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Showing 10901 - 10950Anti–PD-1 Superior to Chemotherapy in the KEYNOTE-002 Trial
Immunotherapy, once considered a niche treatment for a few specific cancers, has rapidly emerged as an additional pillar of cancer therapeutics. With the proliferation of promising results, clinical trials, and new drug approvals, one cannot help but be amazed that only 3 years have elapsed since...
Pembrolizumab Increases Progression-Free Survival in Ipilimumab-Refractory Advanced Melanoma
In a randomized phase II trial (KEYNOTE-002) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Antoni Ribas, MD, of UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that treatment with the anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) antibody pembrolizumab (Keytruda) prolonged...
ASCO Asks CMS to Revisit Its Payment Policy to Support Optimal Cancer Care
ASCO has called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider revisions to payment policies that could be administratively burdensome to oncology practices and result in reimbursement that inadequately supports optimal cancer patient care. In a comment letter to CMS on...
ASCO, ACS, ASTRO Study Finds Increased Travel Distance Affects Whether Patients Receive Adjuvant Chemotherapy
A new study conducted by ASCO in collaboration with the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology1 found that patients who have to travel farther to appointments are less likely to receive adjuvant...
Journal of Oncology Practice to Expand in 2016: New Section Dedicated to Practical, Authoritative Clinical Reviews
In early 2016, readers of Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP) will be greeted with an expanded journal, featuring a new section of succinct, focused, practical clinical reviews authored by expert opinion leaders in oncology. These reviews are designed to provide busy, full-time clinicians with...
Older Patients With Cancer: A Growing Population in Need of Evidence-Based Care
The 2013 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Delivering High Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis1 identified the dearth of evidence on older adults as a major quality-of-care issue. The U.S. population is aging at a rapid rate, and cancer is a disease that primarily...
Adding Docetaxel to Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Prolongs Overall Survival in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
In a phase III trial (E3805) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Christopher J. Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues found that chemohormonal therapy with docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy produced a significant 13.6-month increase in median...
Adjuvant Treatment of Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Meta-analyses Provide More Clarity
The Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) continues its practice of being a lighthouse, shedding its beacon of light on the vast ocean of breast cancer research through the publication of two large, individual patient level–data meta-analyses on the management of women with...
EBCTCG Meta-analyses Show Improved Outcomes With Aromatase Inhibitors vs Tamoxifen and a Potential Benefit of Adjuvant Bisphosphonates Limited to Postmenopausal Women
The Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) patient-level meta-analyses, concurrently reported in The Lancet, sought to clarify the effects of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor vs tamoxifen treatment and adjuvant bisphosphonate treatment in early breast cancer.1,2 The endocrine...
Bridging the Gap Between Pediatric and Adult Oncology Care
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), about 70,000 adolescents and young adults—defined by the NCI as those in the 15- to 39-year-old range—are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States, about six times the number of cases diagnosed in children aged 0 to 14.1 And, although...
Better Definitions and Biomarkers Needed to Reduce Cancer Overdiagnosis
At the third annual Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference, speakers described the prevalence and consequences of overdiagnosis in several medical specialties, including cancer. The Conference, which had the theme “Winding Back the Harms of Too Much Medicine,” was co-sponsored by the National Cancer...
Patient and Survivor Care Studies Yield Useful Results to Improve Quality of Life
Recent studies have yielded useful results that clinicians can put into practice, some right now, to help improve the quality of life for patients with cancer. Concerns addressed included cachexia, pain, “chemobrain,” and fertility preservation. At the Best of ASCO®/Chicago meeting, Arif Kamal,...
Expert Point of View: Solange Peters, MD, PhD
Solange Peters, MD, PhD, of the Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, put these updates in context of what is known about programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibodies in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), concluding that nivolumab (Opdivo) is “one of the best options” for...
Nivolumab in Lung Cancer Supported by Updated Trial Data
For the treatment of advanced squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody nivolumab (Opdivo) continues to show results in key trials that now report 18-month data. The updates were reported at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver,...
Lung Cancer Rates Doubling Among Nonsmokers
Lung cancer is becoming an equal-opportunity malignancy—with rates rising among never-smokers, especially females, according to studies presented at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver. British investigators reported that in one large tertiary medical center, the proportion of...
AZD9291 Updates Encouraging for Treatment-Resistant NSCLC
At the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer, several studies showed consistent activity with the investigational third-generation inhibitor AZD9291 in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is resistant to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors....
Ductal Carcinoma in Situ: Where We Have Been and Where We Can Be
Ductal carcinoma in situ has been a recent topic of debate in the news because of a recent article by Narod et al1 and an accompanying editorial2 about the study in JAMA Oncology. This study, summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post, chronicled the long-term outcomes for women diagnosed with...
NCCN Turns 20: Value-Based Care Has Arrived
Twenty years ago, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) began as a cooperative effort of 12 prestigious cancer centers, working to define and promote national guidelines for the care of patients with cancer. A major goal was to encourage uniformity in the management of malignant...
EGFR Gene Copy Number as Biomarker for Antibody Treatment in Squamous Cell NSCLC
Two studies presented at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer suggest that high expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), or gene copy number, may indicate potential benefit from EGFR antibodies in squamous cell non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The studies were presented by...
Noted Integrative Oncology Specialist Mitchell L. Gaynor, MD, Dies at 59
Integrative oncology had a long road to acceptance by the mainstream medical community; the field is now widely accepted for its healthful benefits, especially in assuaging the more troublesome side effects of cancer treatments. Many well-known oncologists have adapted integrative oncology into...
UC Davis Granted $15.5 Million to Build World’s First Total-Body PET Scanner
A University of California, Davis research team has been awarded $15.5 million to build the world’s first total-body positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, which could fundamentally change the way cancers are tracked and treated. The Transformative Research Award, part of the National...
The Race of My Life
I've lived my adult life by three guiding principles I learned as an adventure racer: to set goals, to determine how to achieve them, and to persevere in the face of adversity. Those standards helped me complete more than 70 marathons and 7 Ironman competitions, and they helped me conquer breast...
Early Research of David G. Nathan, MD, Ushered in the Field of Pediatric Hematology
When David G. Nathan, MD, was admitted to Harvard University in 1947, he had every intention of becoming an English professor. It was only his lack of writing talent that dissuaded him from a life in the classroom and propelled him into a medical career that has spanned more than 5 decades and has...
Confessions of a Neurosurgeon
BookmarkTitle: Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain SurgeryAuthor: Henry Marsh, CBE, FRCSPublisher: Thomas Dunne BooksPublication date: May 26, 2015Price: $25.99, hardcover; 288 pages “I often have to cut into the brain and it is something I hate doing. With a pair of diathermy forceps I ...
A Neurologist’s Life: Oliver Sacks, MD
BookmarkTitle: On the Move: A LifeAuthor: Oliver Sacks, MDPublisher: Alfred A. KnopfPublication date: April 28, 2015Price: $27.95, hardcover; 416 pages Our ability to detect cancer has grown markedly over the past several decades, with the advent of more sensitive screening methods, new...
Pain, Still Undertreated and Misunderstood
Bookmark Title: A Nation in Pain: Healing Our Biggest Health ProblemAuthor: Judy ForemanPublisher: Oxford University PressPublication date: May 1, 2015Price: $19.95, paperback; 464 pages The subject of pain has been written about extensively, from the intriguing sociopolitical history of opium to...
Glimpses of the Human Condition Through Lively, Medically Themed Short Stories
BookmarkTitle: A View From the Inside: A Collection of Medically Oriented Short StoriesAuthor: Augustine L. Perrotta, DOPublisher: Keith Publications, LLCPublication date: March 31, 2015Price: $14.95, paperback; 246 pages The field of medicine, ripe with dramatic tension, offers an endless array...
Trifluridine/Tipiracil in Previously Treated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
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 September 22, 2015, trifluridine/tipiracil (Lonsurf) was...
Anti-EGFR Therapy in Squamous Cell Lung Carcinoma: Swimming With or Against the Tide?
Lung cancer is the most common, lethal, and costly cancer worldwide, accounting for at least 1.8 million new cases per year (12.9% of the total).1 Over the past decade, there has been a major shift in the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially in adenocarcinoma, accompanied by...
Addition of Necitumumab to First-Line Gemcitabine/Cisplatin Improves Overall Survival in Stage IV Squamous NSCLC
In the phase III SQUIRE trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Nick Thatcher, PhD, FRCP, of The Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester, UK, and colleagues found that the addition of the second-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody necitumumab to first-line...
Pembrolizumab in Previously Treated PD-L1–Positive Metastatic NSCLC
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 October 2, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted...
FDA Grants Orphan Drug Designation to Bivalent Vaccine for Neuroblastoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to MabVax Therapeutics’ vaccine for the treatment of relapsed or recurrent high-risk neuroblastoma in remission or with limited residual disease after best available treatment. The bivalent vaccine is intended to elicit ...
Three Young Investigators Named Winners of 2015 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has named three investigators as recipients of this year’s Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. The award recognizes promising investigators aged 45 or younger for their efforts in advancing cancer research. The winners are Bradley E. Bernstein, MD,...
Maternal Cancer During Pregnancy Does Not Appear to Affect Cognitive or General Development in Early Childhood
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Frederic Amant, MD, PhD, of University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues in the International Network on Cancer, Infertility, and Pregnancy found that cancer diagnosed during pregnancy did not appear to affect cognitive, cardiac,...
Nivolumab and Cabozantinib Improve Outcomes vs Everolimus in Previously Treated Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
The CheckMate 025 trial, reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Robert J. Motzer, MD, and colleagues, showed that treatment with the programmed cell death protein (PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) increased overall survival vs the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) in...
Inconsistent Federal Regulations Undercut U.S. Research Productivity, National Academies’ Report Finds
Ask any U.S. academic investigator whether research is hindered by duplicative or confusing federal regulations, and the answer is usually a resounding “Yes.” Now comes a report written by representatives of research administrators, former federal government officials, and principal...
Alternative Therapies: Knowledge Is Power, but Consider the Source
The use of dietary supplements and other complementary and “alternative” therapies by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 20 years despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about complementary therapies can be...
Journal of Clinical Oncology’s Fall Special Series, Journal of Global Oncology’s Inaugural Issue
This fall, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) presented two special series: “Pediatric Cancer—Progress Through Collaboration” and “Head and Neck Cancer: Recent Advances, Changing Epidemiology, and Future Directions.” The Pediatric Special Series highlighted collaborative efforts that have...
Important Research in the Palliative Care of Patients With Cancer
The emphasis at this year’s Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, held earlier this month in Boston, was on patient-centered care throughout the cancer continuum. The meeting attracted more than 650 attendees and included six general sessions featuring best practices in communication,...
Smoking Cessation Reduces Mortality in Lung Cancer Screening Population
Data from an analysis of lung cancer screening programs in Italy add further evidence that smoking cessation reduces mortality. Heavy smokers screened by low-dose computed tomography (CT) who stopped smoking before or during the screening period had a three- to fivefold reduction in mortality...
MRI Improves Breast Cancer Detection in Women at Average Risk
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening of women at average risk for breast cancer achieved a mean additional cancer yield of 15.8 cases per 1,000 women, greatly surpassing yields for supplemental digital breast tomosynthesis (1.25 per 1,000) or supplemental ultrasound (4.1 per 1,000). The...
Expert Point of View: Clifford Hudis, MD
Clifford Hudis, MD, Chief of the Breast Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, said the findings suggest there is essentially no meaningful benefit from chemotherapy in the recurrence score low-risk subset. “It is clinically appropriate to offer endocrine therapy...
Treatment Options Expanding for Neuroendocrine Tumors
Patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors have two promising new treatment options, according to studies that earned spots in the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress, held recently in Vienna, Austria. The phase III studies evaluated the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor)...
Chemotherapy/Radiotherapy Safe in Second and Third Trimesters of Pregnancy
Children with in utero exposure to chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy during maternal treatment for cancer had no impairment in cognition, cardiac function, and general early childhood development, according to a study reported at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria, and published...
Expert Point of View: Luis Paz-Ares, MD
This is the first time we have seen data from the BIRCH trial in these three different cohorts using biomarker expression on tumor cells and immune cells,” said formal discussant Luis Paz-Ares, MD, Professor Medicine at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain. “BIRCH confirms the...
Atezolizumab Makes Inroads in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The anti–PD-L1 (programmed cell death-ligand 1) antibody atezolizumab (formerly known as MPDL3280A) achieved encouraging outcomes in patients with non–small lung cancer (NSCLC) in two different trials: POPLAR1 and BIRCH.2 PD-L1 has emerged as a predictive biomarker for atezolizumab response in both ...
Ovarian Suppression During Chemotherapy Preserves Fertility in Young Women With Breast Cancer
Several studies have addressed the risks and benefits of ovarian suppression during chemotherapy for breast cancer in women of childbearing age. A new meta-analysis of randomized trials found that it prevented premature ovarian failure and was associated with a higher number of pregnancies post...
Discussing Financial Toxicity With Patients Who Have Cancer
Patient: “Doc, how much are these drugs going to cost me?” Physician: “They are expensive, and you can see our financial counselor to help you understand the costs.” Cancer care is not a black-and-white endeavor, and costs are considered a distasteful subject to be passed over in tactful silence. ...
Expert Point of View: Cora N. Sternberg, MD, FACP
Cora N. Sternberg, MD, FACP, Chief of Medical Oncology at San Camillo Forlanini Hospital in Rome, Italy, formally discussed CheckMate 025 at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress as well as findings from the METEOR trial of cabozantinib (Cometriq) in metastatic renal cell...
Nivolumab Produces Survival Benefit in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
Patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with nivolumab (Opdivo) were 27% less likely to die than those receiving everolimus (Afinitor), in a planned interim analysis of the open-label phase III CheckMate 025 trial.1 These positive results prompted an early termination of the study by...
