On November 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the antiviral maribavir (Livtencity) for adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older (and weighing at least 35 kg) with posttransplant cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection or disease that is not responsive (with or without...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Masakazu Toi, MD, PhD, a clinical breast cancer expert who is keen on research that translates basic science into clinical study. He is involved in various innovative research projects on the development ...
Bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (VTd) is an acceptable, effective standard-of-care induction treatment in Europe for patients with newly diagnosed myeloma who are eligible for autologous stem cell transplantation. CASSIOPEIA is a two-part, open-label, randomized, phase III trial in...
Artificial intelligence, digital therapeutics, telehealth, biometric monitoring: the terms alone are enough to suggest that cancer care is entering a new age, one characterized by tools and practices based on technologic innovation. To explore the impact of these new tools, the National...
National surveys consistently show that spirituality and religion are important components in the lives of most Americans, with more than 90% of adults expressing a belief in God and more than 70% identifying religion as one of the most important influences in their lives.1 Studies also show that...
ASCO has compiled a number of resources to help people with cancer navigate COVID-19. Coronavirus and COVID-19: What People With Cancer Need to Know Cases of COVID-19 have arisen all over the world. Here’s what people with cancer and cancer survivors need to know about the disease. Available at...
Estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer is the most common type of breast cancer, diagnosed in more than 2.3 million women around the world each year, including more than 200,000 in the United States alone. Adjuvant endocrine therapy is a mainstay of treatment for these millions of women and is a...
Although cancer in adolescents and young adults (AYAs), defined by the National Cancer Institute as those between the ages of 15 and 39, is relatively rare—in 2020 nearly 90,000 AYAs were diagnosed with cancer and about 9,300 died of the disease1—and 5-year relative survival rates are high, between ...
Renal cell carcinoma is a common malignancy among men and women in the United States.1 The incidence continues to increase with the ever-increasing use of contemporary medical imaging. Although many patients who present with localized disease are cured with definitive surgery, some patients develop ...
During an International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) press briefing, Paul Wheatley-Price, MRCP, commented as the patient advocate on the panel. Dr. Wheatley-Price is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, lung cancer disease site lead at Ottawa Hospital...
Young adults diagnosed with cancer may require different treatments than those received by older patients, according to a study that systematically compared the genomes of 14 different types of cancers affecting both younger and older adults. The results, published by Lee et al in Cell Reports,...
Invited discussant Elizabeth Nichols, MD, of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, commented on both the phase II TRIUMPH-T and the phase III MC1635 trials. “There are multiple techniques in use for accelerated partial breast irradiation. Optimal dose and fractionation are...
When I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma of my left femur nearly 20 years ago, I remember telling my parents that I didn’t want to die. The diagnosis was terrifying because all the people I knew who had cancer had passed away, and I thought this cancer would kill me, too. That evening, my dad went...
Invited discussant of the phase III EPOCH trial, Thomas Gruenberger, MD, a surgical oncologist at the Clinic Favoriten, Health Network Vienna, noted that the trial’s “intention was fulfilled,” thus making it the “first positive phase III trial that prolonged both progression-free and hepatic...
The results of a study published by Lee et al in Cell Reports suggest that several genetic hallmarks may play key roles in identifying precise treatment options for young adult patients with cancer. The investigators, who systematically compared the genomes of 14 different types of cancers that...
A clinical trial recently published by Kutny et al in JAMA Oncology found that the combination of all-trans retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide was highly effective in children with standard- and high-risk acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Nearly all patients in the trial survived for 2 years...
“MC1675 is an important and exciting trial,” stated invited discussant Farzan Siddiqui, MD, PhD, of the Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Detroit. “Congratulations to the authors and to Dr. Ma for his award.” “There is strong evidence to suggest that patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers...
Both dose-escalated radiation therapy and short-course androgen-deprivation therapy have been shown to improve outcomes in intermediate-risk prostate cancer, but it is not clear whether giving both modalities upfront to newly diagnosed patients is of benefit. The phase III RTOG 0815 study presented ...
About 10 years ago, on a flight to Detroit, while returning from the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, I had a conversation with Lori Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan, who went on to become ASCO President for the 2020–2021 term. I recall inviting her...
David Morse Livingston, MD, formerly the Charles A. Dana Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at Dana-Farber and the Emil Frei III Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, died unexpectedly on October 17, 2021. He was Deputy Director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) ...
The invited discussant of BrighTNess,1 Monica Arnedos, MD, PhD, Head of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Institut Bergonié in Bordeaux, France, said the findings add to growing support for using carboplatin in triple-negative breast cancer, but their clinical application could be...
Women Leaders in Oncology has named Pamela Kunz, MD, the 2021 Woman Oncologist of the Year. Dr. Kunz is Associate Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology), Director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center, Chief of GI Medical Oncology, and Vice...
When I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in 1992, at age 38, I remember thinking, “I wish I had breast cancer.” Breast cancer elicits such sympathy from people. A diagnosis of small cell lung cancer mainly gets you stern looks of disapproval and disappointment. There is so much stigma...
“A lot of times, younger bright physicians are afraid to say what they really think, out of fear of challenging the dogma. One of the things I do when mentoring is to ask why we are doing a particular therapy or intervention. I tell my mentees not to let the data interfere with your knowledge,”...
Invited discussant Benjamin Besse, MD, of Gustave Roussy Cancer Center, Villejuif, France, was generally positive about the findings of Impower010 but said that longer-term follow-up of overall survival will be very important. “IMpower010 is the first adjuvant study establishing an immune...
“Nodal status remains the single most important prognostic marker in outcomes for women with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. For that reason, it makes sense to think about optimizing adjuvant therapy, including endocrine treatments, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy,”...
About 9% of patients with cancer experience complications while hospitalized that lead to a deterioration in their condition, a transfer to the intensive care unit, or death. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis is developing a machine learning–based early...
New evidence suggests that adding the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib to a standard chemotherapy regimen may improve survival among younger people with a specific form of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The findings, published by Wyndham Wilson, MD, PhD, in Cancer Cell,...
In a study published by Gauvin et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, researchers examined over 200 patients with gastrostomy tubes and highlighted the need for a multidisciplinary approach to palliative care decision-making for patients with cancer. A gastrostomy tube ...
In a study published by Magenau et al in the journal Blood Advances, researchers found that patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who received a form of type I interferon after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant experienced reduced rates of disease relapse. Additionally,...
The invited discussant of this study on patient-reported outcomes, Areej El-Jawahri, MD, Associate Director of Cancer Outcomes Research and Education Program and Director of Bone Marrow Transplant Survivorship Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said these findings underscore the importance...
“KRAS G12C inhibitors as monotherapy yield a relatively low overall response rate, but when you combine them with an EGFR [epidermal growth factor receptor] inhibitor, the response rate is nearly double,” said Federica Di Nicolantonio, MD, PhD, Professor of Oncology at the University of Turin in...
The time required to secure prior authorization approvals for radiation therapy equates to a financial impact of more than $40 million annually for academic medical centers, according to a new study presented by Bingham et al at the 2021 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual...
Moderator of the session on oncology drug pricing, Arjun Gupta, MBBS, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, observed that generics alone may be insufficient to slow the astronomical rise of drug prices. “The general thinking has always been that generics...
The first indication I had stage IV lung cancer was a persistent cough during the beginning of the cold-and-flu season in the fall of 2013. I was 35 years old, never smoked, and in otherwise excellent health, so I ignored the cough for several months until I noticed my breathing had also become...
Although overall cancer cases are declining, they are on the rise in older adolescents and young adults (AYAs). Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) recently announced the establishment of the Lisa and Scott Stuart Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers (the Stuart Center), expanding ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Robert A. Winn, MD, Director of VCU Massey Cancer Center, Richmond, Virginia. In 2020, he became the first Black physician to lead a National Cancer Institute–designated cancer center. Among other...
According to the National Cancer Institute, cases of colorectal cancer in patients younger than age 50 have grown by more than 50% since the 1990s. Cleveland Clinic has addressed this trend with the establishment of a center focused on the diagnosis, care, and research of young-onset colorectal...
Study discussant Bruna Pellini, MD, of the Department of Thoracic Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida, noted that, regardless of PD-L1 or tumor mutation burden status, the NADIM trial demonstrated improved progression-free and overall survival for patients with resectable, stage IIIA non–small ...
Discussant of the POSEIDON trial, Julie Brahmer, MD, MSc, FASCO, Co-Director of the Upper Aerodigestive Department within the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins Medicine, applauded the numerous treatment choices now available to patients with metastatic non–small...
Longer follow-up data from the phase III CheckMate 649 trial support the use of nivolumab plus chemotherapy as a new standard first-line regimen in patients with advanced gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma. The findings were reported by Yelena Janjigian, ...
Patients with untreated, metastatic BRAF-mutated melanoma may benefit from receiving immunotherapy first, moving to targeted therapy in the second line, data from the updated overall survival analysis of the randomized, phase II SECOMBIT trial suggest.1 The study aimed to define the optimal...
Invited discussant Enrique Grande, MD, of the Medical Oncology Department at MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid, said that the VESPER trial should really be regarded as a neoadjuvant trial, since 88% of the patients enrolled were treated in the neoadjuvant setting. He focused the rest of his remarks ...
The National Cancer Act of 1971 established a national priority to address the widely shared dread of a cancer diagnosis. The goal of the National Cancer Act was to strengthen the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to more effectively carry out the national effort against cancer. After the Act was...
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder defined by a specific phenotype and the presence of more than 5,000 clonal B cells in the peripheral blood.1 In the absence of this number of circulating cells, its soft-tissue/bone-marrow counterpart is semantically...
The invited discussant of the MONALESSA-2 trial was Gonzalo Gomez-Abuin, MD, a medical oncologist who is Head of the Clinical Research Unit at Hospital Alemán in Buenos Aires. According to Dr. Gomez-Abuin, phase III trials of three different CDK4/6 inhibitors—ribociclib, palbociclib, and...
Ribociclib plus hormonal therapy in the first-line setting boosted overall survival by more than 1 year, vs hormone therapy alone, in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, according to the latest findings from the MONALEESA-2 trial, reported at...
“We know that molecular alterations on gene mutations such as EGFR and ALK can lead to better prognosis, better response rates, and, more important, better quality of life for patients,” said Joshua K. Sabari, MD, of NYU Langone Health Perlmutter Cancer Center, who discussed the abstract at the...
Recent advances in cancer genomics and targeted therapies have changed the treatment landscape for lung cancer, but disparities in access to precision medicine remain, according to data presented during the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2021 World Conference on Lung ...