The invited discussant for the CodeBreaK 200 trial, Jarushka Naidoo, MBBCh, MHS, Professor of Medical Oncology and Consultant Medical Oncologist at Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre in Dublin, underscored the importance of patient-reported outcomes in evaluating the effectiveness of oncology treatments,...
The latest research on sotorasib, a targeted therapy for KRAS G12C–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), reveals that patients may experience better quality of life while benefiting from improved clinical outcomes. Analysis of patient-reported outcomes presented during the European Lung...
A pioneering study from Israel has shed new light on the link between obesity and the aggressiveness of gastric cancer while demonstrating potential therapeutic targets for the disease. Results of the translational research, presented during the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2023 International ...
The search for an effective cancer vaccine has been frustrating, but finally there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Adjuvant use of an investigational personalized mRNA vaccine (mRNA-4157) plus the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab improved recurrence-free survival vs pembrolizumab alone in...
On May 9, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) posted a draft recommendation statement on screening for breast cancer. The USPSTF now recommends that all women get screened for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40 years (this is a B grade recommendation, meaning the USPSTF...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Ryu et al, the phase III portion of the NRG Oncology/RTOG 0631 trial showed no benefit in pain relief with use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) vs conventional external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in patients with one to three sites of vertebral metastases. Study...
Researchers have found that patients who are obese and undergo bariatric surgery may have a greater than 50% decreased incidence rate of obesity-related cancer compared with patients who did not have the weight-loss procedure, according to new findings presented by Chittajalu et al at Digestive...
Researchers have revealed the impacts of several new developments in screening and treating patients with biliary tract cancer and colorectal cancer—including the development of patient-derived organoids to test chemotherapy response, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to...
No one doubts the deadly nature of high-grade serous ovarian cancer. This histologic subtype is responsible for most ovarian cancer deaths, representing the eighth leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide and the fifth in the United States. Although there has been some progress in...
Screening that reduces cancer mortality serves as a foundational element of impactful care for certain cancers. That said, harms related to screening deserve our attention—overdiagnoses; diagnostic odysseys that may be invasive, expensive, or even unintentionally harmful; overtreatment of diagnosed ...
Natalie Moryl, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses severe cancer pain, a medical emergency that should be addressed with immediate intervention. The treatment plan, Dr. Moryl says, should include making a pain diagnosis; addressing reversible causes of pain such as spinal cord...
Researchers have found that acute radiation dermatitis may involve the skin bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and that a simple, low-cost treatment may prevent severe cases in patients undergoing radiation therapy, according to two novel studies published by Kost et al—one a randomized clinical trial ...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Connor et al found that pediatric and young adult patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) who did not respond to induction therapy had poorer outcomes vs those with induction response. The investigators also attempted...
Researchers have discovered that the investigational optical imaging agent pegulicianine in fluorescence-guided surgery (pFGS) may have been effective at helping surgeons identify and remove residual tumor tissue in patients with breast cancer during breast-conserving surgery, according to a novel...
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...
Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were not associated with a reduction in positive margins at the tumor site or in the need to reoperate to help ensure complete tumor excision in patients with breast cancer undergoing lumpectomy, according to new findings presented by Cairns et al ...
As reported in The Lancet by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG), a patient-level meta-analysis showed that anthracycline/taxane regimens were associated with better outcomes compared with regimens excluding either drug class in patients with early-stage operable breast...
Two new studies revealed that specialized exercise and wellness programs may significantly increase physical well-being and quality of life as well as reduce health-care costs in patients with breast cancer, according to findings presented by Wonders et al and Brahmbhatt et al at the 24th American...
In a French phase III trial (FLIRT) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cartron et al found that the use of subcutaneous (SC) vs intravenous (IV) rituximab was associated with improved progression-free survival in the first-line treatment of low–tumor burden follicular lymphoma. Study...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Youssef et al found that the standard Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) and modified RANO (mRANO) criteria produced similar correlations between progression-free survival and overall survival in newly diagnosed glioblastoma and...
“I think the NOW trial is a great study,” said Kathleen Moore, MD, MS, the Virginia Kerley Cade Endowed Chair in Cancer Developmental Therapeutics and Professor of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, who shared her thoughts on the trial with...
Encouraging outcomes were achieved in patients with BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer who received neoadjuvant treatment with olaparib in a feasibility study led by Shannon N. Westin, MD, MPH, Professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at The University of Texas MD...
Prescribing extended antibiotic prophylaxis may not reduce the risk of infections in patients with breast cancer undergoing breast reconstruction following mastectomy, according to a new study published by Sisco et al in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. "Our experience suggests that...
Investigators have found that transportation barriers—delayed care as a result of a lack of transportation—may be associated with increased emergency room use and a higher risk of mortality among patients with and without a history of cancer, according to a new study published by Jiang et al in the ...
Researchers may have shed light on how radiation therapy impacts immune cells and tumor cells in renal cell carcinoma, according to a novel study published by Chow et al in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. The new findings may provide key information for planning treatment regimens that...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) provided advice on the use of definitive local therapy—including radiation and surgery—to treat patients with oligometastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to new...
Almost 750,000 more adults in the United States, aged 18 to 29 years, may have used e-cigarettes during the period that spanned the e-cigarette or vaping-product use–associated lung injury outbreak and COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 to 2021, according to a new study published by Bandi et al in the...
In a secondary analysis of the phase III SB3-G31-BC trial, Pivot et al found that perioperative use of the trastuzumab biosimilar SB3 was associated with a similar cardiac safety profile and similar efficacy outcomes compared with reference trastuzumab after up to 6 years of follow-up in patients...
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may be at an increased risk for developing lymphoma, a risk that has increased in patients with Crohn’s disease in recent years, according to a new study published by Olén et al in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The new findings revealed...
Investigators have found that patients with advanced cancer who participated in advance care planning may have received less aggressive and more comfort-focused end-of-life cancer care compared with those who did not participate in advance care planning, according to a new study published by Levoy...
In a survey study reported in JAMA Network Open, Kalavacherla et al found a high prevalence of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer among older patients than recommended for such screening in U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines. The investigators stated: “The...
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...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may transform disease monitoring and guide treatment for soft-tissue sarcomas, according to data presented at the 2023 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1 Findings of a retrospective review showed that 85% of patients...
Study after study has demonstrated race-based differences in survival and other clinical outcomes for patients with cancer. But as health professionals, we are learning that these differences are less about a patient’s skin color and more about the legacy of racial inequality.1 This knowledge...
“Endometrial cancer is the most frequently diagnosed gynecologic malignancy in the United States, and it is the only one where the mortality has actually risen over the past 40 years,” noted Rebecca Arend, MD, MSH, Associate Professor at the University of Alabama and Associate Scientist in the...
Investigators have found that vitamin D deficiencies may contribute to more aggressive prostate cancer in Black patients at a younger age compared with White patients, according to a new study published by Siddappa et al in Cancer Research Communications. The new findings could pave the way for...
Pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) living in extreme poverty and undergoing maintenance therapy may have almost a twofold greater risk of relapse compared with pediatric patients who weren’t living in extreme poverty, according to a new study published by Wadhwa et al in...
Researchers have created the largest single-cell atlas of renal cell carcinoma brain metastases, with matched primary and extracranial metastases, which has potentially enabled them to discover key biological mechanisms contributing to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in the brain...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Susan Halabi, PhD, and colleagues validated an overall survival prognostic model for docetaxel-naive patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. As noted by the investigators, “We have previously developed and externally...
Treatment with the allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy ALLO-316 resulted in encouraging response rates and disease control rates for patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma who did not respond to prior therapy, according to new findings presented by Srour et...
In a single-institution study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Feldman et al found that somatic KRAS and STK11 alterations were associated with increased risk of arterial thromboembolism in patients with solid tumors, irrespective of tumor type. Study Details The retrospective cohort study used...
Researchers have found that a combination of the PARP inhibitor olaparib and the investigational ATR inhibitor ceralasertib showed clinical benefit in pediatric patients with solid tumors exhibiting DNA replication and/or damage repair deficiencies, according to new findings presented by Gatz et al ...
Although plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) tests represent a promising approach for cancer screening, different methodologies vary in performance and many liquid biopsy tests show decreased performance in detecting early-stage or low-shedding DNA tumors. However, the results from a retrospective...
Americans have become less aware that the human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer in recent years, according to survey data presented by Adjei Boakye et al at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023 (Abstract 4210 /11). Survey respondents also showed low...
On April 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved omidubicel-onlv (Omisirge) for use in adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with hematologic malignancies who are planned for umbilical cord blood transplantation following myeloablative conditioning to reduce the time ...
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have outlined opportunities for achieving President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot national goal of reducing the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years. A study published by Shiels et al in Cancer...
Treatment-naive patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received neoadjuvant durvalumab plus chemotherapy and adjuvant durvalumab monotherapy had improved event-free survival and pathologic complete response compared with those who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone,...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Tang et al, the phase II EXTEND (External Beam Radiation to Eliminate Nominal Metastatic Disease) trial has shown that the addition of metastasis-directed therapy to intermittent hormone therapy improved progression-free survival in patients with oligometastatic...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Michael J. Morris, MD, and colleagues, the phase III Alliance A031201 trial has shown no significant improvement in overall survival with the addition of abiraterone acetate and prednisone to enzalutamide as first-line treatment for metastatic...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced that it has helped launch the randomized phase III Pragmatica-Lung trial examining the efficacy of ramucirumab plus pembrolizumab in treating patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The new study is one of the first NCI-supported...