Breast-conserving therapy (breast-conserving surgery combined with radiation therapy) may be superior to mastectomy in certain patients with breast cancer, according to results from the largest study on this topic to date, presented at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (Abstract 4LBA). Although...
Women over 50 who have been treated for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are more likely to be alive 10 years later than women in the general population, according to new research presented by Elshof et al at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (ECCO) (Abstract 173). DCIS differs from breast cancer...
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) arise is the wall of the digestive tract and most often occur in the stomach or small intestine. Though more common in later in life, GISTs can occur in adolescents and young adults (AYA) under 40 years old as well. In an article published by Fero et al in...
An international panel of experts has released updated evidence-based and expert opinion–based recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults. The recommendations were issued by the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) and published by Döhner et al in...
Research led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has identified three genetic alterations to help identify high-risk pediatric patients with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) who may benefit from allogeneic stem cell transplants. The study, published by de Rooij et al in Nature...
Treating patients with head and neck cancer with hyperfractionated twice-daily radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy could potentially reduce mortality, according to new research presented by Petit et al at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (ECCO) (Abstract 823). The study, led by Claire...
Ignacio Melero, MD, PhD, of the University Clinic of Navarra, Centre of Applied Medical Research, discusses in Spanish study findings on nivolumab dose escalation and expansion in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (Abstract 226).
People with rare cancers now have the option of joining a national clinical trial testing leading-edge immunotherapies for a wide variety of tumor types. It’s the first federally funded immunotherapy trial devoted to rare cancers. Despite their name, rare cancers make up more than 20% of...
Martin J. Edelman, MD, an expert in the research and treatment of lung cancer, has joined Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, as Chair of the Department of Hematology/Oncology. He will also serve as Deputy Cancer Center Director for Clinical Research, leading the effort to integrate discoveries ...
On January 6, Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), issued the following statement: It is with truly mixed emotions that I announce the departure of Philip E. Bourne, PhD, who will be leaving his post as NIH’s first Associate Director for Data Science to...
The addition of norethandrolone as maintenance therapy improved survival in patients aged ≥ 60 years with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a French phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Pigneux et al. Norbert Ifrah, MD, of CHU d’Angers, France, is the...
In a matched retrospective analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhao et al identified and validated a 24-gene predictor of response to postoperative radiotherapy in prostate cancer. Felix Y. Feng, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, is the corresponding author of The Lancet...
In the phase III PICASSO III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Christopher W. Ryan, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University, and colleagues found that adding palifosfamide to doxorubicin did not prolong progression-free survival among patients with metastatic soft-tissue...
Mir et al found that regorafenib (Stivarga) was active in patients with advanced nonadipocytic soft-tissue sarcoma previously treated with an anthracycline, according to a French-Austrian phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology. Regorafenib, a kinase inhibitor, should be evaluated further in ...
In an exploratory analysis of the REACH trial in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma reported in JAMA Oncology, Andrew X. Zhu, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues found a borderline survival benefit of second-line ramucirumab (Cyramza)...
Treatment with the multikinase inhibitor cabozantinib (Cabometyx) alone or with erlotinib (Tarceva) improved progression-free survival vs erlotinib alone in second- or third-line treatment of advanced nonsquamous epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) wild-type non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC),...
FEBRUARY Immuno-Oncology 360°February 1-3 • New York, New YorkFor more information:http://theconferenceforum.org/conferences/immuno-oncology-360/overview/ 14th APOS Annual ConferenceFebruary 15-18 • Orlando, Florida For more information: apos-society.org/annual-conference/ Genitourinary Cancers...
Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, an expert in multiple myeloma, will serve as President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) for a year-long term through December 2017. Dr. Anderson is Director of the Lebow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and the Jerome Lipper Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber...
Two breast cancer researchers in the Baylor College of Medicine’s Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center, part of the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, have been awarded grants from the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support their research in drug efficacy in treating triple-negative breast...
Phase I Study Title: Ethacrynic Acid Elimination in Nonmuscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Patients Undergoing Transurethral Resection Study Type: Phase I/interventional/single-group assignment Study Sponsor and Collaborators: University of Kansas Medical Center Purpose: To provide quantitative...
On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) describing cases of a rare lung infection in five young gay men in Los Angeles. The men had other unusual infections as well, indicating their immune systems were compromised....
Julien Edeline, MD, of the Centre Eugène Marquis, discusses in French study findings on gemcitabine and oxaliplatin vs surveillance following surgery for localized biliary tract cancer (Abstract 225).
Ovarian cancer, the deadliest of gynecologic cancers, is usually diagnosed after the disease has spread. Susan Evans was a secondary English and remedial reading teacher for 32 years in Bradford, Pennsylvania. She was on several advisory boards and was recognized by the Pennsylvania Senate and...
On January 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved morphine sulfate extended-release tablets with abuse-deterrent properties (Arymo ER), a C-II drug for the management of pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment and for which alternative...
Although initiation of palliative care from the time of cancer diagnosis produces optimal outcomes for patients, this strategy is often not practiced. A recent Canadian study conducted in patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers examined the opinions of patients with advanced cancer and...
Eastern Maine Medical Center Cancer Care, located at the Lafayette Family Cancer Center, is the newest member of the Dana-Farber Cancer Care Collaborative. Participation in the Collaborative reflects a demonstrated commitment to excellence by meeting a wide array of standards and best practices. As ...
ASCO has released the “ASCO Principles for Patient-Centered Health-Care Reform,” seven recommendations designed to ensure access to high-quality cancer care amid the changing U.S. health-care delivery landscape. The principles aim to assist the new Congress and Administration, so, as they consider...
In October 2015, ASCO launched the Health Policy Fellowship program to help the next generation of oncologists with an interest in health policy to develop the skills and experience necessary to achieve their goals and shape cancer care policy in an increasingly complicated and diverse care...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN) has published the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and NCCN Quick Guide™ sheets for Brain Cancer–Gliomas, the first in a series of patient education resources focused on brain cancer. Published by NCCN through the support of the NCCN Foundation and in...
Telehealth is the delivery of health care remotely via telecommunication tools. Its aim is to increase access to care, especially for patients with chronic diseases such as cancer and for populations for whom care is not always available. With the growing availability of broadband and portable...
Joan Font-Burgada, PhD, has joined Fox Chase Cancer Center as Assistant Professor in the Cancer Biology Program. A researcher who focuses on liver cancer and regenerative medicine, Dr. Font-Burgada is a current recipient of the prestigious National Cancer Institute Pathway to Independence Award, a ...
Pamela Laszewski, RN, OCN, Clinical Leader of Radiation at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, will receive the notable 2017 Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Excellence in Radiation Therapy Nursing Award during the Annual ONS Congress May 4–7, 2017, in Denver. The award was created to...
Carolinas HealthCare System’s Levine Cancer Institute has earned a Planetree Designation, a hallmark of exceptional patient-centered care. The Planetree Designation is a key award that recognizes excellence in person-centeredness across the continuum of care and is based on evidence and standards...
The statistics on the rising rates of skin cancer are alarming. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, each year over 5.4 million cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer are treated in more than 3.3 million people, and an additional 76,380 people are diagnosed with the deadliest form of skin cancer,...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is pleased to announce that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded the organization a 5-year, $1.125 million grant to continue providing clinical fellow and junior faculty clinical researchers the opportunity to learn the essentials of...
“As a medical student, I often felt marginalized from my medical community. I have been told that my name is ‘not American,’ fallen prey to being confused for support staff such as a janitor (even while wearing my white coat) and been asked questions like, ‘Where are you really from?’ or ‘How old...
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Assistant Professor Jie Deng, PhD, RN, has been awarded a $789,000 research scholar grant by the American Cancer Society to develop and test a self-care program for head and neck cancer survivors diagnosed with secondary lymphedema/fibrosis....
ASCO’s State Affiliate Council serves as an advisory group to ASCO’s Board of Directors on issues relating to its State/Regional Affiliates and their members, and serves as a vehicle for effective communications between the Board and domestic membership. The Council is made up of physician...
Although, in the past, patients with cancer were often counseled by their physicians to rest and reduce their physical activity, according to the American Cancer Society, emerging data are showing that exercise is not only safe and possible during cancer treatment, it can improve patients’...
The first phase III trial of an inhibitor of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) yielded unprecedented results in treating ovarian cancer. The trial was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Copenhagen, Denmark, and electronically reported concurrently in The New England ...
In a phase III trial (ENGOT-OV16/NOVA) reported at the 2016 ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Congress and in The New England Journal of Medicine by Mansoor R. Mirza, MD, of the Rigshospitalet–Copenhagen University Hospital, and colleagues, maintenance therapy with the PARP (poly...
New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center has announced that surgeon and scientist Diane M. Simeone, MD, will join its Perlmutter Cancer Center on March 1, 2017, to serve as Associate Director for Translational Research and to lead its newly established Pancreatic Cancer Center. Currently...
The field of epigenetics emerged in the 1990s and has been described with somewhat variable meanings. In 2008, a meeting at the Cold Spring Harbor laboratory arrived at a definition of epigenetics by consensus: “A stably heritable phenotype resulting from changes in a chromosome without...
Pediatric oncologist Paul Sondel, MD, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, has been awarded a top prize in the field of cancer immunology. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) announced that Dr. Sondel has received the group’s top award—the Richard V. Smalley, MD,...
UMass Memorial Medical Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have notified the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission that UMass Memorial Medical Center intends to become the first academic medical center to join the Dana-Farber Cancer Care Collaborative. The agreement, for adult medical oncology ...
Sir Donald Munger: “You have been on holiday, I understand. Relaxing, I hope?” James Bond: “Oh, hardly relaxing, but most satisfying.” (Diamonds Are Forever) As tyrosine kinase inhibitors became the mainstay of therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), our assumption has been that...
Cynthia L. Sears, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, summarizes her keynote talk on microbes, microbiota, and colon cancer. Next-generation sequencing combined with biologic studies suggests that most colorectal cancer cases have specific microbiome associations.
Sarah E. Hoffe, MD, of the Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the controversial role of radiation in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, recent advances in delivering short courses of high-dose stereotactic body radiation therapy, and how best to integrate this new modality in borderline and locally...
Masanori Terashima, MD, PhD, of Shizuoka Cancer Center, discusses phase III study findings evaluating bursectomy for patients with subserosal/serosal gastric cancer (Abstract 5).
Brendan J. Guercio, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from a study of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who took part in weekly physical activity and its impact on their disease progression and overall survival (Abstract 659).