Patients with early-stage breast cancer who underwent sentinel lymph node dissection experienced lymphedema more frequently than clinically suspected and with increasing incidence over time, according to a presentation at the 2014 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Cancer Symposium in Phoenix...
The antiseizure medication and mood stabilizer valproic acid was associated with a significant reduction in head and neck cancer risk, according to a study recently published in Cancer. The large retrospective cohort study by Kang et al was conducted to evaluate the effects of the drug, a histone...
Adjuvant radiation following surgery for soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities did not lead to a survival benefit and seemed to be associated with some degree of long-term limb complications, according to a presentation at the 2014 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Cancer Symposium in Phoenix...
While many cancer researchers believe that predictive somatic genomic testing holds the potential to usher in the era of precision medicine for patients with cancer, research by Gray et al suggests that not all physicians are eager to embrace the technology. The variation in attitudes was in part...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Burger et al assessed risk factors for gastrointestinal adverse events in women with advanced ovarian cancer receiving first-line bevacizumab (Avastin)/chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab maintenance or chemotherapy alone in the phase III...
Women who had bariatric surgery to lose weight had a 70% lower risk of uterine cancer and an even lower risk if they kept the weight off, according to findings presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, held in Tampa, Florida, from March 22 to 25. ...
Analysis of data from the UK NHS Breast Screening Programme has shown significant variations in the outcomes of treatment for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) between UK hospitals. Dr. Jeremy Thomas, a consultant pathologist at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, told the 9th...
A review by ASCO’s Update Committee of new data from randomized clinical trials has led to a change in recommendations for the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with early-stage breast cancer. The updated guideline will enable more women with early-stage breast cancer to avoid the ...
Both obesity and diabetes have adverse effects on outcomes in breast cancer patients who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy, according to research presented at the 9th European Breast Cancer Conference. Although a high body mass index (BMI) is known to have a negative impact on cancer development and ...
Genetic analyses of results from 1,125 postmenopausal women being treated for estrogen-responsive breast cancer have shown that some of them are more likely than others to have a late recurrence of their cancer and might benefit from 10 years of hormone therapy rather than 5 years. Women who had...
Women whose breast cancer has spread to just a few lymph nodes under their arm are less likely to have their disease recur or to die from it if they have radiotherapy after mastectomy, according to new research presented today at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Glasgow and published in The ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Stattin et al found that rates of prostate cancer mortality, excess mortality in men with prostate cancer, and metastatic prostate cancer were lower in counties in Sweden with higher vs lower incidence of prostate cancer that...
Adult survivors of childhood cancer face significant health problems as they age and are five times more likely than their siblings to develop new cancers, heart disease, and other serious health conditions beyond the age of 35, according to the latest findings from the Childhood Cancer Survivor...
In a companion study (MA.27B) to the open-label phase III National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) MA.27 trial in women with early breast cancer reported in The Lancet Oncology, Goss et al found that adjuvant aromatase inhibitor treatment with exemestane, a mildly...
A large retrospective cohort study by Potosky et al of 15,170 men with early-stage prostate cancer has found that patients who received androgen deprivation as their primary treatment instead of surgery or radiation did not live any longer than those who received no curative-intent treatment. Men...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has expanded its Survivorship Guidelines to include a section on cancer-associated cognitive impairment, and to include chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy as a component of the Adult Cancer Pain section. The inaugural guidelines for...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is recommending that newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients be screened for Lynch syndrome, previously called hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. The NCCN’s proactive position should greatly help identify individuals and their...
The overexpression of Hedgehog family proteins contributes to the development of many cancers. Research by Konitsiotis et al has found that blocking the function of the Hedgehog acyltransferase (Hhat) enzyme slows the growth and spread of pancreatic cancer. Targeting inhibition of the Hedgehog...
In a retrospective Medicare-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yu et al found that although stereotactic body radiation therapy is associated with lower treatment costs than intensity-modulated radiation therapy in treatment of prostate cancer, it is also associated with...
A phase I study by Wagle et al of a combination of everolimus and pazopanib in patients with advanced solid tumors has identified a patient with bladder cancer who had a 14-month complete response. The patient had two concurrent mutations in mTOR, the target of everolimus (Afinitor), which may have ...
In a phase I study published in PLOS ONE, treating patients with advanced melanoma and kidney cancer with an antibody that targets a tumor-enhancing protein was found to have an acceptable safety profile and showed preliminary evidence of antitumor activity. The findings by Morris et al shed light...
In an open-label phase III trial reported by Ardeshna et al in The Lancet Oncology, rituximab (Rituxan) induction plus maintenance was found to delay the need for subsequent therapy and improve elements of quality of life vs watchful waiting in patients with advanced asymptomatic nonbulky...
The first-ever comprehensive assessment of challenges facing the U.S. cancer care system suggests that patient access to cancer care will be threatened as growing demand for care outstrips the supply of oncologists, and as cost pressures force the closure of small physician practices that form the...
IDH1 mutation in patients with malignant astrocytomas may serve as a predictive molecular biomarker to guide aggressive surgical resection, according to the results of a study reported by Beiko et al in Neuro-Oncology. Maximal surgical resection may contribute a survival benefit in those who have...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Smith et al, the double-blind phase III Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 9020/Alliance trial assessed the effect of early initiation of zoledronic acid in reducing risk of skeletal-related events in men with castration-sensitive prostate cancer. ...
In a phase IIB study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Guarneri et al compared neoadjuvant letrozole plus lapatinib (Tykerb) or placebo in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Response rates were similar in the two groups, but a...
In a dose-escalation, cohort expansion study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Topalian et al found that treatment with the PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab produced durable responses in patients with advanced melanoma. Long-term follow-up also showed promising survival rates...
Many breast cancer survivors experience fatigue and other debilitating symptoms that persist months to years after their course of treatment has ended. Now researchers at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have found clues that may explain how these symptoms can linger. Chemotherapy...
A study by Ong et al has found that people who had nonmelanoma skin cancer were at an increased risk for subsequently developing melanoma and a spectrum of 29 other cancer types. The risk was especially high among people who develop nonmelanoma skin cancer before the age of 25. The findings are...
In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sacher et al identified trends in reporting of phase III trials in advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that include reduced use of overall survival as the primary endpoint and an increase in claims of positive outcomes despite...
In an open-label phase III trial (MITO-7) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Pignata et al found that while a lower-dose weekly carboplatin/paclitaxel regimen did not improve progression-free survival compared with standard every-3-week carboplatin/paclitaxel as first-line treatment of advanced...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Larkin et al, interim results of a safety study designed to reflect the spectrum of patients encountered in routine practice suggest that vemurafenib (Zelboraf) has a safety profile in patients with BRAF V600–mutated metastatic melanoma similar to that...
A new study suggests that levels of bisphenola A (BPA) in men’s urine may be a marker of prostate cancer and that low levels of BPA exposure can cause cellular changes in both nonmalignant and malignant prostate cells. The research, published in PLOS ONE, provides the first evidence that...
For women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy, yoga offers unique benefits beyond fighting fatigue, according to a study by Chandwani et al published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. While simple stretching activities counteracted fatigue, patients who participated in yoga exercises ...
In a single-center experience reported in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Lohia et al found that intensity-modulated radiation therapy for oropharyngeal cancer reduces percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube dependence and severe skin and mucous membrane toxicity compared with...
In a systematic review and individual patient meta-analysis reported in The Lancet, the NSCLC Meta-analysis Collaborative Group found that neoadjuvant therapy for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was associated with a significant 13% reduction in risk of death. Significant benefits in...
In a study published in The Lancet, Zimmermann et al compared quality of life, symptom severity, and care satisfaction with early initiation of palliative care vs standard cancer care in patients with advanced cancer. Although early palliative care was not associated with improved quality of life...
Follicular lymphoma has been found to respond to radiotherapy doses as low as 4 Gy. In the phase III FORT trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hoskin et al compared radiotherapy with 4 Gy in two fractions vs 24 Gy in 12 fractions in patients with indolent lymphoma, finding that the 24-Gy regimen...
An observational study from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center comparing robotic-assisted surgery to traditional surgery for prostate cancer found that patients who had robotic surgery had fewer instances of cancer cells remaining after surgery and less need of additional cancer...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gralnek et al found that full-spectrum endoscopic colonoscopy had a lower adenoma miss rate compared with standard forward-viewing colonoscopy. Study Details In the study, performed at three sites in Israel, one in the Netherlands, and two in the United ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maurer et al found that patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with immunochemotherapy who achieve event-free survival at 24 months have overall survival that does not differ significantly from that in the general...
In a recent study published in Science Translational Medicine, Davila et al found that 88% of patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were treated with genetically modified versions of their own immune cells achieved overall complete response. Most...
Retreatment with cisplatin has reduced effectiveness in patients with recurrent cervical cancer who have received cisplatin with radiation therapy. In a 2×2 factorial phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tewari et al compared cisplatin/paclitaxel vs nonplatinum...
In a double-blind phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chinot et al assessed adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to radiotherapy and temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. This was the second of two similar studies published in the February 20 issue of...
In a double-blind phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gilbert et al assessed adding bevacizumab (Avastin), which is currently approved in recurrent glioblastoma, to radiotherapy and temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. The addition of bevacizumab...
The 10-year follow-up of the Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT), reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Morton et al in the MSLT Group, provides support for use of sentinel-node biopsy for thick melanomas, as well as for intermediate-thickness melanomas. Current...
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) pathway activation may be a mechanism of escape from vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted therapies. In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Motzer et al compared the VEGF and FGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor dovitinib vs sorafenib...
For head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, a reduction in the amount of radiation treatment volume to the submandibular (level IB) lymph nodes resulted in better patient-reported salivary function, according to research presented today at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and...
Patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated with combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy reported a decrease in their voice and speech quality for up to 1 year after the completion of treatment, according to research presented today at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium....
New research suggests that it is safe to limit radiation therapy to lymph nodes on only one side of the neck for lateralized tonsil cancer. In addition, the study findings show that primary tumor location, rather than the amount of lymph node involvement on the tumor side of the neck, drives the...