Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, of the City of Hope National Medical Center, discusses 11-year followup results that showed a significantly lower breast cancer incidence among women with a greater than 5% weight loss (Abstract GS5-07).
Nicholas C. Turner, MD, PhD, of The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust, discusses the challenges of treating metastatic breast cancer and how liquid biopsies can serve as a guide to genetic phenotypes.
Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses findings that suggest circulating tumor cells 5 years after diagnosis are prognostic for late recurrence in operable stage II–III breast cancer (Abstract GS6-03).
Eun-Sil Shelley Hwang, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, discusses study findings on primary endocrine therapy for estrogen receptor–positive ductal carcinoma in situ (Abstract GS5-05).
Lynn J. Howie, MD, of the U. S. Food & Drug Administration, discusses a pooled analysis of outcomes of older women with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer treated with a CDK4/6 inhibitor as initial endocrine-based therapy (Abstract GS5-06).
Older women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who were treated with cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors achieved progression-free survival at a rate similar to that of younger women, according to data presented by Singh et al at the 2017 San...
Postmenopausal women who lose weight may have a significantly reduced chance of developing breast cancer, according to data presented by Chlebowski et al at the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract GS5-07). “Breast cancer is among the leading types of cancer and...
Among patients with hormone receptor–positive HER2-negative stage II–III breast cancer without clinical evidence of recurrence, those who had circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detected in blood 5 years after diagnosis had an increased risk for late recurrence of breast cancer, according to ...
On November 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved CDx (F1CDx), a breakthrough-designated, next-generation sequencing–based in vitro diagnostic test that can detect genetic mutations in 324 genes and 2 genomic signatures in any solid tumor type. The Centers for Medicare &...
Patients with advanced HER2-negative breast cancer with germline BRCA mutations had significantly prolonged progression-free survival when treated with the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib, compared with those who received chemotherapy of physician’s choice, according...
On December 1, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved trastuzumab-dkst (Ogivri) as a biosimilar to trastuzumab (Herceptin) for the treatment of patients with breast or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma whose tumors overexpress the HER2 gene. The...
The discovery of my non–small cell lung cancer (NCSLC) in 2005 was serendipitous and completely unexpected. A never smoker and physically active my whole life, the only hint something might be amiss was a slight tickle in my throat, which I’m not even sure was related to my cancer diagnosis. In...
City of Hope announced that it has appointed Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, to a new executive leadership role as President of City of Hope National Medical Center and Physician-in-Chief. Dr. Caligiuri is a health-care visionary, renowned cancer researcher, and President of the American Association for ...
BOOKMARK Title: Cancer: What You Need to Know: Overcome the 10 Common Mistakes Patients MakeAuthor: Stephen A. Rosenberg, MDPublisher: Stephen Rosenberg, MDYear Published: November 2017Price: $9.99, paperback, 248 pages Stephen A. Rosenberg, MD, is Chief Resident in Radiation Oncology at the...
BOOKMARK Title: Tripping Over the Truth: How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Is Overturning One of Medicine’s Most Entrenched ParadigmsAuthor: Travis Christofferson, MSPublisher: Chelsea Green PublishingPublication Date: February 2017Price: $24.95, hardcover; 288 pages Bringing a book to market is...
BOOMARK Title: The Last LectureAuthor: Randy Pausch with Jeffrey ZaslowPublisher: HyperionDate: April 2008Price: $21.95, hardcover; 206 pages Faced with imminent death, how does one chose to live out the remainder of one’s life? Such is the question at the heart of The Last Lecture, a memoir...
BOOKMARK Title: The Red Devil: To Hell With Cancer—and BackAuthor: Katherine Russell RichPublisher: CrownDate Published: October 1999Price: $23.95, hardcover, 256 pages Over the past year or so, there have been several best-selling memoirs of people fighting and ultimately losing their battle with ...
NYU Langone Health has announced that nationally renowned physician and researcher Raoul Tibes, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at NYU School of Medicine, will lead efforts to expand the clinical and investigative leukemia programs at its Perlmutter Cancer Center....
The first consensus recommendations on the recognition and clinical management of immune-related side effects from cancer immunotherapy were recently published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC).1 The article, “Managing Toxicities Associated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors:...
University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher Barbara Savoldo, MD, PhD, has been awarded a $600,000, 3-year grant from to support research of an immunotherapy being developed. The grant will help fund clinical research into an investigational chimeric antigen...
Virginia Cancer Specialists, a practice within The US Oncology Network and a premier cancer care and research center in Northern Virginia with more than 40 years of service to patients, has announced that Stephanie Akbari, MD, FACS, has joined the practice. Dr. Akbari, the first dedicated breast...
Results from a validation study to better define the risk of breast cancer in women of European ancestry who tested negative for a hereditary cancer mutation with a hereditary cancer risk test (myRisk Hereditary Cancer test) were reported earlier this week in a spotlight presentation at the 2017...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy burst upon the scene as an innovative approach to the treatment of hematologic malignancies, mainly for patients who have exhausted all other treatment options. Recently two CAR T-cell products were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration...
Five cross-disciplinary research groups involving scientists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington School of Medicine, and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance have received $100,000 in awards from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center–based Seattle Translational Tumor...
Nationally recognized lymphoma expert Sonali M. Smith, MD, was born and reared in Chicago to a mother who was a pediatrician and allergist, and a father who was an engineer. Her parents were first-generation immigrants from India who placed the value of education second to none. “I became used to...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Oncology Research Program in collaboration with Pfizer Global Medical Grants announced they have awarded funding to nine projects that use clinical care pathways to implement quality-improvement initiatives along the continuum of care for...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Arlene A. Forastiere, MD, of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline update on the use of larynx-preservation strategies in the treatment of laryngeal cancer. The ...
Postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer who took the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole for 2 years after an initial 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy received an equal benefit to those who took the drug for 5 additional years. The trial results suggest that a...
Disease-free survival after 9 weeks of adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin) and standard chemotherapy was not comparable to disease-free survival after 12 months of adjuvant trastuzumab and standard chemotherapy for women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, supporting the current...
Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses study findings on a comparison of adjuvant tamoxifen plus ovarian function suppression vs tamoxifen in premenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer (Abstract GS4-03).
Melinda Telli, MD, of the Stanford University School of Medicine, discusses the current status of treatment for advanced TNBC, and new therapeutic strategies now being used for better outcomes.
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina, discusses the long-term follow-up of CALGB 40502/NCCTG N063H, a phase III study of weekly paclitaxel compared with weekly nanoparticle albumin bound nab-paclitaxel or ixabepilone with or without bevacizumab as first-line therapy for locally...
Cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy is the preferred first-line therapy for metastatic urothelial cancer and the only treatment shown to improve survival in patients with previously untreated disease for many years. This chemotherapy also has proven to be beneficial in the neoadjuvant and...
Michael Gnant, MD, of the Medical University of Vienna, discusses phase III study findings on giving an additional 2 vs an additional 5 years of anastrozole after the first 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy (Abstract GS3-01).
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and was the first checkpoint inhibitor approved after showing survival benefit in metastatic melanoma.1 Indeed, in the first-line setting for metastatic melanoma, ipilimumab ...
Vered Stearns, MD, of Johns Hopkins University, and Prudence A. Francis, MD, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discuss two key topics in adjuvant treatment: endocrine therapy for premenopausal women with ER+ breast cancer and finding the optimal duration of treatment.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has created a new resource for patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who develop acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related Kaposi sarcoma. This newly released NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN...
While hope for a cure after a cancer diagnosis is a feeling both patients and oncologists rightly cling to during treatment, when too much emphasis is placed on this type of “focused” hope, it can make it more difficult for patients to face their mortality. Moreover, such a focus can deny patients ...
A large study headed by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and two other institutions received $12 million in funding to examine why African American women seem to have more aggressive breast tumors and higher mortality rates from breast cancer than...
Do your patients have questions about palliative care/supportive care? Help them better understand their prognosis and goals of treatment, clarify their expectations, and maintain their quality of life with the ASCO Answers Palliative Care booklet. This booklet shows how palliative care is used...
ASCO Connection has released ASCO Connection: Cancer Policy, a supplemental issue that provides the latest information and analysis related to cancer policy news and updates on ASCO’s ongoing advocacy efforts. This inaugural special edition serves as a “year in review” of ASCO’s legislative...
This holiday season, fund breakthrough cancer research on behalf of someone you love. Visit CONQUER.ORG/Tribute-Gift to make a tax-deductible gift to Conquer Cancer, ASCO’s affiliate, and send an eCard or mailed notification of your donation. Your support will help fuel the brightest researchers...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final rule on the 2018 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (PPS). In the rule, CMS finalized a proposal to cut reimbursement for separately paid drugs under the 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B) from average sales price...
The Walther Cancer Foundation, Inc., a private foundation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, has endowed a new ASCO award and lecture bearing its name to be presented annually at the Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium. This grant represents a new foray for the foundation as it...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO is committed to supporting the research and career development of young researchers through its Grants & Awards Program. In October 2017, Conquer Cancer hosted its third Scientific and Career Development Retreat at ASCO Headquarters in Alexandria,...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Drs. Abutalib and Medeiros explore the recently updated World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissue...
The roadside along the path to curing follicular lymphoma is riddled with the debris of failed cytotoxic regimens. For decades, clinical trials unsuccessfully pitted various chemotherapy combinations against each other. It took but a single, noncytotoxic molecule, rituximab (Rituxan), to forever...
Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, of the West Cancer Center, discusses phase II study findings evaluating exemestane with or without enzalutamide in patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer (Abstract GS4-07).
The inaugural Mary Pazdur Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice in Oncology was announced at the 2017 JADPRO Live at APSHO (Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology) conference. Jack Gentile, Chairman of Harborside, which sponsors the JADPRO Live at APSHO conference (and...
The Tisch Cancer Institute and the Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai Health System are part of a $215 million public-private Cancer Moonshot research collaboration launched by the National Institutes of Health and 11 leading pharmaceutical companies. The 5-year initiative, called...