The recently published report of Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group’s Study 18 (ABCSG-18)1 for the secondary endpoint of disease-free survival suggests that denosumab given in a low dose of 60 mg subcutaneously every 6 months during aromatase inhibitor adjuvant therapy is...
Recently, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) debuted the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) for Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)—the most comprehensive and up-to-date, evidence-based, consensus-driven guidelines for treating children with...
NYU Langone Health has opened the doors to a new multispecialty outpatient facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. This new location features the capabilities of the Perlmutter Cancer Center. Previously, patients received radiation treatment at NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn and chemotherapy and other...
Like most clinicians, oncologists often informally consult their colleagues, both asking questions and seeking suggestions on how best to care for their patients.1,2 These informal or “curbside” consults (sometimes called “sidewalk,” “elevator,” or “hallway” consults) are valuable, because the...
Nonmetastatic (M0) castration-resistant prostate cancer arises in the subset of men with biochemically recurrent disease (ie, rising prostate-specific antigen [PSA] level after definitive therapy in the absence of metastases) who develop PSA progression after chronic exposure to...
In a phase III ARAMIS trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Karim Fizazi, MD, of the Institut Gustave Roussy, Universite Paris-Sud, Villejuif, France, and colleagues found that the androgen-receptor antagonist darolutamide significantly prolonged metastasis-free survival vs placebo ...
Since the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, studies have shown an increased risk of several cancers—including multiple myeloma and prostate, head and neck, and thyroid cancers—among first responders to the scene. The results from a new study by Gong et al...
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY recently announced that it has been working to facilitate the withdrawal of olaratumab from the market for the treatment of advanced soft-tissue sarcoma. Lilly’s actions to withdraw olaratumab from the market follow completion of the international phase III ANNOUNCE clinical...
In the phase II OpACIN-neo study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Rozeman et al identified a promising dosing schedule for neoadjuvant ipilimumab/nivolumab in macroscopic stage III melanoma. Study Design The trial included 86 evaluable patients with resectable stage III melanoma involving the...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cornell et al found that cardiovascular adverse events are common in patients receiving proteasome inhibitor therapy for relapsed multiple myeloma and are associated with poorer outcome. The prospective observational study involved 95...
An international group of researchers has found that antibodies to the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) may develop in the body between 6 to 40 years prior to a clinical diagnosis of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and their presence indicates a strong increased risk of the disease....
A new study published by McDonough et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice found that while primary care physicians are often involved in cancer survivorship care, many do not feel adequately prepared for key components of it. The study shared the results of a survey of 117...
Although many risk factors increase a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer—including genetic and hormonal causes—there is increasing evidence suggesting an environmental link. A study investigating the effects of the cumulative environmental quality on aggressive breast...
In a prospective study of directly measured body fat distribution and prostate cancer risk, investigators found that higher levels of abdominal and thigh fat are associated with an increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer. The findings—published by Dickerman et al in Cancer—may lead ...
The Colorectal Cancer Alliance is calling on allies to participate in its 2019 Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Survey. The survey enables the Alliance to learn about and track the self-reported medical, psychosocial, and quality-of-life experiences of patients, survivors, and...
In this episode, we discuss more news from the ASCO Annual Meeting, including findings from a study with relevance to surgical oncology, a summary of a study in HER2-positive breast cancer, and a third study on discrimination among hematology/oncology fellows. We also discuss two FDA approvals that ...
In a study conducted under the supervision of researchers from the MedUni Vienna, human experts competed against computer algorithms in diagnosing pigmented skin lesions. The algorithms achieved better results when diagnosing, but had decreased performance for out-of-distribution images. These...
The speed at which older individuals with blood cancers are able to walk 4 meters (about 13 feet) holds information about their overall health and may help to predict survival and unplanned hospital visits, according to study published by Liu et al in Blood. The association was...
Sixty percent of patients with triple-negative breast cancer will survive more than 5 years without disease after standard treatment, but 4 out of 10 women will have a rapid recurrence of the disease. There are currently no clinical tests to assess an individual patient’s prognosis, so all...
I RECENTLY returned from Normandy, France, where my wife and I attended events honoring the 75th Anniversary of D-Day and the millions, including close friends and family, who fought and died in the Second World War. My wife and a journalist from Los Angeles laid a wreath on Omaha Beach in honor of ...
The randomized, global, multicenter, open-label phase III ASCEND trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of acalabrutinib vs investigator’s choice of rituximab/idelalisib or rituximab/bendamustine in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Ghia et al presented ...
At the 24th Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), Langerbeins et al presented findings from the phase III CLL12 trial, which evaluated whether ibrutinib prolongs event-free survival in patients with previously untreated, Binet stage A chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)...
In the phase II CASPS trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Judson et al found evidence of activity of cediranib in alveolar soft-part sarcoma. In the double-blind trial, 48 patients from 12 sites in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Australia were randomly assigned 2:1 between July 2011 and July...
On June 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with disease...
A new retrospective study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute examined outcomes for patients after receiving treatment for locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), finding that the average radiation dose delivered to the...
Through a systematic review of published studies, researchers report they have identified a distinct subtype of primary central nervous system (PCNS) lymphoma that should be considered for surgical removal, suggesting a major shift in how this type of tumor is evaluated and managed. These findings...
In the phase III QuANTUM-R trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cortes et al found that the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib produced a modest but significant improvement in overall survival vs salvage chemotherapy in relapsed or refractory FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD)-positive acute...
Clinical and translational data from the TONIC trial, published in a research letter by Voorwerk et al in Nature Medicine, indicated that short-term doxorubicin and cisplatin may induce a more favorable tumor microenvironment and increase the likelihood of response to programmed cell death protein...
There were more than 16.9 million Americans with a history of cancer on January 1, 2019, and that number is projected to reach more than 22.1 million by 2030 based on the growth and aging of the population alone, according to estimates from Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics, 2019....
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved trastuzumab-anns (Kanjinti) for all approved indications of the reference product trastuzumab (Herceptin): for the treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for momelotinib in myelofibrosis, granted Priority Review to a biologics license application for luspatercept in myelodyslastic syndromes and beta-thalassemia, granted Orphan Drug designation for a new chemical...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Smith et al found that a high proportion of patients in community cancer centers did not report discussing, getting advice, or receiving desired help for cancer-related pain, fatigue, or emotional distress. The study involved surveys of...
Results from the phase III NRG Oncology clinical trial GOG 0261 comparing paclitaxel plus carboplatin to paclitaxel plus ifosfamide in women with stage I–IV recurrent carcinosarcoma of the uterus or ovary found that treatment with paclitaxel/carboplatin was not inferior to...
New research on the immunotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC)—an injectable oncolytic virus—for patients with unresectable melanoma was presented by Milhem et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9524). Researchers reported the ad hoc analysis of progression-free survival...
In this episode, we discuss more news from the ASCO Annual Meeting, sharing interviews with experts on studies in pancreatic, urothelial, and cervical cancers. We’ll also tell you about a couple of new drug approvals announced this week by the FDA.
The 2006 publication of the National Cancer Institute’s report Closing the Gap: Research and Care Imperatives for Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer highlighted the lack of improvement in cancer survival among people between the ages of 15 and 39 compared to children and older adults...
New information about adjuvant therapy to prevent recurrence of breast cancer in women 50 years of age or younger has emerged from the Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment (Rx), or TAILORx. An analysis of a prespecified secondary endpoint in this trial found that an assessment of a ...
The E2810 trial was conducted to determine whether treatment with the oral drug pazopanib following surgery to remove further metastases in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma would improve their disease-free survival. Results from the study—which showed that primary endpoint of...
Results from an experimental arm of the phase II NRG-GI002 trial using veliparib, a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, as part of total neoadjuvant therapy (induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy and surgery) in patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma were...
The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib may benefit some men with prostate cancer, according to findings from the phase II TOPARP-B trial presented by Mateo et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 5005). Olaparib previously showed activity against metastatic...
Ahluwalia et al shared research results on SurVaxM at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, reporting that combination therapy with the immunotherapy vaccine was more effective than standard therapy for nearly all patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma in a phase II trial (Abstract 2016). SurVaxM...
A new study examining Medicaid expansion and cancer screening found that the five states and District of Columbia that first adopted Medicaid expansion saw larger increases in colorectal cancer screening than states that did not expand Medicaid. The study—published by Fedewa et al in...
A recent, updated predictive analysis of the three World Health Organization (WHO)-defined molecular subgroups based on IDH mutation status and 1p/19q codeletion status represented in the high-risk treatment arms of a phase III trial found that both IDH-mutant subgroups may derive benefit ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Dess et al found that after adjustment for nonbiologic differences, black men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer did not appear to have higher rates of prostate cancer–specific mortality vs white men. Black patients had higher rates of other-cause...
In an analysis from the UK RAPID study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Barrington et al found that a postchemotherapy positron-emission tomography (PET) score of 5 was associated with poorer outcomes among patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Study Details In the trial,...
The latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer finds that, for all cancer sites combined, cancer death rates continued to decline in men, women, and children in the United States from 1999 to 2016. Overall cancer incidence rates, or rates of new cancers, decreased in men from 2008...
As I write this, I think I’m making sense but am not 100% sure. My brain is a little scrambled after nearly 4 years of treatment for grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, but I think the essence of my humor and humanity is still intact. When I experienced my first partial seizure while riding my...
Leaders of the Navajo Nation, the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (Tuba City), and the Cancer Support Community (CSC) joined Jill Biden, EdD, on the Navajo Nation in the opening of the first full-time cancer center on an American Indian reservation. The culturally adapted cancer care...
John Theurer Cancer Center, part of Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center and a leading cancer institution in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, announced recently that it received approval from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a research consortium member of ...
In an interim analysis of the phase III NEJ026 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Makoto Maemondo, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of bevacizumab to erlotinib improved progression-free survival in patients with EGFR-positive, nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the...