In the FACS trial, reported in JAMA, John N. Primrose, MD, FRCS, of University of Southampton, England, and colleagues compared outcomes with intensive follow-up with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measurement, computed tomography (CT), both, or minimum follow-up after curative surgery for primary...
Currently, one of the most challenging problems in oncology is to accurately predict whether neoplastic lesions detected by screening tests will progress. The focus on developing ever-more sensitive cancer screening tests has produced the clinical dilemma of overdiagnosis. Overdiagnosis occurs when ...
If a randomized, controlled trial of therapy for breast cancer was submitted for publication in which 1. The drug being tested was old and ineffective, and 2. prior to randomization, the women underwent a clinical breast examination and the study coordinators knew who had the largest cancers, and...
The recent report from the Canadian National Breast Screening Study (CNBSS)—published in BMJ and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—concluded that annual mammography in women aged 40 to 59 does not result in a reduction in mortality from breast cancer beyond that of physical examination alone...
As reported in BMJ by Anthony B. Miller, MD, Professor Emeritus at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and colleagues, the 25-year follow-up of the Canadian National Breast Screening Study has shown no mortality benefit of annual mammography screening for breast cancer...
Webster K. Cavenee, PhD, was honored with the eighth annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research at the AACR Annual Meeting held recently in San Diego. Dr. Cavenee is Director of the Ludwig Institute for ...
"Double-hit” lymphomas remain challenging tumors, and the best means of treatment remains somewhat elusive, according to studies presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, and experts who commented on these findings. “We still don’t have a standard of...
Emerging effective treatment options for salvage therapy in Hodgkin lymphoma were described by Anas Younes, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, at the 2014 Highlights of ASH in North America meeting in Miami. “This is an exciting time in Hodgkin...
More data have emerged that discount the potential for benefit with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors in esophageal cancer. The latest comes from the RTOG 0436 randomized phase III trial in patients with nonoperable esophageal cancer, the results of which were presented at the 2014 ...
Physicians at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, are studying the safety and effectiveness of prostate artery embolization in men with enlarged prostate glands and urinary obstruction. According to the National Institutes of Health,...
A patient with advanced bladder cancer experienced a complete response for 14 months to the drug combination everolimus (Afinitor) and pazopanib (Votrient) in a phase I trial, and genomic profiling of his tumor revealed two alterations that may have caused this exceptional response, according to a...
First-Line Therapy Please describe current medical oncology approaches to first-line therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The current first-line therapy for most patients with good- to intermediate-risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma is a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor...
During the course of the 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, The ASCO Post had the opportunity to speak with several of the world’s leading authorities about the state of the art in screening, diagnosis, and treatment for prostate and kidney cancers. In this second installment of a two-part...
Long-term cancer survivors are more likely to rate their follow-up care as high-quality when one main provider is identified and an oncology specialist is involved, according to results of a population-based cross-sectional study among adult survivors of breast, prostate, colorectal, endometrial,...
In a phase II study, the 34 evaluable patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas who received brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) had an overall response rate of 41%, including an overall response rate of 54% among the 13 patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. The median progression-free...
Detailed quality-of-life data from the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) Mammary Prevention 3 (MAP.3) trial showed that exemestane given for the prevention of breast cancer “has limited negative impact on menopause-specific and health-related [quality of life] in...
In February, the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) held its 11th Annual Conference in Tampa, Florida, and it marked a number of firsts. With over 500 registrants and more than 300 abstracts presented over the 3-day program, this was the largest APOS event to date. The theme of this...
Single-agent chemotherapy is standard in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. In the open-label phase III AURELIA trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eric Pujade-Lauraine, MD, PhD, of Université Paris Descartes, and colleagues found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to...
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the United States, and about 1 in 20 individuals will develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime. The good news is that improvements in screening, earlier detection, and treatments are all leading to improved...
Veliparib, an oral poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, appears to be of value in treating women with BRCA-mutated gynecologic cancers that are resistant to other therapies. These preliminary findings of a phase II study support the concept that BRCA-associated ovarian cancers are...
Bariatric surgery for weight loss appears to protect obese women from developing uterine cancer, according to a large retrospective study presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, held March 22–25 in Tampa, Florida. The study found that obese women who ...
Prophylactic surgery to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes is advised for women who carry BRCA mutations to reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This procedure, referred to as risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy, typically does not require a hysterectomy. However, a new study presented ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ofatumumab (Arzerra) injection in combination with chlorambucil (Leukeran) for the treatment of previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), for whom fludarabine-based therapy is considered inappropriate. The...
A recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine has provoked conversation about the management of smoldering multiple myeloma.1 At the recent National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Conference, Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, shared his thoughts ...
The term “novel agents” has been used for the past decade to describe proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs that are now conventionally used for multiple myeloma. However, even newer agents in development will be considered truly novel when they hit the market, as they represent new...
Adjuvant radiation following surgery for soft-tissue sarcomas of the extremities did not lead to a survival benefit and seemed to be associated with some degree of long-term limb complications, according to a presentation at the 2014 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Cancer Symposium in Phoenix.1...
Sentinel node status is “the most powerful predictor” of melanoma-specific survival in patients with thin melanoma, according to a presentation at the 2014 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Cancer Symposium in Phoenix.1 As a result, sentinel lymph node biopsy should be considered in patients with...
The anti–PD-1 inhibitor MK-3475 (formerly lambrolizumab) is in late-stage trials for advanced melanoma and is also being studied in other malignancies, including non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). An important aspect of Merck’s development program for MK-3475, as well as for other anti–PD-1 agents ...
Formal discussant of the LY2835219 trial reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, Gary Schwartz, MD, of Columbia University School of Medicine, New York, said the drug had “dramatic effects” in estrogen receptor–positive patients. “This drug is highly active in...
Inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 are getting attention as a novel approach for the treatment of breast cancer. At the 2014 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, two presentations focused on these new agents. One was a phase II study of Pfizer’s compound...
In 2012, three randomized placebo-controlled trials reported a significant prolongation of progression-free survival with lenalidomide (Revlimid) as maintenance therapy for multiple myeloma.1-3 Two of these trials tested lenalidomide maintenance after stem cell transplantation, and one investigated ...
Presentation of the PALOMA-1 trial results represented “the culmination of a long journey from the discovery of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 in the early 1990s,” said José Baselga, MD, PhD, Physician-in-Chief at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Dr. Baselga was formal...
The panel presented two case studies—one on high-dose methotrexate toxicity and one on 5-FU toxicity—as a platform for discussion of considerations, challenges, and interconnected roles of oncologists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical pharmacists in safely managing patients...
Indications and Dosing of Methotrexate and 5-FU Dr. Campen: The interesting thing about methotrexate is that it has been used for such a long time. You would think there would be a specific dose that would be considered “high dose,” but high dose is actually quite variable. [Dosage] depends on the...
ASCO recently issued two clinical practice guidelines on treating women with advanced, HER2-positive breast cancer. The first guideline lists the appropriate systemic therapies for women newly diagnosed with advanced disease and those whose early-stage disease progressed to advanced cancer. The...
Oral chemotherapy agents are associated with drug and food interactions that can significantly reduce the effectiveness of oral chemotherapy and possibly result in harm to patients, according to a study in the Journal of Oncology Practice. It is important therefore, according to the study’s...
“Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer is gerontogenic,” accelerating the pace of physiologic aging, according to an analysis of blood and clinical data from 33 women with stage I to III breast cancer. “We have shown that cytotoxic chemotherapy potently induces the expression of markers of...
A retrospective analysis of patients with prostate cancer receiving primary treatment with either stereotactic body radiation therapy or intensity-modulated radiation therapy found that those receiving stereotactic body radiotherapy had greater rates of genitourinary toxicity during 2-year...
When the prognosis is poor, breaking the bad news badly can exacerbate the distress experienced by cancer patients and their families. A lack of sensitivity to patient and family emotions and not being attuned to how individual patients would prefer to be informed about their prognoses can result...
The tumor microenvironment contains a complex network of cytokines that contribute to the nature of intratumoral immune reactions. In a study reported in Science Translational Medicine, Mlecnik and colleagues assessed chromosomal gains and losses and expression of 59 cytokines and receptors and...
I’ve been health conscious all my life. I have never smoked, I eat a healthy diet, and I have maintained a near-daily exercise routine since I was 20. I’m also steadfast about keeping yearly medical checkups and screenings. So when I felt a sharp, lightning-bolt of pain that went from the top of my ...
When Jane Cooke Wright, MD, met with six other oncologists at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago on April 9, 1964, to discuss the creation of American Society of Clinical Oncology, the first medical society dedicated to bringing patient-oriented issues to clinical oncology, the Civil Rights Act...
On April 9, 1964, seven physicians—Jane Cooke Wright, MD, FASCO; Arnoldus Goudsmit, MD, PhD; Fred J. Ansfield, MD, FASCO; Harry F. Bisel, MD, FASCO; Herman H. Freckman, MD, FASCO; Robert W. Talley, MD, FASCO; and William Wilson, MD, FASCO—met for lunch at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. They...
During my Presidency, we decided to increase ASCO’s size to give clinical investigators a better position in the medical world. To that end, I decided that the Society needed its own journal. At that time, we sent our papers to Blood or Cancer Research, where, in my estimation, they received poor...
My Presidency was a transitional year; it was the first time that ASCO had a meeting separate from the American Association for Cancer Research. Since ASCO was thought to be simply a science-light organization that focused solely on clinical trials, the pressure was on to establish an independent...
As my Presidency gradually fades into the past, it is sobering to reminisce on how exciting it was. ASCO is a great organization with an amazing staff and a solid mission. Chairing the Board meetings was clearly a highlight of my Presidency because of the vast talent and collective wisdom that is...
My Presidential theme was One Community. I think that theme continues to express much of our goal in oncology, which is to make sure that all members of the cancer care team work together—oncologists, nurses, scientists, nutritionists, psychologists, social workers, administrators, and others. I...
Serving as ASCO’s President was one of the most exciting years of my professional career. Although that year presented a number of challenges, it also marked a number of accomplishments, including a record number of new ASCO members, which then reached more than 30,000 in 122 countries (today,...
On April 21, 2014, ramucirumab (Cyramza) was approved for use as a single agent in the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma with disease progression on or after prior treatment with fluoropyrimidine- or platinum-containing...
ASCO’s State Affiliate Council is composed of the State Society Presidents and/or designated physician Council Representatives as well as the Executive Directors of each state and/or regional oncology society. The Council convened in late February to address the most relevant issues affecting...