A large comprehensive patient-level meta-analysis showed that achieving pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy correlates with significantly improved event-free survival and overall survival in patients with localized breast cancer. These findings were particularly robust in...
Laura S. Dominici, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the lower quality-of-life scores seen after unilateral or bilateral mastectomy compared with breast-conserving surgery in women younger than age 40 who are treated for breast cancer (Abstract GS6-05).
A study by Dominici et al investigated the long-term quality of life outcomes in young breast cancer survivors across three surgical strategies: breast-conserving surgery, unilateral mastectomy, and bilateral mastectomy. The researchers found that patients who underwent mastectomy had lower breast...
Pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a significantly lower recurrence risk and higher overall survival in patients with breast cancer, and pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy had a similar association with improved outcomes...
New results from the long-running I-SPY 2 trial, which aimed to identify which new drugs or combinations of drugs are most effective in which types of breast cancer, demonstrated the usefulness of two genomic tests. Laura van ‘t Veer, PhD, leader of the Breast Oncology Program at the...
A pilot study by Ma et al examining the intervention effect on the outcome of a provider-based, culturally tailored, multilevel intervention to promote human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among Asian American adolescents has found that the strategy significantly increased the uptake of at least...
Recently, the term “personalized medicine” in oncology care has been overtaken by the more contemporary concept of “precision medicine.” According to the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the newer terminology shifts the focus to improving...
Long-term follow-up data on axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) in lymphoma, potential partners for nivolumab (Opdivo) in solid tumors, and a targeted agent for RET-altered cancers were featured during the developmental therapeutics program at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting. At the Best of ASCO...
BOOKMARK Title: The Cookie Cure: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of Cookies and CancerAuthors: Susan Stachler With Laura StachlerPublisher: SourcebooksPublication date: February 2018Price: $19.95, paperback, 320 pages Cancer memoirs vary in their voice and message. Some are slapstick humorous attempts to ...
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 February 2015, there was no indication that my life was about to radically change. I was a practicing attorney and happily raising two young children with my husband. At 40 years old, I was healthy—or so I thought—and had no physical symptoms to alert me to the devastating news that was about to ...
Susan Blumel, RN, BSN, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Laura J. Zitella, MS, RN, ACNP-BC, AOCN, of Stanford Health Center, discuss immunotherapy, CAR T-cell toxicities, and the principles of team management.
ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation presented more than $7.3 million in grants and awards to exceptional oncology researchers at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting. ASCO and Conquer Cancer congratulate the recipients and offer their profound thanks to those who generously supported these awards. Visit...
The Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO) distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. Their efforts benefit ASCO, the specialty of oncology, and, most importantly, the individuals at risk for, or with...
ADDING THE IMMUNE checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to standard chemotherapy with pemetrexed (Alimta) and a platinum as first-line therapy was superior to chemotherapy alone in the KEYNOTE-189 trial.1 Induction and maintenance therapies with the new triplet therapy improved overall...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hwang et al found little difference in the efficacy and safety of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-designated breakthrough vs nonbreakthrough cancer drugs and found that breakthrough drugs were not more likely to represent a novel...
ASCO and ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation are proud to recognize the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards and Conquer Cancer’s Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards. The recipients of these awards include researchers, patient advocates, and global oncology leaders who have worked to transform...
ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2018 International Innovation Grants (IIG) and International Development and Education Awards (IDEA). Both the grant and award support oncology professionals in low-and middle-income countries, investing in either an innovative...
“Immunotherapy has a completely different side-effect profile than chemotherapy, and that has caught physicians off guard,” noted Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD, in an article published earlier this year in The Washington Post.1 Since then, efforts have moved forward on several fronts to bring physicians,...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies focused on preventing cancer. These studies are investigating a multitude of methods, including educational interventions; imaging devices; dietary changes/supplements; weight management;...
FOX CHASE CANCER CENTER is pleased to welcome Board-certified radiologist Laura Levin, MD, as Assistant Professor in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging. Dr. Levin assumed her new position on January 2, 2018. Dr. Levin comes to Fox Chase Cancer Center from a high-volume private practice in which ...
Women in oncology aren’t ascending the leadership ladder at rates anywhere close to their male counterparts—and ASCO wants to fix that. The most recent report on “The State of Women in Academic Medicine” from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) said that although women make up...
In the not-so-distant past, clinical trials were considered an option only for the young and fit. Enrolling older people “used to be thought unethical,” said Janet Woodcock, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), as she opened...
An analysis of bacteria present in the mouth showed that some types of bacteria that lead to periodontal disease were associated with higher risk of esophageal cancer, according to a study published by Peters et al in Cancer Research. Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the...
AT THE 2017 ASCO ANNUAL MEETING, the leaders of the newly formed Value in Cancer Care Consortium (vi3c; vi3c.org) met to discuss the group’s plan to study how to improve the affordability of cancer drugs and make them more accessible to patients. The goal of the Value in Cancer Care Consortium is...
MANY health-care experts disagree about when screening mammography is appropriate and for whom. That’s what Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk (WISDOM) seeks to remedy. The University of California (UC) Health study aims to uncover whether annual mammograms really are the best...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has awarded $100,000 in grants to five community health centers across the country to reduce colon cancer disparities in American Indian and Alaska Native populations through the Community Health Advocates implementing Nationwide Grants for Empowerment and Equity...
FOR PATIENTS with malignant melanoma, the significant improvement in outcomes with targeted agents and antibodies against the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) has now been observed in the adjuvant setting. Two landmark studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 ...
This is the story, told through their own photographs, of a group of adolescent patients with cancer in their search for happiness. Their images relay their hopes and fears, their desire to be normal, and their urge to escape. These photographs are the outcome of a creative arts–based support...
How well patients with cancer fared after chemotherapy was affected by their social interaction with other patients during treatment, according to a new study by researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the University of...
Research sites and investigators face an ever-increasing number of challenges in the conduct and management of cancer clinical trials. Many of these challenges stem from the multitude of requirements for clinical trials that sponsors and regulatory and administrative agencies have set. In...
WITH THE RECENT efficacy findings, improvements in survival, and resultant U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitors across multiple solid tumor indications, the publication of yet another positive trial adds to the...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Esserman et al found that an ultralow-risk designation using the 70-gene MammaPrint assay is capable of identifying patients with node-negative disease who have a very low long-term risk of death from breast cancer after surgery without systemic therapy....
Patients with cancer in the United States may be unable to access care at the nation’s top hospitals due to narrow insurance plan coverage—leaving patients to choose between lower premiums or access to higher-quality cancer care. A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the...
In the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, checkpoint inhibition is making inroads in both early- and late-stage disease, and the line of treatment and expression of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) could be important in determining outcomes, according to studies reported at the...
Jeffrey L. Molter has joined NYU Langone Medical Center in a newly created position of Director of Cancer Center Communications of its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. Mr. Molter comes to Perlmutter Cancer Center after serving for the past 4 years as Director of Media and Public...
In a Swedish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stacy Loeb, MD, of New York University, and colleagues found that use of testosterone replacement therapy was not associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer and was associated with a lower risk of aggressive cancer among...
The emerging field of molecular pathology focuses on the study and diagnosis of disease through the examination of genes and gene activity within organs and tissues. This information has transformed our thinking about the biologic diversity of breast cancers and has enhanced our treatment...
Geriatrics for the Oncologist is guest edited by Stuart M. Lichtman, MD, FACP, FASCO, and developed in collaboration with the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Dr. Lichtman is an Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Commack, New York, and Professor of...
At the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, results were presented from the phase II I-SPY 2 trial investigating pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with standard therapy (paclitaxel followed by doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) as a neoadjuvant treatment for patients with locally advanced triple-negative ...
Among patients with cancer, as many as 53% of emergency department visits that do not require admission could be avoided with better symptom management and greater availability of outpatient care tailored to their needs, according to a new study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer...
This Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes a selection of actively recruiting clinical trials of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors, including palbociclib, ribociclib, and abemaciclib in multiple tumor types. All of the studies here and many others are listed on the National...
In a research statement reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Visvanathan et al, ASCO has outlined steps for incorporating high-quality observational research into the evidence base for clinical decision-making. As stated by the authors: “ASCO believes that high-quality...
In a Swedish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Loeb et al found that use of testosterone replacement therapy was not associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer and was associated with a lower risk of aggressive cancer among men developing the disease. Study Details The ...
Sandra J. Horning, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Development for Roche/Genentech, was named the 2017 recipient of the Duane Roth Memorial Award. The award was presented February 16 at the annual Industry/Academia Translational Oncology Symposium at the University ...
Laura E. Panattoni, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses results from a regional study on emergency department costs during cancer treatment and the need to focus on managing symptoms (Abstract 2).
The future treatment of melanoma may rely on combinations of immunotherapy agents beyond the current checkpoint inhibitors, and they are entering clinical trials, according to Jeffrey Weber, MD, PhD, Deputy Director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at New York University Langone...
The injectable oncolytic immunotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (also known as T-VEC, Imlygic) may become a valuable component of combination immunotherapy approaches in melanoma, a strategy believed to help overcome resistance of tumors to single-agent immunotherapies. “[Talimogene laherparepvec] ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Laura Q. Chow, MD, of the University of Washington, and colleagues, a fixed-dose reduced-frequency pembrolizumab (Keytruda) regimen produced durable responses in the phase IB KEYNOTE-012 expansion cohort of patients with recurrent or metastatic...
The paper’s invited discussant was Olivier Michielin, MS, MD, PhD, Head of Personalized Analytical Oncology and the Melanoma Clinic at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland. He called the findings of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment (EORTC) 18071 trial a “new landmark in...