Search Results
Your search for ,maY matches 16983 pages
Showing 13751 - 13800Study Explores Protective Effect of Aspirin Against Colorectal Cancer
It has been posited that aspirin treatment may reduce risk for colorectal cancer through inhibition of WNT/cadherin-associated protein β1 (CTNNB1, or β-catenin) signaling. In a study reported recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Nan et al investigated the potential role of the...
Genetic Flaw That Drives Some Ovarian Cancers Identified
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, have identified an overactive gene that drives about one-third of high-grade serous ovarian tumors—the most common and malignant type of ovarian cancer. The gene, GAB2, isn’t mutated or abnormal, but triggers cancerous cell growth because the...
Younger Women With Younger Children Less Likely to Receive Radiation Therapy After Breast-Conserving Surgery for Breast Cancer
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Pan et al assessed factors associated with noncompliance with recommended radiation therapy following breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer.1 A primary factor in underuse of radiation therapy was younger patients having...
Can Postoperative Radiotherapy Be Avoided in Older Women With Early Breast Cancer and High Estrogen Receptor Expression?
A more conservative approach that avoids radiation therapy seems to be a reasonable option for a subgroup of older women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer at low risk of recurrence. Overall outcomes were similar with or without radiation in older women with hormone receptor–positive...
HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patients With Small Tumors Benefit From Low-Toxicity Regimen
There may be a benefit for treating small HER2-positive tumors—a breast cancer subset for whom treatment recommendations have not been established but for whom there is still risk of recurrence—and this can be done with little toxicity, according to a multicenter study presented at the 2013 San...
Philips Receives FDA Clearance for Spectral Breast Density Measurement Application
Royal Philips has announced that that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Spectral Breast Density Management Application for its MicroDose SI full-field digital mammography system. The application is the first spectral breast density measurement ...
Novel BRAF Fusions Identified in 'Pan-Negative' Melanomas Subset May Be Sensitive to MEK Inhibition
A study by Sosman et al has identified two novel BRAF fusions in melanomas previously considered to be negative for molecular targets. In addition, these “pan-negative” melanomas were found to be sensitive to MEK inhibitors. According to the study, BRAF fusions define a new molecular subset of...
Addressing the Challenges of an Aging Population
We have an aging population, which is a good thing since people are living longer. [But] cancer is a disease that tends to occur most frequently in older people, so the combination of those two events will lead to many more older people with cancer, a larger cancer population in general, and a...
Expert Point of View: Carlos L. Arteaga, MD and David Cameron, MD, MRCP
After the IBIS-II presentation at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, of Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, noted that women at high risk are afraid of developing breast cancer and that pharmacologic intervention may allay their anxiety. “Dr. Cuzick’s study...
Who Opts for Chemoprevention?
Based on age and risk, an estimated 10 million women in the United States may be eligible for an agent aimed at preventing breast cancer, but chemoprevention is underutilized. Fewer than 5% of women at high risk who are offered tamoxifen for chemoprevention agree to take the drug, partly due to...
Anastrozole Halves Risk of First Breast Cancer in High-Risk Postmenopausal Women
Five years of treatment with anastrozole reduced the risk of breast cancer by 53% in postmenopausal women at high risk for developing the disease, according to an analysis of the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study (IBIS)-II trial. Anastrozole reduced the risk of estrogen...
Mounting Success in Trials of Genetically Engineered T Cells to Treat Leukemias and Lymphomas
Reports have been trickling in from centers conducting research on the use of chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells (CAR-T) in hematologic cancer, and the news is encouraging. When directed against CD19, such personalized therapeutic T cells are known as CTL019, and small pilot trials of this...
Risk-Based Breast Cancer Screening: Studies Suggest Alternatives to Age-Based Guidelines
Measuring certain hormone levels could help determine a woman’s risk for breast cancer and add a key factor to current risk-prediction models, according to investigators from Harvard Medical School. Their new study results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual ...
Oncology Meetings
FEBRUARY 25th International Congress on Anti-Cancer TreatmentFebruary 4-6 • Paris, FranceFor more information: www.icact.fr APOS 11th Annual ConferenceFebruary 13-15 • Tampa, FloridaFor more information:www.apos-society.org/apos2014/ European Society for Medical Oncology Sarcoma and GIST...
Bosutinib Shows 'Acceptable Safety' in Philadelphia Chromosome–Positive Leukemia
Bosutinib (Bosulif) demonstrated “acceptable safety with manageable toxicities” in a phase I/II study among patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or advanced Philadelphia chromosome–positive leukemia (accelerated-phase/blast-phase CML or acute lymphoblastic leukemia). Patients...
Some Lung Cancers Detected by Low-Dose CT in National Lung Screening Trial May Be Indolent
More than 18% of all lung cancers detected by low-dose computed tomography in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) may be clinically insignificant. Overdiagnosis should be considered when describing the risks of [low-dose computed tomography] screening for lung cancer, according to a review of...
Texas Children’s Hospital Announces New Chief of Interventional Radiology
The Department of Pediatric Radiology at Texas Children’s Hospital recently announced that Kamlesh U. Kukreja, MD, has been named the new Chief of Interventional Radiology. Dr. Kukreja has also been appointed as Assistant Professor of Radiology at Baylor College of Medicine. “For more than a...
Expect Questions, and Some Reluctance, About Getting a Flu Shot
People with weakened immune systems due to diseases like cancer are at increased risk of severe complications from the flu virus and should get flu shots annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly encourages this practice, and most oncologists would recommend that for...
Cancer Patients Are at Increased Risk of Complications From the Flu and Should Receive Flu Shots, but Not the Nasal Spray
Widespread influenza activity continues to be reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with a recent increase in flu-related hospitalizations.1,2 Patients with cancer are at increased risk from flu complications and should receive the flu shot, but not the flu nasal spray...
An Overview of the REGAL Trial and Anti-VEGF Therapies in Recurrent Glioblastoma
As published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Batchelor and colleagues1 and reviewed in a recent issue of The ASCO Post (November 15, 2013, page 106), the REGAL trial was a randomized, phase III, placebo-controlled, partially blinded trial evaluating the efficacy of cediranib, an...
Major Cancer Milestones in History, From ASCO’s CancerProgress.Net
To help tell the story of progress against cancer, ASCO launched CancerProgress.Net in 2011. The site is intended as a resource for media, policymakers, oncologists, advocates, and the public. One central feature of the site is an interactive timeline of major milestones in cancer treatment,...
Drugging PI3K in Breast Cancer: Findings From SABCS 2013
Components of the phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/mTOR) pathway are deregulated in many human cancers, with about 30% of breast cancers harboring PIK3CA gene mutations. Emerging research shows that these mutations may render estrogen receptor alpha-positive tumors ...
Common Mutations May Impact Neoadjuvant Treatment Outcomes in Breast Cancer
Emerging research is suggesting that outcomes from neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be correlated with two genetic mutations that are common in breast cancer—PIK3CA and TP53. Their presence may affect response to treatment, and mutational shift after treatment may affect survival, according to studies...
Expert Point of View: Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, Chair of the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Guideline Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and former Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the study by Yamshon et al for The ASCO Post. He said the...
‘R-Squared’ Lymphoma Treatment: Possible Markers of Response Identified
A correlative analysis of a study evaluating lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus rituximab (Rituxan) in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma found that increases in the levels of several cytokines correlated with response to treatment. The study by investigators from the University of California...
Lenalidomide/Rituximab Doublet a Potential Front-Line Treatment in Some Lymphomas
The biologic doublet of lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus rituximab (Rituxan) can achieve high response rates and durable remissions in lymphoma, according to a parade of phase II studies presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The immunomodulatory agent ...
Cancer Genes, Promiscuity, and the National Debt
There is no doubt that this is a halcyon period in oncology. The unraveling of the genome has been tremendously important, and finally has helped us to move treatment selection from an era of rational empiricism to one of refined, molecular prognostication. In the care of breast cancer, the impact...
Major Cancer Advances in 2013 Highlight Importance of Federal Funding
About one-third of the most important clinical advances in cancer last year were made possible at least in part through federal funding, according to ASCO’s annual report on progress in cancer, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 Significant Declines in Funding The report, “Clinical...
Expert Point of View: Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil
Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil, Professor of Medicine and Director of Breast Medical Oncology at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, who was the formal discussant of the papers by Sikov et al and Rugo et al, said there is mounting evidence for using carboplatin. He and his own research team have...
Corrections to Note
In the January 15, 2014, issue of The ASCO Post, three errors occurred. These errors have since been corrected and revised versions of the articles may be viewed online at ASCOPost.com or via the QR code here. The errors were as follows below. Trastuzumab Dosing In the article “HER2-Positive...
Leukemia/Lymphoma Pioneer Geoffrey P. Herzig, MD, Dies
Many of the advances that have bettered mankind are attributed to those who were driven by a primary passion. Geoffrey P. Herzig, MD, lived the better part of his life with a primary passion: conducting research to increase the cure rate of leukemia and lymphoma patients. His friend and colleague,...
Anticipated Shortage of Oncologists Will Strain Ability to Provide Quality Cancer Care
An update of the ASCO 2007 oncology workforce study found that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, when fully implemented, may “modestly exacerbate” anticipated workforce shortages, increasing the demand for oncologists and radiation oncologists by 500,000 visits per year. “Unless...
In CLL With Coexisting Conditions, Chlorambucil Produces Better Outcomes With Obinutuzumab Than With Rituximab
A randomized phase III trial conducted in 26 countries found that combining chlorambucil (Leukeran) with an anti-CD20 antibody—either obinutuzumab (Gazya) or rituximab (Rituxan)—produced better outcomes among patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and coexisting...
Expect Questions from Patients
Like all early detection strategies, screening mammography involves trade-offs,” H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, and Honor J. Passow, PhD, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, Hanover, New Hampshire, wrote in a Special Communication in JAMA Internal Medicine.1 They...
Confronting Uncertainty About the Harms and Benefits of Screening Mammography
“If women are to truly participate in the decision of whether or not to be screened [for breast cancer using mammography], they need some quantification of its benefits and harms,” asserted H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, and Honor J. Passow, PhD, Instructor, at The Dartmouth...
Nothing Prepared Me for Cancer
Fourteen years ago, when I was just 29, I was feeling weak and fatigued and had severe pain in my abdomen. I’d had these symptoms for about a year, but none of the several doctors I saw or any of the tests they performed could find the source of my problems. I even had one nurse practitioner tell...
2014 Oncology Meetings
FEBRUARY European Society for Medical Oncology Sarcoma and GIST 2014February 18-19 • Milan, ItalyFor more information: www.esmo.org 2014 BMT Tandem MeetingAmerican Society for Blood and Marrow TransplantationFebruary 19 - 23 • Orlando, FloridaFor more information: www.asbmt.org Multidisciplinary...
Kava
Kava Scientific Name: Piper methysticum Common Names: Kava-kava, kawa, kavain, rauschpfeffer, intoxicating long pepper, tonga, yagona, and yaqona. Overview Kava, a perennial shrub indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Rim, is known for its relaxant effects and used for social and...
An Early Chemotherapy Innovator, Franco M. Muggia, MD, Now Focuses on Advancing Therapies for Ovarian Cancer
Looking over an illustrious career in medical oncology that spans 5 decades, Franco M. Muggia, MD, told The ASCO Post that he is excited about the future and hopes to continue making contributions to the field of oncology in years to come. At the forefront of the early clinical development of...
Focus on the Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology
Founded nearly 3 decades ago in response to unfavorable changes in Medicare reimbursement regulations and growing coverage issues with Michigan’s private payers that threatened oncologists’ ability to provide quality cancer care to patients, the Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology (MSHO)...
FDA Programs to Expedite Drug and Biologic Product Development
With the advent of Breakthrough Therapy designation, there are now four FDA programs to expedite the development of promising new agents: Fast Track, Breakthrough Therapy, Priority Review, and Accelerated Approval (Table 1). These programs complement one another and serve a common goal: to speed...
Trametinib and Dabrafenib in Combination for Unresectable or Metastatic Melanoma With BRAF V600E or V600K Mutations
On January 9, 2014, the combination of trametinib (Mekinist) and dabrafenib (Tafinlar) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600E or V600K mutations as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved...
NIH Makes Palliative Care More Attainable for Pediatric Patients and Their Families
A campaign “Palliative Care: Conversations Matter” recently launched by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) aims to increase the use of palliative care for children with serious illness. Palliative care can reduce a child’s pain, help manage other distressing symptoms, and provide...
Impact of Comprehensive Lifestyle Change on Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity in Men With Low-Risk Prostate Cancer
Ornish et al at the University of California in San Francisco and the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, performed a 5-year study1 including 35 men on active surveillance (10 in a lifestyle-intervention group and 25 in a control group) with low-risk prostate cancer....
Long-Term Follow-up Indicates Increased Telomere Length With Lifestyle Change in Men With Low-Risk Prostate Cancer
Short telomere length in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is associated with aging and age-related diseases such as cancer, stroke, vascular dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis, and diabetes. Telomere attrition is considered a potential mechanism in triggering the chromosomal...
Serving the Underserved: Dr. Gina Villani and ASCO’s Health Disparities Committee Work to Minimize Cancer Care Gaps
It has been a little over a decade since the Institute of Medicine landmark report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care found overwhelming evidence of racial disparities in the U.S. health-care system. Since then, ASCO has been dedicated to minimizing these...
ASCO and College of American Pathologists Guideline Update: Recommendations for HER2 Testing in Breast Cancer
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and College of American Pathologists (CAP) recently convened an Update Committee to conduct a systematic literature review and update recommendations for optimal HER2 testing. In particular, the Committee identified criteria and areas requiring...
Longer-Term Follow-up of Breast Implant–Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma: More Certainty About Certain Uncertainties
When what is now called breast implant–associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma was first recognized and initially described, a number of uncertainties prevailed—mainly, was the association with breast implants real, and was this a true lymphoma? Through the significant efforts of those who...
Breast Implant–Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma Shows Better Outcome in Cases With No Distinct Tumor Mass
Only recently described, breast implant–associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma usually presents as an effusion-associated fibrous capsule surrounding the implant and less frequently as a mass. Little is known about the natural history and long-term outcomes of such disease. In a study reported...
Ibrutinib Induces Prompt and Durable Responses in Some Lymphomas
The Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica) is changing the landscape of treatment in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. New research with the drug in lymphoma, presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, indicates it may be of benefit in...
