When used to treat pediatric patients with intracranial malignant tumors, proton therapy may limit the toxicity of radiation therapy while preserving tumor control, according to research presented on Sunday, September 22, at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 55th Annual Meeting...
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released today its final recommendation statement on medications to reduce the risk of primary breast cancer in women. Clinicians are recommended to prescribe risk-reducing medications, such as tamoxifen or raloxifene, for women who are at increased...
Interim positron emission tomography (PET) scan is being used to guide risk-adapted therapy in patients with early-stage and advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma for clinical research at academic centers, and experts predict that this will become standard of care in clinical practice. At the NCCN 8th...
The second-generation immunomodulatory drug pomalidomide (Pomalyst) “has shown impressive results in patients with multiple myeloma who are refractory to lenalidomide and bortezomib,” according to a review of clinical data leading to the drug’s approval by the U.S. Food and Drug...
Researchers from University of Rochester Medical Center have shown scientifically what many women report anecdotally: that tamoxifen is toxic to cells of the brain and central nervous system (CNS), producing mental fogginess similar to “chemo brain.” In the study, published in the...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yuko Kitagawa, MD, FACS, of Keio University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that sentinel node mapping using a standardized dual tracer endoscopic injection technique was safe and accurate in patients with gastric cancer. Study Details ...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dawn L. Hershman, MD, MS, of Columbia University, and colleagues assessed the use of bevacizumab in older patients with metastatic breast, lung, or colon cancer. They found that bevacizumab (Avastin) was contraindicated in approximately one-third ...
GlaxoSmithKline recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Priority Review designation to its supplemental New Drug Applications for the combined use of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic ...
In a phase II study (MCL-001, EMERGE) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Andre Goy, MD, of Hackensack University Medical Center, and colleagues evaluated the use of single-agent lenalidomide (Revlimid) in bortezomib (Velcade)-treated patients who had relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released its Cancer Progress Report 2013 today. And while there is much to celebrate in the significant progress made in cancer research—which has led to more effective therapies for the more than 200 types of cancer and increased...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for ofatumumab (Arzerra) in combination with chlorambucil (Leukeran) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have not received prior treatment and are inappropriate for...
The level of expression of three genes associated with aging can be used to predict whether seemingly low-risk prostate cancer will remain slow-growing, according to researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). Use of this three-gene...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 13 to 0, with one abstention, in favor of recommending accelerated approval of a pertuzumab (Perjeta) regimen for neoadjuvant treatment in patients with high-risk, HER2-positive, early-stage breast...
A study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital found that brachytherapy was associated with better cause-specific survival and overall survival in women with cervical cancer. The population-based analysis also revealed geographic disparities and decline in brachytherapy treatment in the...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced class-wide safety labeling changes and new postmarketing study requirements for all extended-release and long-acting opioid analgesics intended to treat pain. “The FDA is invoking its authority to require safety labeling changes and ...
A new analysis has found that most deaths from breast cancer occur in younger women who do not receive regular mammograms. Published early online in Cancer, the study indicates that regular screening before age 50 should be encouraged. The use of mammograms to prevent breast cancer deaths has been ...
Researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have identified seven targets that could potentially be used to develop new immunotherapies for patients with metastatic melanoma. Their findings could increase the number of patients eligible for adoptive immunotherapy. The study was reported in ...
Valganciclovir (Valcyte), a drug used to treat cytomegalovirus (CMV) eye infections in people with HIV/AIDS, may lengthen survival in patients with glioblastoma, a Swedish study has found. The researchers evaluated 50 patients with glioblastoma who received valganciclovir as an add-on to standard...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today expanded the approved uses of paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension, albumin-bound (nab-paclitaxel, Abraxane) to treat patients with late-stage pancreatic cancer. “Patients with pancreatic cancer are often diagnosed...
A new laser-based technology may make brain tumor surgery much more accurate, allowing surgeons to tell cancer tissue from normal brain at the microscopic level while they are operating, and avoid leaving behind cells that could spawn a new tumor. In a new paper published in Science Translational...
A large retrospective study reported that adding magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to mammography before or immediately after surgery was not associated with reduced local recurrence or contralateral breast cancer rates among women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast who were treated...
Although fewer Medicare patients with cancer died in the hospital in 2010 than in the years 2003–2007, aggressive treatment continues at the end of life, according to a new report from the Dartmouth Atlas Project. The findings also show that a significant number of patients were likely to...
The investigational drug brivanib is a dual inhibitor of VEGF and fibroblast growth factor signaling, both implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. In a noninferiority trial (BRISK-FL) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Philip J. Johnson, MD, of the Institute of Translational Medicine,...
The more alcohol young women drink before motherhood, the greater their risk of future breast cancer, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Previous studies have looked at breast cancer risk and alcohol consumption later in life or at the effect of...
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...