Physicians and patients should engage in open discussion” about the complex issues of cancer screening, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment, according to a report from the chairs of a National Cancer Institute working group tasked with developing a strategy to improve the current approach to cancer...
The complexity of the pathologic condition called cancer,” according to a Viewpoint article in the Journal of the American Medical Association,1 “complicates the goal of early diagnosis.” Failure to recognize that cancers are heterogeneous, and that not all progress to metastases and death, can...
Reminiscing about his 65 years in medicine, LaSalle Doheny Leffall, Jr, MD, FACS, cites three events in his early childhood that would ultimately lead him to his position today as the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. First, he was...
Walter M. Stadler, MD, an authority on prostate, kidney, bladder, and testicular cancers, has been named Chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago Medicine. This position became effective August 15, 2013. Dr. Stadler, the Fred C. Buffet Professor of Medicine and...
Childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease among young Americans. September marks Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to highlight efforts to reduce the disease’s toll on children. At St. Jude, the past year has brought advances in understanding and treating childhood...
September Inflammation, Microbiota, and CancerSeptember 19-20 • Bethesda, MarylandFor more information: ncifrederick.cancer.gov/events/microbiota/agenda.asp Continuum Cancer Centers of New York Conference on Quality of Care in OncologySeptember 20 • New York, New YorkFor more information:...
ASCO has launched a new wiki site to engage the cancer community in its clinical practice guideline development process. The new site will provide oncologists, practitioners and patients with an opportunity to provide feedback or submit evidence on individual published guidelines and can be...
A modest brass plaque above a booth in the Eagle Pub in Cambridge, notes, “On this spot, on February 28, 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson declared the discovery of DNA with these words: ‘We have discoverewd the secret of life.’” Announcing a major scientific advance over a pint of ale is a far...
In June, the David J. Sencer Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, opened a new photo exhibit featuring the faces of people living through and beyond a cancer diagnosis. The exhibit: Cancer: Survivors in Focus, tells the stories of cancer survivors while...
The use of immunotherapy to target malignant cells in a variety of cancers—especially the PD-1 inhibitors lambrolizumab and nivolumab in the treatment of metastatic melanoma and the anti–PD-L1 agent MPDL3280A in the treatment of melanoma and lung, kidney, colorectal, and gastric cancers—made...
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued the final publication of its report, Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America. ASCO continues to support the IOM report’s core recommendations for establishing a “learning health system” in the United States and...
As the Conquer Cancer Foundation Grants and Awards Program has grown over the last 30 years, so has its purpose. Not only does the Grants and Awards Program support young researchers, foster mentoring relationships, and improve the quality of cancer care around the world, it also works to increase...
QCP™: Recognizing Excellence The QOPI® Certification Program (QCP™) recognizes medical oncology and hematology/oncology practices that are committed to delivering the highest quality of cancer care. QCP evaluates an individual practice’s performance in areas that affect patient care and safety. The ...
Robert S. Miller, MD, FACP, a medical oncologist and recognized authority in breast cancer, survivorship care, and consumer health informatics, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of ASCO’s patient information website, Cancer.Net (www.cancer.net). He assumed this role at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting ...
Communicating the intricacies of oncology care to vulnerable patients with cancer and their caregivers requires a firm grasp of the nuances of language. One of the oncology community’s true champions in the art of breaking down communication barriers is Lidia Schapira, MD, a medical oncologist at...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Gammaitoni and colleagues investigated the tumor-killing activity of cytokine-induced killer cells against autologous metastatic melanoma and putative cancer stem cells. The investigators developed a preclinical autologous model using same...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, recently announced that Charles and Daneen Stiefel, of Raleigh, North Carolina, have pledged $10 million to the Head and Neck Cancer Center at MD Anderson. In honor of their generosity, the institution will name the Charles and...
Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals recently announced that the FDA has granted priority review designation to the supplemental new drug application of sorafenib (Nexavar) tablets for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer....
Minimal data are available on outcomes of second allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from unrelated donors after a first transplant in patients with hematologic relapse of acute leukemia. In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maximilian Christopeit, MD, of University...
Data indicate that for more than 2 decades, cancer pain has been undertreated in the United States. The paradox of this stubborn clinical problem is that oncology has the ability to manage the great majority of cancer pain. To clarify this issue, The ASCO Post recently spoke with nationally...
With exciting targeted and immunotherapeutic agents now part of the arsenal for metastatic melanoma, which drug should move to the head of the line? Mario Sznol, MD, Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, has been involved in key clinical trials of the...
A study from the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery finds that advances in imaging technologies, including ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, are fueling an epidemic in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancers that are unlikely to ever...
There have been three “game-changers” in the treatment of melanoma, Mark R. Albertini, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, contended at the Best of ASCO Chicago meeting. The first, he explained, was the recognition of different genetic driver...
Over the past few decades, economic and political factors have reshaped oncology, especially in the community setting. To defray risk, we’ve seen a trend toward oncology practices partnering with hospitals or aggregating into larger networks. Moreover, the Internet and the advent of telemedicine...
For the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, there is renewed interest in investigating the role of platinum chemotherapy, according to Melinda L. Telli, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, Palo Alto. At the Best of ASCO meeting in Los Angeles, Dr. Telli reviewed the...
The last issue of The ASCO Post reports encouraging results with platinum-based treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (September 15, 2013). We predicted these findings 4 years ago in a presentation at the 2009 Breast Symposium.1 We compared the activity of a series of agents (platinum, taxane, ...
I applaud The ASCO Post for continuing to raise awareness about futile medical care at the close of life with the recent publication of a commentary by Dr. Chandrakanth Are (“A Great Privilege to Die Beneath an Open Sky,” The ASCO Post, September 15, 2013, page 1). I would suggest, however, that we ...
Although the incidence of skin cancer in increasing, “the rate at which physicians are mentioning sunscreen at patient visits is quite low, even for patients with a history of skin cancer,” according to an analysis of data from more than 18.30 billion patient visits. “Sun-protection counseling...
E-cigarettes are one of the many issues addressed in the Tobacco-Free Teens app developed at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “What we are trying to say to teens is that you might as well avoid trying any of the cigarettes, or small cigars, or nicotine delivery devices, such as e-cigarettes,”...
“I’ve seen a lot of puzzled people,” Alexander V. Prokhorov, MD, PhD, said, referring to people who see others using electronic or e-cigarettes. That puzzlement can go beyond wondering why people are smoking in public places and whether they are breaking the law, or just being annoying, to...
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a fully humanized immunoglobulin (Ig)G1 monoclonal antibody that binds to and inhibits cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4). It acts as a T-cell potentiator, leading to increases in T-cell activation and interleukin-2 secretion. Ipilimumab is U.S. Food and...
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors recently approved 71 awards, totaling more than $114 million over 3 years, to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research designed to answer questions most important to patients and those who care for them. The awards...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital recently announced that William E. Evans, MD, Director and CEO, has decided to retire from his executive post in July of 2014. Dr. Evans has been with the organization for more than 40 years and has served as CEO for the past 10 years. Indelible Mark on History ...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital officials have named Larry Kun, MD, as Clinical Director and Executive Vice President. Dr. Kun will guide all aspects of clinical care and oversee clinical operations, clinical effectiveness practices and patient care quality programs for the 7,800 patients who ...
As a young girl, Nancy Davenport-Ennis remembers hearing her parents tell stories about families struggling to pay their health-care expenses following a diagnosis of a serious illness like cancer. But it wasn’t until 3 decades later when she was coping with her own diagnosis of breast cancer and...
“Surely again, to heal men’s wounds by music’s spell.” —Euripides, Medea (480-406 BC) Commonly defined as organized sound, music has a unique power to stir human emotions, moods, and impressions. The salutary effect of music on the sick has been reported since antiquity. Aristotle and Plato wrote...
October International Clinical Trials Workshop October 17-18 • Santiago, Chile For more information: www.asco.org/ASCOv2/About+ASCO/International+Affairs/International+Clinical+Trials+Workshops 64th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of RadiologistsOctober...
The Wisconsin Association of Hematology & Oncology (WAHO) is among the youngest of ASCO’s State Affiliates. Formerly known as the Wisconsin Association of Medical Oncologists, WAHO was officially formed just 2 years ago and is already having an impact on oncologists and patients with cancer...
Recently the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) and the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) held a fundraising event, Cruise for a Cause: Improving Psychosocial and Supportive Cancer Care, to raise money to advance the science and practice of psychosocial care for patients with...
Guest Editor Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service and Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering...
The next 10 years are expected to usher in unprecedented advances in oncology, including molecularly driven diagnostic and therapeutic developments, whole genome sequencing that results in true precision-based medicine, survivorship care plans that address long-term quality of life concerns, and...
Looking back, my son Max’s fall as he was running after another little boy while playing baseball was such a blessing. Although he landed on his right arm, the fall didn’t seem severe enough to cause him to cry out in such excruciating pain. But after several hours of icing the bruise failed to...
Adding the chemotherapy drug cisplatin to a treatment plan of radiation therapy and high–dose rate brachytherapy for patients with stage IIIB cervical cancer is beneficial, according to research presented recently at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 55th Annual Meeting.1 Study Details...
Protecting the stem cells that reside in and around the hippocampus substantially reduces the rate of cognitive decline in patients during whole-brain radiotherapy without a significant risk of recurrence in that area of the brain, a new study shows. Results of the phase II clinical trial of...
In a trial (ALSYMPCA trial) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chris Parker, MD, from Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey, UK, and colleagues compared the alpha emitter radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) with best standard of care in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone...
Julie Livingston, PhD, MPH, is a Professor of History at Rutgers University. She is also an African historian with interdisciplinary training in public health and anthropology. Among other issues, her work considers the challenges of delivering oncology services in southern Africa, where there is a ...
The Republic of Botswana is slightly smaller than the state of Texas and with a population of just over 2 million people it is one of the world’s most sparsely populated countries. Botswana was among Africa’s poorest countries at the time it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966....
On September 30, 2013, the FDA granted accelerated approval to pertuzumab (Perjeta) in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and docetaxel for patients with early-stage breast cancer in the neoadjuvant setting. Pertuzumab is the first FDA-approved drug for the neoadjuvant treatment of breast...
Pazopanib (Votrient) and sunitinib (Sutent) have been shown to provide progression-free survival benefit compared with placebo or interferon in phase III trials in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. In a noninferiority trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Robert J. Motzer, MD, of...
ASCO’s popular Advanced Cancer Care Planning booklet was recently updated with a different look and new content. Designed to help patients, families, and caregivers find the information they need to guide them through an advanced cancer diagnosis, this booklet is the newest addition to the ASCO...