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Showing 13951 - 14000Focus on the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California
For more than 2 decades, the guiding principle of the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California (MOASC) has been to ensure the continuation of the private practice of medical oncology and to provide the highest quality care to cancer patients. Founded in 1990, MOASC is the largest...
Oncology Meetings
March Emerging Trends Conference: Reactivation of Hepatitis BMarch 21-22 • Arlington, VirginiaFor more information: www.aasld.org/additionalmeetings/Pages/emergingtrends.aspx 5th Thyroid Neoplasms ConferenceMarch 21-23 • Houston, TexasFor more information: www.mdanderson.org/conferences Community...
Study Shows New Approach Connecting Smokers to Quit Lines Increases Smoking Cessation Treatment Enrollment
Self-identified smokers directly connected to a tobacco cessation quit line are 13 times more likely to enroll in a treatment program as compared to smokers who are handed a quit line referral card and encouraged to call on their own, according to a new study published online in JAMA Internal...
IBM's Watson Goes Through Basic Training in Oncology
While IBM’s Watson supercomputer may have defeated two former champions on the TV game show Jeopardy! 2 years ago, it is now facing its greatest challenge yet: deciphering huge amounts of scientific data and interpreting clinical information to help oncologists make personalized evidence-based...
City of Hope Names Robert Stone, JD, as New Chief Executive Officer
After 10 years at City of Hope, in Duarte, California, former FDA acting Commissioner Michael A. Friedman, MD, has decided to retire from his position as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board of Directors has selected current President Robert Stone, JD, to assume the dual role of President and...
Research Leader Helen Piwnica-Worms, PhD, Appointed Vice Provost, Science, at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Helen Piwnica-Worms, PhD, a leader and scientist whose success in cancer research spans the spectrum from basic science discovery through arduous preclinical follow-up and delivery of potential new drugs to clinical trial, will lead science research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer...
Medication Safety at Home
A risk assessment to identify how errors occur when oral chemotherapies are used by pediatric patients at home (and to propose risk-reduction strategies) relied on input from those primarily in charge of oral chemotherapy use at home—the parents. A total of 18 parents were recruited at three...
Enhanced Electronic Module Aims to Prevent Errors in Oral Chemotherapy Prescribing
An oral chemotherapy prescription-writing module grafted to a shared electronic medical record is part of a series of quality improvement efforts undertaken at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to prevent errors in prescribing oral chemotherapy agents. While oncologists have readily accepted...
Preparing for the Next Superstorm: Protecting Patients during Natural Disasters
When Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast last October, the magnitude of devastation it left in its wake exceeded even the most dire predictions. Eighty mile per hour winds and record storm surges destroyed antiquated electrical grids and flooded subway stations, leaving much of New York...
FDA Approves Regorafenib for Advanced Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors
The FDA has expanded the approved use of regorafenib (Stivarga) to treat patients with metastatic or unresectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that no longer respond to treatment with imatinib (Gleevec) or sunitinib (Sutent). Regorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor, blocks several enzymes...
Inaugural Winners of $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Announced
Art Levinson, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Yuri Milner recently announced the launch of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, recognizing excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life. The prize will be administered by...
Expert Point of View: Seema A. Khan, MD
Responding to the results of the ACOSOG Z1071 study, Seema A. Khan, MD, Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, urged caution in adopting the practice of sentinel lymph node surgery after chemotherapy for some patients with breast cancer at this time....
Expert Point of View: Clifford A. Hudis, MD and Daniel F. Hayes, MD
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, Chief of the Breast Cancer Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented after the presentation, “It strikes me that these findings are parallel to those shown with PAM50 by Liu et al at this meeting.” In that study,1 based on the Cancer and...
Expert Point of View: J. Randolph Hecht, MD
J. Randolph Hecht, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, commented to The ASCO Post that it is premature to accept this algorithm in the absence of its correlation with clinical outcomes. The one...
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Welcomes New Members to Its Medical Advisory Board
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has named four new members to the organization’s Medical Advisory Board. The newest advisors are leading clinicians in the field of pancreatic cancer: Joseph M. Herman, MD, MSc, Johns Hopkins University; George A. Fisher Jr, MD, PhD, Stanford University; James...
Finding New Strategies to More Effectively Treat Pancreatic Cancer
While some progress has been made in understanding the molecular pathogenesis, genetic risk factors, and genomics of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, the disease remains one of the most challenging malignancies. According to Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) figures, 44,000 people were...
Greater Representation of Older Patients in Phase III Trials Needed
The median age of patients diagnosed with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has steadily increased in recent years and is presently 70 years. Despite this, the elderly are significantly underrepresented in clinical trials. A recent study published in the March 2013 issue of the...
Obesity, Physical Inactivity Linked with Risk for Subtype of Colorectal Cancer
An increasing body mass index (BMI) was associated with a higher risk for colorectal cancer with a specific molecular characteristic, and inversely, physical activity was linked to a decreased risk for that same cancer, according to data published in Cancer Research,1 a journal of the American...
Apogenix Receives FDA Orphan Drug Designation for APG101 to Treat Myelodysplastic Syndromes and Initiates Clinical Phase I Study
Apogenix GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel protein therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases, announced that its lead compound, APG101 (Apocept), has been granted orphan drug designation from the FDA for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)....
Ibrutinib Receives Two Oncology Breakthrough Therapy Designations from FDA
Janssen Research & Development, LLC, and Pharmacyclics, LLC, announced that the FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designations for the investigational oral agent ibrutinib as a monotherapy for two B-cell malignancies: in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma who have...
Targeted Therapy Gaining Ground in the Second-line Treatment of Gastric Cancer
In gastric cancer, the concept of targeted therapy assumed clinical significance when the addition of trastuzumab (Herceptin) to chemotherapy improved survival by almost 3 months in the ToGA trial.1 Another anti-HER2 agent, lapatinib (Tykerb), now looks promising, as does an agent targeting the...
T-DM1 for HER2-positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Receives FDA Approval
The FDA approved the antibodydrug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla), referred to as T-DM1 during clinical research, for patients with HER2-positive, metastatic breast cancer who were previously treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and taxane chemotherapy. Ado-trastuzumab emtansine was...
Building CancerLinQ: The Road to Faster, More Efficient Treatment Delivery
In June, Clifford A. Hudis, MD, Chief of the Breast Cancer Medicine Service and Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, will begin his term as President of ASCO. Among Dr. Hudis’ priorities will be...
Number of Cancer Survivors Expected to Increase to 18 Million by 2022
The American Association for Cancer Research recently released its second Annual Report on Cancer Survivorship in the United States. The report shows that as of January 2012, there were approximately 13.7 million cancer survivors in the United States, a number that is expected to rise by 31% to 18...
Flaxseed
Dietary supplement use by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and the...
Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Champion of Integrative Oncology, Continues to Nurture Growth of the Field
Over the past decade, integrative oncology has gained wide acceptance as an evidenced-based way to improve the lives of patients with cancer throughout the continuum of their care. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service and Laurance ...
Disclosure: Appropriate or Not?
The ASCO Post is an outstanding publication that I always look forward to reading. I also understand there are policies and rules to be followed, particularly regarding conflicts of interest and disclosures from contributors. I am writing in regard to “Cancer Has Made Me A Better Doctor,” by David...
Conflicts of Interest
In looking at a recent issue of The ASCO Post, I noted that expert opinions from specialists were published alongside a number of clinical reports. Below each opinion was a disclosure statement, often saying that the expert had no conflict of interest to report. While I do not know each of these...
Another Perspective on Accountable Care Organizations
I read with great interest Dr. Richard Boxer’s editorial on accountable care organizations in the January 15 issue of The ASCO Post. Much of what he says is unfortunately true. There are several points that I would like to make, however. First of all, Dr. Boxer states that the “principle that...
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Introduces Centers of Excellence Program to Further Childhood Cancer Research
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), a registered 501(c)(3) charity, is furthering its commitment to finding cures for all children with cancer by introducing the ALSF Centers of Excellence program. The Centers of Excellence program aims to fund the research of leading childhood cancer...
Focus on the Louisiana Oncology Society
Founded on September 1, 1992, by John M. Rainey, MD, the Louisiana Oncology Society has had numerous legislative successes (see sidebar) since that time, including leading the effort to support Louisiana’s Oral Chemotherapy Parity Law, which was passed in 2012 and is now in effect throughout the...
Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, Named Chair of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Renowned scientist Ramon E. Parsons, MD, PhD, has been named Chair of the Department of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. Dr. Parsons is a researcher in cancer genetics and will bring an interdisciplinary, holistic approach to Mount Sinai’s research...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
Recently reported data from the Prostate Cancer Outcome Study (PCOS) can “serve as a tool for a medical oncologist, a urologic oncologist, or a radiation oncologist to say, ‘Here is what could happen on average at 2, 5, 15 years after treatment with either surgery or radiation,’” according to the...
Recently Reported Long-term Outcomes Could Motivate More Men with Prostate Cancer to Consider Active Surveillance
Fifteen years after being treated with radical prostatectomy or external-beam radiation for localized prostate cancer, “the prevalence of erectile dysfunction was nearly universal,” among men enrolled in a long-term functional outcomes analysis of the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Study (PCOS). There...
Radiation, Still Misunderstood after All These Years
Over the past few decades, radiation therapies have rapidly advanced, due, in large part, to an increasing technologic armamentarium. Among modern science’s most impressive machines, for example, 220-ton particle accelerators can generate near-light-speed beams of protons, with sniper-like...
New Vice President of Indiana Cancer Services
Holly Goe, RN, MSN, has been named Vice President of Indiana University Health Cancer Centers, Indianapolis. She has been serving as interim Vice President since October after being named the program’s Executive Director for Clinical Operations last April. Before joining IU Health in April 2012,...
Majority of Ovarian Cancer Patients Do Not Receive Recommended Treatment, Study Shows
Women are 30% less likely to die of ovarian cancer if they have guideline-recommended treatment, yet nearly two-thirds of those with the disease do not receive it, often because they are cared for at hospitals that treat a small number of ovarian cancer patients. These are the findings of a study...
Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy Gives Ovarian Cancer Patients Better Chance of Survival
Patients with advanced ovarian cancer who undergo intensive treatment with chemotherapy that bathes the abdomen are significantly more likely to live longer than those who receive standard intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, according to a study that analyzed long-term follow-up from two landmark...
Oncology Meetings
April IV Latin American Symposium of Gastroenterology OncologyApril 17-20 • Vina del Mar, ChileFor more information: www.slago.com 3rd ITLT Essen 2013 - Interdisciplinary Treatment of Liver TumorsApril 18-20 • Essen, GermanyFor more information: www.itlt.org The Arizona Clinical Oncology Society...
Three-marker Assay for Early Detection of Renal Cancer
Early detection of renal cell carcinoma using biomarkers remains challenging. Kim and colleagues recently evaluated a three-marker assay consisting of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), L-plastin (LCP1), and nonmetastatic cells 1 protein (NM23A). After validation of the three-marker assay in...
Mixed-lineage Kinase 4 Interacts with Activated RAS Signaling in Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer that is microsatellite stable but chromosomally unstable is characterized by poor prognosis and remains largely intractable at the metastatic stage. Mutational analysis has shown that the mixed lineage kinase 4 (MLK4) protein kinase is frequently mutated in microsatellite-stable...
Effects of siRNA Combining TGF-β1 Silencing and RIG-I Activation in Pancreas Cancer
Dysregulation of TGF-β signaling promotes tumor growth, invasion, metastasis, and a potent immunosuppressive network in pancreas cancer. A strategy for disrupting the tumor-promoting pathway is the silencing of TGF-β by use of small-interfering (si) RNA. Ellermeier and colleagues found that the...
Jonathan Friedberg, MD, Named Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center
Jonathan Friedberg, MD, MMSc, has been appointed Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. Dr. Friedberg joined the Medical Center in 2002 and was named Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine in 2009. ...
New ACCC Officers and Trustees
Results of the election of new officers and trustees (2013–2014) for the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) were announced recently at the ACCC Annual National Meeting. First Nonphysician ACCC President Elected Virginia Vaitones, MSW, became ACCC President at the 39th Annual National...
NCI Guide Helps Providers Get Adolescent and Young Adult Patients Involved in End-of-life Care
Enabling adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients to become involved in advance care planning can help parents and health-care agents make informed decisions, alleviate distress, and possibly improve the patients’ quality of life, according to researchers at the National Cancer Institute’s...
Implementing a National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century
In March 2011, the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in conjunction with ASCO, held a workshop to discuss a collaborative approach to making the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded clinical trials system more viable and productive. That workshop included...
Dual Awards Pay Tribute to Gender Equity Trailblazers
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston recently recognized two leading advocates for women in medicine and research. Karen Antman, MD, Provost of the Boston University Medical Campus and Dean of its School of Medicine since 2005, was the recipient of the 2013 Margaret L....
Indiana University Researchers Earn $3.2 Million Grant to Develop, Improve Therapies for Pancreatic Cancer
Two Indiana University researchers have been awarded a multiyear, $3.2 million grant to develop and improve therapies for pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Mark R. Kelley, PhD, Betty and Earl Herr Professor of Pediatric Oncology Research, and Melissa...
New Partnership Will Harness Technology to Foster Improved Palliative Care in Oncology
ASCO and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine (AAHPM) have announced a joint initiative to support delivery of high-quality palliative care in medical oncology. The initiative, funded by the Agency for Health Care Research & Quality, aims to address the complex care...
Gene Transfer Therapy Is Producing Prolonged Remissions in Patients with Advanced Leukemia
In August 2011, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania published their breakthrough findings of a pilot study showing sustained remissions of up to 1 year in a small number of patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who had been treated with genetically engineered...
