A middle-aged patient was referred to our clinic with a mass in his liver. It had been detected the preceding year, and the patient underwent a battery of investigations with scans and biopsies to reach a diagnosis of metastatic lesion of the liver. After appropriate consultations with oncologists, ...
The Kingdom of Bahrain is a high-income island nation located in the Persian Gulf. The nation is an archipelago consisting of two separate groups of islands spanning 30 miles north to south, 10 miles east to west, and about 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC. Though situated in a region rich in ...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, Guest Editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Ashraf Zaghloul, MD, DrPH, Professor at the National Cancer Institute of Egypt and President of the Egyptian Society of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Zaghloul was born in 1956 in ...
The percentage of patients with inflammatory breast cancer who select reconstructive surgery after mastectomy—whether immediate or delayed—remains low in spite of improvements in treatment and long-term survival, but the numbers are increasing, according to recent research published by Karadsheh et ...
Ajay Maker, MD, FACS, has been appointed Chief of the new Division of Surgical Oncology in the Department of Surgery and the Maurice Galante Distinguished Professor in Surgical Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He will lead surgical oncology services—including breast,...
A report published by Oba et al in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer shares new data on combining standard treatment for breast cancer with a particular form of cancer immunotherapy—dendritic cell vaccines. The study is reportedly the first to demonstrate that in situ dendritic cell vaccines...
Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, Board Chair of the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), issued the following statement. “The Association for Clinical Oncology congratulates Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on her confirmation as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ...
In this installment of the occasional department on Global Health-Care Equity, Guest Editor, Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Augusto Leon, MD, a surgical oncologist and Head of the Program of Cancer at Pontifical University of Chile, Santiago. Dr. Are is JL & CJ Varner...
Established by Michael C. Ost, MD, MBA, the 2012–2013 American Urological Association Young Urologists Committee Chair, the Young Urologist of the Year Award is presented annually to select early-career association members in recognition of their efforts and commitment to advancing the development...
Session moderator during the 2021 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting, Sarah Blair, MD, FACS, Vice Chair of Academic Affairs for the Department of Surgery at University of California San Diego, urged widespread dissemination of these survey findings. “I was struck by how important...
A study by Lin et al comparing patients with colon cancer enrolled in the U.S. Military Health System, which provides universal health-care to its beneficiaries, with those in the general population has found that patients in the Military Health System had an 18% lower risk of death compared with...
A study published by Sharp et al in The Breast Journal suggests that some patients with breast cancer may be able to forgo certain testing procedures after neoadjuvant chemotherapy without increasing their risk of cancer recurrence. Prior studies on detecting whether breast cancer has spread to...
Patients with early-stage breast cancer may be at low risk of dying of their disease, but they experience a high burden of physical and psychological symptoms long after their treatment has ended, according to data presented during the 2021 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1...
From routine axillary lymph node dissection to sentinel lymph node surgery, the use of axillary surgery continues to evolve in breast cancer. Recently, surgical oncologists have begun to consider avoiding axillary surgery completely in patients with a low risk of node-positive disease as well as in ...
Henry Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS, a cancer surgeon and researcher at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told The ASCO Post that although this study is not practice-changing, it does offer a potential option for patients. “The advantage of this technique is that the procedure takes just...
Cryoablation is emerging as a new alternative to surgical excision for smaller early-stage, low-risk breast cancers in appropriately selected patient populations, according to data presented during the 2021 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1 Early 3-year results of the multicenter ...
ASCO has presented Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) with the annual Congressional Champion for Cancer Care Award in recognition of their ongoing commitment to legislation that improves the environment for cancer research, oncology practice, and the quality of care for patients....
COVID-19 pandemic–related disruptions in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and research have varied worldwide and so have the responses to those disruptions. During the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care, members of the Global Forum of Cancer...
The term “head and neck surgery” had little meaning until the 1940s, when it was used by groundbreaking surgeon Hayes Martin, MD, in one of his publications. Dr. Martin was then Chief of Head and Neck Services at Memorial Hospital, later renamed Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where...
Over the past 2 decades, the oncologic mantra “early detection leads to cure” has taken on special meaning in lung cancer, persistently a leading cause of cancer death in the United States. “Over a 25-year period, we’ve seen a revolution in early detection, understanding of tumor biology, and...
Beginning in 2012,The ASCO Post introduced Narratives in Oncology, a special commemorative issue profiling several of the many leaders in the oncology community. Over the past years, many in the oncology community have been profiled in this commemorative issue. A complete list of individuals...
There are few, if any, more difficult clinical challenges than pancreatic cancer, a disease that continues to confound the oncology community’s quest for cure. Yet, incremental progress and unflagging optimism drive the way forward, thanks to the researchers and clinicians who have dedicated their...
Researchers, patient advocates, and global oncology leaders who have worked to reshape cancer care around the world are among the recipients of ASCO’s Special Awards—the Society’s highest honors—and the Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards from Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. “The...
Late this past year, a group of oncologists led by Philippe E. Spiess, MD, MS, FRCS(C), FACS, Assistant Chief of Surgical Services and Senior Member in the Department of Genitourinary Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center and Professor in the Department of Urology at the University of South Florida;...
Located on the northeast coast of Central America, Belize is a small, upper middle–income country bordered by Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean Sea. Belize has a population of about 405,000 people (Table 1), of which about 15% are immigrants. Belize is considered to be one of the most...
Patients with stage II pancreatic cancer who are treated with chemotherapy followed by resection live nearly twice as long as patients who receive only chemotherapy, according to a recent study published by Amanda K. Arrington, MD, MHM, FACS, and colleagues in the Journal of the American College of ...
The Association for Clinical Oncology congratulates the 11 practices that prioritized the quality of care they provide by achieving the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification in the second half of 2020. These practices have shown that they are committed to providing the...
A science-focused organization dedicated to ending gastric cancer, the Sara Schottenstein Foundation recently announced its launch and its new website, http://www.saraschottensteinfoundation.org. Founded by Jeff Schottenstein, MBA, a wealth management professional in San Francisco, the Sara...
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) have named James K. Aikins, Jr, MD, FACOG, FACS, Chief of Gynecologic Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute and Chief of Gynecologic Oncology Services at RWJUH. He will also serve as Program Director for the...
There are many relationships we build at work in our entire lifetime. Some are good, a few are not, and many are somewhere in between. But of all the relationships we are fortunate enough to build, there is no relationship more valuable and gratifying than the one between a physician and a ...
Patients whose procedures for gastrointestinal malignancies were performed by a surgical team at a hospital ranked as one of America’s “best” by U.S. News & World Report were nearly two and half times more likely to survive the operation than those who had the same procedure done at a nonranked ...
Rachel Adams Greenup, MD, MPH, FACS, has been appointed Associate Professor of Surgery (Oncology) and Section Chief of Breast Surgery for the Department of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. In her new role, Dr. Greenup will provide breast surgical oncology leadership across the Smilow Cancer...
A major new collaborative effort, the Global Breast Cancer Initiative, was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO), with the objective of reducing global breast cancer mortality by 2.5% per year until 2040, thereby averting an estimated 2.5 million deaths. In recognition of International ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Kenya. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
COVID-19 has caused 475,000 deaths in America, disproportionately among communities of color, poverty, immigrants, and older age. It has exposed a variety of inequities within our health-care system. However, the patients at greatest risk of death from COVID-19 are those with cancer. While 1.8% of...
In the midst of growing concerns that patients with cancer have limited access to the COVID-19 vaccines, the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, issued a joint letter to every...
40 Under 40 in cancer is an awards initiative to identify and recognize contributions from across the field of oncology by approximately rising stars and emerging leaders younger than 40. Awardees were nominated by colleagues and selected by a panel of reviewers from a range of areas in oncology....
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has named Christian Hinrichs, MD, as Chief of the Section of Cancer Immunotherapy and Co-Director of the Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence, along with Eileen White, PhD, Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer at Rutgers Cancer...
The ASCO Post is pleased to introduce this department on Global Health-Care Equity. On an occasional basis, we will publish interviews between Guest Editor, Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, and another oncologist or cancer care specialist spanning regions around the world. Our goal is to...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Burkina Faso. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of...
Statement By Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, Chair of ASCO “Congress took a giant step forward to reduce health disparities by expanding clinical trial access to more than 41.6 million Medicaid beneficiaries through passage of the bipartisan CLINICAL TREATMENT Act as part of its...
Reporting on how deferred care worsened outcomes for patients with lung cancer when the COVID-19 pandemic first surged in the spring of 2020, Robert M. Van Haren, MD, MSPH, FACS, and colleagues explained that they have identified a framework that could help people with serious health conditions...
The text and photographs here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Radium Era 1916–1945 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photographs appear courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
Although the exact incidence of treatment-related lymphedema among cancer survivors is unknown—most likely due to its prolonged latency period—it can be a lifelong chronic side effect that negatively impacts survivors’ quality of life. Although the condition is often linked to treatment for breast...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Antiseptic Era 1876–1900 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
Colombia is located in the northwestern corner of South America, geographically privileged with coasts on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Andean region, and the Amazon rainforest. Based on its population of nearly 50 million (see Table 1), Colombia is the second largest country in South...
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...
Despite decades of research, multinational clinical trials, regular guideline updates by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and coordinated efforts by ASCO and other major oncology organizations, the management strategy for prostate cancer remains controversial. To keep the oncology community ...
A study by Quyen D. Chu, MD, MBA, FACS, and colleagues published in the journal Cancer investigated how expansion of the Medicaid provision in the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) affected breast cancer care in Louisiana. The state is the third poorest in the country and has one ...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The X-Ray Era 1901–1915 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. Photograph courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns Archive. A few...