In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, guest editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Isabel T. Rubio, MD, PhD, Head of Breast Surgical Oncology at Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Madrid. Dr. Rubio is active in many societies and is a founding member and...
As a relatively rare subtype, lobular breast cancer is not well understood by many oncologists. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Tari A. King, MD, FASCO, described how it differs from its more common counterpart, ductal breast cancer, in terms of characteristics, prognosis, and optimal...
Commenting at a press briefing, Pamela L. Kunz, MD, Director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers and Chief of GI Medical Oncology at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, said the results of PROSPECT are “practice-changing” and “align incredibly well with the theme at...
The vast majority of cancer survivors may rely on primary care physicians for follow-up treatments, especially in rural areas, according to a new study published by Becevic et al in the Journal of Cancer Education. Background Patients often depend on their primary care physicians to help them...
Investigators have found that federal cancer research funding tends to be allocated more heavily toward cancers that occur more often in non-Hispanic White patients than those that occur more frequently in other racial and ethnic groups, according to a new study published by Haghighat et al in the...
Investigators have found that patients who had depression and/or anxiety prior to their diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may have had shorter survival times than patients who didn’t have a mental health condition prior to their DLBCL diagnosis, according to a new study published...
Prior authorization of medical procedures, services, and medications has been a standard requirement of health-care providers for decades. Rising health-care costs, specifically the escalating prices of cancer drug therapies, have led to a new focus by payers, providers, and policymakers on prior...
Researchers have found that patients who have breast cancer who undergo treatment with taxanes show a pattern of clinically meaningful, persistent sensory and motor symptoms associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, according to new findings presented by Trivedi et al at the 2023...
Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, Deputy Director of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in a place and time she found exhilarating during her early years. “We didn’t have a lot of money—actually, we were poor. But I had a lot of freedom walking around...
In the era of genomics and precision medicine, the role of pathology in diagnosis and cancer management is rapidly evolving. For the past 50 years, from her office at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NCI), pathologist Elaine S. Jaffe, MD, has been at the forefront of that...
ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, will recognize researchers, patient advocates, philanthropists, teachers, and global oncology leaders who have reshaped cancer care with the Society’s highest honors at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Hear from select award recipients at the...
According to Sunil R. Hingorani, MD, PhD, his parents figured heavily on who he became as a person and on his career choices, which ultimately led to his current position as Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha. “My father...
Jonathan W. Friedberg, MD, MMSc, Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Institute, grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee. While his school friends were attending camp, he spent his summers working on the family farm. “Perhaps the hardest work I’ve ever done was haying on a hot, humid night in July,...
Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO, Director of Pelvic Malignancies Program at Lifespan Cancer Institute and Director of Medical Oncology at Rhode Island Hospital was born and reared in Guam. He also is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Surgery at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. “I am...
Manali Patel, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine (Oncology) at Stanford University, grew up in Shelby, a small town in the textile and farming community of Western North Carolina, among mill workers and other blue-collar laborers. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Dr. Patel’s early life was...
ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, will recognize researchers, patient advocates, philanthropists, teachers, and global oncology leaders who have reshaped cancer care around the world with the Society’s highest honors at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Hear from select award...
As discussed in Part I of this special feature on cancer survivorship, there are now more than 18 million cancer survivors in the United States, and that number is expected to grow to 26 million by 2040.1 However, most of those survivors—at least two-thirds—either cured or in remission or living...
The improvement in cancer survival rates since President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law is staggering. The legislation further committed the United States to greater investments in cancer-focused research to drive down the rates of cancer diagnoses, boost patient...
Researchers have found that mailing human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection kits in addition to offering scheduling assistance to underscreened, underserved patients may increase the rate of cervical cancer screenings compared with scheduling assistance alone, according to a new study published...
In an article in Annals of the American Thoracic Society, James L. Mulshine, MD, of the Center for Healthy Aging, Department of Medicine, Rush University, and colleagues maintained that the high frequency of emphysema newly identified during low-dose computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screening...
Incorrect advice offered by an artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision support system could impair the performance of radiologists at every level of expertise when reading mammograms, according to a new study published by Dratsch et al in Radiology. Background Often touted as a “second set of...
Cancer has stalked my family for generations. My mother, brother, and maternal uncle were diagnosed with melanoma. Fortunately, all survived. When my sister was diagnosed with early-stage invasive ductal carcinoma in 2010, she underwent genetic testing, which showed she was positive for the BRCA2...
Investigators have uncovered factors contributing to the COVID-19 pandemic’s destabilization of the usual patterns of cancer care, described specific ways that National Cancer Database data models were impacted by the pandemic, and offered guidance to cancer centers across the United States on how...
Researchers have found that digital breast tomosynthesis may have improved breast cancer screening performance in community practices and could be effective at identifying more invasive cancers compared with digital mammography, according to a new study published by Lee et al in Radiology. The...
Researchers have developed a novel combination therapy approach to help patients with KMT2A-mutated acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) overcome resistance to bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) inhibitors without adding toxicity, according to a novel study...
Researchers have found that the hypomethylating agent azacitidine plus the MEK inhibitor trametinib may be a promising new combination to treat patients with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), according to a preclinical study published by Pasupuleti et al in Molecular Therapy. Background JMML ...
Although advances in radiation therapy have rendered this treatment modality more tolerable, they have not completely eliminated the burden of radiation-related toxicity. In an ideal setting, clinicians would be able to identify patients whose risk of recurrence is sufficiently low that they can...
A health disparity is typically defined as involving a differential in health outcomes between some groups of patients and other groups, for example, between White and Black patients, in which some groups fare better than others. Health inequities are commonly defined as health differences that...
“Providing hope when there is little to hope for is hard,” noted Hyman B. Muss, MD, Professor of Medicine and the Mary Jones Hudson Distinguished Professor of Geriatric Oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the 2023 Miami...
Cancer is a leading cause of death in every country worldwide.1 In 2020, almost 10 million people died of cancer, a number that is expected to rise to 16.3 million by 2040.2 In addition, cancer incidence continues to grow, driven by an aging and growing population and changes in the prevalence and...
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,...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, guest editor, Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Satish Gopal, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Global Health at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this role, he oversees the development of initiatives and...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Vivek Subbiah, MD, Center Clinical Medical Director of the Clinical Center for Targeted Therapy, Cancer Medicine Division, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, ...
Breast cancer screening and imaging-based surveillance after treatment remain suboptimal, largely because of confusion in the guidelines and the fact that dense breasts are too often ignored, according to Elizabeth Morris, MD, FACR, FSBI, FISMRM, Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiology...
Young women with breast cancer have many concerns about their future fertility. How confident are you in discussing their chances of a future pregnancy, the effect of breast cancer treatment and fertility interventions on these offspring, and their risk of a compromised oncologic outcome after...
An advanced surgical therapy may be more efficacious than conventional treatments for patients with uveal melanoma that has spread to the liver, according to results from the phase III SCANDIUM trial published by Bagge et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Infusing the liver with high doses of ...
In an article published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society, James L. Mulshine, MD, and colleagues maintained that the high frequency of emphysema newly identified during low-dose computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screening presents an important opportunity to engage individuals with such ...
Patients with prostate cancer who undergo active monitoring may experience the same 15-year survival rates as those who undergo radiotherapy or surgery, according to new findings published by Hamdy et al in The New England Journal of Medicine and simultaneously presented at the 2023 European...
Cancer research sites demonstrated the utility of new resources designed to increase the diversity of participants in cancer clinical trials, although challenges remain, according to two studies published recently in JCO Oncology Practice.1,2 The studies examine the results from a collaborative...
Black women at high risk of developing breast cancer may face a variety of obstacles keeping them from receiving preventive care that could increase their chances of survival if they did develop the disease, according to a new study published by Padamsee et al in PLOS One. The new findings provide...
On February 2, 2023, President Joseph Biden announced his intent to appoint six members to the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB). The NCAB plays an important role in guiding the Director of the National Cancer Institute in setting the course for the national cancer research program. The NCAB...
In recognition of her work in uncovering the mechanisms of the p53 tumor suppressor, Guillermina “Gigi” Lozano, PhD, Chair of Genetics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, has received the 2022 Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences by the Association...
Investigators have found further evidence to quantify the vast, lingering impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on timely cancer screening—highlighting the urgent need for health-care providers to address significant delays to cancer screenings in populations most likely to delay testing,...
Soon after my marriage, in 2003, I noticed swelling in the glands around my throat. Although I otherwise felt fine, I went to see my primary care physician for a checkup and a blood test. The results of the test showed that I had an abnormally high number of lymphocytes circulating in my...
Isaac Craig Henderson, MD, passed away at the age of 81 at his home in San Francisco on December 26, 2022, after a brief illness. Dr. Henderson was an internationally known medical oncologist who specialized in breast cancer, beginning his career at Harvard’s then-designated Sidney Farber Cancer...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will award the 19th AACR–Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship to Andrea Schietinger, PhD, during the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting, held April 14–19, in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Schietinger, an associate member of the Immunology Program...
As an oncologist, I had cared for patients facing grave illness and death. I imagined the loss of loved ones and expected grief to be an unbearable sadness, most poignant in the earliest days and lessening with time. I somehow expected that counseling people who grieved would make me more prepared. ...
In recognition of continuing issues with the process of melanocytic pathology assessments, an expert panel of three dermatopathologists—with assistance from an expert team of researchers—has developed and now revised the Melanocytic Pathology Assessment Tool and Hierarchy for Diagnosis schema...
World Cancer Day 2023 is now only 1 month away! Led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and organized annually on February 4, World Cancer Day is a global initiative to improve awareness and knowledge of cancer risks and better prevent, detect, and treat the disease. World Cancer...
For this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Laurie Glimcher, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). She is also Director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Principal...