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Showing 13801 - 13850Intermittent Sunitinib in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Moshe C. Ornstein, MD, of Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, and colleagues found that an intermittent schedule of sunitinib (Sutent) may be feasible in patients with previously untreated metastatic renal cell carcinoma. In...
Potential Surrogate for All-Cause Mortality Risk in Localized Prostate Cancer
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Trevor J. Royce, MD, of Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues found that a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) nadir > 0.5 ng/mL may be a dominant risk factor for all-cause mortality after radiation therapy and...
Fox Chase Junior Investigators Win Awards for Pilot Projects
Fox Chase Cancer Center is pleased to announce the results of its American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant Pilot Project Competition for Junior Investigators. The competition was open to eligible junior faculty at Fox Chase and Temple University Hospital. The awardees are Yibin Yang, ...
Examining the Impact of ‘Death With Dignity’ Legislation
Despite the controversy surrounding “Death With Dignity” laws, which allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients, they have a long history of majority support from Americans. According to a Gallup poll taken in 2015, nearly 7 in 10 Americans (68%) agreed that...
Discrimination in Medical Education—Another Perspective
I read with great interest Dr. Robert E. Montenegro’s comments in the The ASCO Post, January 25, 2017, where he felt “marginalized” when questioned about his country of origin or the quality of his English. As physicians, we constantly deal in a world of uncertainties and are required to address...
Coping With an Uncommon Cancer
In April 2014, I was so sick with uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea and severe abdominal and chest pain that I had to be hospitalized for 5 days. As I was in my late 20s and in otherwise good health, there was no easy explanation for my symptoms. After I was released from the hospital, my...
Acupuncture for the Management of Hot Flashes
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, authors Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present a case study...
Implications of SWOG S0777 and the Future of Combination Treatments for Multiple Myeloma
The treatment of multiple myeloma is becoming increasingly complicated. This is not only because of the complexity of the disease, but also because of the increasing number of effective combination treatments and continuous development of new drugs. This has resulted in an ever-increasing number ...
Suresh Vedantham, MD, FSIR, Named President of SIR
Suresh Vedantham, MD, FSIR, an interventional radiologist and Professor of Radiology and Surgery at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis, assumed the office of President of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) on March 7, 2017, during the Society’s ...
New First-Line Options for ALK-Positive Lung Cancer on the Horizon
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements define a subset of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients for whom ALK inhibitors are highly effective. In PROFILE 1014, the multitargeted ALK inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori) was shown to be superior to platinum/pemetrexed (Alimta) chemotherapy...
Markedly Improved Progression-Free Survival With First-Line Ceritinib vs Platinum Chemotherapy in ALK-Rearranged NSCLC
In the phase III ASCEND-4 trial reported in The Lancet, Jean-Charles Soria, MD, of Institut Gustave Roussy, and colleagues found that ceritinib (Zykadia) improved progression-free survival vs platinum-based chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of advanced anaplastic lymphoma kinase...
SSO 2017: Preclinical Trial Shows Intratumoral Vaccination Induces Antitumor Response in Pancreatic Cancer
Building on their previous research focusing on intratumoral vaccination for the most common form of pancreatic cancer, investigators from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have shown that in a mouse model of early-stage resected pancreatic...
ASCO Addresses New Policies That Threaten Access to Opioids
Since the mid-2000s, medication and illicit drug abuse in the United Sates has steadily increased, creating what has now been termed an “opioid epidemic.” In response, Congress and the Bush and Obama Administrations have launched intervention and regulatory proposals to help turn the troubling...
For One Hematologist, No Disease Progressions in Follicular Lymphoma With Rituximab Maintenance
Patients with follicular lymphoma are clearly living longer without disease progression, but what clinician has had no patients progress? Michael Auerbach, MD, a hematologist/oncologist in private practice in Baltimore and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University, may have these...
Expert Point of View: Heather L. McArthur, MD, MPH
Discussant Heather L. McArthur, MD, MPH, Medical Director of Breast Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, called the plinabulin findings “provocative,” especially considering the substantial impact on durability of response. Specifically with the addition of plinabulin to docetaxel, ...
Expert Point of View: Heather L. McArthur, MD, MPH
Study discussant Heather L. McArthur, MD, MPH, Medical Director of Breast Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, noted that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has been shown to prevent HPV-related malignancies and eradicate high-grade, HPV16-positive premalignant lesions....
Early-Phase Study of HPV Type 16–Directed Vaccine Combined With Chemotherapy in Advanced Cervical Cancer
When combined with chemotherapy, a vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 potentiated T-cell responsiveness and improved clinical outcomes in patients with advanced cervical cancer enrolled in the phase I/II CervISA study.1 The findings were reported at the 2017 ASCO-SITC Clinical...
Expert Point of View: Shridar Ganesan, MD, PhD
Shridar Ganesan, MD, PhD, of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discussed the study by Cristescu et al at the 2017 ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. He noted that data from many sources have shown that point mutation burden correlates with response rate to checkpoint blockade....
KEYNOTE Trial Data Suggest Features Predicting Response to Pembrolizumab
A high mutational load and the presence of a T-cell–“inflamed” environment may independently predict for treatment response to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and progression-free survival, according to a study presented by Tanguy Seiwert, MD, of the University of Chicago, at the 2017 ASCO-SITC Clinical...
Expert Point of View: Joseph Greer, PhD
“These data are consistent with other studies we have conducted in advanced lung cancer, in which we similarly found that one-third of patients believed that their metastatic lung cancer was curable. These patients ostensibly already had conversations with their oncologists about their prognosis...
Aligning Patient Expectations With Treatment Goals in the Metastatic Setting
More than one-third of men with incurable metastatic prostate cancer mistakenly believe that their cancer may be curable, according to a survey of patient expectations at an academic cancer center. “This study is part of a larger survey of treatment decision-making among men with metastatic...
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Appoints Gwen Nichols, MD, as Chief Medical Officer
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has announced Gwen Nichols, MD, as its new Chief Medical Officer. A physician and scientific researcher, Dr. Nichols has dedicated her career to advancing cures for cancers through a unique combination of clinical, academic, and pharmaceutical experience. She...
Making the Case for Sentinel Node Biopsy in Early Cancers of the Oral Cavity
“The majority of patients with oral cavity cancers will undergo an unnecessary operation,” Sandeep Samant, MD, stated at a session on managing N0 neck cancer at the 2016 Lurie Cancer Center Multidisciplinary Head & Neck Symposium in Chicago.1 That operation is elective neck dissection, and it ...
Online Symptom-Management Curriculum May Improve Depression and Fatigue in Breast Cancer Survivors
With thousands of devices to track and manage health and wellness, eHealth tools are beginning to transform modern health care and research, demonstrating quantifiable improvements in patient outcomes. According to the results of a randomized controlled trial (Reimagine), breast cancer survivors...
Expert Point of View: Ann H. Partridge MD, MPH
Ann H. Partridge MD, MPH, Director of Adult Cancer Survivorship Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, praised the “tremendous work” of Dr. Paskett and her colleagues but referred to the findings as “disappointing to say the least.”1 “Developing interventions to prevent or treat lymphedema...
Search Continues for Effective Way to Prevent Lymphedema in Breast Cancer Survivors
There was no difference in the incidence of lymphedema at 18 months in breast cancer patients randomized to a physical therapy intervention with education materials compared with a control.1 Although poor adherence to the intervention may have been a factor, these results, described as “very...
Expert Point of View: Manish A. Shah, MD
Manish A. Shah, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at NewYorkPresbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, commented that “the benefit seen in patients who regularly exercise is equal to or better than the benefit seen with some chemotherapy drugs,” although he cautioned that exercise in this...
Early PET Imaging May Guide Treatment Decisions in Esophageal Cancer
In patients with resectable esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer, positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging was used to assess response to induction chemotherapy. PET nonresponders were identified after the first few cycles and were switched to an alternate regimen. This strategy greatly ...
Expert Point of View: Milind Javle, MD
Milind Javle, MD, Professor of Gastrointestinal Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, discussed the findings from the CheckMate 040 trial presented at the 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. There is a strong rationale for investigating immunotherapy in liver ...
New Antiviral Agent May Prevent Posttransplant Cytomegalovirus Infections
Patients receiving the antiviral letermovir (MK-8228, AIC246), as compared to placebo, were almost twice as likely to avoid infection with cytomegalovirus or fail for other reasons in a randomized phase III international trial presented at the 2017 BMT Tandem Meetings, the joint meeting of the...
Progress Being Made in Understanding Immunotherapy Resistance
A key challenge in advancing immunotherapies is to understand mechanisms of response and resistance. Emerging research in this area—including evidence that early on-treatment biopsies can predict response—was discussed at the 2017 ASCO-SITC (Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer) Clinical...
The Path Forward for Clinical Pathways in Oncology
The year 2016 was a memorable one for oncology. In January, President Barack Obama announced the launch of the National Cancer Moonshot initiative, spearheaded by Vice President Joe Biden, which aims to accelerate cancer research. And in December, through bipartisan Congressional support, the 21st ...
Active Surveillance Appears to Be Safe for Small Renal Masses
The prospective Delayed Intervention and Surveillance for Small Renal Masses (DISSRM) registry shows that over the intermediate term, active surveillance appears to be as safe as primary intervention for carefully selected, older, sicker patients with small renal masses.1 As the data mature,...
Expert Point of View: Ann W. Silk, MD
Ann W. Silk, MD, of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, presented the day’s highlights and commented that the study by Hellmann et al shows the utility, and, in fact, the necessity, of developing a new means of estimating outcomes for patients treated with immunotherapies....
Pembrolizumab Affords Long-Term Survival to One-Fourth of Selected Patients With NSCLC, Alternative Statistical Model Suggests
Statistical modeling of long-term survival from the KEYNOTE trials of the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)–inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) estimates that one-quarter of appropriately selected patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may attain long-term survival.1 “In...
ASCO Releases Its State of Cancer Care in America: 2017 Report
In a press briefing today on Capitol Hill, ASCO presented its fourth annual State of Cancer Care in America: 2017 report, which found that although the cancer care delivery system in the United States is undergoing profound changes to better meet the needs of cancer survivors, persistent hurdles...
Thoracic 2017: SBRT Offers Curative Option for Patients With Lung Cancer Aged 80 and Older
Patients in their 80s and 90s who have early-stage lung cancer but cannot undergo an operation can be treated safely and effectively with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), according to research presented by Cassidy et al at the 2017 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium (Abstract...
Thoracic 2017: Combination of Radiation and Immune Checkpoint Therapy Holds Potential for Lung Cancer
An emerging approach for cancer treatment seeks to combine radiation therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors to more effectively control tumors in the chest with an acceptable risk of severe treatment-related side effects. About 10% of patients in a retrospective analysis of metastatic lung...
Thoracic 2017: Racial Disparities Persist in Treatment and Survival of Early-Stage Lung Cancer
Analysis of the largest American cancer database indicates that racial disparities persist in the treatment and outcomes of patients diagnosed with stage I non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Despite increased availability of potentially curative treatments for early-stage NSCLC,...
Thoracic 2017: Proton Therapy Offers New Treatment Possibility for Recurrent Lung Cancer
A new study offers hope for patients with recurrent lung cancer, who historically have been considered ineligible for curative treatment. In the largest analysis to date of reirradiation using intensity-modulated proton therapy for lung and other thoracic tumors, more than three-fourths of patients ...
Thoracic 2017: Genetic Profile of Treatment-Resistant Lung Cancer More Variable Than Previously Thought
The genetic mutations underlying treatment resistance in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are more complex and dynamic than previously thought. Analysis of 355 biopsied tumors from patients who acquired resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, the most common form...
ASCO Statement: President's Budget Will Devastate U.S. Research Enterprise
ASCO President Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FACP, FASCO, released the following statement today: “We soundly oppose President Trump's budget outline, which would cut $6 billion from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Reducing NIH's funding by nearly 20% will devastate our nation's...
SGO 2017: Hospital Readmission Metrics May Not Be an Ideal Measure in Ovarian Cancer Cases
To reduce costs and improve quality of care, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has made reducing hospital readmission rates a priority, yet two research studies presented at the 2017 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer question the use...
SGO 2017: Parental Concern About Lack of Sexual Activity Declining as Reason Not to Vaccinate Children Against HPV
Parental concern that a child is not sexually active is declining as a reason parents do not vaccinate their children against papillomavirus (HPV), according to a study presented by Beavis et al at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) 2017 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer...
SGO 2017: Secondary Endpoint Results of Phase III ENGOT-OV16/NOVA Trial of Niraparib in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
Secondary endpoint results from the phase III ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial of niraparib were presented at the 2017 Society for Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer, by Sven Mahner, MD, Director, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Munich. “The results of...
FDA Approves Pembrolizumab for Relapsed or Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma in Adult and Pediatric Patients
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) therapy, for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients who have refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma or have relapsed after three or more prior lines of...
Researchers Find Evidence-Based Radiation Treatment After Lumpectomy Leads to High-Quality, High-Value Care
A new study demonstrates that the use of less radiation therapy for patients with breast cancer who have undergone lumpectomy does not negatively impact patient outcomes, and could result in significant reductions in health-care costs. These findings, which examine patient eligibility for...
Cancer Care Ontario and ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline: Use of Adjuvant Bisphosphonates and Other Bone-Modifying Agents in Breast Cancer
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Dhesy-Thind, ofJuravinski Cancer Centre, Hamilton Health Sciences, and colleagues, Cancer Care Ontario and ASCO have issued a clinical practice guideline on the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates and other bone-modifying agents in breast cancer. The...
ASCO Honors Researchers and Scientists for Significant Advancements in Cancer Treatment and Care
ASCO and the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) have proudly announced the winners of ASCO's Special Awards, the Society's highest honors, and the CCF Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Award. The recipients of these awards include researchers, patient advocates, and global oncology leaders...
FDA Approves Ribociclib as Initial Therapy for Hormone Receptor–Positive, HER2-Negative Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer
On March 13, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ribociclib (Kisqali), a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor, in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as initial endocrine-based therapy for the treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive,...
