lobectomy was associated with improved outcome vs sublobar resection and that stereotactic ablative radiotherapy may be of...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Iyengar et al found that stereotactic body radiation therapy plus erlotinib (Tarceva) resulted in infrequent recurrence in radiation therapy–treated sites and was associated with prolonged progression-free survival and overall...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Lucas et al found wide variation in raw hospital readmission rates after colorectal cancer surgery but little variation in readmission in risk-adjusted analysis. Thirty-day readmission rates have been reported at 10% to 14% in this setting. Study Details The...
A recent analysis of a large clinical database indicated that postdiagnosis aspirin use was associated with a 57% reduction in prostate cancer–specific mortality among men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer. In a study in a prospective cohort reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,...
The proportion of adolescent girls receiving human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines was much lower in states with higher rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) conference on The Science of Cancer Health...
In a recent study, use of solifenacin was associated with a statistically significant improvement in continence in patients who underwent robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy, although no statistically significant difference in the time to return to continence. The results of this study,...
The 20-year follow-up of the Swedish randomized SweDCIS trial, reported by Wärnberg et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, shows a continued benefit of radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in preventing ipsilateral disease. A nonsignificant...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today that there is sufficient evidence to cover lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for individuals at high risk for lung cancer. Earlier this year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force...
A review of advance care planning and end-of-life communication practices among physicians by the American College of Physicians has found that implementing early discussions about goals of care with seriously ill patients results in better quality of life, reduced use of life-sustaining treatments ...
Adding interleukin-2 to gefitinib (Iressa) therapy resulted in threefold higher response rates in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study by Bersanelli et al in Cancers. The addition of interleukin-2 enhanced the efficacy of gefitinib without negatively ...
Olaparib, an experimental twice-daily oral cancer drug, produced an overall tumor response rate of 26% in several advanced cancers associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, according to a phase II study reported by Kaufman et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The positive response provides...
There has been a dramatic increase in the use of laparoscopic colectomy for colon cancer. In a Medicare data study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Reames and colleagues found that use of laparoscopic colectomy varied from 0% to 66.8% across hospital referral regions in the United...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved ramucirumab (Cyramza) for use in combination with paclitaxel for the treatment of patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Ramucirumab was approved in April 2014 as a single agent for the treatment of...
More than 80% of breast cancer patients in the United States use complementary therapies following a breast cancer diagnosis, but there has been little science-based guidance to inform clinicians and patients about their safety and effectiveness. In newly published clinical practice guidelines...
Adjuvant radiotherapy may play a role in the management of ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma, which appears to be less prone to peritoneal dissemination than other subtypes, according to the results of a small retrospective study reported by Macrie et al in the International Journal of...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) today issued an endorsement of the American Urological Association (AUA)/American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) guideline on the use of adjuvant and salvage radiotherapy after prostatectomy, which was based on a systematic review of medical...
In patients with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast who underwent breast-conserving surgery, hypofractionated radiation therapy was not significantly associated with an increased risk of any local recurrence when compared with conventional radiation therapy, according to the study findings...
In a French analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bonastre and colleagues found that use of the 70-gene signature (MammaPrint) was unlikely to be cost-effective in deciding whether to administer adjuvant therapy in patients with node-negative breast cancer. Use of Adjuvant! Online...
The Dutch and Belgian NELSON trial is assessing the effect of increasing interval low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer on lung cancer mortality. In an analysis among screened Dutch participants reported in Lancet Oncology, Horeweg and colleagues identified screen-detected...
Biopsies were found to be the most costly tool prescribed in lung cancer diagnosis, according to research presented today at the 2014 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology (Abstract 103). The study examined the utilization rates and estimated the Medicare costs of the lung...
Patients at high-risk for developing lung cancer are more likely to receive low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening when their primary care provider is familiar with guideline recommendations for low-dose CT screening for lung cancer, according to research presented today at the 2014 Chicago...
The phase III ALSYMPCA trial showed that radium-223 (Xofigo) increased overall survival vs placebo patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic bone metastases. In a prespecified subgroup analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hoskin et al found that overall survival...
New research by the international Cancer Genomics of the Kidney consortium (CAGEKID) reveals an important connection between kidney cancer and exposure to aristolochic acid, an ingredient in some herbal remedies. The findings, published by Scelo et al in Nature Communications, have important...
Data suggest that cancer treatment puts patients at risk of cognitive impairment and that many patients exhibit impairment prior to treatment. In an observational cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ganz et al found that language and communication cognitive complaints were...
In an analysis in the CLEOPATRA trial population reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Baselga et al found that HER2 was the only biomarker suitable for use in selecting patients for first-line pertuzumab (Perjeta)/trastuzumab (Herceptin)-based treatment in patients with HER2-positive...
Using genomic sequencing data on all currently known genetic alterations in breast cancer, it is possible to identify a woman’s genetic risk for the disease, and this approach can bring greater gains in disease prevention than previously estimated, according to a study reported by Sieh et al...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Lau et al found that implementation of a multidisciplinary hepatopancreaticobiliary surgical program in a Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care region resulted in improved care and outcomes. The study involved analysis of practices and outcomes ...
Age-related loss of the Y chromosome from blood cells, a frequent occurrence among elderly men, is associated with elevated risk of various cancers and earlier death, according to research presented at the American Society of Human Genetics 2014 Annual Meeting in San Diego (Abstract 295). This...