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Showing 15751 - 15800Moving a Mountain: Crizotinib in ROS1-Rearranged NSCLC
It was thousands of years ago in China. An elderly man was unhappy with the mountain that embraced his seaside village. He would need to walk for hours before he could reach the nearest town. So, as the old fable goes, he set his mind to move the mountain. Every day, he dug up basketfuls of rocks...
Crizotinib Is Highly Active in ROS1-Rearranged NSCLC
Crizotinib (Xalkori) produced a high response rate and durable responses in patients with ROS1-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.1 Lead authors Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center,...
Marlo Thomas Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
On November 24, 2014, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® National Outreach Director, Marlo Thomas, was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, during a special ceremony at the White House. With Ms. Thomas as its envoy to millions of supporters, St. ...
ASCO Expert Statement on Cancer Survivorship Care Planning: Timing Is Everything
As the saying goes, “Timing is everything.” And so it is with the recently released ASCO Clinical Expert Statement on survivorship care planning.1 Although there has been extensive discussion and debate about the use of survivorship care plans since the publication of the 2005 Institute of Medicine ...
ASCO Clinical Expert Statement on Cancer Survivorship Care Planning
Efforts at implementing survivorship care plans have met with limited success in oncology practice, in part due to the time required to complete them, the lack of role clarity, and the lack of reimbursement for time to complete the documents. In response, ASCO convened a Survivorship Care Planning...
Lung Cancer: Next Frontier for Immunotherapy
Immune checkpoint inhibitors, particularly PD-1 (programmed cell death-1) and PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) inhibitors, are being studied extensively in lung cancer. These agents, alone and in combination, appear to have the potential to change the management of non–small cell lung cancer...
Hedgehog Inhibitors Can Be Life-Altering in Patients With Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma
What advanced basal cell carcinomas lack in frequency, they make up for in morbidity, and for these challenging patients, the hedgehog inhibitors have changed lives, according to experts at the 3rd Annual World Cutaneous Malignancies Congress, held recently in San Francisco. “The majority of basal...
Breast Cancer Research Foundation Commits Record $58.6 Million in Research Grants
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) announced its dedication of $58.6 million to breast cancer research at its annual Symposium & Awards Luncheon. Totaling $47 million, the 2014–2015 annual grants, awarded to more than 220 physicians and scientists on six continents, continue to fuel...
Study Reveals Gaps in Symptom Management
The Patient-Reported Outcomes Symptoms and Side-Effects Study demonstrated that many cancer patients treated in community cancer centers are not discussing their common symptoms like pain, fatigue, and emotional distress with their oncologists/health-care team or receiving advice about how to...
Expert Point of View: Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH
Formal discussant of this abstract, Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, praised this effort. “Dr. Stuver’s abstract provides ample evidence of overuse of intensive care at the end of life. Patients and their families do not want to be in the hospital or emergency department at...
Private Payer and Academic Center Data Capture Inappropriate Use of End-of-Life Care
Data sharing between a comprehensive cancer center and a private insurer appears to be a novel way to capture practice patterns that can point to potential quality improvements. A study that combined data from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts showed that some ...
Revisiting Successes in Advanced NSCLC to Test Value in Earlier-Stage Disease
Some pretty good evidence suggests that chemotherapy that works in advanced disease probably works even better in early-stage disease,” said Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, Chair, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, in summarizing results from trials of...
Lung Cancer Expert Offers Recommendations for Treating Toxicities Associated With Targeted Therapies
Clearly life as a thoracic oncologist has changed. Our paradigm for giving one-size-fits-all chemotherapy seems a bit dated, as we now are learning that there are multiple targets that we can treat effectively with the right drugs,” Jyoti D. Patel, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at...
CMS Issues Preliminary Decision to Cover Annual Lung Cancer Screening
In a long-awaited decision, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a preliminary proposal to cover annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography for appropriate beneficiaries following counseling and a shared–decision-making visit with a qualified...
Transplants for AML in First Remission: A Great Leap Forward, Sideways, or Backward?
“All great truths begin as blasphemies.” —George Bernard Shaw (Annajanksa, 1918) Until about 15 years ago, persons with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) were considered candidates to receive a blood cell or bone marrow allotransplant in first remission only if they had had an HLA-identical...
PD-1 Blockade Moves Into Hematology
The promise of the programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitors seen in solid tumors, especially melanoma, may hold true for at least one hematologic malignancy, according to studies presented at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition. At a press briefing, data ...
Mammographic Density Is Highly Heritable, Possibly Explaining the Familial Aggregation of Breast Cancer
Using a fully automated method to ascertain volumetric mammographic density, a study conducted by the Karolinska Mammography (KARMA) project for risk prediction of breast cancer in Sweden confirmed the high heritability of mammographic density, although estimates were weaker for absolute than for...
About 25% of Patients Who Undergo Breast-Conservation Surgery for Stage 0 to II Carcinoma Have Subsequent Surgery
“Approximately one-fourth of all patients who undergo initial breast-conservation surgery for breast cancer will have a subsequent operative intervention,” concluded a study published online by JAMA Surgery. “The rate of repeat surgeries varies by patient, tumor, and facility factors,” reported Lee ...
Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Who Progress After Front-line Treatment May Be Candidates for Novel Noncytotoxic Therapies
Although patients who relapse within 3 years of front-line fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (Rituxan; FCR) therapy have poor survival when treated with conventional salvage regimens, these patients may be candidates for novel noncytotoxic therapies, according to an analysis of extended...
AJCC Cancer Staging System Is Most Accurate Measuring Response to Chemoradiation in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer
When classifying response to chemoradiation among patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual (7th edition) system “is most accurate and should be adopted as the standard,” Attaphorn Trakarnsanga, MD, and colleagues at Memorial...
Physicians Need to Maintain Flexibility to Deviate From Treatment Guidelines Without Financial Penalties
With the provocative headline, “How Medical Care Is Being Corrupted,” an op-ed piece in The New York Times argued that “financial forces largely hidden from the public are beginning to corrupt care and undermine the bond of trust between doctors and patients.”1 The article warned that insurers,...
Electro-Gynecology, Philadelphia, 1883
Through the Lens of Oncology History A Century of Progress The text and photographs on these pages represent the establishment of oncology as a viable medical specialty during the mid-1800s. The images and captions are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology Tumors &...
Patient Guides Available Through ASCO University Bookstore
ASCO Answers: Managing the Cost of Cancer Care explains the various costs associated with cancer treatment, including health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act. It also provides a list of financial resources available to help offset expenses related to care and tips for organizing...
Ovarian Cancer Has Taught Me to Be Fearless
In 2013, I was at the top of my professional game. I was a lead performer in the hit Broadway show Motown: The Musical, playing singing legend Diana Ross, which earned me a Tony Award nomination. Performing eight shows a week is exhausting, but I had no problem meeting the physical demands of the...
Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Children and Young Adults With Cancer
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of children and young adult cancer survivors. The studies include phase I, I/II, III, observational, and interventional trials investigating genomic profiling to personalize treatment;...
Life Is Like Riding a Bicycle
The following essay by Bruce D. Cheson, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. The ride...
CDC Awards Grant to Program for Young Women With Breast Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control has awarded a $1.75 million, 5-year grant to the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to increase the awareness of breast cancer among women and enhance the...
The Long and Winding Road to Modern Integrative Oncology
It has been a long road from the blind acceptance of unproven “alternative” remedies for the treatment of cancer to the development of rigorous guidelines for integrative care, which address symptom control. The recently released Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) guidelines applicable to...
SIO Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Use of Integrative Therapies as Supportive Care in Patients Treated for Breast Cancer
The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Guidelines Working Group has recently released clinical practice guidelines on the use of integrative therapies as supportive care in patients receiving treatment for breast cancer. The guidelines, reported by Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, MPH, of Mailman...
The Best of SIO
The following five abstracts, which include four clinical studies and one basic research study, were named the top abstracts at the 2014 International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology. Therapeutic Effects of Lyophilized Leech Saliva Extract Hassona MDH, Ammar AE, Gao TY, et al: In ...
Olaparib for BRCA-Mutated Previously Treated Advanced Ovarian Cancer
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 19, 2014, olaparib (Lynparza) was granted accelerated...
Incorporating Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Into Palliative Care
Although cancer rehabilitation has been a part of oncology clinical practice for several decades, it has largely gone unrecognized as an integral part of palliative medicine and survivorship care. Now, the role of physical medicine and rehabilitation in oncology care may increase as patients with...
‘Mother of Bone Marrow Transplantation’ Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Thomas Dies at 92
Dorothy “Dottie” Thomas, wife and research partner to 1990 Nobel laureate E. Donnall Thomas, MD, died Friday, January 9, at her home near Seattle. She was 92. Dr. Donnall Thomas, Pioneer of the Bone Marrow Transplant and former Director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer...
What It Means to Be Mortal
“I learned a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn’t one of them,” writes Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, in his new book on the medicalization of aging and dying, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Metropolitan Books, 2014). In the book, Dr. Gawande critiques the American...
Gardasil 9 Adds Protection Against Cancer Caused by Additional Human Papillomavirus Types
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 10, 2014, Gardasil 9 (human papillomavirus 9-valent...
Panelists Lambast, Explore the High Cost of Cancer Drugs
At the 2014 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, a symposium on the high cost of cancer drugs proved provocative and a bit testy as panelists presented their various points of view. ‘Medical Darwinian System’ Already known for his outspoken views on the topic is Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD,...
Study Finds Whole-Genome Sequencing Is Successful in Identifying Patients’ Risk for Inherited Cancers
A study by researchers at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and The Ohio State University in Columbus of whole-genome sequencing on patients found to have BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations as well as on those who were not carriers of a BRCA1/2 mutation has found cancer risk of...
Will Checkpoint Inhibitors Be Winners in Hematologic Cancers, Too?
A “Featured Topic” session during the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition drew a standing-room-only crowd to hear two experts weigh in on checkpoint blockade in hematologic malignancies. While new to hematology, these drugs—the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated...
Cleveland Clinic Piloting ‘Adaptive Therapy’ Approach in Multiple Myeloma
For newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients, Cleveland Clinic specialists believe two drugs may suffice for most patients, bucking the trend toward using triplets for all patients and reserving them for patients with insufficient response to two. They described a pilot study of their “carepath”...
Victory for Pediatric Regimens in Adolescents and Young Adults With ALL
Long in the works, early results of the U.S. Intergroup C10403 trial clearly showed that treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adolescents and young adults using a pediatric-inspired regimen improves event-free survival and overall survival and should be the backbone for future studies in...
Expert Point of View: Catherine Bollard, MD
Blinatumomab is one of several approaches to harness the immune system, and these therapies will revolutionize the treatment of cancer, but we will have to balance the effects of ‘revving up’ the immune system with toxicity. Compared with CAR [chimeric antigen receptor] T cells [made from each...
Blinatumomab Achieves Complete Molecular Responses in Majority of B-Cell Leukemia Patients
Results from the international phase II BLAST study show that one cycle of blinatumomab (Blincyto) immunotherapy achieved complete minimal residual disease response in 78% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.1 Complete minimal residual disease response was achieved in 80% of patients...
Breast Health Global Initiative Tackles Third-World Health Care
Benjamin O. Anderson, MD, is the Director of the Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI) and surgical oncologist and Director of the Breast Health Clinic at the University of Washington in Seattle. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Dr. Anderson about the conceptual framework of the...
FDA Approves Companion Diagnostic for the Detection of BRCA1/2 Mutations in Ovarian Cancer
The recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of olaparib (Lynparza) occurred concurrently with that of a companion diagnostic, BRACAnalysis CDx. This genetic test is designed to detect the presence of mutations in the BRCA genes in blood samples from patients with ovarian cancer. The BRCA...
Physical Activity Improves Survival for Men With Localized Prostate Cancer
Among a large group of men with localized prostate cancer, those who engaged in higher levels of physical activity had lower rates of overall mortality and lower rates of prostate cancer-specific mortality, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.1 “Our...
Crizotinib in ROS1-Positive NSCLC: A Next Step Forward
Advances in the molecular characterization of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have led to the identification of molecularly defined distinct subsets of patients who derive benefit from targeted therapies. Currently, two such groups of agents have moved widely into clinical practice: epidermal...
Lanreotide in Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 16, 2014, lanreotide (Somatuline depot injection) was ...
Nivolumab Improves Outcomes vs Dacarbazine in Previously Untreated Advanced Melanoma Without a BRAF Mutation
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robert and colleagues found that the programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) immune-checkpoint–inhibitor antibody nivolumab (Opdivo) significantly increased overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rate...
Ultrasonography Detects Mammographically Occult Invasive Cancers
Mammograms often miss occult breast cancers concealed in dense breasts. Women with dense breasts represent about 40% to 50% of women who undergo mammography screening. In some states and centers in the United States, women with dense breasts are routinely offered ultrasonography following a...
Nab-Paclitaxel Boosts Pathologic Complete Response in High-Risk Breast Cancer
Nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) achieved superior results compared with conventional solvent-based paclitaxel in patients with early-stage high-risk breast cancer in the large phase III GeparSepto trial from the German Breast Group (GBG).1 The study, presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer...
