Physicians may be able to personalize dosing intervals and consequently improve patient outcomes by monitoring early-response biomarkers in patients with prostate cancer who are undergoing treatment with lutetium (Lu)-177–PSMA, according to new findings presented by Emmett et al at the Society of...
Researchers have identified a new potential therapeutic target—the cell-surface tumor antigen CUB domain–containing protein 1 (CDCP1)—for patients with all subtypes of metastatic bladder cancer, according to findings presented by Chopra et al at the Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular...
Patients with polycystic ovary syndrome may not have a higher risk of ovarian cancer than those without the condition; however, postmenopausal patients with polycystic ovary syndrome may have twofold the risk of developing ovarian cancer, according to recent findings presented by Frandsen et al at...
Female survivors treated for Hodgkin lymphoma may face declining fertility at a younger age, according to recent findings presented by Drechsel et al at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) 2023 Annual Meeting (Abstract O-083). The new research also suggested that the...
Researchers have identified seven potential risk factors for early-onset colorectal cancer in male patients and developed a novel risk evaluation model, according to a recent study published by Imperiale et al in Cancer Prevention Research. The findings may help 45- to 49-year-old patients accept...
About 50% of LGBTQ+ patients and survivors of cancer may be concerned about facing discrimination in a health-care setting, according to a new survey from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). The new findings demonstrated that these concerns and experiences with...
The combination of curettage and cryosurgery may be a safe and effective treatment method for patients with basal cell carcinoma, according to a novel study published by Backman et al in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Background The incidence of skin cancer is continuing to...
On June 26, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded $50 million in the launch of the Persistent Poverty Initiative—a program designed to alleviate the cumulative effects of persistent poverty on cancer outcomes by increasing research capacity, fostering cancer prevention research, and...
Iopromide-300 and -370 (Ultravist), an iodine-based contrast agent, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for contrast-enhanced mammography—making it the only contrast agent approved for this indication. The product can be used to visualize known or suspected lesions of...
Investigators have found that artificial intelligence (AI) language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT may accurately identify appropriate imaging tests for breast cancer screenings and breast pain, according to a recent study published by Rao et al in the Journal of the American College of Radiology....
Women of African descent may have an elevated risk of being diagnosed with advanced endometrial cancer and developing aggressive tumors compared with White women, according to a recent study published by Medina et al in Cancer. Background Endometrial cancer is classified as endometrioid or the more ...
A combination of pretherapy imaging and dosimetry may help patients with refractory differentiated thyroid cancer obtain the maximum benefit from radioactive iodine treatments following redifferentiation therapy, according to a novel study published by Taprogge et al in The Journal of Nuclear...
A genetic marker involving the EGFR and ERBB2 genes may be predictive of which patients with hepatocellular carcinoma are most likely to develop resistance to lenvatinib, according to a study published by Lim et al in Gastroenterology. The new findings could help researchers develop alternative...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien (Jason) Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on ...
Cervical cancer is a serious problem in many low- and middle-income countries such as the African country of Rwanda. Although the cervical cancer rate in Rwanda remains more than twice the U.S. rate, there has been improvement in recent years that cancer research organizations can learn from to...
New research involving people living with HIV treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors has provided valuable insights into the safety and efficacy of immunotherapy in this historically excluded population, according to data published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 The real-world data...
The formal discussant of the phase II SWOG S1512 trial was Zeynep Eroglu, MD, of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. She congratulated Dr. Kendra and her coauthors for conducting a study in such a rare tumor. “I think we can say desmoplastic melanoma ...
The immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab achieved high response rates in patients with unresectable metastatic desmoplastic melanoma, a rare invasive tumor type, according to the results of the phase II SWOG S1512 trial presented at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...
Commenting on this study on clinical genomic profiling for colorectal cancer, Lisa Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, FASCO, Chief of the Section of Breast Surgery and leader of the Multidisciplinary Breast Oncology Programs at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, commended the authors for...
Testing for the emergence of ESR1 mutations should be routine at disease recurrence or progression for patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer whose disease is being managed with endocrine therapy, according to an ASCO guideline rapid recommendation...
Presented here are some highlights of preliminary studies presented at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. These presentations provide signals for the utility of an off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product in renal cell carcinoma, an...
In the ever-evolving landscape of oncology care, embracing innovation and creative problem-solving have become crucial factors for success. At the 2023 Community Oncology Alliance Annual Meeting, a panel discussion tackled the complexities and opportunities associated with implementing value-based...
By embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), oncology practices can work toward better patient outcomes and a more effective health-care system, according to Richard L. Martin III, MD, MPH, Medical Director of Health Equity and Community Engagement at Tennessee Oncology. At the 2023...
A study investigating the effect of Medicaid expansion on racial disparities in mortality among patients with gastrointestinal malignancies has found that the initiative was associated with a greater reduction in 2-year mortality rates among Black patients living in states with Medicaid expansion...
Christina Fotopoulou, MD, PhD, of Imperial College London, called DUO-O “a big, celebrated study” that breaks new ground, at least for a subset of patients. “We are beginning to see some encouraging data for immunotherapy in ovarian cancer,” she said as the invited discussant of the study. A chief ...
In newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer lacking a BRCA mutation, the addition of durvalumab and olaparib to standard therapy significantly improved progression-free survival, in a planned interim analysis of the international phase III DUO-O trial presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting1 and...
“This is an impressive presentation,” said formal discussant Jose Alejandro Rauh-Hain, MD, MPH, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. “Radical hysterectomy has intraoperative and postoperative complications that include gastrointestinal and genitourinary long-term...
Many patients with early-stage, low-risk cervical cancer may be spared the side effects associated with radical hysterectomy and undergo simple hysterectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection instead, according to results of the international phase III SHAPE study presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual...
For comments on the phase III DIPLOMA trial, which found outcomes comparable between minimally invasive and open distal pancreatectomy, The ASCO Post interviewed Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, the Jerald L. & Carolynn J. Varner Professor of Surgical Oncology & Global Health;...
Researchers have found that the loss of the Y chromosome, a common impact of the aging process in men, may help cancer cells evade the body’s immune system and result in aggressive bladder cancer—but it may also render the disease more vulnerable and responsive to immune checkpoint...
For patients with fully resectable pancreatic cancer, a minimally invasive surgical approach—laparoscopic or robotic—was shown to be comparable to open distal pancreatectomy in the multicenter randomized phase III DIPLOMA trial. These results were presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting and at a...
Mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx, a novel antibody-drug conjugate, significantly improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with platinum-resistant, recurrent ovarian cancers that express high levels of folate receptor–alpha (FR-alpha), according to the results of the phase III...
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the United States and the second-leading cause of cancer death.1 It also offers a sobering example in the national conversation on racial disparities in cancer care. Despite a deeper scientific understanding of the disease—as well as ...
The addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib to endocrine therapy significantly improved invasive disease–free survival in women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, early-stage breast cancer. These results of the phase III NATALEE trial were reported by lead author Dennis J. Slamon,...
Rimas Vincas Lukas, MD, of Northwestern University, was the formal discussant of this plenary session abstract on the INDIGO trial findings. “Because of its slowly progressive nature, glioma is insidious. The impact of the disease and its treatments has important consequences for patients,...
The oral IDH1/2 inhibitor vorasidenib significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with grade 2 gliomas expressing IDH1/2 mutations in the phase III INDIGO trial. These results, which were reported by lead author Ingo K. Mellinghoff, MD, FACP, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer...
In a Canadian study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dayes et al found that positron-emission tomography/computed tomography–fluorodeoxyglucose (PET/CT-FDG) improved the detection of distant metastasis vs conventional staging in patients with locally advanced breast cancer. It also...
Although redlining was outlawed more than 50 years ago, individuals who currently live in historically redlined areas may be less likely to be screened for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer than individuals who live in areas not associated with redlining practices, according to...
A novel, automated liquid biopsy test—the Liquid Biopsy for Breast Cancer Methylation assay—may be effective at predicting early disease progression and potential survival outcomes in patients with metastatic breast cancer after as little as 1 month of treatment, according to a study published by...
Researchers have found that when the small molecule kinase inhibitor alectinib was taken in combination with a fuller breakfast or lunch, it resulted in significantly higher drug concentrations than when taken with a low-fat breakfast in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in JAMA Network Open, Wang et al found that oral S-1 chemotherapy given with simultaneous integrated boost radiotherapy (SIB-RT) and following SIB-RT improved overall survival in patients aged 70 or older with inoperable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma....
Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black breast cancer survivors may experience higher rates of mortality after being diagnosed with a second primary cancer than breast cancer survivors of other ethnic and racial groups, according to a new study published by Deng et al in the Journal of the National Cancer...
Researchers have found that preoperative stereotactic radiosurgery is associated with low rates of tumor recurrence, adverse radiation effects, and meningeal disease in patients with metastatic brain tumors, according to a novel study published by Prabhu et al in JAMA Oncology. Background As...
In a case-control study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Reulen et al found that an increased risk of primary bone cancer was associated with increasing radiation dose to bone tissue and increasing alkylating agent dose among survivors of childhood cancer. As noted by the...
In a cross-sectional study reported in JAMA Network Open, Grabowski et al found that among U.S. adults, a history of cancer was associated with an increased risk of disability and unemployment payments and higher medical expenditures. Study Details The study used data from the Medical Expenditure...
Investigators have found that federal cancer research funding tends to be allocated more heavily toward cancers that occur more often in non-Hispanic White patients than those that occur more frequently in other racial and ethnic groups, according to a new study published by Haghighat et al in the...
The rates of survival and disease recurrence improved significantly when a personalized mRNA vaccine tailored to the patients’ tumor genetics was coupled with immunotherapy in those who had undergone surgery for high-risk melanoma, according to novel findings presented by Khattak et al at the 2023...
For some precancerous cells, traveling from the bone marrow to the skin can trigger genetic transformations that can result in leukemia, according to a novel study published by Griffin et al in Nature. The new findings may have shed light on what researchers have termed the “genetic travelogue” of...
In a new study reported by Farooq et al in Blood Advances, patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma during pregnancy had a progression-free survival rate of 24% and an overall survival rate of 83%. Background Receiving a lymphoma diagnosis during pregnancy may be uncommon but can occur for...
Investigators have found that patients who had depression and/or anxiety prior to their diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may have had shorter survival times than patients who didn’t have a mental health condition prior to their DLBCL diagnosis, according to a new study published...