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Showing 14651 - 14700Seeking Clarity on the PSA Story
My feature interview in the August 15, 2012, issue of The ASCO Post, entitled “Rethinking the Role of PSA Screening in Public Health”1 drew swift reaction from well-known figures in the prostate cancer field. The subsequent Letters to the Editor, three in all, constituted a two-pronged attack. They ...
ATRA and Arsenic Trioxide May Be Even Better Than ATRA and Chemotherapy in Treating Low-to-Intermediate Risk Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia
All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) plus arsenic trioxide bested the already high remission rates achieved by ATRA with chemotherapy, the standard of care for acute promyelocytic leukemia, in a phase III multicenter trial among patients with low-to-intermediate risk acute promyelocytic leukemia....
Ridaforolimus Delayed Tumor Progression in Patients with Previously Treated Metastatic Sarcoma
“Ridaforolimus delayed tumor progression to a small statistically significant degree in patients with metastatic sarcoma who experienced benefit with prior chemotherapy,” according to results of an international phase III trial. The large randomized placebo-controlled phase III trial evaluated the...
Anti-PD-1 Antibody Lambrolizumab Produces Durable Responses with Low Toxicity in Patients with Advanced Melanoma
Lambrolizumab produced a high rate of sustained tumor regression when tested among 135 patients with advanced melanoma in a multi-institutional, international, phase I expansion study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. At a median follow-up of 11 months, responses were durable in the...
Androgen Deprivation Therapy Associated with Increased Risk of Acute Kidney Injury
The use of androgen deprivation therapy was significantly associated with an increased risk of acute kidney injury among men with newly diagnosed nonmetastatic prostate cancer, according to a study published in JAMA. The study was motivated by the increasing use of androgen deprivation therapy in...
Cisplatin plus Cetuximab vs Cisplatin Alone in Patients with Metastatic Triple-negative Breast Cancer
Adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to cisplatin doubled the overall response rate and appeared to prolong progression-free and overall survival in a randomized phase II study among patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Although the trial did not meet its primary endpoint of overall...
Women with Primary Breast Cancer Diagnosed During Pregnancy Have Overall Survival Similar to Nonpregnant Patients
Results from an international collaborative study showed that women with primary breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy had overall survival similar to nonpregnant patients. Reporting their findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the authors concluded: “This information is important when...
I Overcame Cervical Cancer but Not Its Long-term Effects
In 1979, when I was just 35 years old, I started experiencing abnormal vaginal bleeding and lower back pain. When a Pap test came back normal, the gynecologist I saw said not to worry about anything, that I was fine. But I wasn’t fine. My symptoms quickly escalated, and I sought the opinion of...
Pig Diagnosed With Lymphoma and Treated at Cornell University Hospital for Animals
Doctors at Cornell University Hospital for Animals in Ithaca, New York, reported what they believe may be the first case of a pig being treated for lymphoma. The animal was described as a 730-pound black-and-white Hampshire pig that was diagnosed with presumptive B-cell lymphoma. The 4-year-old...
SIDEBAR: A Hot Season for Skin Cancer News, So Expect More Questions
An “alarming difference” in survival outcomes between young, non-Hispanic white males and females with primary invasive melanoma (see accompanying article) is one of several skin cancer–related study findings in the news this summer. Other studies have concerned the rising rates of melanoma among...
'Alarming Difference' in Survival Outcomes for Young White Men with Melanoma
An “alarming difference” in survival outcomes between young, non-Hispanic white males and females with primary invasive melanoma “highlights the urgent need for both behavioral interventions to promote early detection strategies in young men and further investigation of the biological basis for the ...
Tomosynthesis Plus Digital Mammography Reduces Breast Cancer Screening Recall Rate Compared to Mammography Alone
The addition of tomosynthesis to standard digital mammography resulted in a 30% reduction in overall recall rates among women being screened for breast cancer, according to a new study published online in Radiology.1 The results demonstrate that digital tomosynthesis is an effective tool in...
Dr. Joseph Bertino's Breakthrough Work in Methotrexate Resistance Led to Understanding Why Cancer Drugs Work or Fail
Looking over his 5 decades in clinical oncology and research, Joseph R. Bertino, MD, says his greatest professional satisfaction comes from seeing his former students and oncology fellows go on to achieve great success in their own medical and research careers. It is a fitting sentiment since Dr....
Living and Working with Cancer
The most recent figures from the National Cancer Institute put the number of cancer survivors in the United States at nearly 14 million—by 2022, that number is expected to top 18 million. And for the vast majority of those survivors—more than 80%—returning to work after treatment is a top priority...
Western Science Catching Up with Traditional Chinese Medicine
Since the National Institutes of Health Consensus Statement in 1997 concluded that the evidence to date suggests acupuncture is effective in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting,1 numerous additional indications for its use in relieving symptoms related to cancer or its...
Acupuncture May Reduce Arm Lymphedema in Patients with Breast Cancer
Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service and Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center...
Adolescents, Young Adults with Cancer Often Challenged By Unmet Needs Following Treatment
About 70,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs) between the ages of 15 and 39 are diagnosed with cancer each year, and in the past 30 years, there has been little or no improvement in survival in this population. In addition to the disease itself, they face many other challenges: reentry into...
The Sunshine Act Calls for Greater Transparency in Industry-Doctor Relationships
Signed into law on March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act represents the most significant overhaul of the U.S. health-care system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Because of the law’s sheer scope, parts of it still remain obfuscated by its 2,400 or so...
Focus on the West Virginia Oncology Society
Now in its fifth year, the West Virginia Oncology Society (WVOS) is already having a major impact on cancer care in the state. In 2010, a joint initiative to develop a statewide cancer clinical trials network was launched by WVOS and the West Virginia University Cancer Center. With funding support...
Intercalated Chemotherapy/Erlotinib Improves Progression-free Survival in Advanced NSCLC
EGFR mutation status may not be known at the time treatment is started in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Further, some data suggest that the efficacy of concurrent treatment with an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor and chemotherapy is reduced because the G1 cell-cycle...
Link between Red Meat Consumption and Mortality Clarified in Patients with Nonmetastatic Colorectal Cancer
Evidence shows that diets high in red and processed meat are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Marjorie L. McCullough, ScD, Strategic Director of Nutritional Epidemiology, and colleagues from the Epidemiology Research...
Docetaxel Superior to Erlotinib in Second-line Treatment of Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer with Wild-type EGFR
There is ongoing debate about the efficacy of erlotinib (Tarceva) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have wild-type EGFR. In the TAILOR trial, reported in Lancet Oncology by Garassino and colleagues,1 erlotinib was compared with standard docetaxel as...
First-line Carboplatin/Pemetrexed Improves Survival vs Pemetrexed Alone in Advanced Lung Cancer
A significant proportion of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have poor performance status, and optimal clinical management of these patients has not been established. In an attempt to help define optimal chemotherapy in such patients, Mauro Zukin, MD, of Instituto Nacional...
Policy Update Aims to Advance Tobacco Cessation and Control Worldwide
In response to scientific advances and the evolving regulatory and policy environment, ASCO recently released an update to its 2003 policy statement on tobacco cessation and control. The statement reviews advancements that have been made since 2003 and outlines a refined set of recommendations...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Grant Recipient 'Pays It Forward' Through Philanthropic Support, Volunteer Service
Dr. Dawn Hershman, Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center and leader of the Breast Cancer Program at Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, is committed to doing what she can to develop, encourage, and support the next generation of oncology...
A Look Ahead: The Next Decade in Pediatric Oncology
The past 10 years have seen dramatic advances in cancer care, especially in better screening methods and earlier detection, genomic sequencing, and more effective therapies, which have led to increased survival rates in both childhood and adult cancers. According to the National Cancer Institute...
Infertility in Men Raises Their Risk for Cancer
A cohort study of 2,238 men who were evaluated for infertility at a clinic in Texas from 1989 to 2009 found that those men who had azoospermia, a condition in which no measurable sperm is present, had a 2.2-fold higher cancer risk compared with those who were nonazoospermic. The study was published ...
SIDEBAR: Program Background
Partners for Cancer Care and Prevention holds that early detection and high-quality treatment of breast and cervical cancer save lives. The organization exists to build community capacity for the creation of high-quality, holistic breast and cervical health programs managed by the local health...
Whole-exome Sequencing of NCI-60 Cell Line Panel Provides Genomic Resource for Cancer Biology and Pharmacology
The NCI-60 cell lines, which represent cancers of the lung, colon, brain, ovary, breast, prostate, and kidney, as well as leukemia and melanoma, are the most frequently studied human tumor cell lines in cancer research and have generated the most extensive cancer pharmacology database worldwide. As ...
Age Not Linked to Recurrence in Observation or Trastuzumab Groups with HER2-positive Breast Cancer
Available data suggest that younger age is an independent risk factor for disease recurrence and death in women with breast cancer. However, there has not been adequate study of the interaction of age with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status or anti-HER2 treatment. In an analysis ...
LUX-Lung 3: Afatinib Prolongs Progression-free Survival vs Cisplatin/Pemetrexed in Advanced Lung Adenocarcinoma
Afatinib (Gilotrif) is an oral selective ErbB family inhibitor that irreversibly blocks signaling from EGFR/ErbB1, HER2/ErbB2, and ErbB4 and has exhibited broad-spectrum activity against EGFR mutations in preclinical studies. A phase II study of afatinib in EGFR-mutation positive lung...
Afatinib as First-line Treatment for Metastatic NSCLC with EGFR Exon 19 Deletions or Exon 21 (L858R) Substitution Mutations
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. Indication On July 12, 2013, afatinib (Gilotrif) was approved for...
ASCO Studies Support Limited Use of 'Routine' Imaging
The overuse of imaging in oncology workup and surveillance is a timely concern, as health-care dollars shrink and the risk for second malignancies becomes clearer. At this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting, several studies showed that although many routine imaging studies may be unnecessary, physicians...
Oncofetal Protein SALL4 Is a Marker of Aggressive Hepatocellular Carcinoma and a Potential Therapeutic Target
Hepatocellular carcinomas with characteristics of embryonic stem cell and progenitor cell gene expression are associated with particularly poor prognosis. SALL4 is an oncofetal protein that is expressed in the human fetal liver and normally silenced in the adult liver, but re-expressed in a...
Diane E. Meier, MD: From Early Lessons in Critical Thinking to 'Palliative Care Everywhere'
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. —Helen Keller, Optimism, 1903 Shortly past 8:00 AM on July 1977, Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, began the first day of her medical internship. Within minutes she would experience another first: the death of a patient...
Evolving Issues in Low-dose CT Lung Cancer Screening
Over a decade has passed since the start of the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial and more than 2 years since the first report indicating that this randomized study had demonstrated a significant reduction in lung cancer mortality with low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening.1 That favorable ...
Low-dose CT Screening for Lung Cancer: Details of First Round of Screening in National Lung Screening Trial
The National Lung Screening Trial found that 3 years of annual screening with low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) reduced lung cancer mortality compared with chest radiography in older persons who were heavy smokers.1 The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial also...
Where Are We With ALK Inhibition in Lung Cancer?
The prospective phase III PROFILE 1007 study compared the ALK inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori) to chemotherapy in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with ALK gene–rearranged tumors refractory to previous chemotherapy. The study showed a clear superiority for crizotinib in terms ...
Crizotinib Improves Progression-free Survival vs Pemetrexed or Docetaxel in Advanced ALK-positive NSCLC
In a phase III trial reported by Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, a thoracic oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine, crizotinib (Xalkori) improved progression-free survival compared with standard chemotherapy in previously treated patients ...
Ibrutinib Produces High Response Rate in Patients with Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Ibrutinib is a first-in-class oral covalent inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, a mediator of the B cell-receptor signaling pathway implicated in the pathogenesis of B-cell cancers. As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Michael L. Wang, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson...
High Rate of Durable Remissions with Ibrutinib in Patients with Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Durable remissions are uncommon with current treatments for relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Bruton’s tyrosine kinase is an essential component of B cell–receptor signaling that mediates interactions with the tumor microenvironment and promotes survival and proliferation of CLL cells....
CDC Report Shows Stagnated HPV Vaccination Rate for Girls
For the first time since the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine became available for adolescent girls in 2006, the vaccination rate for teenagers has stalled, according to data published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The data...
Expert Point of View: Ranjana Advani, MD
At the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting, Ranjana Advani, MD, the Saul A. Rosenberg, MD, Professor of Lymphoma at Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, discussed the promise of the B-cell signaling inhibitors idelalisib and ibrutinib in lymphoma. Biggest Question Given the...
B-cell Receptor Signaling Inhibitors Moving Forward in Lymphoma
Though still in early-phase studies, novel B-cell receptor signaling inhibitors look very promising for the treatment of lymphoma, according to reports from the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting. Idelalisib in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma In non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), idelalisib looked impressive as both a single...
Tecemotide Vaccine Warrants Further Study in Unresectable Stage III Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Results of the START trial suggest that maintenance therapy with the investigational immunotherapy tecemotide (formerly known as L-BLP25) may have a role in the treatment of patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although there was no significant overall survival...
Acquired Resistance to Crizotinib from ROS1 G2032R Mutation
The ALK inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori) has also shown activity in lung cancers with ROS1 translocations. As recently reported by Mark M. Awad, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine, a mutation conferring resistance to crizotinib...
Expert Point of View: Jonathan S. Berek, MD
The CHORUS trial had similar results to the previous European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 55971 study, showing noninferiority for primary debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy vs neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery and additional chemotherapy, said formal ...
Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Interval Debulking May Be Appropriate for Some Patients With Poor Performance Status Advanced Ovarian Cancer
Patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer—especially patients with poor performance status—appear to derive benefits from neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery vs primary surgery followed by chemotherapy, according to results of the Medical Research Council (MRC) CHORUS trial. In ...
Weekly Carboplatin/Paclitaxel Improves Quality of Life, Toxicity vs Every-3-week Regimen in Advanced Ovarian Cancer
Patients with advanced ovarian cancer have similar survival outcomes thus far with a weekly regimen of carboplatin/paclitaxel vs the standard every-3-week regimen, but the weekly regimen is much better tolerated with improved quality of life, according to final results of the Multicenter Italian...
GeparSixto Study Finds Benefit for Neoadjuvant Carboplatin in Triple-negative Breast Cancer
In patients with triple-negative breast cancer, the addition of carboplatin significantly improved the rate of pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in a study by the German Breast Group (GBG)/Gynecologic Oncology Working Group–Breast (AGO-B) reported at the 2013 ASCO Annual...
