Dramatic advances have been made in using genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells (CAR-T) with anti-CD19 specificity to treat highly refractory hematologic malignancies. The highest complete remission rates have been achieved in patients with relapsed or refractory acute...
Responding to the assertion that bortezomib (Velcade)/lenalidomide (Revlimid)/low-dose dexamethasone induction followed by continuous lenalidomide/dexamethasone is potentially a new standard of care in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, Sagar Lonial, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Winship Cancer...
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...
At age 73, I’m no shrinking violet and I don’t run to the doctor at the first sign of a problem. I practice naturopathy and can usually ward off potential health issues by maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. When I began experiencing some mild discomfort in my rectum 2½ years ago, I was...
It is estimated that nearly half of adults over age 80 living in the community are frail despite apparent functional well-being.1 Frailty is recognized as a clinical syndrome in which three or more of the following criteria are present: unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, weakness, ...
An exploratory analysis of the ExteNET study of neratinib in early HER2-positive breast cancer after treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin) upheld the findings previously reported for the 2-year analysis, according to the study’s principal investigator Arlene Chan, MD, of the Breast Cancer...
The homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) score may be a predictive biomarker of response to neoadjuvant platinum-based therapy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to studies presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. “We found, in our adjusted analysis,...
Pancreatic cancer tumors are ripe for analysis with a liquid biopsy, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In a proof-of-principle study published recently in Annals of Oncology,1 the investigators reported on research in which they conducted whole-genome,...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 11, 2015, uridine triacetate (Vistogard) was approved...
The formal discussant for the CALGB 40603 and GeparSixto studies at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was Angela DeMichele, MD, Professor of Medicine and Miller Chair in Breast Cancer Excellence at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennyslvania. “The key questions raised by these ...
Studies presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium built upon an increasing body of data in support of the neoadjuvant use of carboplatin in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Overall, however, the studies fell short of establishing carboplatin’s role in this malignancy and ...
For the most part, the cardiotoxicity with trastuzumab appears to be largely reversible, unlike anthracyclines, which cause permanent cardiac damage,” said Lisa Carey, MD, Distinguished Professor at the UNC Lineberger Breast Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “In this small study, they saw no...
Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, the Donna S. Hall Chair in Breast Cancer Research and Director of the Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, commented on the BELLE-2 trial for The ASCO Post. “We have learned that there is a subgroup of patients, who are...
Addition of the oral investigational pan-PI3K inhibitor buparlisib to the endocrine agent fulvestrant (Faslodex) improved progression-free survival among postmenopausal women with advanced hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. “We are happy to announce that the phase III...
Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine reported that minority and ethnic groups are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at younger ages and more advanced stages than non-Hispanic whites. The study was recently published in Cancer Medicine.1 “While we know the risk of...
A randomized trial from the Bone and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network was halted early after concluding that allogeneic stem cell transplantation after a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen resulted in higher relapse rates compared to myeloablative conditioning. The phase III randomized ...
Mercaptopurine is critical for maintaining remission in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, a study has shown that overreporting of intake is common, and self-reports of intake are not as reliable as electronic reporting.1 About 86% of parents and children overreported the number ...
Venetoclax, the latest entry into the field of treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), is a powerful investigational therapy that promises to fill an important niche: treatment of high-risk relapsed/refractory patients with deletions of 17p. Nearly 80% of patients with relapsed/refractory...
Hematologists and patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are excited about new drugs that have dramatically improved outcomes. But all drugs have side effects, and it is important to be aware of potential consequences. Hepatotoxicity turns out to be a major concern in younger CLL patients ...
Idelalisib (Zydelig) combined with bendamustine (Bendeka, Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan) was superior to chemotherapy with bendamustine/rituximab plus placebo, reducing the risk of progressive disease and death while improving progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with...
Robert Hromas, MD, of the University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, who moderated a press briefing, commented that the finding of benefit with rituximab “resolves a long-standing controversy” with this cancer. “These results are exciting for those of us who treat leukemia,” he...
The addition of rituximab (Rituxan) to the pediatric-inspired chemotherapy protocol for B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) significantly improved event-free survival in a large European study presented at the 2015 ASH Annual Meeting.1 The GRAALL-R 2005 phase III study is the first...
Two investigative groups have reported interesting observations about genomic alterations in the tumors of young patients with lung cancer. Notably, ALK rearrangement was the most common driver mutation found, in studies reported at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer.1,2 “To our knowledge,...
The 2016 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium was held earlier this month in San Francisco. Abstracts and presentations included data and discussion on the latest strategies in the prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of prostate, kidney, testicular, and urothelial cancers. Snapshots of data...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On November 30, 2015, elotuzumab (Empliciti) was approved for...
A plasma-based cell-free DNA test identified mutations in the estrogen receptor 1 gene (ESR1) in 30% of patients from the BOLERO-2 trial of everolimus (Afinitor) plus exemestane, and these mutations were correlated with survival. The results, which support the use of plasma as a source of...
Ian E. Krop, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commented on the findings by Ma et al in an interview with The ASCO Post, calling the study “very elegantly designed.” “The study provides three important pieces of information. One, it suggests that palbociclib can add to the benefit...
The cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib (Ibrance) enhanced cell-cycle control over that achieved with anastrozole alone in a study that evaluated the drugs’ ability to induce complete cell-cycle arrest in tumor cells and to produce clinical responses, as neoadjuvant therapy for ...
The ability to classify breast cancer according to biologic subtype has enabled researchers to dig deeper and determine which therapies benefit specific subgroups. Encouraging evidence from an analysis of a Danish trial presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium suggests that...
Although the results for E1505 were negative, “overall survival and disease-free survival are not the only things we can learn from this trial,” said Paul Bunn, Jr, MD, Distinguished Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado, Denver, who formally discussed the...
The 340B Drug Pricing Program was created by Congress through the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 to allow some health-care entities—including safety-net providers with large shares of uninsured and low-income patients and other “covered entities”—to obtain drugs at discounted prices.1,2 Congress...
Few malignancies have received as much attention, in the way of newly approved drugs, as multiple myeloma did in 2015. In November alone, 3 new agents were approved, bringing the total to 4 for the year as part of a record 7 approvals and to 16 regulatory approvals over the past 12 years. Speakers...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ferguson et al found that cellulitis in the affected arm, but not blood draws, injections, trauma to the affected arm, or air travel, was associated with an increased risk of lymphedema in women treated for breast cancer. Study Details In...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Evans et al identified a DNA damage and repair pathway gene signature that was significantly associated with outcomes after prostatectomy for high-risk prostate cancer independent of standard clinicopathologic factors. Study Details The study involved 1,090...
Poor black patients undergoing surgery for esophageal cancer are at higher risk for death than white patients and patients with higher socioeconomic status, according to a scientific presentation by Erhunmwunsee et al at the 52nd Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The abstract,...
Body mass index affects outcomes following lung resection for lung cancer. Patients with very high or very low body mass index measurements have the highest risks for complications, according to a scientific presentation at the 52nd Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The abstract...
Novocure presented data from its ongoing phase II PANOVA clinical trial at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, showing that tumor-treating fields therapy plus first-line gemcitabine is tolerable and safe in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The data also suggest...
Findings from a Polish phase III study point to an additional treatment option for patients with advanced rectal cancer. Patients who received short-course (5-day) radiation followed by consolidation chemotherapy before surgery achieved outcomes similar to those of patients treated with...
Researchers report the results of a new analysis from a phase III trial of patients with neuroendocrine tumors that begin in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract or have an unknown origin. Compared to placebo, everolimus (Afinitor) was associated with a 6- to 8-month longer time period before the cancer ...
Early results from the NETTER-1 phase III study of patients with previously treated, advanced midgut neuroendocrine tumors show that a novel therapy, lutetium Lu-177 dotatate (Lutathera), may substantially slow tumor growth. Patients treated with the experimental drug had a 79% lower risk ...
At NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, researchers have discovered an inherited genetic marker that might provide clinicians with a personalized tool to gauge an individual’s survival and determine which patients require closer monitoring in the years...
Melanoma is on the rise in women of childbearing age. Those at the greatest risk, according to new Cleveland Clinic research, are women younger than 50 who are pregnant or have recently been pregnant. After adjusting for age, tumor location, and stage, researchers from Cleveland Clinic's...
Retrospective analyses of the ATAC, TEAM, and BIG 1-98 adjuvant endocrine therapy trials in breast cancer have suggested that treatment-emergent endocrine symptoms may be associated with superior survival outcomes. However, in a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stearns et al...
Two quality improvement projects described by Bryant-Bova in the Journal of Oncology Practiceresulted in reduced errors in prescribing intravenous and oral chemotherapy. A project at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston outpatient infusion centers first identified 15 different types ...
Solid-organ transplant recipients have a higher rate of cancer mortality than what is expected in the general population, according to a Canadian study by Acuna et al published in JAMA Oncology. Cancer mortality among transplant recipients was significantly elevated compared with data for the...
In a landmark study, investigators from Europe proposed a new and simple method to assess the risk of malignancy of women with an adnexal mass. The method identified between 89% and 99% of patients with ovarian cancer using the results of ultrasound examination, which can be obtained in referral...
Radiation-induced breast cancer risk from digital mammography is low for the majority of women, but the risk is higher in women with large breasts, who received 2.3 times more radiation and required more views per examination to image as much of the breast as possible compared to those with small...
As reported in The Lancet by Jacobs et al, the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) suggests there may be a mortality benefit of ovarian cancer screening in postmenopausal women. Study Details In the trial, 202,546 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 74 years from 13 centers...
In a study using Pennsylvania Cancer Registry data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Epstein et al found that use of the 21-gene recurrence score (RS) assay was associated with lower use of chemotherapy and lower medical spending among patients younger than age 55 with early-stage...
A palliative care consultation initiated in the emergency department for patients with advanced cancer was associated with improved quality of life and did not seem to shorten survival, according to an article published by Grudzen et al in JAMA Oncology. Visits to the emergency department are...