ASCO has launched a new wiki site to engage the cancer community in its clinical practice guideline development process. The new site will provide oncologists, practitioners, and patients with an opportunity to provide feedback or submit evidence on individual published guidelines. “Cancer...
Subcutaneous trastuzumab (not available in the United States) has been shown to have noninferior efficacy and similar pharmacokinetic and safety profiles compared with intravenous trastuzumab (Herceptin) in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. In the PrefHer trial reported in...
A study by Alexi Wright, MD, MPH, and colleagues at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston has found that two common subtypes of cervical cancer, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, have distinct molecular profiles. The results suggest that clinical...
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today released its final recommendation statement on primary care interventions to prevent tobacco use in children and adolescents. The Task Force recommends that primary care clinicians provide interventions, including education or brief...
Ceptaris Therapeutics, Inc, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted marketing approval for the orphan drug mechlorethamine gel (Valchlor) for the topical treatment of stage IA and IB mycosis fungoides-type cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) in patients who...
Despite a relatively high rate of depression among patients with head and neck cancer following radiation therapy, mental health services were severely underutilized in this group, concluded researchers who analyzed questionnaire results from 211 patients. The patients had been previously treated...
It is estimated that 30% to 90% of cancer patients experience impairment of sleep quality post-treatment and such impairment can be severe enough to increase morbidity and mortality. Preliminary evidence indicates that yoga may improve sleep in cancer patients. In a study reported in the Journal of ...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, suggest secondary cancers seen in melanoma patients who are being treated for a BRAF gene mutation may require new strategies, such as enhanced surveillance and combining BRAF-inhibitor therapy with other inhibitors, especially as they become...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Hannah Arem, MHS, PhD, of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues analyzed the association between quality of diet according to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans—Healthy Eating Index 2005...
Indoor tanning, defined as using a tanning booth, sun bed, or sunlamp, is common among non-Hispanic white female high school students and young adults, despite risks of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, according to Gery P. Guy, Jr, PhD, MPH, and colleagues of the Centers for Disease...
A drug recently approved for use in multiple myeloma is now being tested for its ability to fight central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma, a deadly cancer of the immune system that can affect the brain, spinal cord and fluid, and eyes. The clinical trial, now open at the three campuses of Mayo Clinic ...
Anthracycline- and taxane-based three-drug chemotherapy regimens have proven benefit as adjuvant therapy for early-stage breast cancer. As reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, of Washington Cancer Institute–MedStar Washington Hospital Center, and colleagues,...
In a phase III study (REGAL trial) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tracy T. Batchelor, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues compared oral monotherapy with the pan-VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitor cediranib and the combination of cediranib plus lomustine (CeeNu) vs...
Poor oral health, including gum disease and dental problems, is a newly recognized independent risk factor for oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, which causes between 40% and 80% of oropharyngeal cancers, according to a study published in Cancer Prevention Research. Researchers from the...
Based on data from a multisite imaging trial involving more than 2,600 women, researchers say breast lesions categorized as “probably benign” on supplemental screening ultrasound could be reevaluated with imaging in 12 months, reducing patient anxiety, follow-up exams, and unnecessary...
For the two-thirds of lung cancer patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease, tumor size is not used currently to predict overall survival times. However, a new study led by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center has shown that even in advanced stages total tumor size can have ...
In the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), initially reported in 2003, finasteride significantly reduced the risk of prostate cancer by 24.8% but was associated with a relative 26.9% increase in risk of high-grade disease compared with placebo. In a study reported in The New England Journal of ...
A “new kind of pathology,” in which anatomy and histology are supplemented by molecular etiology, has been emerging over the past decade and promises better response rates among cancer patients as genomic alterations in cancer continue to be identified and treated with targeted...
In a study (the BEATRICE trial) reported in Lancet Oncology, David Cameron, MD, of the University of Edinburgh, and colleagues evaluated the strategy of adding the antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab (Avastin) to adjuvant chemotherapy in women with triple-negative breast cancer. The study showed that...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center suggest secondary cancers seen in melanoma patients who are being treated for a BRAF gene mutation may require new strategies, such as enhanced surveillance and combining BRAF inhibitor therapy with other inhibitors, especially as they become more widely used....
Scientists have long believed that healthy brain cells, once damaged by radiation designed to kill brain tumors, cannot regenerate. But new research in mice suggests that neural stem cells, the body's source of new brain cells, are resistant to radiation, and can be roused from a hibernation-like...
Off-label prescribing of drugs remains common in oncology, but about two-thirds of off-label prescribing is consistent with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Drugs & Biologics Compendium, according to a study reviewed at Best of ASCO Chicago by Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, MPH, of ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved dolutegravir (Tivicay), a new drug to treat HIV-1 infection. Dolutegravir is an oral integrase strand transfer inhibitor that interferes with one of the enzymes necessary for HIV to multiply. The drug is taken in combination with other...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kelly-Anne Phillips, MD, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and University of Melbourne, and colleagues analyzed the association of adjuvant tamoxifen use and risk of contralateral breast cancer among women carrying BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in the ...
Although small clinical studies of adoptive T-cell therapy in the treatment of advanced forms of leukemia have shown positive results, including putting some patients into complete remissions, progress in the development of this type of immunotherapy is limited by the lack of readily available,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the first rapid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test for the simultaneous detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen as well as antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 in human serum, plasma, and venous or fingerstick whole blood specimens. Approved for...
A new study by thoracic surgeons and pathologists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center shows that a specific pattern found in the tumor pathology of some lung cancer patients is a strong predictor of recurrence. Knowing that this feature exists in a tumor's pathology could be an important...
GlaxoSmithKline announced today that it will discontinue the manufacture and sale of the tositumomab/iodine-131 tositumomab (Bexxar) therapeutic regimen on February 20, 2014. Tositumomab/iodine-131 tositumomab is currently approved in the United States and Canada for the treatment of patients with ...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, David Margel, MD, PhD, of University of Toronto, and colleagues examined the effect of duration of antidiabetic medication exposure after prostate cancer diagnosis on all-cause and prostate cancer–specific mortality in men with diabetes....
Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have revealed the process by which pancreatitis—chronic inflammation of the pancreas—morphs into pancreatic cancer. They say their findings point to ways to identify pancreatitis patients at risk of pancreatic cancer and to potential drug therapies...
Organized mailing campaigns could substantially increase colorectal cancer screening among uninsured patients, according to a study published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. The research also suggested that a noninvasive colorectal screening approach, such as a fecal immunochemical test, might be ...
A team of researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center has identified 18 new genes responsible for driving glioblastoma multiforme, the most common—and most aggressive—form of brain cancer in adults. The study was published online...
Long-term use of a calcium-channel blocker to treat hypertension is associated with higher breast cancer risk, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine. The study assessed the relationships between the major classes of hypertensive agents and risk of the two most common histologic...
Omega-3 fatty acids, contained in oily fish such as salmon and trout, selectively inhibit growth and induce cell death in early- and late-stage oral and skin squamous cell carcinomas, according to new research from scientists at Queen Mary, University of London. The findings were published online...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is informing the public that acetaminophen has been associated with a risk of rare but serious skin reactions. These skin reactions, known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, and acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis, can...
A new study led by researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute reveals how a promising anticancer compound called SMIP004 specifically kills prostate cancer cells by compromising their ability to withstand environmental stress. The study, recently published in Oncotarget, uncovered...
The recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for the use of low-dose, computed tomography (CT) to detect early lung cancer in high-risk individuals is a major milestone in the war on cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death across the world. Despite...
A number of initiatives have been implemented to encourage reduction of inappropriate use of imaging to stage incident prostate cancer. Since 2000, the National Prostate Cancer Register (NPCR) of Sweden has led an effort to decrease national rates of inappropriate prostate cancer imaging by...
Patients diagnosed with thymoma, a rare cancer of the thymus gland, may be able to avoid certain cancer treatments associated with severe adverse events if the results of a new test reveal they are at low risk of metastasis, according to a study published in PLOS ONE. The study, by researchers at...
Ambient air pollution has been associated with lung cancer risk. In a study reported in Lancet Oncology by Ole Raaschou-Nielsen, PhD, of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, and colleagues, lung cancer incidence in European countries was prospectively assessed according to several measures of ...
The endothelin pathway has a role in bone metastases, which are characteristic of advanced prostate cancer, and the investigational endothelin receptor antagonist atrasentan has shown activity in prostate cancer. In the SWOG S0421 trial reported in Lancet Oncology by David I. Quinn, FRACP, of...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that oral ketoconazole should not be used as first-line treatment for any fungal infection and should only be used for the treatment of endemic mycoses when alternative antifungal therapies are not available or tolerated. The use of...
A family history of cancer increases the risk of other members of the family developing not only the same, or concordant, cancer but also a different, or discordant, cancer, according to a large study of 23,000 people in Italy and Switzerland. The study, published in Annals of Oncology, provides a...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking additional information to help the agency make informed decisions about menthol in cigarettes. Despite decades of work to reduce tobacco use in the United States, it continues to be the...
Boys are more likely to receive the quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine if their mothers receive flu shots or Pap screenings, according to a study from Kaiser Permanente published in the American Journal of Public Health. Study Details The study examined the electronic health records of...
In a phase II study evaluating three dosing regimens of nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel (Abraxane) given with bevacizumab (Avastin), weekly dosing of nab-paclitaxel resulted in the highest overall response rate and longest progression-free survival. The schedule of nab-paclitaxel given...
In a trial (ALSYMPCA) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chris Parker, MD, from Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey, United Kingdom, and colleagues compared the alpha emitter radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) with best standard of care in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer and...
In an open-label phase III trial (ASPECT) reported in Lancet Oncology, Manfred Westphal, MD, of University Hospital Eppendorf in Hamburg, and colleagues assessed the effects of locally applied adenovirus-mediated gene therapy with sitimagene ceradenovec followed by intravenous ganciclovir after...
The RAPID trial compared accelerated partial-breast irradiation using three-dimensional (3D) conformal external-beam radiation therapy vs whole-breast irradiation in women with invasive or in situ breast cancer ≤ 3 cm. As reported by Ivo A. Olivotto, MD, FRCPC, of the British Columbia Cancer...
Low-dose aspirin (100 mg) taken every other day may reduce a woman’s risk of developing colon cancer, according to an observational study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The findings are based on a large long-term study of 38,876 healthy women enrolled in the Women’s...