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Showing 13101 - 13150Selected Patients With Lung Cancer and Poor Performance Status May Benefit From Standard Therapy
Patients with poor performance status have an increased incidence of adverse effects from therapy and worse overall outcomes than those with good performance status, but “a selected proportion may still benefit from standard therapy,” according to a review article published in the Journal of the...
Ongoing Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Bladder Cancer
The information in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with bladder cancer. The list includes randomized and nonrandomized phase 0 to III studies as well as observational clinical trials evaluating new therapies, surgical techniques, and...
‘Reasonable’ to Advise Men Who Have Had Vasectomies That They Have a Small Increased Risk for Lethal Prostate Cancers
Long-term results from the Health Professionals Follow-up Health Study have shown a 20% increased risk of advanced prostate cancer and a 19% increased risk of lethal prostate cancer among men who had vasectomies.1 According to the study’s lead author, Mohummad Minhaj Siddiqui, MD, it is...
Dignity, Personhood, and the Culture of Medicine
Cancer patients need more than good health care: they need health caring, according to palliative care specialist Harvey M. Chochinov, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and Director of the Manitoba Palliative Care Research Unit, CancerCare Manitoba. Health ...
Plasma Tumor DNA Detectable Before and After Surgery in Patients with Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Detecting circulating plasma tumor DNA in patients with early-stage cancer has the potential to influence selection of adjuvant systemic therapy. In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Beaver and colleagues found that plasma tumor DNA could be detected both before and after surgery in...
Cancer Survivor and Patient Advocate Michael S. Katz, MBA, Has Helped Alter the Standard of Care for Myeloma Survivors
Michael S. Katz, MBA, has lived longer than any of his doctors thought he would. A two-time cancer survivor, Mr. Katz was diagnosed, first with multiple myeloma in 1990 and then with colorectal cancer in 2008, and has spent the past 2 decades tirelessly advocating for patients with cancer. The...
2014 Oncology Meetings
AUGUST Best of ASCO® ChicagoAugust 15-16 • Chicago, Illinois For more information: boa.asco.org 16th Annual Scientific Meeting: AGITG Trials in ActionAugust 20-22 • Brisbane, Australia For more information: www.agitg.asnevents.com.au 29th International Papillomavirus Conference and Clinical &...
Red Clover
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and...
Facing Cancer Together
David sits at his desk, tapping angrily. He’s tired of his abusive, ignorant boss, the VP for regional sales. The man’s sales targets are absurdly high, he’s impossible to reach on the phone, his “motivational” speeches evoke the stress of Glengarry Glen Ross, and even his fake all-light-brown hair ...
A Book of Solid Advice and ‘Silver Linings’ for Patients With Breast Cancer
Title: The Silver Lining: A Supportive & Insightful Guide to Breast CancerEditors: Hollye Jacobs, RN, MS, MSWPublishing Platform: CreateSpace Publication information: Simon & Schuster, published March 2014. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, and other local bookstores....
African Medical Education Is Being Transformed by U.S. Program
Medical education in sub-Saharan Africa is being revitalized and expanded through a U.S.-funded effort that is dramatically increasing enrollment, broadening curricula, upgrading Internet access, and providing cutting-edge skills labs and other technologies. In the first substantial publication by...
Ibrutinib in Previously Treated CLL and CLL With 17p Deletion
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 July 28, 2014, the approved use of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in...
Idelalisib for Relapsed CLL in Combination With Rituximab and for Relapsed Follicular Lymphoma or Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma
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 July 23, 2014, idelalisib (Zydelig) was approved for use in...
Prominent Immunotherapy Researcher Sees Success Beyond the Challenges
Activating the immune system for therapeutic benefit in cancer patients has long been a goal in the scientific community. After decades of disappointment, this intriguing approach has come to the forefront of cancer research, showing promising results in several malignancies. To keep abreast of...
Life: Magnified Exhibit Continues to Heighten Public Awareness About Science, On Display and Online
Life: Magnified is an exhibit of scientific images showing cells and other scenes of life magnified by as much as 50,000 times. The exhibit is on display at Washington Dulles International Airport’s Gateway Gallery from June through November 2014. A Web companion is available through NIH here...
Getting Results: How Oncologists and Pathologists Can Work Together to Facilitate Molecular Testing
Advances in molecular testing mean that highly specific information can be detailed about the molecular characteristics of a patient’s tumor, as well as indications of potential responsiveness to targeted therapy. But getting those detailed results from the pathologists can be a challenge to many...
Low-Risk Prostate Cancer and Principles of Active Surveillance
For specific diseases, many physicians tend to recommend interventions and therapies with which they are most comfortable and familiar. It is not surprising that urologists and radiation oncologists did so in the study reported by Hoffman and colleagues in JAMA Internal Medicine and reviewed in...
Active Surveillance in Low-Risk Prostate Cancer: When Will We Pay It More Than Just Lip Service?
Active surveillance is well established as an appropriate management option for men with low-risk prostate cancer and particularly for those over 65 years of age. Its legitimacy is now enshrined within National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, in the American Society for Radiation Oncology...
NIH Awards $14.5 Million to Research Groups Studying Newest DNA Sequencing Techniques
A number of microsized technologies, such as nanopores and microfluidics, are among the approaches researchers will use to develop high-quality, low-cost DNA sequencing technology through new grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grants, which total approximately $14.5 million to ...
Circulating Tumor Cells in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Are We Afraid of the Truth?
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” —Galileo Galilei There are several “truths” in breast oncology that have been discovered over the years, become widely understood, and changed the way we practice. Prospective randomized studies have...
Early Change in Chemotherapy Based on Elevated Circulating Tumor Cells Does Not Improve Outcome in Metastatic Breast Cancer
Elevated circulating tumor cells are associated with poor prognosis in metastatic breast cancer. In a phase III trial (Southwest Oncology Group [SWOG] S0500) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jeffrey B. Smerage, MD, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor in Medical Oncology at the University of...
FDA Approval of Ceritinib for the Treatment of ALK-Positive Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its policies and procedures. In this installment, FDA oncologists Sean Khozin, MD, MPH, and Dikran Kazandjian, MD, discuss anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non–small cell...
Proposed 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Rules Released
On July 3, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rules for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System for 2015. The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule, which is titled “Medicare Program: Revisions to...
Patience Remains a Virtue: The Ongoing Quest to Optimize Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Breast Cancer
The most recent ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline update—summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post—represents the latest chapter in the ongoing evolution of adjuvant endocrine therapy for hormone-sensitive breast cancer.1 Rather than including a comprehensive review of the 2010 guidelines, this...
Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy for Hormone Receptor–Positive Breast Cancer: ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline Focused Update
ASCO has released a focused update of its clinical practice guideline on adjuvant endocrine therapy in women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer.1 The focused update, formulated by Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues in the ASCO Update...
FDA Grants Bevacizumab Priority Review for Recurrent Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy for the treatment of women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. “The majority of women with ovarian...
FDA Grants Bevacizumab Priority Review for Certain Types of Cervical Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy in the treatment of women with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. The designation of Priority...
Study Finds New Genetic Risk Markers in Pancreatic Cancer
A large DNA analysis of people with and without pancreatic cancer has identified several new genetic markers that signal increased risk of developing the disease, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other institutions worldwide. The markers are variations in the inherited DNA...
The Evolving Role of Surgery in Germ Cell Tumors
Over the past several decades, the role of postchemotherapy surgery for advanced testicular cancer has evolved with regard to patient selection, surgical planning, lymph node dissection, and surgical technique. To add clarity to this complex clinical setting, The ASCO Post recently spoke with...
Enzalutamide and the Landscape of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Integrating New Indications With Existing Agents
The androgen receptor axis is a validated target for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Several perturbations in this pathway are postulated to lead to androgen-independent growth, including androgen receptor mutation and amplification as well as the autocrine production of...
PREVAIL Trial: Enzalutamide Before Chemotherapy Prolongs Survival in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
The androgen-receptor inhibitor enzalutamide (Xtandi) has been shown to prolong survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with progressive disease after chemotherapy. In the phase III PREVAIL trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tomasz M. Beer, MD, of...
EGFR as a Therapeutic Target for Gastroesophageal Cancer—or Is It Really?
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene is often amplified and its protein overexpressed in upper gastrointestinal cancers—and overexpression has prognostic value. With the advent of monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors against EGFR, we have witnessed a rash of randomized...
No Overall Survival Improvement but Some Palliative Benefit With Gefitinib in Esophageal Cancer Progressing Postchemotherapy
In what may be the first randomized trial of systemic therapy in this setting, Susan J. Dutton, MSc, of University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib vs placebo in patients with esophageal cancer...
NEPA for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: Key Endpoints and Additional Analyses Show Strong Efficacy
For the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, NEPA, a novel combination of a neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor antagonist and the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist palonosetron (Aloxi), has been studied in three pivotal trials that were recently published in the Annals of Oncology.1-3 Further...
Mucositis Remains a Challenge in Head and Neck Cancer
Chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer requires intensive supportive care by a knowledgeable and proactive multidisciplinary team, according to Avraham Eisbruch, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “Aggressive chemoradiotherapy has improved the cure...
Tackling the Heterogeneity of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Triple-negative breast cancer is now recognized as a very complex subtype for which one treatment will not be applicable to all, according to Mohammad Jahanzeb, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Miami and Director of the UM Sylvester Deerfield Campus, who gave an update on...
Rational Strategies Are Advancing Combination Lymphoma Therapies
Rational strategies informed by knowledge of a drug’s molecular mechanisms are helping to bring new combinations of lymphoma therapies to the clinic, according to Anas Younes, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The Challenge of Too Many Drugs...
New Research Presented in Wilms Tumor, Pediatric Sarcoma, Head and Neck Cancer, and Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
In the past few months, numerous presentations from this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting have been covered in depth in the pages of The ASCO Post and online at ASCOPost.com. The brief summaries below capture additional important highlights that have not been covered thus far. We hope you will find them...
Expert Point of View: Federico Cappuzzo, MD
Federico Cappuzzo, MD, Director of the Medical Oncology Department at Istituto Toscano Tumori, Ospedale Civile, Livorno, Italy, pointed out that the abstracts presented by Spigel et al and Camidge et al at the ASCO Annual Meeting explored the same target but with different results. The first...
Studies Assess Response to Platinum Therapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Studies in triple-negative breast cancer presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting sought to determine predictors of response to platinum agents. One identified a subset of responders to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but prediction proved more elusive in metastatic disease. Neoadjuvant Carboplatin The...
Expert Point of View: Lauren C. Harshman, MD
In her discussion of the renal cell carcinoma studies at the ASCO Annual Meeting, Lauren C. Harshman, MD, Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, suggested, “Given the plateau in efficacy with current treatments, there is space and need for agents with new...
Anti–PD-1 Agent Shows Activity in Renal Cell Carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma can be added to the growing list of tumors that respond to programmed death (PD)-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to the results of the CheckMate trials, presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting. The phase II CheckMate-010 trial evaluated three doses of nivolumab as a ...
Who Will Care for Patients With Cancer?
The workforce numbers show a disturbing trend. According to a recent study by ASCO, by 2025, overall demand for oncology services is projected to grow by 40%, but physician supply is predicted to increase by only 25%, generating a shortage of 2,258 oncologists providing full-time equivalent...
Does the United States Have the Best Health-Care System in the World?
Many concerns were raised and dire speculations predicted during the further implementation of the Affordable Care Act this year. So far, the trickling news is good: An estimated total of 20 million people gained coverage under the new law as of May 1,1 about 6 million enrolled in the law’s...
Recent FDA Drug Approvals Foster Growing Treatment Armamentarium for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Rare B-Cell Lymphomas
Recent approvals announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have led to increased treatment options for managing several difficult-to-treat hematologic B-cell cancers. The newly approved drugs and/or their indications include the oral PI3K delta inhibitor idelalisib (Zydelig) for the...
Pioneer in Fight Against Tobacco, Emanuel Farber, MD, PhD, Dies at 85
On December 11, 1969, a soft-spoken pathologist wearing outsized spectacles answered a long and complex series of questions by the legal team representing Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, the maker of Chesterfield cigarettes. The tobacco lawyers contended that one Leslie Thayer—a lifelong...
First Prospective Study of Rare Lymphoma Shows Promising but Inconclusive Results With DA-EPOCH-R
Presenting “the first prospective study” of mediastinal gray zone lymphoma, researchers from the National Cancer Institute reported that DA-EPOCH-R (infusional dose-adjusted etoposide, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide with vincristine, prednisone, and rituximab (Rituxan) and filgrastim (Neupogen)...
Fusion Protein Improves Dendritic Cell Penetration, Raising Prospect of Efficient Cancer Vaccine
Immunotherapy with dendritic cells in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy may eliminate minimal disease burden by generating cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Improving the cytosolic bioavailability of tumor-specific antigens to improve access to HLA class I molecules would result in better...
2014 Oncology Meetings
SEPTEMBER American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual MeetingSeptember 14-17 • San Francisco, California For more information: www.astro.org Cancer Medicine and Hematology 2014September 14-19 • Boston, Massachusetts For more information: www.hmscme.com/cancermedicine 18th Annual Meeting:...
Expect Questions and Perhaps Unrealistic Expectations
A recent study reporting the absolute 20-year survival benefit from contralateral prophylactic mastectomy was less than 1% for women with stage I and II breast cancer without BRCA mutations runs counter to common perceptions about the risk of contralateral breast cancer among these women and the...
