Although the results may not yet be as impressive as those seen in melanoma, lung, and kidney cancers, monoclonal antibodies targeting the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) are producing responses, with some durability, in gastrointestinal cancers, according to studies presented at the 2016...
Annual screening with the fecal immunochemical test is highly sensitive for detecting colorectal cancer and “is feasible and effective for population-level colorectal cancer screening,” according to a large-scale retrospective cohort study assessing the fecal immunochemical...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Brinkman et al, a study in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort showed that adult survivors of pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumors are at increased risk of severe neurocognitive impairment. Study Details The study involved 224 survivors of CNS...
Among patients with high-risk, primary cutaneous melanomas, the risk of death from melanoma at a median follow-up of 8.8 years was significantly higher among those randomized to surgery with a 1-cm excision margin than among those randomized to surgery with a 3-cm excision margin. Although overall...
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of obesity to promote cancer progression. In their report published by Incio et al in Clinical Cancer Research, the research team describes finding an association between obesity and an...
When breast cancer becomes metastatic, patient survival is drastically reduced, prompting the need to explore the genes that may cause tumor cells to metastasize. Now, scientists from The Wistar Institute have shown that a gene that was once thought only to be found in the brain is also expressed...
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet, Schöffski et al found that eribulin improved overall survival vs dacarbazine in patients with advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma who had received at least two prior systemic treatments for advanced disease. Outcome in the subgroup with...
Two-year conditional overall and disease-free survival were substantially increased in patients surviving and surviving without recurrence for 2 years after first-line curative therapy for metastatic testicular germ cell tumors, according to a study reported by Ko et al in the Journal of Clinical...
In a Dutch study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Schaapveld et al found that survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma treated between 1965 and 2000 were at a 4.6-fold greater risk of second cancer vs the general population during long-term follow-up. There was no significant difference in the ...
Pediatric oncologists from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have investigated techniques to improve and broaden a novel personalized cell therapy to treat children with cancer. The researchers say that a patient’s outcome may be improved if clinicians select specific...
Use of the androgen receptor–inhibitor enzalutamide (Xtandi) more than doubled progression-free survival vs the nonsteroidal antiandrogen bicalutamide in patients with metastatic prostate cancer progressing on androgen-deprivation therapy, according to the randomized phase II TERRAIN trial...
An experimental nanoparticle therapy that combines low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and fish oil preferentially kills primary liver cancer cells without harming healthy cells, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report. The study was published by Wen et al in Gastroenterology. “This...
Annual testing for blood in the stool using high-sensitivity guaiac fecal occult blood tests or fecal immunochemical tests is one of several recommended colorectal cancer screening strategies for adults 50 to 70 years old. However, although a positive finding requires a follow-up colonoscopy to...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Armstrong et al found that late mortality decreased over time among 5-year survivors of childhood cancer in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study cohort. The reduction is consistent with efforts during recent decades to modify treatment with ...
A retrospective analysis of human papillomavirus (HPV) antibodies in patients treated for oropharyngeal cancers linked to HPV infection suggests at least one of the antibodies could be useful in identifying those at risk for a recurrence of the cancer, said scientists at The Johns Hopkins...
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, alectinib (Alecensa) was granted...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Harrington et al found that the addition of concurrent adjuvant lapatinib (Tykerb) to chemoradiation therapy and the use of maintenance lapatinib did not improve disease-free or overall survival in high-risk patients with resected...
As reported by Wilkins et al in The Lancet Oncology, 2-year patient-reported outcomes in a UK phase III trial (CHHiP) substudy have shown a similar low incidence of bowel problems among patients with intermediate-risk localized prostate cancer receiving hypofractionated vs conventionally...
Renal cell carcinoma can sometimes spread to the inferior vena cava, posing a threat to the heart and brain. Robotic nephrectomy for inferior vena cava tumor thrombus has favorable outcomes in selected patients compared with open surgery, which can have a high rate of complications, reported Abaza...
The first sign that I could have a life-threatening illness was a bout of severe dizziness, which sent me first to a general practitioner for a physical examination and then to an ear specialist for more tests. At just 24 and in excellent health, the sudden onset of dizziness didn’t initially set...
The following essay by William N. Harwin, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. My wife...
Here are several more abstracts selected from the proceedings of the 2015 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, highlighting therapeutics in acute leukemias and myelodysplastic syndromes. For five other top abstracts on therapies for acute leukemias and myelodysplastic ...
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 18, 2015, approval of the programmed cell death...
BookmarkTitle: The Anti-cancer Diet: Reduce Cancer Risk Through the Foods You EatAuthors: David Khayat, MDPublisher: W.W. Norton & CompanyPublication date: April 2015Price: $26.95; hardcover, 288 pages In 2002, David Khayat, MD, was in Turkey on holiday with friends when he received a call...
Bookmark Title: The Fear Cure: Cultivating Courage as Medicine for the Body, Mind, and Soul Author: Lissa Rankin, MD Publisher: Hay House, Inc Publication date: February 23, 2015 Price: $25.99; hardcover, 336 pages Fear is a healthy survival mechanism, a fight-or-flight response designed to put...
Bookmark Title: The Death of Cancer: After Fifty Years on the Front Lines of Medicine, a Pioneering Oncologist Reveals Why the War on Cancer Is Winnable—and How We Can Get There Authors: Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, MD, and Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication date:...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ofatumumab (Arzerra), a CD20-directed cytolytic monoclonal antibody, for extended treatment of patients who are in complete or partial response after at least two lines of therapy for recurrent or progressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
According to the most recent estimates, 55% to 65% of women who inherit the BRCA1 mutation and about 45% of women who inherit the BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by the time they are 70 years old. There is also a substantial increase in the probability of developing ovarian cancers in...
A potentially fatal complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation may be reversed with the use of a novel drug currently under priority review at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Hepatic veno-occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstruction syndrome is usually a serious complication...
Although chemotherapy is often cited as the main culprit for diminishing cognitive function in patients with cancer, ushering the term “chemobrain” into the vernacular, research by Tim A. Ahles, PhD, and his colleagues is showing that multiple factors may contribute to the condition.1 Using breast...
In a study reported in JAMA Dermatology,1 Neel Maria Helvind, MD, of the University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues analyzed the increases in melanoma incidence seen in Denmark between 1985 and 2012. Over that time, the incidence of malignant melanoma doubled to rates...
As reported in The Lancet by James et al, results of the STAMPEDE trial, which used a multiarm, multistage seamless phase II/III design, showed increased survival and toxicity with docetaxel and little benefit of zoledronic acid when added to first-line long-term hormone therapy in patients with...
Investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) have found that significant bone loss occurs during the first month of chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is far earlier than previously assumed. Results of the study were published by Orgel et al in the...
In an analysis of experience at MD Anderson Cancer Center reported in JAMA Oncology, Mougalian et al found that 10-year overall and relapse-free survival rates in patients with stage II or III breast cancer and axillary metastases receiving primary systemic chemotherapy were higher in those with vs ...
In a UK study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fallon et al found no improvement with pregabalin vs placebo combined with concurrent palliative radiotherapy in relieving cancer-induced bone pain. Study Details In the double-blind trial, 233 patients with bone metastases who were...
Two recently reported phase III trials compared adjuvant anastrozole vs tamoxifen in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive ductal carcinoma in situ. As reported in The Lancet by Margolese et al,1 the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) B-35 trial, performed in...
Initial results of a European phase III trial (SAKK 09/10), reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ghadjar et al of the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research, showed little difference in acute toxicity with salvage radiotherapy of 70 vs 64 Gy in patients with biochemical recurrence of...
In a Dutch trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Simone D. Hennink, MD, of Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, and colleagues found that a 6-year colonoscopic surveillance interval is sufficient for many individuals with familial colorectal cancer.1 However,...
High-dose hypofractionated proton beam therapy produced a high rate of local control in patients with localized unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, according to a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hong et al. Study Details In the...
These data will help us personalize treatment for our patients. We still don’t know which women with a favorable cancer like ductal carcinoma in situ are most likely to progress. This is an unmet need,” said C. Kent Osborne, MD, Director of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor College of...
Ductal carcinoma in situ is a relatively benign form of breast cancer (stage 0), yet up to 10% of women with ductal carcinoma in situ will have a recurrence within 10 years. At present, there is no way to identify which women will recur, so standard treatment is lumpectomy plus radiation therapy....
In screening for breast cancer, results from a study in the United Kingdom suggest that the use of “synthetic” two-dimensional (2D) mammography, rather than 2D/three-dimensional (3D) combinations, could save radiologists’ time and patients’ exposure to radiation as well as result in many fewer...
The 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research, the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, and Baylor College of Medicine, was held in December 2015. As has been true for...
Patients with multiple myeloma now have access to an all-oral regimen, with the recent approval of the oral proteasome inhibitor ixazomib (Ninlaro) in previously treated patients. New pairings for the drug in relapsed/refractory and newly diagnosed patients are being studied, with investigators...
Late in 2015, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the label for pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a humanized antibody, to include the initial treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. Previously, pembrolizumab had received accelerated approval in patients with...
Formal discussant of this trial William Y. Kim, MD, of the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, commented on the fact that the IMvigor study had a substantial number of patients compared with other phase II trials in bladder cancer. “This trial was not ...
Atezolizumab achieved excellent results in a cohort of patients with platinum-resistant urothelial cancer enrolled in a large phase II trial known as IMvigor 210.1 Overall response rates were greatly improved over those with historical controls, and responses were durable. Although expression of...
Although patients with poor-risk metastatic testicular germ cell tumors continue to have less favorable outcomes, the bar has been raised by contemporary treatment. There is still room for improvement in managing metastatic testicular germ cell tumors, especially in poor-risk patients, but if...
A 70-year-old female patient underwent a cardiac procedure to repair her mitral valve, and at the same time, she also underwent a coronary artery bypass grafting. She had an uneventful course for the first four postoperative days. On the sixth postoperative day, she started complaining of abdominal ...
Options for second-line therapy of advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma are expanding. Updates from the CheckMate 025 and METEOR trials presented at the 2016 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium solidify the value of both nivolumab (Opdivo, an immune checkpoint inhibitor) and cabozantinib...