Search Results
Your search for The ASCO Post matches 17929 pages
Showing 15851 - 15900Mobile Patient-Centered App Tracks Breast Cancer Survivors’ Experiences
Patricia Ganz, MD, Director of Cancer Prevention and Control Research at the Jonsson Cancer Center of UCLA, and collaborators Apple and Sage Bionetworks, recently announced the launch of “Share the Journey: Mind, Body and Wellness after Breast Cancer,” a patient-centered mobile application (app)...
Fred Hutchinson Health Economist Gary Lyman, MD, MPH, Editor of Recently Released Oncology Handbook
Oncologist and health economist Gary Lyman, MD, MPH, Co-director of the Hutchinson Institute of Cancer Outcomes Research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is the Editor of the second edition of the Oxford American Handbook of Oncology, published February 25, 2015, by Oxford University...
Wrestling With the Challenges of Breast Cancer
Bookmark Title: Then Came Life: Living With Courage, Spirit, and Gratitude After Breast CancerAuthor: Geralyn LucasPublisher: Gotham BooksPublication date: October 2, 2014Price: $19.89; hardcover, 240 pages Over the past decade or so, the oncology community has increased its understanding and...
Medicine Turned Upside Down
BookmarkTitle: The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine Is in Your HandsAuthor: Eric Topol, MDPublisher: Basic BooksPublication date: January 2015Price: $28.99; hardcover, 384 pagesMost books about health care center on fixing broken parts of the massive $3 trillion system, as seen with ...
Silvia C. Formenti, MD, Appointed Chair of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell and Radiation Oncologist-in-Chief at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
Silvia C. Formenti, MD, has been appointed Chair of the newly established Department of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College and Radiation Oncologist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, effective April 15. Dr. Formenti, currently the Chair of Radiation...
Dinutuximab Combination Approved for Pediatric High-Risk Neuroblastoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved dinutuximab (Unituxin), a monoclonal antibody targeting glycolipid GD2, as part of first-line therapy for pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. A chimeric monoclonal antibody that binds to the surface of neuroblastoma cells,...
New Partnership Launches to Empower People Diagnosed With Lymphoma
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), together with the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF), CancerCare, the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), and Genentech announced the launch of a new partnership, the Alliance for Resource Collaboration in Hematology (ARCH). ARCH was developed...
Seattle Children’s Names Jeff Sperring, MD, New Chief Executive Officer
Seattle Children’s Hospital announced that the Board of Trustees has named Jeff Sperring, MD, Chief Executive Officer, effective early in May. Dr. Sperring, who currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, will continue to...
FDA Launches Drug Shortages Mobile App
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the agency’s first mobile application (app) specifically designed to speed public access to valuable information about drug shortages. The app identifies current drug shortages, resolved shortages, and discontinuations of drug products....
Five Questions Can Guide the Treatment of Relapsed Myeloma
Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, myeloma expert at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Scottsdale, and Associate Dean of the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, considers five questions when selecting treatment for patients with multiple myeloma who relapse. “With prolonged survival, which approaches 10...
Avoiding Burnout and Maintaining Well-Being While Caring for Seriously Ill Patients
A variety of studies, including one published this past year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 have showed that clinicians who care for seriously ill patients are at high risk for diminished personal well-being, including high rates of burnout; moral distress, defined as the inability to act in ...
ASCO Expresses Concern Over New Oncology Care Model
While commending the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for seeking new approaches to physician payment, ASCO expressed concerns over the model’s limited scope. “We are disappointed [CMS has] chosen to pursue only one model—and one that continues to rely on a broken fee-for-service...
New Oncology Care Model: Encouraging Better Coordination for Cancer Care
On February 12, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its new Oncology Care Model, a multipayer payment and care delivery model intended to support better coordination for cancer care. The initiative will include 24-hour access to practitioners for beneficiaries...
FDA Takes Steps to Simplify Compassionate Use Process, Invites Comment
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced a more streamlined form for requesting permission for patient access to investigational drugs outside of clinical trials. The new form is available for comment in a draft guidance for industry entitled “Individual Patient Expanded Access...
FDA Names Geoffrey Kim, MD, Director of the Division of Oncology Products
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the appointment of Geoffrey Kim, MD, as Director of the Division of Oncology Products 1 (DOP1) in the Office of Hematology Oncology Products. Dr. Kim assumed this position effective March 22, 2015. Dr. Kim previously served as the...
Development and Approval of Biosimilar Products
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its policies and procedures. In this installment, Leah Christl, PhD, and Albert Deisseroth, MD, PhD, answer questions about biosimilar products. Dr. Christl is the Associate Director...
New Lurie Cancer Center Program Combines Oncology With Genomics to Provide More Personalized Cancer Care
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, in collaboration with the Northwestern Medicine Developmental Therapeutics Institute and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, has launched a new research program, Northwestern Onco-SET (Sequence, Evaluate, Treat). The program’s...
UPMC Whitfield Cancer Centre Receives Joint Commission International Accreditation
For the third time since 2008, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Whitfield Cancer Centre, operated by UPMC in Waterford, Ireland, has successfully achieved accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI). This recognition is based on an extensive review of the center’s...
Ongoing Controversies in Allocating Our Health‑Care Resources
Disparities of care that result in poorer outcomes among certain populations have long been an issue addressed by the cancer community and its major organizations such as ASCO. While ethnicity and race play key roles in this ongoing debate over equitable allocation of our precious health-care...
Gastric, Breast Cancer Risk in Carriers of CDH1 Gene Mutations
In a new study,1 more precise estimates of age-associated risks of gastric and breast cancer were derived for carriers of the CDH1 gene mutation, a cancer-predisposing gene that is abnormal in families meeting criteria for clinically defined hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC). David G....
Physician-Controlled Decisions in Cancer Care Linked to Lower Quality Rating
Patients who described physician-controlled decisions about their cancer care vs shared decision-making were less likely to report receiving excellent quality of care, according to a study published by JAMA Oncology.1 The Institute of Medicine has called for shared decision-making and accommodation ...
SOFT Trial Results Inconclusive: Further Study Needed
The results of the SOFT trial—presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, reported recently by Francis et al in The New England Journal of Medicine,1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—were not as conclusive as we had hoped. In essence, the study enrolled women with resected ...
Thyroid Cancer Risk
Women who had breast cancer followed by thyroid cancer were younger on average when diagnosed with their breast cancer than those with breast cancer alone. They also were more likely to have had invasive ductal carcinoma and to have received radiation therapy as part of their breast cancer...
New Analysis Reports Increased Risk of Thyroid Cancer After Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Breast cancer survivors are at increased risk of developing thyroid cancer, especially within 5 years of their breast cancer diagnosis, according to a new analysis of a large national database. The study results were presented at the Endocrine Society’s 97th Annual Meeting.1 “Recognition of this...
Increasing the Use of Hypofractionated Radiation in Early-Stage Breast Cancer: The Way Forward
Bekelman and colleagues are to be congratulated on the publication of an important paper—reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—alerting us all to the underutilization of hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation in the treatment of early-stage breast cancer.1 As background, recent randomized...
Expert Point of View: Nancy Kemeny, MD
Nancy Kemeny, MD, Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, discussed the study at the session and noted several limitations: The data could be outdated (chemotherapy and surgery could be better now), some...
Priority Review Granted for Trabectedin in Advanced Soft-Tissue Sarcoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Priority Review for the New Drug Application (NDA) for trabectedin to treat patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma, including liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma subtypes, who have received prior chemotherapy including an anthracycline. The NDA ...
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University Names New Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer
Sagar Lonial, MD, has been named Chief Medical Officer at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and Charles A. Staley, MD, has been named Chief Quality Officer, according to an announcement recently released by the Cancer Institute. Both physicians join Winship’s senior leadership team and...
Adjuvant Chemotherapy Favored in Locally Advanced Bladder Cancer Not Treated With Neoadjuvant Therapy
A large observational study presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in Orlando, Florida, found that adjuvant chemotherapy extended the likelihood of survival in locally advanced bladder cancer compared with observation alone.1 Using three different approaches to propensity scores...
Our Aging Population: Challenges in Caring for Older Patients With Cancer
Managing older-aged cancer patients represents one of the major challenges to our health-care system. Caring for older cancer patients, with their frequent multiple morbidities and a variable health status, requires special integration of an oncologic and geriatric approach. Moreover, our aging...
Intensified Immunotherapy Encouraging in Chemotherapy-Naive Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Emerging evidence suggests that immunotherapy may play an important role in treating prostate cancer. In particular, preliminary results have shown that combining a new vaccine with ipilimumab (Yervoy) boosts overall survival in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer.1 A study comparing...
Association of Community Cancer Centers Names Steven L. D’Amato, BSPharm, BCOP, President
Steven L. D’Amato, BSPharm, BCOP, became President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) at its 41st Annual Meeting on March 18, 2015, in Arlington, Virginia. He is Executive Director of New England Cancer Specialists and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Tufts...
Radiotherapy in Good-Prognosis DLBCL
I was disturbed by the article on “Radiotherapy in Good-Prognosis DLBCL” published recently in The ASCO Post.1 As a practicing radiation oncologist for 30 years, I have seen the evolution of radiation techniques (and philosophy) for non-Hodgkin lymphoma progress from regional—or even...
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...
I Refuse to Capitulate to Cancer
Editor’s note: We regret to announce that Paul Kalanithi, MD, passed away on March 9, 2015. Dr. Kalanithi was Chief Resident in Neurological Surgery at Stanford University when he shared his story, reprinted here, with The ASCO Post just over 1 year ago, in March 2014. We extend our deepest...
Don’t Disregard Questions About Possible Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer Just Because the Patient Is ‘Too Young’
While colorectal cancer predominantly occurs in people over 50 years old, rates are increasing among younger patients. It is important for physicians not to ignore symptoms in patients who are young, “simply because they are young,” Jason A. Zell, DO, MPH, told The ASCO Post. Dr. Zell is the...
Colorectal Cancer Is Significantly Increasing Among Younger Adults and Being Diagnosed at Later Stages
A growing body of literature indicates that the incidence of colorectal cancer is rising among people under age 50, according to Jason A. Zell, DO, MPH. Dr. Zell is the corresponding author of one of the two recent studies finding significant increases in colorectal cancer among adults aged 20 to...
Shining a Spotlight on Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma
In the winter of 2013, my son, Dmitriy, now 26, had a cough that wouldn’t go away. After several rounds of antibiotics failed to halt the persistent problem, a pulmonologist we consulted ordered a chest x-ray, which showed a large tumor lodged between Dmitriy’s lungs. Although the doctor said the...
A Surgeon Cuts to the Chase
BookmarkTitle: The Cost of Cutting: A Surgeon Reveals the Truth Behind a Multibillion-Dollar IndustryAuthor: Paul A. Ruggieri, MDPublisher: Berkley BooksPublication date: September 2014Price: $16.00; paperback, 320 pages The woman seated on the exam table was lean and fit and seemed perfectly at...
2015 Oncology Meetings
APRIL Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies MeetingApril 10-11 • New York, New York For more information: www.healio.com/meeting/hemonctodaymelanoma/home?promocode689-8045 Hematologic Malignancies: New Therapies and the Evolving Role of TransplantApril 10-11 • Chicago, Illinois For more information: ...
Technology’s Double-Edged Sword: One Woman’s Story
Bookmark Title: Pandora’s DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Science, and One Family TreeAuthor: Lizzie StarkPublisher: Chicago Review PressPublication date: October 2014Price: $26.95; hardcover, 336 pages If we wish to learn more about cancer, we must concentrate on the cellular ...
The Ongoing Struggle Against Tobacco: Past Accomplishments, Future Steps
In 1913, 10 doctors and 5 laypersons in New York founded the American Cancer Society (ACS). At that time, a cancer diagnosis was almost always fatal and was rarely discussed in public. The Society’s original charter was to raise awareness about cancer, and although that mission has remained firm,...
Refining the ‘Right Patient, Right Drug’ Pairing in Cancer Care: RAS Profiling in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
In an important post hoc analysis (reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post), Van Cutsem and colleagues have further refined our knowledge of who are the “right” patients with metastatic colorectal cancer to receive treatment with cetuximab (Erbitux).1 This refinement was accomplished through the...
ONS Lifetime Achievement Award
Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, Director of Cancer Survivorship at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has been named the recipient of the 2015 Oncology Nursing Society Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes her contributions as an oncology nurse researcher, mentor, and educator, as ...
American Association for Cancer Research Elects New Board of Directors, Nominating Committee Members
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected five members to serve on the AACR board of directors for the 2015–2018 term and four members to serve on the nominating committee for the 2015–2017 term. They will begin their terms at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015, to...
Why Just Having ‘Good’ Communication Skills Is Not Enough for Talking With Seriously Ill Patients
In the Institute of Medicine’s 2014 report Dying in America,1 the report’s authors found that while frequent clinician-patient conversations about end-of-life care, goals, and preferences are necessary to avoid unwanted treatment, most patients do not have those conversations with their physicians. ...
FDA Approves Isavuconazonium Sulfate for the Treatment of Invasive Aspergillosis and Invasive Mucormycosis
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Astellas’ New Drug Application for the use of isavuconazonium sulfate (Cresemba), the prodrug for isavuconazole, for patients 18 years of age and older in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis (also known as...
The ASPIRE Trial of Carfilzomib in Relapsed Myeloma: A Major Step Forward
Currently in myeloma, there are at least five new agents that are either approved or in the late-stage of development with impending approval. Major questions in the field relate to how we, as clinicians, will use these new agents and where they will fit in the overall treatment schema. The phase...
The Emerging Role of Radiation Therapy in Gastrointestinal Cancers
The use of radiation therapy in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer has evolved over the past several decades, in a gradual, stepwise fashion. Since most gastrointestinal cancers are diagnosed at a locally advanced stage, coupled with the inherent sensitivity of most parts of the...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Appoints Chair of Department of Radiation Oncology
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has named Thomas E. Merchant, DO, PhD, as Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Merchant will hold the Baddia J. Rashid Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology. “Dr. Merchant is a proven leader in pediatric radiotherapy and will be instrumental in...
