The third annual Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, held on September 9–10, 2016, in San Francisco, California, brought together more than 650 attendees from multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and China. It featured over 250 study...
Kerr et al found that adding adjuvant bevacizumab (Avastin) to capecitabine did not improve disease-free survival in unselected patients with stage III or high-risk stage II colorectal cancer. The results of the phase III QUASAR 2 trial were reported in The Lancet Oncology. Study Details In the...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bagrodia et al found that alterations in TP53 and MDM2 were associated with cisplatin resistance and poorer outcome in patients with advanced germ cell tumors. Actionable alterations were found in a high proportion of cases of cisplatin...
ASCO presented Representative Michael Burgess, MD (TX-26) with its first-ever ASCO Congressional Leadership Award on September 21 to recognize his steadfast work to support policies related to cancer research and treatment. This new, annual award honors a member of Congress who is a consistent...
Here is a brief look at the study findings and clinical implications of several recent clinical trials on newer treatment options in neoplastic hematology. Attention is focused on several types of leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Leukemia Clinical Trial: INO-VATE ALL phase III...
Clodagh O’Shea, PhD, Associate Professor in the Salk Institute’s Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, is among the first recipients of a grant from the Faculty Scholars Program, a new partnership of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Simons...
In August 2016, the Healthcare Delivery Research Program of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute convened a group of experts in a variety of fields to identify a research agenda for optimizing employment outcomes among cancer survivors. A core...
Medical students and practicing pediatricians in Uganda and other East African countries lack access to specialty pediatric training and education in oncology and hematology in their region, despite the need for doctors to provide care for patients with cancer and blood disorders. A new program of...
The ProtecT trial showing similar 10-year survival with active monitoring, surgery, or radiotherapy for prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-detected localized prostate cancer but a greater risk of disease progression/metastasis with monitoring was recently reported by Hamdy and colleagues and is...
The ProtecT study findings1 are provocative. Despite having a control arm of active monitoring with serial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, as compared with watchful waiting in the prior randomized trials (ie, SPCG-42 and PIVOT3), and also enrolling men with more favorable-risk disease...
In the UK ProtecT trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Freddie C. Hamdy, FRCS, FMedSci, of the University of Oxford, and colleagues found no significant differences in prostate cancer–specific or overall mortality among men with clinically localized prostate cancer detected by...
On September 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a blood-based companion diagnostic for osimertinib (Tagrisso). The companion diagnostic for osimertinib is the only FDA-approved and clinically validated companion diagnostic test that uses either tissue or a blood sample ...
In an analysis of the Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II) study cohort reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jacobs et al found no significant association between vasectomy and overall prostate cancer incidence or mortality. A recent prospective study had shown an association of vasectomy...
For men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, side effects at 2 years following radiation therapy were comparable for extremely hypofractionated treatment, which was delivered in 7 fractions across 2.5 weeks, and conventional treatment of 39 fractions across 8 weeks, according to research...
Enhanced, culturally competent communication with early-stage lung cancer patients can narrow racial gaps in curative treatment completion and increase treatment rates for all races, according to research presented by Manning et al at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation...
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for cancer patients who receive the treatment for brain metastases decreases the likelihood of local recurrence, but shows no positive difference in terms of overall survival or distant brain metastases rates when compared to observation alone following surgical...
For patients with stage II and III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) unable to receive standard treatments of surgery or chemoradiation, hypofractionated radiation therapy results in similar overall survival and progression-free survival rates, limited severe side effects, and shorter...
In the largest trial conducted for average-risk medulloblastoma, survival rates following reduced radiation therapy boost volumes were comparable to standard treatment volumes for the primary tumor site, but lower doses of craniospinal axis irradiation were associated with higher event rates and...
For patients who have cancer that has metastasized to the brain, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) results in statistically comparable survival rates, reduced cognitive decline, and better quality of life, compared to whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), according to research presented at the 58th Annual ...
Analysis of data from the Veterans Administration Central Cancer Registry, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sanfilippo et al, showed that statin use was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause and multiple myeloma–specific mortality in patients with multiple myeloma....
A new analysis of records in the Veterans Affairs Central Cancer Registry demonstrates a clear positive impact of the increased use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to treat patients with stage I non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in recent years, according to research presented...
A supplemental “boost” of radiation improves local control and provides an incremental benefit in decreasing breast cancer recurrence for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who receive whole breast radiation therapy radiation (WBRT) following lumpectomy, according to research ...
For men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, radiation treatment with brachytherapy alone can result in similar cancer control with fewer long-term side effects, when compared to more aggressive treatment that combines brachytherapy with external beam therapy (EBT), according to research...
Patient-reported outcomes differed among men with localized prostate cancer detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing who were randomized to receive active monitoring, surgery, or radiotherapy in the UK ProtecT trial, according to a report by Donovan et al in The New England Journal of...
As reported by Recht et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a joint ASCO, American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) panel has developed a focused guideline update of the ASCO guideline on postmastectomy radiotherapy. A recent Cancer Care Ontario...
Although approximately 50% of cancer patients in developing countries need radiation therapy to treat their disease, up to half of these patients do not have access to it, according to research presented by Rosenblatt et al at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology...
For men with early stage, low-risk prostate cancer, treatment with hypofractionated radiation therapy offers comparable health-related quality of life outcomes in one-third less treatment time than conventional radiation therapy, according to research presented by Watkins Bruner et al at the 58th...
Survival rates for elderly patients who received stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for early stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) rose from roughly 40% to 60% over the past decade, concurrent with the increasing adoption of SBRT, according to research presented by Dalwadi et al...
Patients with cervical and endometrial cancer have fewer gastrointestinal and genitourinary side effects and experience better quality of life when treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) than with conventional radiation therapy, according to research presented by Klopp et al at...
A multibasket phase Ib study evaluating the clinical activity, tolerability, and antitumor activity of the cytokine-based immunotherapy AM0010 alone or in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has found that in monotherapy, objective responses to AM0010 were ...
In an analysis of commercial U.S. health plan data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Agiro et al found that granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) primary prophylaxis was associated with a “low-to-modest’’ benefit in preventing neutropenia-related...
A large population-based observational study by García-Albéniz et al evaluating the effectiveness and safety of screening colonoscopy for the prevention of colorectal cancer in people aged 70 to 74 and 75 to 79 has found the test reaped only a modest benefit in preventing colorectal...
Combining a new targeted drug that blocks one of cancer’s escape routes could boost the effectiveness of combined chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancers and stop cells becoming resistant to treatment. Researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), and The Royal Marsden...
While searching for a noninvasive way to detect prostate cancer cells circulating in blood, Duke Cancer Institute researchers have identified some blood markers associated with tumor resistance to two common hormone therapies. In a study published by Gupta et al in Clinical Cancer Research, a team...
In a propensity score–matched analysis of National Cancer Database data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mokdad et al found that neoadjuvant therapy followed by resection was associated with a survival benefit vs upfront resection. Study Details The analysis included adults...
In a new study, men who underwent vasectomy did not have an increased risk of prostate cancer, nor were they more likely to die from prostate cancer than men who did not receive this procedure. According to the researchers, this is the largest prospective study of vasectomy and fatal prostate...
Saul J. Sharkis, PhD, a scientist who studied the biology of blood stem cells and how they could be used to treat cancer through bone marrow transplantation, died on September 4. He was 72. Dr. Sharkis was Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a faculty...
In 2008, Roger Y. Tsien, PhD, shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Drs. Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie for helping turn green fluorescent protein from a jellyfish into a research tool that could tag cancer cells or track the advance of Alzheimer’s disease. “Our work is often described as...
According to a phase III trial reported by Navari et al in The New England Journal of Medicine, the addition of the antipsychotic agent olanzapine vs placebo to dexamethasone, aprepitant, or fosaprepitant, and a 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3–receptor antagonist reduced nausea and improved antiemetic...
Emily L. Sedgwick, MD, Associate Professor of Breast Imaging in the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center, part of the National Cancer Institute–designated Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been named the 2016 recipient of the Ben and Margaret Love Foundation Bobby Alford Award for...
Even though I was just 3 years old when my symptoms first appeared, the memory is still fresh in my mind to this day, 71 years later. I had just come home from a friend’s birthday party and was sitting on the front patio steps immobilized by severe stomach pain. My parents said I was feeling ill...
There have been numerous books explicating the information a physician or patient needs to know about our current clinical state in the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. Many of them are good, but rare is a well-written book in the cancer genre that offers solid scientific hope exceeding ...
Earlier this month, members of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative’s Blue Ribbon Panel submitted an ambitious list of 10 recommendations on the scientific approaches that are most likely to accelerate progress against cancer to the President’s National Cancer Advisory Board. The panel’s...
The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group–American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) Cancer Research Group has received federal approval to add a quality-of-life research study, Communication and Education in Tumor Profiling (EAQ152), or COMET, to the NCI-MATCH (EAY131) trial, which is ...
The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation has announced the winners of the 2016 Lasker Awards for medical science: William G. Kaelin, MD; Peter J. Ratcliffe, MD, FRCP, FMedSci, FRS; and Gregg L. Semenza, MD, PhD for basic medical research; Ralf F.W. Bartenschlager, PhD; Charles M. Rice, PhD;...
On August 13, 2013, more than 100 cancer researchers and physicians from around the world met in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to discuss 2 challenging problem areas in cancer. One group was focused on the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposure to chemical mixtures in the environment, and the...
Phase I Study Title: Phase Ib Study of Nivolumab and Dasatinib in Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Philadelphia Chromosome–Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (Ph+ ALL) Study Type: Phase I/interventional/single-group assignment Study Sponsor and Collaborators: Northwestern University, National...
Studies show that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors experience distinct challenges and quality-of-life issues from those experienced by either younger or older adult cancer survivors and that those challenges and issues can persist long after the cancer diagnosis and the end of...
Significant advances in cancer care and treatment have led to a steady increase in survivorship—currently, more than 15.5 million cancer survivors are living in the United States. This number is only expected to grow, with an estimate of more than 20 million American cancer survivors in 2026.1 A...
This summer, ASCO members continued their efforts to advocate for key issues that are critical to cancer care. ASCO members are uniquely qualified to communicate with Congress about effective policies for the treatment of patients with cancer and the research that drives scientific breakthroughs....