This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released new data from the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). The results, published by Wang et al in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), show 1.8 million...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many stem cell transplant centers (including guidance from the National Marrow Donor Program [NMDP]) recommend that stem cell products be frozen for preservation. However, findings from a study by Duncan Purtill, MD, and colleagues in Blood Advances suggest that the...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Nowak et al, the Australian phase II DREAM trial showed activity with the triplet of durvalumab plus cisplatin/pemetrexed in previously untreated patients with advanced malignant mesothelioma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 54 evaluable patients with...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Baize et al, a French phase III trial has shown significant improvement in progression-free survival with second-line carboplatin plus etoposide vs topotecan in patients with chemotherapy-sensitive relapsed small cell lung cancer. As noted by the investigators, ...
In the TRANSCEND NHL 001 study reported in The Lancet, Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, and colleagues found that the autologous CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell agent lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel) produced a high response rate in patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell...
A new position statement by ASCO calls for the continuation of flexibilities in reimbursement that have allowed the expanded use of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement, which also calls for further research on telemedicine’s effectiveness and benefits, offers recommendations...
I have been a registered nurse for almost 5 decades and was completely unprepared to hear the words “You have stage IV lung cancer.” I think receiving the diagnosis was especially shocking because the symptoms I began experiencing in the summer of 2015, including some unusual weight gain,...
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, have welcomed Henry A. Pitt, MD, to its team of physicians, researchers, and administrators. Dr. Pitt is the new Chief of Oncologic Quality, a role that provides leadership and...
More than 5 decades ago, the concept of bone marrow transplantation to treat humans with leukemia was met with varying degrees of skepticism and countless clinical failures. Yet, over those same decades, bone marrow transplantation was transformed from an insurmountable therapeutic option used in a ...
Pediatric hematologist-oncologist Theodore Laetsch, MD, has joined the Division of Oncology at Children’s Hospital ofPhiladelphia (CHOP), where he will launch a cutting-edge Very Rare Malignant Tumors Program that will seek to develop new treatments for children with rare and complex tumors. In...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Panagiotis A. Konstantinopoulos, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues, a U.S. Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network phase II trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with the addition of the ATR (ataxia...
Cervical cancer is a worldwide public health problem. The incidence of the disease is particularly high in low- and middle-income countries, where low coverage of prevention strategies and high risk of infection persist. To reduce morbidity and mortality, improved screening and prevention are...
Formal discussant of the 2013 ASCO Plenary Abstract 2, Electra D. Paskett, PhD, Professor of Medicine at The Ohio State University, was enthusiastic about the trial results and the potential of visual inspection with acetic acid screening, as well as low-cost human papillomavirus (HPV) screening...
In 2013, at the ASCO Annual Meeting Plenary Session, it was both surprising and encouraging in the era of personalized medicine for cancer care to hear about a simple low-tech intervention delivered by women in the community that cut the rate of death from cervical cancer in India by about...
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) announced the beginning of construction on its South Lake Union campus to add a six-story, 150,000 square-foot outpatient cancer treatment clinic. The largest single construction project in SCCA history, the new building will feature a patient-centered design,...
On August 5, 2020, the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin-blmf was granted accelerated approval for treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least four prior therapies, including an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, a proteasome inhibitor, ...
On July 7, 2020, an oral combination of the nucleoside metabolic inhibitor decitabine and the cytidine deaminase inhibitor cedazuridine was approved for treatment of adult patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including: Previously treated and untreated, de novo, and secondary MDS with the ...
Safely continue to provide trusted education materials by sending your patients to cancer.net/ascoanswers. On Cancer.Net, they will find dozens of ASCO Answers patient education materials to download for free in a PDF format. ASCO Answers materials cover a wide variety of cancer-related topics,...
On January 1, 2021, significant changes to the office and outpatient Evaluation and Management (E&M) services Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) codes (99202-99215) will go into effect. Practices, physicians, and staff must prepare in advance for these changes to ensure a successful...
“Ask any doctor why he or she enters medicine and the answer will likely be the same,” said Marc L. Citron, MD. “People become doctors to help patients...but to deliver the moments that matter to patients—to extend their lives and give quality to their days—doctors rely on new research.” In 2003,...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule, which includes updates to the Quality Payment Program (QPP). For the QPP 2021 performance period, CMS proposes the following Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)...
Of the tens of thousands of genes in cellular DNA, one group of genes is tasked with ensuring that every cell reproduces itself exactly when it divides to make new cells. Perhaps the best known of these genes are the BRCA genes, which if inherited with a significant alteration, confer a markedly...
Doctor after doctor recommended different treatment options for Marlene Portnoy’s husband, Steve, after he was diagnosed with a desmoid tumor. Desmoid tumors are rare, and each doctor admitted uncertainty about treatment plans. “Let me tell you, that’s a really scary thing when doctors can’t...
Global oncology refers to the application of the concepts of global health to cancer and implies an approach to the practice of oncology that acknowledges the reality of limited resources in parts of the world. The Global Oncology Young Investigator Award (YIA) from ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the...
Multiple myeloma is a malignant clonal plasma cell malignancy that primarily affects older adults. Although therapeutic advances have led to improvements in disease-specific and overall survival over the past decade, age-related survival disparities continue to exist. The higher prevalence of...
On July 30, 2020, atezolizumab was granted approval for use in combination with cobimetinib and vemurafenib for patients with BRAF V600 mutation–positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings from the phase III, double-blind IMspire150 trial ...
Among the first 45 members selected to join the 10x Genomics Visium Clinical Translational Research Network are 3 scientists from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. The organization is aimed at advancing translational research in some of the world’s leading health problems, including oncology,...
LUNGevity Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on lung cancer, recently announced the launch of a new longitudinal study in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence. The project, understanding the lung cancer patient experience in the...
In keeping with her Presidential theme of “Equity: Every Patient, Every Day, Everywhere,” in July, ASCO President Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, announced the Society was joining forces with the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) to increase racial and ethnic minority participation...
On June 30, 2020, avelumab was approved for maintenance treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has not progressed with first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the randomized, multicenter, ...
In a phase III trial (PROfound) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Johann de Bono, MB, ChB, PhD, of the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital, London, and colleagues found that olaparib significantly improved progression-free survival vs hormonal therapy in patients...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer. They include narratives, topical essays, historical...
In this period of time, more than ever before, I feel the dichotomy of being a non-Hispanic White American vs a person of color. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, I rode the subway to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Ralph Lauren Cancer Center clinic in Harlem, where I was often the only White person on...
There appears to be no evidence that blood pressure–lowering drugs increase the risk of cancer, according to the most extensive study conducted on the topic, which was presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2020.1 “Our results should reassure the public about the safety of...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new study that specifically examines how COVID-19 is affecting American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), one of the racial and ethnic minority groups at highest risk from the disease. The CDC found that in 23 selected states, the...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected 19 distinguished members to receive the ASTRO Fellow (FASTRO) designation. The 2020 class of Fellows will be recognized at a virtual awards ceremony on October 27 during ASTRO’s 62nd Annual Meeting. The ASTRO Fellows program...
Although most patients with breast cancer are considered to have an overall excellent prognosis, 600,000 people still die annually of the disease around the world. Even in HER2-positive breast cancer, a subtype that has seen a transformation of outcomes in the past 2 decades, there’s still room for ...
Cancer is not for the faint of heart, and sometimes neither is the treatment, according to information presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Education Program.1 Approximately 30% of patients who receive cancer therapy will have cardiovascular complications.2 What’s more, in anthracycline-treated...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Hematology Expert Review, we take a closer look at the monoclonal antibody targeting CD38, daratumumab, in the treatment of amyloid light chain (AL) amyloidosis and resistant multiple myeloma as well as the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin-blmf,...
Fox Chase Cancer Center recently announced the hiring of Robert Brenchak, MD, who will join the Department of Medicine as Assistant Professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine. Dr. Brenchak is coming to Fox Chase from Temple University Hospital, where he was Assistant Professor of Clinical...
The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program was a landmark year for the field of geriatric oncology, featuring more than 300 research abstracts that presented data on older adults with cancer. Here, we discuss several high-impact studies investigating interventions that modify outcomes for this patient...
Recognizing the COVID-19 crisis “as an opportunity to mobilize the organization to rise in the most difficult challenges” allowed The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, to keep mortality rates low for COVID-19–positive patients with cancer and its employees. So said Peter WT...
With incredibly paced approvals and clinical advancements in the systemic therapy of cutaneous melanoma, the efficacy of immunotherapy in this disease is clear. However, many important questions remain regarding timing and dosing—in other words, which drug (or drugs) makes the most sense and in...
The global impact of the novel coronavirus cannot be overstated, but its effects on cancer care delivery in the United States have been particularly far-reaching. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in fewer cancer screenings and reduction in the treatment of new cancers. As a result, the National...
Tumor immunologist Patrick Hwu, MD, has been appointed the new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Moffitt Cancer Center. He joins Moffitt from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is Division Head of Cancer Medicine. Dr. Hwu begins his new role at Moffitt on...
Tracy Onega, PhD, has been appointed Senior Director of Population Sciences at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) and Professor of Population Sciences at the University of Utah. A cancer epidemiologist, Dr. Onega conducts research focused on cancer control, including health information technology,...
Messino Cancer Centers, a partner practice of American Oncology Network, announced that medical oncologist Michael Messino, MD, has received the highest award granted by North Carolina’s Office of the Governor. The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is presented to individuals who have shown extraordinary ...
Invited discussant of the eXalt3 trial, Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Oncology and Hematology, and Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, and Co-Leader of the Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Ingram ...
A potent, a next-generation ALK inhibitor has demonstrated promising efficacy in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented during the 2020 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s World Conference...
A team of cellular-therapy specialists from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that patients who develop cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections after allogeneic stem cell transplantation may be able to develop an immunity against the virus, strengthen their immune system, and reduce...