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Showing 11451 - 11500Researchers Find Remarkable Heterogeneity in Sarcomas
Does one size fit all for the treatment of sarcoma? The answer is a resounding “no,” according to Jean-Yves Blay, MD, Department of Medicine, Université Claude Bernard, and Unité INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit), Lyon, France. Researchers have been able to classify...
Reflections from The ASCO Post
The editors gratefully acknowledge all contributors to The ASCO Post and thank the columnists who contributed to Volume 2, January–December 2011: Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP Richard Boxer, MD, FACS Carlton G. Brown, RN, PhD, AOCN Barrie R. Cassileth, PhD E. David Crawford, MD Emil J. Freireich, MD, ...
Improving Quality and Safety with Health Information Technology
A well-documented flaw in paper-based health care is the propensity for medical errors. According to Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc, implementing clinical decision support software can decrease medical error, improve outcomes, and lower the costs of care. Presenting a session titled “Improving...
FDA Approves First Drug to Treat Myelofibrosis
The FDA has approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi), the first drug approved to specifically treat patients with the bone marrow disease myelofibrosis. Myelofibrosis is a disease in which the bone marrow is replaced by scar tissue resulting in blood cells being made in organs such as the liver and the...
ASCO Issues Blueprint for Transforming Cancer Research in the ‘Molecular Era’
On November 3, ASCO issued a new report that lays out ASCO’s vision for transforming clinical and translational research to deliver more effective and personalized cancer therapies faster. The report, Accelerating Progress Against Cancer: ASCO’s Blueprint for Transforming Clinical and Translational ...
Gathering Data Point to Potential Advantages of Vismodegib in Basal Cell Carcinoma and Other Advanced Cancers
Vismodegib is a small-molecule, orally active hedgehog pathway inhibitor that has shown considerable promise in treating basal cell carcinoma and is currently being evaluated alone and in combination in early-phase trials in medulloblastoma and a long list of other cancers.1 Owing to its...
Benefit of Panitumumab Seen Primarily in Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer and HPV-negative Tumors
The addition of panitumumab (Vectibix) to chemotherapy improved overall and progression-free survival in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, but its benefit was limited to patients whose tumors were negative for the human papillomavirus (HPV).1 The...
Important Briefs from the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress
Nearly 16,000 people from 16 countries attended this year’s European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, held recently in Stockholm. The ASCO Post has featured several key reports from the meeting and will offer further coverage in upcoming issues. Additional noteworthy studies presented at the...
ASH Honors Janet Rowley, MD, and Brian Druker, MD
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Janet Rowley, MD, of the University of Chicago Medical Center, and Brian Druker, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University with the 2011 Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize for their significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic...
How Should We Treat Nodular Lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma?
At the 2011 Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Kauai, Hawaii, Andreas Engert, MD, Chairman of the German Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group (GHSG) and Professor of Medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, discussed the treatment of nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL),...
Optimizing HER2-directed Therapy in the Clinic
Seminal research in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer has been led by Edith A. Perez, MD, the Serene M. and Frances C. Durling Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida. The ASCO Post asked Dr. Perez to share her approach to HER2-directed therapy. Testing...
Prostate Cancer Screening Reconsidered
Prostate cancer is the most prevalent nonskin cancer in men. An estimated 16% of men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, yet only 3% of men die from it.1 Unlike other cancers, prostate cancer is associated with a prolonged lead-time, meaning it can take anywhere from 5 to 12 years to become...
Benefits of Radiation after Breast-conserving Surgery Cut Risk of Recurrence in Half
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “After breast-conserving surgery,...
Physician-based Screening Leads to the Detection of Thinner Melanomas with More Favorable Prognosis
Physician-based screening leads to detection of thinner melanomas that were less likely to have negative prognostic attributes such as ulceration and dermal mitosis, according to a retrospective review of patient records and biopsy logs from 394 patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma. The...
Intensified Chemotherapy with R-ACVBP Improves Survival in Younger Patients with Diffuse B-cell Lymphoma
Compared with standard R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan], doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone), intensified immunochemotherapy with R-ACVBP (dose-intensive rituximab, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vindesine [not available in U.S.], bleomycin, and prednisone) significantly improves ...
New Indication for Cetuximab in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck
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. Cetuximab (Erbitux) was recently approved by the FDA for use in...
Update on Novel Treatments for Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma
At the recent Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Kauai, Hawaii, Julie M. Vose, MD, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, discussed novel treatments for peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). PTCL is a heterogeneous group of aggressive T-cell/natural killer (NK) cell non-Hodgkin...
Advances in Lung Cancer Treatment Show Incremental Benefits, but Room for Improvement Remains
Newer therapies for the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were discussed at the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium. More inroads have been made in improving outcomes for patients with NSCLC than for those with SCLC, but there is still room for...
Highlights of Bladder Cancer Research Include Novel Agents and New Approach to Identifying Biomarkers
It is an exciting time for researchers involved in developing new therapies for bladder cancer. More agents are in clinical development, drugs with novel mechanisms and novel trial designs are being implemented, and functional collaboration is occurring in the field, according to Noah Hahn, MD,...
CLEOPATRA Trial Finds Dual HER2 Blockade Improves Progression-free Survival in Advanced Breast Cancer
Women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer are much less likely to have disease progression or die when two agents are used instead of one to target the HER2 signaling pathway, investigators for the international phase III CLEOPATRA trial found. The 808 women studied were randomly assigned to...
Presurgical Gemcitabine/Cisplatin Improves Survival in Lung Cancer
Preoperative gemcitabine plus cisplatin had a statistically significant impact on outcomes among patients with stage IIB/IIIA non–small-cell lung cancer in a phase III randomized study comparing surgery alone or surgery plus preoperative chemotherapy. The 3-year progression-free survival rates were ...
Integrative Oncology: Essential to Cancer Care
During the 1960s and 1970s, the concept of an expanded approach to oncologic treatment encompassing “body, mind, and spirit” grew in patient popularity and morphed into two basic categories: “alternative” and “complementary” therapies. Together, these later became known by the acronym CAM, for...
Ruxolitinib for Myelofibrosis Therapy: A Good Start but a Long Road Ahead
Following a priority review process for orphan diseases, ruxolitinb (Jakafi) recently became the first drug to receive FDA approval for the treatment of intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis. Discovery in 2004 of the JAK2V617F mutation in a significant proportion of patients with...
BOLERO-2: Everolimus Thwarts Resistance to Hormonal Therapy in Advanced Breast Cancer
Adding an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to hormonal therapy for advanced breast cancer effectively circumvents resistance, suggest updated results of the randomized BOLERO-2 trial. With a median follow-up of 12.5 months, the likelihood of disease progression or death among...
Don’t Take Away Our Hope
After experiencing the loss of my wife Dina’s first pregnancy during her second trimester, we naturally worried that something would go wrong when she became pregnant again. But when our son Will was delivered at full term, we thought we could finally relax. Born at a whopping 10 lb, Will seemed...
Everolimus for Tumors Associated with Carcinoid Syndrome
The combination of everolimus (Afinitor) plus octreotide (Sandostatin) long-acting repeatable (LAR) formulation improved progression-free survival by 23% over placebo plus octreotide LAR in a randomized phase III study of patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors associated with carcinoid...
Adding Alemtuzumab to Fludarabine in CLL
In a randomized phase III trial among previously treated patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the combination of alemtuzumab (Campath) plus fludarabine resulted in significant improvements in progression-free survival, complete response rate, and overall survival ...
SIDEBAR: Clinical Trials of VTE Prophylaxis for Outpatients
Several studies are investigating low-molecular-weight heparins to reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) among patients with cancer. “I enrolled patients in SAVE-ONCO,” Alok Khorana, MD, said, “but that trial used drug called semuloparin, which is not currently available in the United...
2012 Oncology Meetings
JANUARY 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers SymposiumJanuary 19-21 • San Francisco, California For more information: www.asco.org Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer SymposiumJanuary 26-28 • Phoenia, Arizona For more information: http://headandnecksymposium.org FEBRUARY American Society for Blood...
Expert Point of View: Therapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma in the Elderly Remains Undefined
Elderly Hodgkin lymphoma, typically defined as affecting individuals ≥ 60 years of age, remains a disease for which no standard treatment recommendation exists. This population is underrepresented in clinical studies, and survival rates in older patients with Hodgkin lymphoma are significantly and ...
Therapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma in the Elderly Remains Undefined
At the 2011 Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference held recently in Kauai, Hawaii, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, Director of the Lymphoma Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, discussed Hodgkin lymphoma in elderly patients. Event-free survival and overall survival rates in...
What You Should Know about Denosumab (Prolia) for Increasing Bone Mass during Breast and Prostate Cancer Therapies
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. Indications In September 2011, the monoclonal antibody RANKL...
Changes in Receptor Status during Breast Cancer Progression Warrant Rebiopsies at Relapse and Metastasis
Oncologists should be aware that common clinical tumor markers (denoting hormonal and HER2 status) change as breast cancer progresses, because these changes can affect treatment selection. Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2 receptor status was changed from the time of the...
Give Your Patients the Latest GI Research News
On January 19, direct your patients to www.cancer.net/gisymposium, where they can get up-to-the-minute research highlights from the 3-day 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Also, your patients can listen to a podcast of the symposium highlights online or download it free of charge at...
Renewing Our Commitment to Conquering Cancer
Congress passed a resolution in December recognizing the 40th anniversary of the National Cancer Act of 1971 and the more than 12 million cancer survivors who are alive as a result of the nation’s commitment to cancer research and advances in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment....
Acupuncture Continues to Secure Position within Integrative Oncology
More than 14 years after an NIH Consensus Panel finding of “efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting,” an informal show-of-hands poll at the Eighth International Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Conference indicated acupuncture was not yet fully...
NIH Director Calls for Rigorous Evaluation of Integrative Medicine to Provide Evidence of Efficacy
“Many new frontiers exist in integrative medicine,” NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, stated in his keynote address at the Eighth International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) in Cleveland. “The evidence is overwhelming that these approaches are being used by many...
Estrogen for Vulvovaginal Atrophy in Breast Cancer: Debate Continues
Vulvovaginal atrophy is a concern for the majority of patients with breast cancer, not only because of its physical and psychosexual consequences, but because the optimal treatment—estrogen replacement—is controversial. Patients and physicians alike remain concerned that external estradiol may...
Data on Watchful Waiting for Low-risk Prostate Cancer May Swing Focus to Higher-risk Tumors and Quality of Life
Surgery did not increase survival rates compared to watchful waiting in men with clinically localized prostate cancer. Results were particularly strong for men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels of 10 ng/dL and under, and those who have low-risk disease, according to data from the Prostate ...
NIH Panel Endorses Active Surveillance in Low-risk Prostate Cancer
Active surveillance of localized prostate cancer is a viable management option that should be offered to low-risk patients in place of immediate treatment, said a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health. A fairly new concept, active surveillance takes a more proactive...
Resection of Metastatic Lesions Extends Survival in Multiple Tumor Types
Surgical oncologists urged other cancer providers to appreciate the potentially curative role that surgery can play in the management of many stage IV solid tumors, in a session during the American College of Surgeons 97th Annual Clinical Congress in San Francisco. Pulmonary Metastases Stephen G....
Oncology Research a Strong Presence at the American College of Surgeons Meeting: New Data in Pancreatic, Rectal, Thyroid, and Breast Cancers
Research in cancer staging, surgical procedures, outcomes, and medical treatment was included among the 2,000 abstracts presented at the 97th Annual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Francisco. The ASCO Post was there to capture the latest findings. Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in...
Gene Classifier Spots Different Recurrence Patterns in Patients with ER-positive Breast Cancer
A new gene classifier differentiates between women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer who go on to develop metastases early vs late, possibly paving the way for tailored adjuvant therapy. Using pretreatment tumor biopsies, a team led by Minetta C. Liu, MD, of the Georgetown...
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy for Thin Melanomas?
When sentinel lymph node biopsy for the regional staging of melanoma was first introduced, it was recommended for any patient with a melanoma 1.0 mm in Breslow thickness or greater. Patients with thin melanomas were not thought to have a sufficiently high risk to warrant the additional cost and...
Bevacizumab Breast Cancer Indication Rescinded: What Are the Downstream Implications?
Leading up to FDA’s resolution to revoke the breast cancer indication for bevacizumab (Avastin), the debate over the drug’s clinical value was imbued with contentious ideologic overtones, which culminated in a 2-day public hearing that exposed deep divisions not only in the scientific community,...
Risk of Sexual and Continence Problems No Lower with Robotic than with Open Surgery
Although robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy “is eclipsing open radical prostatectomy among men with clinically localized prostate cancer,” the risks of problems with sexual functioning and continence are no lower with robotic than open surgery, according to a study in the Journal...
Depression Is Dangerous among Patients with Cancer, but Talking and Pharmacologic Treatments Can Be Effective
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “Depression is a very dangerous...
Oncologists Examine Promise vs Reality of Personalized Medicine
Personalized medicine: It’s a phrase that reverberates across all cancer meetings. “Matching the right drug to the right patient” will be accomplished, in the not too distant future, through genomic sequencing of the tumor and targeted, less toxic therapy. This much has been established—or has it?...
JAK2 and MPL Mutation Screening: What Are the Indications and How to Interpret the Results
The World Health Organization system organizes myeloid malignancies into five major categories, which are subsequently further subclassified using a combination of bone marrow morphology and cytogenetic/molecular information (Table 1).1 JAK2 and MPL mutations are not disease-specific and occur...
Partial Breast Irradiation with Brachytherapy in Early Breast Cancer: Retrospective Analysis Looks at Trends and Guidelines
Accelerated partial breast irradiation using brachytherapy (APBIb) as an alternative to whole-breast irradiation (WBI) after breast-conserving surgery has been rapidly adopted in the United States, but the majority of patients receiving APBIb may not be considered suitable for it. A retrospective...
