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Showing 151 - 200Enduring Cancer and Its Treatment With Resilience and Humor
Most cancer memoirs have a similar thread: life suddenly interrupted by arguably the three most dreaded words in the English language, “You have cancer.” Readers anticipate the high-drama uncertainty leading to diagnosis, treatment, and hopefully survivorship, with multiple human storylines woven...
Drive, Curiosity, and a Love of Science: One Nurse’s Road to a Leadership Role in Oncology
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Deborah Watkins Bruner, RN, PhD, FAAN, noted for her work in patient-reported outcomes, symptom management, and comparative effectiveness of radiotherapy modalities. Her current research is focused on...
Margetuximab-cmkb: A Novel Agent Overshadowed by an Abundance of Options in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
It is incredible to reflect upon the scientific advances in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer over the past 23 years. Once considered the worst subtype of breast cancer, HER2-positive disease is now associated with the best long-term outcomes in this age of targeted treatments. With a...
Surge of Patients With Advanced Cancer Expected Due to Delayed Diagnosis and Treatment During Pandemic
Pent up demand for cancer screenings, diagnostic workups, and treatments delayed or curtailed since the start of the pandemic is expected to result in a surge of patients—some with more advanced disease as a result of delays—seeking appointments with oncologists. “We are starting to see the...
A Sense of Duty Shapes the Career of Medical Oncologist Aparna Parikh, MD
By way of her family lineage, Aparna Parikh, MD, seemed destined for a career in medicine. “Both of my parents are physicians, as well as my maternal grandfather. I have two other siblings, all of whom are in the medical field. Medicine has always been part of my life since childhood. My parents...
How Interested Are Patients in Integrative Therapies, and How Much Are They Willing to Pay for Them?
The top two barriers to accessing complementary and integrative therapies, according to a survey of 576 patients with cancer and caregivers, were cost, cited by 56%, and a lack of knowledge about the therapies, cited by 52.1%. “Other barriers included a lack of time (29.2%), location of the...
Expert Point of View: Deborah Armstrong, MD
The invited discussant of the SOLO-1 trial, Deborah Armstrong, MD, Professor of Oncology and Director of the Breast and Ovarian Surveillance Service at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the update provides “important information for us,” showing that 2 years of maintenance olaparib conveys “a really...
Groundbreaking Cancer Researcher Brian J. Druker, MD, Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with physician-scientist Brian J. Druker, MD, Director of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland. In 2009, Dr. Druker won the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research ...
I Credit Cancer Research With Saving My Life
In December 2015, I thought I was through with cancer. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011 after a routine blood test showed that my prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was high. I underwent prostatectomy, and although it was clear the cancer had breached the capsule of the prostate, for ...
Looking Back on the 40-Year Career of Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO
The medical career of Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, spans more than 4 decades and includes a roster of nearly unprecedented accomplishments in patient care, research, and mentoring. He has held leadership positions in academia, first at the University of Chicago, where he spent the...
It All Began With a Lump in the Throat
BOOKMARK Title: Milkshakes and Morphine: A Memoir of Love and LifeAuthor: Genevieve FoxPublisher: VintagePublication date: January 2019Price: $15.95, paperback, 384 pages “It doesn’t hurt, but I know it is there and I know it shouldn’t be. Interloper. I have touched it a couple of times already,...
ASCO’s New Chief Medical Officer Plans to Tackle the Global Burden of Cancer and Disparities in Access to Care
In November, ASCO announced that Julie R. Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, will succeed Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Society. Dr. Gralow will begin her new position on February 15, 2021. Dr. Gralow’s long relationship with ASCO dates back to 1995, when...
Gastrointestinal Oncologist Laura Goff, MD, Sees Potential in Emerging Immunotherapies and Novel Targeted Agents
Laura Goff, MD, Medical Director of the Hematology and Oncology Division at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, was born in Chicago but reared in Lewisville, a suburb of Dallas. “I come from a long line of nurses, which early on influenced my decision to pursue a career in medicine....
Chronic Graft-vs-Host Disease: Future Directions in Treatment
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has improved survival rates for several hematologic malignancies, but as the number of transplants continues to rise, community oncologists are evaluating more posttransplant complications in the clinics. The ASCO Post spoke with two of the principals...
The Heart of Catherine Handy Marshall, MD, MPH’s Work
In 2017, Women Who Conquer Cancer (WWCC) awarded Catherine Handy Marshall, MD, MPH, a Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award (YIA) grant to explore the impact of cardiovascular disease risk factors on cancer outcomes. Three years after receiving the WWCC YIA, Dr. Handy Marshall is pursuing...
European Experts Tackle HPV-Related Cancers
The prevention of infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), and its related cancers, has become a focus of the European Cancer Organisation. At the group’s 2020 European Cancer Summit, held virtually, members of the organization’s HPV Action Network convened with other experts to share...
RxPONDER: Many Postmenopausal Patients With Node-Positive Breast Cancer Can Avoid Chemotherapy
Just in are the results of the SWOG S1007 RxPONDER trial, which evaluated the benefit of chemotherapy in women with early-stage hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer and node-positive disease.1 The data showed that many postmenopausal women can skip adjuvant chemotherapy, based on ...
Changes in Care and Well-Being Among Patients With Cancer During Initial Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic
In a Dutch study reported in JAMA Oncology, van de Poll-Franse et al found that a substantial proportion of patients with cancer had changes in care within 4 to 6 weeks after the first announcement of a COVID-19–related lockdown. Patients with cancer surveyed reported levels of quality of life,...
Understanding Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Disparities in Resource-Challenged Nations
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the Caribbean. Adding to this growing burden, many of the nations in this geographically spread region have under-resourced health-care systems and a lack of cohesive approaches to the delivery of cancer care. To shed light on the public health...
A Daughter of Immigrants Chooses a Challenging but Rewarding Career in Surgical Oncology
Nationally recognized oncologic surgeon Sandra L. Wong, MD, MS, FASCO, FACS, was born and raised in Stockton, California, a city on the San Joaquin River, in California’s Central Valley. “My parents were both immigrants, but unlike the stereotypical picture of hard-driving immigrant parents who...
An Emergency Room Physician Explores Her Own Healing Through a Life of Medical Service
Medical memoir dramas, especially those centered in the emergency room (ER), are often met with the anticipation of top-rated medical shows portrayed on TV, in which there is nonstop blood-and-guts action and sizzling tensions between shouting doctors and nurses. In her recently published memoir,...
As a Young Oncologist, Enrique Soto Pérez de Celis, MD, MSc, Met a Career-Changing Mentor at the ASCO Annual Meeting
Geriatric oncologist and researcher Enrique Soto Pérez de Celis, MD, MSc, was born in Mexico City and grew up in the nearby city of Puebla. “There were no physicians in the family who might have influenced my decision to become a doctor, but both of my parents were academics; my mother was a...
Do All Patients With Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Need CAR T-Cell Therapy?
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has made great strides in treating patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large-B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), but there may be newer strategies that can produce equivalent outcomes, and not all patients with...
Checkpoint Inhibitor and Chemotherapy Combinations Fail to Move Bar as First-Line Therapy for Advanced Urothelial Cancer
Two different phase III studies found that combining an anti–PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-361) with platinum-based chemotherapy or with another checkpoint inhibitor (the anti–CTLA-4 antibody tremelimumab in DANUBE) failed to significantly improve overall or...
The Secret History of Cancer Chemotherapy
“The summons came in the middle of the night. He was awake at the first harsh jangle of the telephone…. Always a light sleeper, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Francis Alexander attributed the trait to his father, an old-fashioned family practitioner whose response to every late-night distress call was...
Small Case Study Explores Novel Approach to Neoadjuvant Therapy for Skin Cancer
Skin cancers are the most common malignancy in the United States and worldwide. Between 1994 and 2014, the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers in the United States increased by 77%.1 The cost of treating melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers to the health-care system...
A Leader in Drug Development, Patricia Keegan, MD, Reflects on Making a Difference in Cancer Care
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Patricia Keegan, MD, who served at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 30 years, most recently as Acting Associate Director of Medical Policy at the Oncology Center for Excellence (OCE)....
A Primary Care Physician Explores Barriers to Cancer Prevention and Clinical Trial Accrual
To accelerate progress in the survival rates of people with cancer in the United States and to reduce cancer disparities across the entire spectrum of cancer from diagnosis to survivorship, there needs to be increased access to cancer screening and prevention programs. To shed light on this...
A Young Oncologist Cares for Patients With Cancer Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the face of U.S. health-care services in such rapid fashion that many providers were caught off guard, learning and preparing on the fly. Patients with cancer, given their multiple physical and emotional challenges, were especially vulnerable. To get a sense of the...
I’ve Turned My Pain Into a New Life Purpose
The first half of 2016 was arguably the most exciting of my life. My wife, Jaione, and I had decided to leave the United Kingdom and move with our two children, Andrew, then 14, and Alba, then 10, to Denver, where I was taking on a leadership role in corporate affairs for a brewery company. By the...
Caring for Undocumented Patients With Cancer
There are approximately 25 million foreign-born immigrants living in the United States, which is more than 13% of the nation’s total population. Of these individuals, it is estimated that about 11 million are undocumented; by far, the largest group of this immigrant undocumented population is...
Web-Based Tool May Help Patients With Cancer Choose the Best Insurance for Their Needs
Given the rising costs of cancer care, many patients with cancer and cancer survivors are challenged by financial toxicity, the burden of care costs. Many struggle to choose a health insurance plan that best meets their needs. Moreover, these challenges are often exacerbated by limited health...
How the First International Summit on Interventional Pharmacoeconomics Is Sparking Discussion on Reducing Cancer Costs
Three years ago, former Chief Executive Officer of ASCO, Allen S. Lichter, MD, Laurence H. Baker, DO, Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor; Leonard Saltz, MD, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Memorial Sloan...
Tumor Mutational Burden and the Future of Complex Biomarkers
The development of complex biomarkers such as tumor mutational burden (TMB) has enabled clinicians to identify patients more likely to respond to treatment of a variety of cancers, leading to more accurate diagnoses and improved outcomes. Differences in testing assays, however, have produced...
Update on Detecting and Treating Biologically Diverse Neuroendocrine Tumors
Neuroendocrine tumors are rare malignancies that arise in neuroendocrine cells, which can occur throughout the body but are most commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and pancreas. Although most neuroendocrine tumors are indolent and take years to grow, some are aggressive and grow...
Flossie Wong-Staal, PhD, Molecular Biologist Who Uncovered the Secrets of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Dies at 73
The origin of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been traced back to Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, around 1920, when the virus crossed species from chimpanzees to humans. It wasn’t until the 1980s that epidemiologic data began to sum up the number of people who were...
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: 2020 Updates
In 1996, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology®, covering eight tumor types. Guidelines are now published for more than 60 tumor types and topics. During the NCCN’s 25th Annual Conference, which was held virtually during ...
Lost in Translation: A Fisherman’s Tale
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology, as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist Yoram Unguru, MD, MS, MA, Explains the Economic Origins of Drug Shortages and Other Ethical Issues
Improvements in protocol-driven clinical trials and supportive care for children and adolescents with cancer have markedly reduced mortality rates over the past 5 decades. Yet, along with clinical advances, oncologists and their young patients with cancer face a host of ethical issues, made more...
The Wake
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology,” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
A Doctor Battles a Deadly Disease and Turns Hope Into Action
From his early days, David Fajgenbaum, MD, was an overachiever in academics and sports, funneling his relentless drive and laser-like focus into everything he did. He dreamed of becoming a quarterback at a division I school, which he achieved, garnering a full scholarship to Georgetown University,...
A Palliative Care Specialist Explores What It Means to Live and Die With Dignity and Purpose
Palliative care’s road to acceptance as standard-of-care practice has been a remarkably unsmooth one, given its core mission: improving the quality of life of patients and their families by relieving the pain, symptoms, and stress of a serious or life-limiting illness. A person’s relationship with...
A Long-Time Student of Leadership, Brian J. Bolwell, MD, FACP, Ultimately Takes the Reins at the Taussig Cancer Institute
In this edition of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, interviewed his colleague Brian J. Bolwell, MD, FACP, Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Among other things, Dr. Bolwell discussed his...
Her Grandfather’s Medical Practice Inspired Nathalie LeVasseur, MD, BSc, FRCPC, to Improve the Lives of Women With Breast Cancer
At the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, Nathalie LeVasseur, MD, BSc, FRCPC, received the Annual Meeting Merit Award for a project titled, “Whole-Genome Sequencing in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Lessons Learned From the BC Cancer Personalized Oncogenomics Program.” Along with her clinical work, Dr....
Improving the Quality of Care and Research for Patients With Cancer and the Ethics Behind Its Delivery
With the rapid expansion of scientific advances, the intersection of ethics and the delivery of cancer care becomes ever more complicated. To shed light on some of the challenging ethical issues faced by today’s busy oncology practitioners, The ASCO Post spoke with Rebecca D. Pentz, PhD, Professor ...
An Honored Poet Explores a Lust for Life on the Boundaries of Near Death
"When the technician leaves the room, I turn my head toward the screen to interpret neoplasms, the webs of nerves, the small lit fonts in which my pathology and/or future or future end might be written. The first tumor I ever saw was a darkness on that screen, round with a long craggy finger...
The Power of mCODE
ASCO Chief Executive Officer Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, hosts the ASCO in Action Podcast, which focuses on policy and practice issues affecting providers and patients. An excerpt of a recent episode is shared below; it has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full podcast on...
Expert Point of View: Yvonne Chen, PhD, and Joseph Alvarnas, MD
Formal discussant Yvonne Chen, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the issue of toxicity was important, since high levels of toxicity were observed in this small group of five patients. “All five patients...
A Nobel Laureate’s Road to Research Is Not Without Challenges
The 2019 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was jointly awarded to three researchers. Their discoveries paved the way for promising new strategies to treat anemia, cancer, and many other diseases. One of the three Nobel Laureates is William G. Kaelin, Jr, MD, who continues his research at his...
A Lung Cancer Specialist’s Winding Journey From Venezuela to Wisconsin
Lung cancer specialist Narjust Duma, MD, was born and reared in Mérida, Venezuela, a city nestled on a plateau in the Venezuelan Andes. “I’m the daughter of two surgeons. After my parents divorced, I lived with my mother and spent a lot of time at the hospital where she worked. When she was in...
