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Showing 13851 - 13900Oncology’s Only Benchmark Report, National Practice Benchmark, Is Now a Yearly JOP Supplement
Would it surprise you to learn that 40% of your peers in oncology who responded to a survey last year have a certified electronic medical record system in place? Or that 86% of them are in physician-owned practices? Or that the average number of full-time equivalent hematology/oncology physicians...
Fewer Rectal Side Effects with IMRT than with 3D-CRT for Prostate Cancer
The use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is associated with fewer acute and late toxic effects than is three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) in men with localized prostate cancer, according to preliminary analysis of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0126...
Novel HDAC Inhibitor May Restore Estrogen Sensitivity in Breast Cancer
The addition of the investigational histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor entinostat significantly delayed breast cancer progression and showed a trend for a survival benefit in the phase II ENCORE 301 study. The study was conducted in women with advanced estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer...
Important Lessons for Oncology from the Front Lines of the AIDS Pandemic
On June 5, 1981, the CDC issued a warning about a rare type of pneumonia discovered among a small group of young gay men in Los Angeles, later determined to be AIDS-related, ushering in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Early on, AIDS-related malignancies brought the oncology community into this formidable...
Aflibercept Improves Overall Survival in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
The novel fusion protein aflibercept added to standard chemotherapy led to an overall survival benefit in a global phase III trial of second-line metastatic colorectal cancer, reported at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.1 “Adding aflibercept to FOLFIRI [leucovorin,...
Neural Stem Cell Transplantation May Improve Cognitive Function in Brain Cancer
The potentially devastating long-term consequences on cognitive function in patients with brain cancer following cranial irradiation led Charles L. Limoli, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Irvine, to study neural stem cell transplantation and how the procedure may...
My Cancer Is Incurable, but My Future Is Limitless
Cancer has nearly always been part of my life. When I was 6 years old, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The doctors told my parents that unless I was treated immediately, I wouldn’t live longer than a month. Over the next 3 years, I underwent intensive courses of chemotherapy and...
Evidence of Improved Survival for Lobectomy vs Limited Resection in Early-stage Lung Cancer
“Evidence is statistically inconclusive but suggestive that lobectomy, compared with limited resection, is associated with increased long-term survival for early-stage lung cancer,” according to a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study analyzed data from 679...
Significant Neurologic and Executive Function Impairment among Breast Cancer Survivors
Women who survive breast cancer show significant neurologic impairment, with outcomes appearing to be significantly poorer for those treated with chemotherapy, according to a report in the Archives of Neurology. Investigators at Stanford University School of Medicine in California conducted an...
Significantly Longer Survival with Axitinib Compared to Sorafenib in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma
A phase III study comparing the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibitors axitinib and sorafenib (Nexavar) as second-line therapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma found that axitinib produced significantly longer progression-free survival. Published in The...
Researchers Find Remarkable Heterogeneity in Sarcomas
Does one size fit all for the treatment of sarcoma? The answer is a resounding “no,” according to Jean-Yves Blay, MD, Department of Medicine, Université Claude Bernard, and Unité INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit), Lyon, France. Researchers have been able to classify...
Improving Quality and Safety with Health Information Technology
A well-documented flaw in paper-based health care is the propensity for medical errors. According to Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc, implementing clinical decision support software can decrease medical error, improve outcomes, and lower the costs of care. Presenting a session titled “Improving...
FDA Approves First Drug to Treat Myelofibrosis
The FDA has approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi), the first drug approved to specifically treat patients with the bone marrow disease myelofibrosis. Myelofibrosis is a disease in which the bone marrow is replaced by scar tissue resulting in blood cells being made in organs such as the liver and the...
Journal of Oncology Practice Explores Use of Palliative Care in Practice
A recent issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice features a special series of articles on palliative care and end-of-life issues in the oncology practice setting. Articles explore the integration of palliative care services in ambulatory settings, unique delivery mechanisms for palliative care,...
Clinical Cancer Advances 2011: ASCO’s Report on Progress Against Cancer
This year marks the 40th anniversary ofthe National Cancer Act and places a more prominent focus on how much progress against cancer has been made over the past 4 decades. In the past year alone, significant advances have been made in cancer prevention and screening, hard-to-treat cancers, and...
Medical Students Can Now Be ASCO Members, Thanks to an Intern Who Pressed
ASCO has just added a membership category for medical students, spurred on by—you guessed it—a medical student. Daniel G. Stover, MD, knew he wanted to go into oncology from very early on. But when he contacted ASCO to join as an intern, having just graduated from Vanderbilt School of Medicine, he...
Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio Can Upstage Patients with Bladder Cancer
A sizable proportion of bladder cancer patients who would benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy are not receiving it, researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, concluded. Their conclusion was based on their assessment of the neutrophil/lymphocyte...
Gathering Data Point to Potential Advantages of Vismodegib in Basal Cell Carcinoma and Other Advanced Cancers
Vismodegib is a small-molecule, orally active hedgehog pathway inhibitor that has shown considerable promise in treating basal cell carcinoma and is currently being evaluated alone and in combination in early-phase trials in medulloblastoma and a long list of other cancers.1 Owing to its...
Expert Point of View: Benefit of Panitumumab Seen Primarily in Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer and HPV-negative Tumors
Discussing the presentation, Jean Bourhis, MD, PhD, of the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France, said that while HPV has become a major prognostic factor in locally advanced head and neck cancer, its prognostic value in recurrent and metastatic disease is less clear. “The role of HPV in...
Benefit of Panitumumab Seen Primarily in Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer and HPV-negative Tumors
The addition of panitumumab (Vectibix) to chemotherapy improved overall and progression-free survival in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, but its benefit was limited to patients whose tumors were negative for the human papillomavirus (HPV).1 The...
Important Briefs from the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress
Nearly 16,000 people from 16 countries attended this year’s European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, held recently in Stockholm. The ASCO Post has featured several key reports from the meeting and will offer further coverage in upcoming issues. Additional noteworthy studies presented at the...
2011 in Review: Oncology Drugs/Indications Newly Approved by FDA
At press time, the FDA had granted approval for the following new agents and indications for cancer treatment in 2011. Asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi (Erwinaze) as a component of a multiagent chemotherapeutic regimen for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients who have...
Breast Cancer Experts Voice Opinion and Express ‘Disappointment’ over FDA Decision
Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, MD, Chair of Medical Breast Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, said he was “disappointed but not surprised” at the FDA decision to withdraw the bevacizumab (Avastin) indication in breast cancer. “Once the FDA put this in the hands of ODAC, ...
FDA Announces Bevacizumab Decision: Agency Will Revoke Breast Cancer Indication
On November 18, FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, said she is revoking the agency’s approval of the breast cancer indication for bevacizumab (Avastin) after concluding that the drug has not been shown to be safe and effective for that use. Bevacizumab will remain on the market as an...
Humor Is Helping Me Survive Cancer
Despite a strong family history of colon cancer—all five of my mother’s siblings had colon cancer, and my mother died of the disease 10 years ago—when some flecks of blood started showing up on my toilet tissue in early 2005, I figured it was from hemorrhoids. At 38, I was a marathon runner and in...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
“The message” of a meta-analysis of 17 randomized trials of breast-conserving surgery with or without radiation, “should be that the benefits of radiation are not temporary, that it provides an increased chance of cure,” Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, told The ASCO Post. The meta-analysis was conducted by ...
Benefits of Radiation after Breast-conserving Surgery Cut Risk of Recurrence in Half
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “After breast-conserving surgery,...
Physician-based Screening Leads to the Detection of Thinner Melanomas with More Favorable Prognosis
Physician-based screening leads to detection of thinner melanomas that were less likely to have negative prognostic attributes such as ulceration and dermal mitosis, according to a retrospective review of patient records and biopsy logs from 394 patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma. The...
Adjuvant Chemotherapy with S-1 Improves Survival in Stage II/III Gastric Cancer
Postoperative adjuvant therapy with the oral fluoropyrimidine derivative S-1 improved overall survival and relapse-free survival in patients with stage II or III gastric cancer who had D2 gastrectomy. Five-year survival rates in the phase III study were 71.7% for patients in the S-1 group vs 61.1%...
ASCO President Michael P. Link, MD, Joins Colleagues in Honoring a Friend and Touching the Future through Philanthropy
As an active member of ASCO, and as a leader of the Society in recent years, ASCO President Michael P. Link, MD, has a long history of giving to the Society-affiliated Conquer Cancer Foundation. “Our family has always felt that it’s a good thing to support,” he said. “The Foundation supports...
Young Investigator Award Renamed to Honor ASCO Founder Jane C. Wright, MD
At the 2011 Annual Meeting, the Conquer Cancer Foundation renamed one of its annual awards to honor the legacy of one of ASCO’s groundbreaking founders. The Jane C. Wright, MD, Young Investigator Award (YIA) recognizes Dr. Wright’s leadership at ASCO, her contributions to the field of oncology, and ...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Programs for Medical Students and Residents Support Diversity in Oncology Workforce
The Conquer Cancer Foundation funds two programs, the Medical Student Rotation (MSR) and the Resident Travel Award (RTA), to facilitate the recruitment and retention of individuals from populations underrepresented in medicine to cancer careers, with a special focus on the development of clinical...
SIDEBAR: ‘Can’t Stomach Cancer’ Seeks to Jump-start Research, Raise Awareness
In April 2008, Debbie Zelman was 40 years old. The mother of three young children, married to a physician, and a practicing attorney with her own firm, she began to experience a strange sensation upon swallowing food. She was told that this was due to stress, but a few months later, she became very ...
Update on Novel Treatments for Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma
At the recent Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Kauai, Hawaii, Julie M. Vose, MD, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, discussed novel treatments for peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). PTCL is a heterogeneous group of aggressive T-cell/natural killer (NK) cell non-Hodgkin...
Advances in Lung Cancer Treatment Show Incremental Benefits, but Room for Improvement Remains
Newer therapies for the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were discussed at the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium. More inroads have been made in improving outcomes for patients with NSCLC than for those with SCLC, but there is still room for...
CLEOPATRA Trial Finds Dual HER2 Blockade Improves Progression-free Survival in Advanced Breast Cancer
Women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer are much less likely to have disease progression or die when two agents are used instead of one to target the HER2 signaling pathway, investigators for the international phase III CLEOPATRA trial found. The 808 women studied were randomly assigned to...
Presurgical Gemcitabine/Cisplatin Improves Survival in Lung Cancer
Preoperative gemcitabine plus cisplatin had a statistically significant impact on outcomes among patients with stage IIB/IIIA non–small-cell lung cancer in a phase III randomized study comparing surgery alone or surgery plus preoperative chemotherapy. The 3-year progression-free survival rates were ...
BOLERO-2: Everolimus Thwarts Resistance to Hormonal Therapy in Advanced Breast Cancer
Adding an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to hormonal therapy for advanced breast cancer effectively circumvents resistance, suggest updated results of the randomized BOLERO-2 trial. With a median follow-up of 12.5 months, the likelihood of disease progression or death among...
Don’t Take Away Our Hope
After experiencing the loss of my wife Dina’s first pregnancy during her second trimester, we naturally worried that something would go wrong when she became pregnant again. But when our son Will was delivered at full term, we thought we could finally relax. Born at a whopping 10 lb, Will seemed...
Chemoradiotherapy for Early-stage Nasopharyngeal Disease
Adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy resulted in statistically significantly higher 5‑year overall, progression-free, and distant metastasis-free survival among patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma in a phase III randomized trial. Adding cisplatin-based chemotherapy to radiotherapy...
Everolimus for Tumors Associated with Carcinoid Syndrome
The combination of everolimus (Afinitor) plus octreotide (Sandostatin) long-acting repeatable (LAR) formulation improved progression-free survival by 23% over placebo plus octreotide LAR in a randomized phase III study of patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors associated with carcinoid...
Adding Alemtuzumab to Fludarabine in CLL
In a randomized phase III trial among previously treated patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the combination of alemtuzumab (Campath) plus fludarabine resulted in significant improvements in progression-free survival, complete response rate, and overall survival ...
Outpatients Need to Be Aware of High Risk of Developing Venous Thromboembolism
Most patients who develop venous thromboembolisms (VTE) while being treated for cancer, do so as outpatients, according to results of a retrospective, observational study comparing the incidence of VTE among inpatients and outpatients with cancer. Yet many outpatients do not even realize that they...
Studies Reveal that Hormonal Factors Influence Lung Cancer Risk in Women
In an effort to understand lung cancer risk factors and develop prevention strategies for the disease, Christina S. Baik, MD, MPH, thoracic oncologist and staff scientist at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has examined epidemiologic trends in lung...
First Genomic-based Pediatric Trials Launched in Neuroblastoma
Last November, Dell announced it was donating an initial $4 million including cloud-computing technology to speed up development of personalized medicine trials for children with neuroblastoma and other pediatric cancers. According to the American Cancer Society, about 650 children under the age of ...
Expert Point of View: Therapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma in the Elderly Remains Undefined
Elderly Hodgkin lymphoma, typically defined as affecting individuals ≥ 60 years of age, remains a disease for which no standard treatment recommendation exists. This population is underrepresented in clinical studies, and survival rates in older patients with Hodgkin lymphoma are significantly and ...
Therapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma in the Elderly Remains Undefined
At the 2011 Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference held recently in Kauai, Hawaii, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, Director of the Lymphoma Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, discussed Hodgkin lymphoma in elderly patients. Event-free survival and overall survival rates in...
Advances in Gynecologic Cancer Surgery Continue to Improve Outcomes
Over the past several decades, advances in chemotherapy and surgery have begun to translate into improved survival in gynecologic malignancies. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Ginger Gardner, MD, a surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who specializes in the management...
What You Should Know about Denosumab (Prolia) for Increasing Bone Mass during Breast and Prostate Cancer Therapies
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. Indications In September 2011, the monoclonal antibody RANKL...
Changes in Receptor Status during Breast Cancer Progression Warrant Rebiopsies at Relapse and Metastasis
Oncologists should be aware that common clinical tumor markers (denoting hormonal and HER2 status) change as breast cancer progresses, because these changes can affect treatment selection. Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2 receptor status was changed from the time of the...
