Although laparoscopic radical cystectomy and robotic-assisted radical cystectomy continue to grow in popularity and are successful in the treatment of bladder cancer, they are still considered experimental approaches. Using data collected by the Section of Uro-Technology of the European Association ...
ASCO has adapted a Clinical Care Ontario (CCO) clinical practice guideline on the selection of optimal adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer and adjuvant targeted therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer, as reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The adaptation was based on review by...
Patients who had cancer before receiving an organ transplant were more likely to die of any cause, die of cancer, or develop a new cancer than organ recipients who did not previously have cancer, a new study published by Acuna et al in the journal Transplantation has found. However, the increased...
A 5-year study published by Hannan et al in the European Journal of Cancer showed that stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to treat prostate cancer offers a higher cure rate than more traditional approaches, according to researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center Harold C. Simmons...
On April 25, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cabozantinib (Cabometyx) tablets for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma in patients who have received prior antiangiogenic therapy. Cabozantinib is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor of MET and VEGFR2. The...
On April 25, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted breakthrough therapy designation to the anti–programmed death 1 antibody nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck that previously received...
Results from the I-SPY 2 TRIAL show that a neoadjuvant therapy combination of the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) was more beneficial than paclitaxel plus trastuzumab for women with HER2-positive invasive breast cancer, according to research...
Radiation is a commonly used therapeutic option to treat liver metastases, with the majority of tumors maintained under control after a year. However, some patients do not respond as well to radiation treatment, and the factors that predict patient outcomes are unclear. Moffitt Cancer Center...
As described in the full report on page 39, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced a Blue Ribbon Panel of experts and advocates who will inform the scientific direction and goals at NCI of Vice President Joe Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative. Members of the research community and...
The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHPO) has announced a series of workshops to be held in cities nationwide during 2016. APSHO, a nonprofit membership organization consisting of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, clinical nurse specialists, and...
Women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and had contralateral prophylactic mastectomy had only marginal improvement in psychosocial well-being, such as feeling confident and emotionally healthy, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 Those who also had breast...
Women diagnosed with breast cancer who chose contralateral prophylactic mastectomy reported improvement in psychosocial well-being and breast satisfaction, but “the magnitude of the effect may be too small to be clinically meaningful,” according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1...
Funded by a $2.5 million grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, City of Hope has launched a 5-year initiative to reduce cancer risk in the Los Angeles area by promoting healthy eating and physical activity, particularly among school children. The long-range plan is to replicate the...
Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently released the statement below: I am very pleased to announce the selection of Eric Dishman as Director of the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program. Eric will lead NIH’s effort to build the PMI...
APRIL 16th Pan Arab Cancer ConferenceApril 28-30 • Cairo, EgyptFor more information:www.pacc16.org ONS 41st Annual CongressApril 28-May 1 • San Antonio, Texas For more information: http://congress.ons.org 11th European International Kidney Cancer SymposiumApril 29-30 • Barcelona, Spain For more...
Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute announced the appointment of Ed Sauter, MD, PhD, as Director of the Breast Surgery Program at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute (HHCCI). He will lead the breast surgery programs at each of the Institute’s five cancer centers. Dr. Sauter is joining the...
Physician and scientist Larry W. Kwak, MD, PhD, Director of City of Hope’s Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center, has been awarded the 2016 Ho-Am Prize in Medicine, which recognizes people of Korean heritage who have made impressive contributions in clinical and research areas that contributed to the...
The Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) has elected Sarah Scarpace, PharmD, MPH, BCOP, to serve as President for the 2016–2017 term. Dr. Scarpace recently took office at the 12th HOPA Annual Conference, held March 16–19 in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Scarpace has served as President-Elect...
Susannah Koontz, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA, took office as President-Elect of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) at the recent 12th HOPA Annual Conference, held March 16–19 in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Koontz will serve as President-Elect for the 2016–2017 term and assume the office of...
For many, the word “radiation” conjures up images of mushroom clouds and the nightmarish nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. It also brings to mind those pesky dental x-rays and lifesaving cancer treatments. However, to most people, radiation is a mysterious invisible power to be feared and embraced...
The median age of patients at the first diagnosis of cancer in the United States is 65 years, and the majority of patients with cancer are older adults.1 As we have learned from previous articles in this series, older patients with cancer require more complex care. Older adults are more likely to...
Use of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines should be rapidly expanded to protect thousands of young people in the United States—and millions worldwide—from life-threatening cancers, ASCO said April 11 in a policy statement. Published by Bailey et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 the...
The recent publication of the American Cancer Society (ACS)/ASCO breast cancer survivorship care guideline is a tremendous contribution to the literature and should provide a roadmap for providers who care for patients with a history of breast cancer for years to come.1,2 The guideline, reported by ...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) and ASCO have issued a Breast Cancer Survivorship Care guideline, published jointly in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.1,2 The guideline recommendations were formulated by a multidisciplinary expert work group and are based...
The historic Interurban Clinical Club has announced the election of seven new members. They were elected at the group’s 213th meeting on April 1 in New York and will be welcomed at the group’s next meeting in November 2016 in Philadelphia. James E. Bradner, MD: Staff Physician at Dana-Farber...
New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center has announced the appointment of physician-scientist Leena Gandhi, MD, PhD, as Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology at its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. In this new role, Dr. Gandhi will be tasked with building a robust program in lung...
A new institute studying immunology was announced on March 29 at Johns Hopkins by Vice President Joe Biden, Michael R. Bloomberg, and more than a dozen additional supporters of this initiative. Embracing the Vice President’s “moonshot” initiative to cure cancer, the new Bloomberg–Kimmel Institute...
The advent of targeted therapies along with complex personalized treatment regimens has added many effective tools to the oncology armamentarium. But progress has a price tag. Although the oncology community needs new drugs, there is growing concern that the price of many newer compounds is...
Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, of the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, has been elected Chairman of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Board of Directors. Dr. Eberlein previously served as Vice Chair of the Board, and succeeds...
It’s easy for patients to find information about cancer on the Internet, but finding information that is both accurate and understandable may not be so easy. Cancer.Net’s Editor-in-Chief Lidia Schapira, MD, FASCO, recently joined Fergal McGovern on Empowered Patient Radio to discuss the challenges...
ASCO recently held a work group meeting with 18 organizations that focused on addressing obesity through multidisciplinary collaboration. The purpose of the meeting was to review current challenges in addressing obesity within the health-care provider communities and identify potential...
Researchers, patient advocates, and global oncology community leaders dedicated to enhancing cancer prevention, treatment, and patient care will be honored with ASCO’s highest honor, its Special Awards, during the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting. Among this year’s awardees are a lung cancer luminary who...
A Partner at Tennessee Oncology, PLLC, W. Charles Penley, MD, FASCO, has been an ASCO member since 1988. He has served on the Conquer Cancer Foundation Board of Directors since 2005 and currently holds the role of Immediate Past Chair. What led you to oncology? WCP: While it may sound silly to say ...
Among females who received radiotherapy to the chest as part of treatment for a childhood cancer, those who had either of two specific genetic variants were at significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer later in life, according to research presented by Morton et al at the 2016 AACR...
A noninvasive colorectal cancer-screening test detected the disease in patients who had previously avoided more invasive screening measures, according to research presented by Prince et al at the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting (Abstract LB-296). The study of nearly 400 patients revealed four patients...
For the latest information on CheckMate-141, click here, here, or here. Treatment with the immunotherapeutic nivolumab (Opdivo) improved survival for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy compared with...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. We chose Boswellia for this issue because of its increasing use by patients with cancer....
On April 4, 2016, The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced a Blue Ribbon Panel of scientific experts, cancer leaders, and patient advocates that will inform the scientific direction and goals at NCI of Vice President Joe Biden’s National Cancer ...
Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD, has been named Chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the David G. Nathan Professor of Pediatrics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. He will also serve as Associate Chief of ...
Thierry Facon, MD, of Lille University Hospital in France, told The ASCO Post that he believes elotuzumab (Empliciti) works better with an immunomodulatory drug than with bortezomib (Velcade), at least according to the results of these two studies. “I think what’s most impressive is the ELOQUENT-2 ...
Studies presented at the 2015 ASH Annual Meeting bolstered support for elotuzumab (Empliciti) given in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Elotuzumab is an immunostimulatory monoclonal antibody. It has a dual mechanism of action, directly activating...
Thierry Facon, MD, of Lille University Hospital in France, spoke to The ASCO Post about the preliminary results of the pembrolizumab studies. Dr. Facon cautioned that a response rate of 76% overall “is not so impressive,” given about 65% of patients respond to lenalidomide/dexamethasone alone....
Active surveillance has been increasingly adopted as a standard approach for men with Gleason score ≤ 6 localized prostate cancer, with major guidelines and consensus statements encouraging this approach,1 including a recently published guideline from Cancer Care Ontario (CCO),2 and endorsement of...
Dignitana Inc. recently announced that the DigniCap scalp cooling system, which was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2015 to effectively reduce the likelihood of chemotherapy-induced hair loss in women with breast cancer, is now available at 10 cancer treatment...
As reported by Ronald C. Chen, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has endorsed, with qualifications, the 2015 Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) guideline on active surveillance for management of localized prostate cancer....
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, as their President-Elect for 2016–2017. He officially became President-Elect at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016, held in New Orleans, April 16–20, and will assume the presidency in April 2017 at...
Steven J. Cohen, MD, Chief of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, has been elected by his peers to serve as Vice Chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Pancreas Task Force of the Gastrointestinal Steering Committee (GISC). “I am honored to be elected to serve as the ...
In a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Dalerba et al published an impressive article describing a novel bioinformatics approach to identifying new prognostic and predictive biomarkers in patients with stage II and III colon cancer (see summary in this issue of The ASCO Post).1...
A City of Hope research team led by Steven T. Rosen, MD, City of Hope’s Provost and Chief Scientific Officer, has been awarded a $2.3 million Research Project Grant (R01) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to fund studies associated with a phase I/II clinical trial in relapsed/refractory...
Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy in the management of breast cancer is woefully underutilized by U.S. clinicians, according to advocates of this approach who made their case at the 2016 Miami Breast Cancer Conference.1 In postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–rich tumors, neoadjuvant endocrine...