In a large, randomized clinical trial, researchers evaluated the immunotherapy drug avelumab for patients with advanced urothelial cancer. The findings of the trial, called the JAVELIN Bladder 100 study, are “very exciting,” even “practice-changing,” said the trial’s co-leader, Petros Grivas, MD,...
Invited discussant of the xevinapant study, Sjoukje Oosting, MD, PhD, of the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, commented: “There is finally hope on the horizon that we can increase the cure rate of our patients with head and neck cancer, if these data are confirmed in a phase...
Xevinapant, an investigational inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAP) blocker, prolonged overall survival when added to standard chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, according to an updated analysis of a randomized, placebo-controlled phase II study presented ...
The encouraging results of the phase III ASCENT trial suggest that sacituzumab govitecan has clearly earned a place in the treatment algorithm for advanced triple-negative breast cancer, said the study’s invited discussant, Fatima Cardoso, MD, Director of the Breast Unit at the Champalimaud...
Based on results from a phase I/II clinical trial, the antibody drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan was recently granted accelerated approval in the treatment of patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer, contingent on a larger study confirming its benefit. The confirmatory phase III...
An inspiring case series of fit patients aged 98 and older who recovered from hospitalization for COVID-19, published by Huang et al, reminds us that older age may not be a barrier to recovery.1 On behalf of the Cancer and Aging Research Group, we do not support “ageism” in the care of older...
The rate of obesity is rising dramatically in the United States and Europe, with more than 60% of women in the United States1,2 and 50% of women in Europe3 classified as overweight or obese based on their body mass index (BMI). Obesity is associated with an increased risk of hormone...
Lorlatinib was strategically designed to have activity against ALK and to be highly CNS-penetrant,” said formal discussant Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD, of Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville. “We look forward to seeing more data from this trial. Alectinib had a progression-free survival of...
This week on The ASCO Post Podcast, we'll focus on two recent approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in patients with leukemia and lymphoma.
Lorlatinib significantly improved progression-free survival compared with crizotinib in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a planned interim analysis of the phase III CROWN trial presented at the European Society for...
James D. Murphy, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses the possible reasons for a decline in long-term opioid use in patients with cancer, even as short-term use is rising, as well as the racial and socioeconomic disparities of opioid use in this population (Abstract 187).
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to treatments for EGFR-mutant lung cancer and advanced renal cell carcinoma; granted Fast Track designation to agents in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors; and more....
Skin cancers are the most common malignancy in the United States and worldwide. Between 1994 and 2014, the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers in the United States increased by 77%.1 The cost of treating melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers to the health-care system...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Xu et al, the Chinese phase III SANET-p trial has shown significantly improved progression-free survival with surufatinib vs placebo in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Surufatinib is a novel small-molecule inhibitor that targets...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Nicholas J. Short, MD, and colleagues found that minimal (or measurable) residual disease (MRD) negativity is associated with superior disease-free and overall survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). As stated by...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Sargos et al, the French phase III GETUG-AFU 17 trial has shown no event-free survival benefit for adjuvant radiotherapy vs salvage radiotherapy—both with short-term androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT)—after radical prostatectomy in men with localized prostate...
On October 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the antiviral drug remdesivir (Veklury) for use in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older and weighing at least 40 kg for the treatment of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization. Remdesivir should only be administered...
Cardinale B. Smith, MD, PhD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses results of a pilot study suggesting dedicated lay staff members, who facilitated admissions and discharges for patients with cancer across care settings, could improve health-care utilization, quality, and the...
Cardinale B. Smith, MD, PhD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses findings showing Black, Hispanic, and Asian patients with cancer used telehealth less often during the COVID-19 pandemic than White patients with cancer, a negative trend that will become more problematic as this ...
Treatment of diffuse gliomas with radiotherapy resulted in an increased number of genomic small deletions that make up a unique signature, according to findings presented at the Molecular Analysis for Precision Oncology (MAP) Congress 2020 (Abstract 2MO). Furthermore, an increased burden of...
The tumors of patients with stage I and II non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) demonstrated a generally higher tumor mutational burden and more often displayed the mutational signature associated with tobacco smoking than those of patients with more advanced disease, according to findings presented...
In the phase II ALIENOR trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Isabelle Ray-Coquard, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of bevacizumab to paclitaxel did not improve the 6-month progression-free rate among women with relapsed ovarian sex cord–stromal tumors. Study Details The study, performed in...
In an observational cohort study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Powell et al found that the use of whole-breast hypofractionated radiotherapy increased among patients with breast cancer with health insurance plans from one national health-care organization after the implementation of a virtual...
In the Chinese phase II CLAP study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lan et al found that the combination of the anti–PD-1 antibody camrelizumab and the VEGFR inhibitor apatinib produced high response rates in previously treated women with advanced cervical cancer. Study Details The...
In 2020, health-care providers from all disciplines are facing challenges never before encountered in the modern era of medicine. Advanced practitioners (APs) are playing critical roles in developing protocols, managing health-care teams, and delivering hands-on patient care. JADPRO Live, the...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides guidance for physicians who use radiation therapy to treat patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Recommendations outline indications and best practices for pelvic radiation treatments, as well as the...
The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) presented the third annual Mary Pazdur Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice in Oncology to Christina Cone, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, AOCNP®, of Duke Cancer Institute, at the JADPRO Live Virtual conference, an annual educational...
An electronic nudge to clinicians—triggered by an algorithm that used machine-learning methods to flag patients with cancer who would most benefit from a conversation around end-of-life goals—tripled the rate of those discussions, according to a new prospective, randomized study of nearly 15,000...
Delays in the treatment of breast cancer matter, but not as much “as we and our patients typically assume,” Richard J. Bleicher, MD, FACS, informed participants at the 22nd Annual Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium.1 Some of these delays are unavoidable and others are tradeoffs that must be made to...
Neoadjuvant combination therapy with the anti–CTLA-4 therapy tremelimumab and the anti–PD-1 therapy durvalumab was well tolerated and showed early signs of activity in patients ineligible to receive cisplatin-based chemotherapy, all of whom had tumors with high-risk features that are associated...
In an analysis from the phase III ExteNET trial reported in Clinical Breast Cancer, Arlene Chan, MD, and colleagues found significant improvements in efficacy outcomes with the administration of neratinib vs placebo starting at 1 year or sooner after neoadjuvant/adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy...
In a multi-institutional cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Eitz et al found that hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HSRT) to the resection cavity in patients with brain metastases appears to be associated with an “excellent risk-benefit profile.” As stated by the investigators, “For...
In the phase III SORCE trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eisen et al found no benefit of sorafenib vs placebo as adjuvant therapy in patients with renal cell carcinoma at intermediate or high risk of disease recurrence. Study Details The double-blind trial included 1,711 patients...
On June 20, 2020, ASCO approved the first joint Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS)/American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)/ASCO guideline on the care of patients with metastatic carcinoma and myeloma of the femur.1 Guideline recommendations were based on a systematic review of clinical...
Results from a nonrandomized, dose-escalation phase I clinical trial investigating the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor vorinostat in combination with the mTOR inhibitors sirolimus or everolimus found the combination therapies showed activity in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or...
Comparison of two techniques used in screening non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor samples demonstrated that fragment analysis could detect large MET exon 14 skipping deletions that were missed by next-generation sequencing, according to findings presented at the Molecular Analysis for...
In a French phase III trial (Senti-MERORL) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Garrel et al found that sentinel node biopsy demonstrated oncologic equivalance to neck lymph node dissection in 2-year neck node recurrence–free survival in patients with operable cT1–T2N0 oral/oropharyngeal...
In a phase III noninferiority trial (RAVES) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Kneebone et al found that salvage radiotherapy did not meet noninferiority criteria for biochemical progression vs adjuvant radiotherapy, but was associated with nearly identical biochemical control rates and reduced...
Anne M. Barry-Weers, RN, of Aurora Health Care/Aurora Cancer Care in Milwaukee, discusses strategies that helped patients with cancer to better manage their chemotherapy-related symptoms at home, thus reducing visits to the emergency department and inpatient admissions, and improving treatment...
Marie A. Flannery, PhD, and Eva Culakova, PhD, both of the University of Rochester, discuss a geriatric assessment tool that helped reduce symptomatic toxicities, as measured by Patient-Reported Outcomes Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (Abstract 138).
Katherine Enright, MD, MPH, of Trillium Health Partners in Ontario, discusses a model of quality improvement, which potentially could be adapted across health systems to improve oral systemic cancer care (Abstract 184).
Joseph M. Unger, PhD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses study results showing that more than half of all patients with cancer, regardless of race or ethnicity, agree to take part in clinical trials, a finding that upends conventional beliefs. He talks about removing the barriers...
The value of adjuvant therapy for patients with resected stage III or IV melanoma—in the form of pembrolizumab and nivolumab—continues to be observed after approximately 4 years from the start of therapy, according to Rodabe N. Amaria, MD, Associate Professor of Melanoma Medical Oncology at The...
The benefit of anti–PD-1 antibodies in the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III or stage IV melanoma continues to be observed at around 4 years for both pembrolizumab and nivolumab, according to updates of pivotal trials presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual ...
Limited English-language proficiency may be a risk factor for receiving screening mammograms less often, according to new study results using national data. These findings, concerning women age 40 and older living in the United States, were presented at the American College of Surgeons Clinical...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Meletios A. Dimopoulos, MD, and colleagues, the phase III TOURMALINE-MM4 trial has shown that postinduction maintenance with ixazomib prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma not undergoing...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Franck Morschhauser, MD, and colleagues found that the oral EZH2 inhibitor tazemetostat produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma with or without an EZH2 mutation. As noted by the investigators,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Schmoll et al, the phase III PETACC 6 trial has shown no benefit of the addition of preoperative and adjuvant oxaliplatin to preoperative capecitabine-based chemoradiation and adjuvant capecitabine in patients undergoing total mesorectal excision...
COMBI-i’s invited discussant, Bartosz Chmielowski, MD, PhD, Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, said this study is one of three key trials in which checkpoint inhibitors were combined with BRAF and MEK inhibitors. “This is...
Patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma harboring BRAF V600 mutations did not benefit from the addition of the anti–PD-1 antibody spartalizumab to dabrafenib and trametinib in the COMBI-i trial, which was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress...