Search Results
Your search for can matches 13516 pages
Showing 11651 - 11700New Serologic Assay May Help Predict Recurrences in Merkel Cell Carcinoma
A new and inexpensive serologic assay may help to predict recurrences of Merkel cell carcinoma, according to Paul Nghiem, MD, PhD, the Michael Piepkorn Endowed Chair in Dermatology Research at the University of Washington, Seattle, who helped develop the test.1 Dr. Nghiem and other experts in...
Hedgehog Inhibitors Can Be Life-Altering in Patients With Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma
What advanced basal cell carcinomas lack in frequency, they make up for in morbidity, and for these challenging patients, the hedgehog inhibitors have changed lives, according to experts at the 3rd Annual World Cutaneous Malignancies Congress, held recently in San Francisco. “The majority of basal...
3D Mammography Improves Cancer Detection in Dense Breasts
A study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA 2014) has found that digital breast tomosynthesis, also known as three-dimensional (3D) mammography, has the potential to significantly increase the cancer detection rate in mammography screening of women...
Expert Point of View: Ethan Basch, MD
Formal discussant of the patient-reported outcomes study by Smith et al presented at the Quality Care Symposium in Boston, Ethan Basch, MD, Director of the Cancer Outcomes Research Program at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, praised the research for its important...
Study Reveals Gaps in Symptom Management
The Patient-Reported Outcomes Symptoms and Side-Effects Study demonstrated that many cancer patients treated in community cancer centers are not discussing their common symptoms like pain, fatigue, and emotional distress with their oncologists/health-care team or receiving advice about how to...
Expert Point of View: Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH
Formal discussant of this abstract, Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, praised this effort. “Dr. Stuver’s abstract provides ample evidence of overuse of intensive care at the end of life. Patients and their families do not want to be in the hospital or emergency department at...
Private Payer and Academic Center Data Capture Inappropriate Use of End-of-Life Care
Data sharing between a comprehensive cancer center and a private insurer appears to be a novel way to capture practice patterns that can point to potential quality improvements. A study that combined data from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts showed that some ...
Revisiting Successes in Advanced NSCLC to Test Value in Earlier-Stage Disease
Some pretty good evidence suggests that chemotherapy that works in advanced disease probably works even better in early-stage disease,” said Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, Chair, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, in summarizing results from trials of...
Lung Cancer Expert Offers Recommendations for Treating Toxicities Associated With Targeted Therapies
Clearly life as a thoracic oncologist has changed. Our paradigm for giving one-size-fits-all chemotherapy seems a bit dated, as we now are learning that there are multiple targets that we can treat effectively with the right drugs,” Jyoti D. Patel, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at...
CMS Issues Preliminary Decision to Cover Annual Lung Cancer Screening
In a long-awaited decision, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a preliminary proposal to cover annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography for appropriate beneficiaries following counseling and a shared–decision-making visit with a qualified...
Transplants for AML in First Remission: A Great Leap Forward, Sideways, or Backward?
“All great truths begin as blasphemies.” —George Bernard Shaw (Annajanksa, 1918) Until about 15 years ago, persons with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) were considered candidates to receive a blood cell or bone marrow allotransplant in first remission only if they had had an HLA-identical...
PD-1 Blockade Moves Into Hematology
The promise of the programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitors seen in solid tumors, especially melanoma, may hold true for at least one hematologic malignancy, according to studies presented at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition. At a press briefing, data ...
About 25% of Patients Who Undergo Breast-Conservation Surgery for Stage 0 to II Carcinoma Have Subsequent Surgery
“Approximately one-fourth of all patients who undergo initial breast-conservation surgery for breast cancer will have a subsequent operative intervention,” concluded a study published online by JAMA Surgery. “The rate of repeat surgeries varies by patient, tumor, and facility factors,” reported Lee ...
Ten Best-Practice Measures Improve Quality of Care During Perioperative Period for Patients With Glioma
Ten best-practice measures identified by a multidisciplinary team at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, were used to improve the care provided to patients with glioma during the perioperative period. “Using a plan-do-study-act ...
Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Who Progress After Front-line Treatment May Be Candidates for Novel Noncytotoxic Therapies
Although patients who relapse within 3 years of front-line fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (Rituxan; FCR) therapy have poor survival when treated with conventional salvage regimens, these patients may be candidates for novel noncytotoxic therapies, according to an analysis of extended...
Citing Guidelines May Reassure Patients
Whether deviations from treatment guidelines are warranted to provide optimal personalized care, or should be financially penalized for straying from evidence-based care, has raised questions among insurers and physicians and caused a stir in the press. In general, however, patients with cancer are ...
Physicians Need to Maintain Flexibility to Deviate From Treatment Guidelines Without Financial Penalties
With the provocative headline, “How Medical Care Is Being Corrupted,” an op-ed piece in The New York Times argued that “financial forces largely hidden from the public are beginning to corrupt care and undermine the bond of trust between doctors and patients.”1 The article warned that insurers,...
Patient Guides Available Through ASCO University Bookstore
ASCO Answers: Managing the Cost of Cancer Care explains the various costs associated with cancer treatment, including health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act. It also provides a list of financial resources available to help offset expenses related to care and tips for organizing...
Ovarian Cancer Has Taught Me to Be Fearless
In 2013, I was at the top of my professional game. I was a lead performer in the hit Broadway show Motown: The Musical, playing singing legend Diana Ross, which earned me a Tony Award nomination. Performing eight shows a week is exhausting, but I had no problem meeting the physical demands of the...
Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Children and Young Adults With Cancer
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of children and young adult cancer survivors. The studies include phase I, I/II, III, observational, and interventional trials investigating genomic profiling to personalize treatment;...
FDA Approves Denosumab for the Treatment of Hypercalcemia of Malignancy Refractory to Bisphosphonate Therapy
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new indication for denosumab (Xgeva) for the treatment of hypercalcemia of malignancy refractory to bisphosphonate therapy. Denosumab was approved and granted Orphan Drug designation by the FDA, which is reserved for drugs that are intended for...
Life Is Like Riding a Bicycle
The following essay by Bruce D. Cheson, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. The ride...
SIO Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Use of Integrative Therapies as Supportive Care in Patients Treated for Breast Cancer
The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Guidelines Working Group has recently released clinical practice guidelines on the use of integrative therapies as supportive care in patients receiving treatment for breast cancer. The guidelines, reported by Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, MPH, of Mailman...
The Best of SIO
The following five abstracts, which include four clinical studies and one basic research study, were named the top abstracts at the 2014 International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology. Therapeutic Effects of Lyophilized Leech Saliva Extract Hassona MDH, Ammar AE, Gao TY, et al: In ...
Personalized Integrative Cancer Care: Focus of the 11th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology
There were several aspects of the 11th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), held October 26-28, 2014, in Houston, that distinguished it from past years. One major change was that this year’s conference was held in collaboration with The University of Texas MD...
MD Anderson, UnitedHealthcare Launch New Cancer Care Payment Model
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and UnitedHealthcare have launched a pilot to explore a new cancer care payment model for head and neck cancers that focuses on quality patient care and outcomes. The collaboration is among the first using bundled payments in a large, comprehensive...
Incorporating Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Into Palliative Care
Although cancer rehabilitation has been a part of oncology clinical practice for several decades, it has largely gone unrecognized as an integral part of palliative medicine and survivorship care. Now, the role of physical medicine and rehabilitation in oncology care may increase as patients with...
What It Means to Be Mortal
“I learned a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn’t one of them,” writes Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, in his new book on the medicalization of aging and dying, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Metropolitan Books, 2014). In the book, Dr. Gawande critiques the American...
Smarter Trial Design Saves Money and Produces Better Drugs
The process of identifying a promising molecule and moving it from the laboratory through the highly complex series of clinical trials necessary to garner U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval is a costly scientific gauntlet during which many new agents fail. New trial design,...
Panelists Lambast, Explore the High Cost of Cancer Drugs
At the 2014 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, a symposium on the high cost of cancer drugs proved provocative and a bit testy as panelists presented their various points of view. ‘Medical Darwinian System’ Already known for his outspoken views on the topic is Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD,...
Study Finds Whole-Genome Sequencing Is Successful in Identifying Patients’ Risk for Inherited Cancers
A study by researchers at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and The Ohio State University in Columbus of whole-genome sequencing on patients found to have BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations as well as on those who were not carriers of a BRCA1/2 mutation has found cancer risk of...
Will Checkpoint Inhibitors Be Winners in Hematologic Cancers, Too?
A “Featured Topic” session during the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition drew a standing-room-only crowd to hear two experts weigh in on checkpoint blockade in hematologic malignancies. While new to hematology, these drugs—the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated...
Cleveland Clinic Piloting ‘Adaptive Therapy’ Approach in Multiple Myeloma
For newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients, Cleveland Clinic specialists believe two drugs may suffice for most patients, bucking the trend toward using triplets for all patients and reserving them for patients with insufficient response to two. They described a pilot study of their “carepath”...
Victory for Pediatric Regimens in Adolescents and Young Adults With ALL
Long in the works, early results of the U.S. Intergroup C10403 trial clearly showed that treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adolescents and young adults using a pediatric-inspired regimen improves event-free survival and overall survival and should be the backbone for future studies in...
Blinatumomab Achieves Complete Molecular Responses in Majority of B-Cell Leukemia Patients
Results from the international phase II BLAST study show that one cycle of blinatumomab (Blincyto) immunotherapy achieved complete minimal residual disease response in 78% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.1 Complete minimal residual disease response was achieved in 80% of patients...
Expert Point of View: Timothy Graubert, MD
These studies are interesting, with provocative and compelling findings,” said Timothy Graubert, MD, the Hagler Family Chair in Oncology and Director of the Hematologic Malignancy Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “Bcl-2 proteins regulate cell survival or promote cell death....
Breast Health Global Initiative Tackles Third-World Health Care
Benjamin O. Anderson, MD, is the Director of the Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI) and surgical oncologist and Director of the Breast Health Clinic at the University of Washington in Seattle. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Dr. Anderson about the conceptual framework of the...
Physical Activity Improves Survival for Men With Localized Prostate Cancer
Among a large group of men with localized prostate cancer, those who engaged in higher levels of physical activity had lower rates of overall mortality and lower rates of prostate cancer-specific mortality, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.1 “Our...
Complexities of Targeting HER2 in Estrogen Receptor–Positive Breast Cancers
The interactions between the estrogen receptor (ER) and HER2 pathways in breast cancers are clearly complex and remain incompletely understood. Historically, cancers that express both ER and HER2 were thought to be intrinsically resistant to endocrine therapy, likely due to HER2 being the dominant...
No Benefit of Adding Lapatinib to Fulvestrant in Hormone Receptor–Positive Advanced Breast Cancer
In a phase III trial (Cancer and Leukemia Group B [CALGB] 40302/Alliance) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues found that the addition of the dual EGFR-HER2 inhibitor lapatinib (Tykerb) to endocrine...
Coupling Head and Neck Cancer Screening and Lung Cancer Scans Could Improve Early Detection, Survival
Adding head and neck cancer screenings to recommended lung cancer screenings would likely improve early detection and survival, according to a multidisciplinary team led by scientists affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), a partner with the University of Pittsburgh...
Survival Benefits of Front-Line Treatment With Nivolumab for Advanced Melanoma Confirmed, Yet Questions Remain
As reported in this issue of The ASCO Post, Robert and colleagues recently published a phase III study comparing the anti–programmed death 1 (PD-1) antibody nivolumab with the standard melanoma chemotherapy dacarbazine in the front-line treatment of patients with advanced BRAF wild-type melanoma.1...
Ultrasonography Detects Mammographically Occult Invasive Cancers
Mammograms often miss occult breast cancers concealed in dense breasts. Women with dense breasts represent about 40% to 50% of women who undergo mammography screening. In some states and centers in the United States, women with dense breasts are routinely offered ultrasonography following a...
Expert Point of View: Lajos Pusztai, MD
Commenting on the GeparSepto study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Lajos Pusztai, MD, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, said, “This study, along with a smaller SWOG study, establishes nab-paclitaxel as a legitimate treatment option for triple-negative ...
Expert Point of View: Benjamin O. Anderson, MD
Commenting on this study, Benjamin O. Anderson, MD, Director of the Breast Health Clinic, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Washington, said: “This new analysis of the Oncotype DX DCIS assay strengthens the findings of earlier studies performed in more limited subgroups, validating that the assay...
Oncotype DX Ductal Carcinoma in Situ Score Reliably Predicts Tumor Recurrence
Ductal carcinoma in situ, which accounts for 30% of all newly diagnosed breast cancers, does not always evolve into a lesion with metastatic potential. Only a proportion of these cases will progress to invasive breast cancer, but up until recently, it has not been possible to identify reliably...
No Benefit for Adjuvant Capecitabine Monotherapy in Elderly Patients With Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Adjuvant therapy with capecitabine plus ibandronate failed to improve outcomes vs ibandronate alone in elderly patients with moderate-to-high-risk early-stage breast cancer in the ICE study—the largest study to date conducted in elderly women with breast cancer.1 “Capecitabine is frequently used in ...
Expert Point of View: Amy H. Comander, MD
Amy H. Comander, MD, a medical oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, told The ASCO Post that the findings will clearly help her in counseling patients. “I am excited to be able to discuss the study with my...
Low-Fat Diet Reduces Mortality in Breast Cancer Subset
The final survival analysis of the landmark Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS) confirmed that a low-fat diet can reduce the risk of dying for a subset of breast cancer patients.1 At the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, of the Los Angeles Biomedical...
Highlights From the 2015 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium
The 2015 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium was held January 15 to 17. Direct your patients to www.cancer.net/blog to read the latest research on the treatment of colorectal cancer, including what it means for patient care. On the Cancer.Net blog, your patients can also listen to a podcast...
