Formal discussant, Hossein Borghaei, MS, DO, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, was guardedly optimistic about the IMpower132 trial results. “The study met its primary endpoint, and investigator-assessed progression-free survival was superior in the investigational arm. Overall survival was not mature,...
The combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq), a programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor, plus carboplatin or cisplatin and pemetrexed (Alimta) as first-line therapy followed by pemetrexed plus atezolizumab maintenance therapy improved progression-free survival in patients with stage IV...
Some European countries take more than twice as long as others to reach health technology assessment (HTA) decisions to reimburse new cancer treatments following their approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The average decision time is longer than 1 year in some countries, according to a...
In an analysis presented by Davidson et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress (Abstract 619PD_PR), data were pooled from four UK randomized controlled clinical trials of first-line chemotherapy in esophagogastric cancer, finding significant differences in a...
Nearly 1 in 6 premenopausal women being treated for early-stage breast cancer do not adhere adequately to tamoxifen therapy after 1 year of treatment, potentially putting themselves at increased risk of recurrence and reduced survival, reported a French prospective study at the European Society for ...
Women with HER2-positive early breast cancer with small tumors have similar disease-free survival and lower risk of cardiac toxicity with a 9-week course of adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin) compared to those treated for 1 year, according to a subgroup analysis of the Short-HER trial reported by...
An emerging treatment known as adoptive T-cell therapy has proven effective in a phase II clinical trial for treating progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare and often fatal brain infection sometimes observed in patients with cancer and other diseases in which the immune...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Grinfeld et al identified distinct genomic subgroups among patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms that, when combined with clinical variables, offered the potential for individualized predictions of clinical outcomes. Study Details...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hensley et al, a phase III NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group study assessing adjuvant chemotherapy vs observation in disease-free patients with uterus-confined high-grade leiomyosarcoma was stopped due to accrual futility; available data...
A pooled analysis of two large U.S. prospective cohort studies reported in JAMA Oncology by Simon et al indicates that regular use of aspirin is associated with a significant reduction in risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with an apparent dose- and duration-dependent effect. Study Details...
According to a new American Cancer Society report published by Gapstur et al in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, the highest priority in a national cancer control plan is the expansion of tobacco control—the intervention with the largest potential health benefits. This report is the...
In an analysis of two Nordic Lymphoma Group trials with long-term follow up reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lockmer and colleagues found evidence that many patients receiving rituximab (Rituxan) as initial treatment for advanced indolent lymphoma may not require the addition of...
In an analysis of International Global Germ Cell Cancer Group Registry data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cathomas et al, fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET) was found to have a low positive predictive value for vital tumor in residual lesions after...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Mrad et al found an increase in the proportion of patients with stage IV lung cancer admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) during terminal hospitalization between 1998 and 2014. A large increase in palliative care contacts also occurred,...
On October 16, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved talazoparib (Talzenna), a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, for patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated (gBRCAm), HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer....
Neoadjuvant combination checkpoint blockade showed activity among patients with high-risk stage III melanoma in a small study. However, a high incidence of side effects caused the trial to be closed early. These results were published by Amaria et al in Nature Medicine. The phase II...
Although digital mammography is effective in detecting early-stage breast cancer and in reducing mortality, high recall rates after a screening mammogram often result in unnecessary medical procedures, including breast biopsies, medical costs, and psychological stress for patients. A...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a new drug application seeking accelerated approval for selinexor, a first-in-class, oral selective inhibitor of nuclear export (SINE) compound, as a new treatment for patients with pentarefractory multiple myeloma. The FDA...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Tuminello et al found that video-assisted thorascopic surgery (VATS) was less likely than open resection to be associated with long-term opioid use in patients undergoing surgery for early-stage lung cancer. Study Details The study...
As reported in the journal Blood by Flinn et al, the phase III DUO trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-δ,-γ inhibitor duvelisib (Copiktra) vs ofatumumab (Arzerra) in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic...
Twitter is a place where many patients with cancer go to share and discuss their experiences of the disease, according to a recent exploratory study to be presented by Sánchez-Bayona et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress (360P_PR). The...
Nearly 1 in 4 patients with advanced cancer treated at a community practice cancer network in the United States received innovative drugs matched to DNA mutations in their tumors. These results, to be reported by Alvarez et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress...
As reported at the recent International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer and in The New England Journal of Medicine by Paz-Ares et al, the phase III KEYNOTE-407 trial has shown that the addition of pembrolizumab to platinum-based chemotherapy...
As reported by Mitchell et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the combination of the oral indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) enzyme inhibitor epacadostat and the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) showed activity in advanced solid tumors in the ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Wheeler et al found that black women reported nonadherence to endocrine therapy for breast cancer more often than white women, although no significant difference in discontinuation of treatment was observed. The study...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, van Roessel et al found that the recently released 8th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system for pancreatic cancer provided better distribution among cases and some increase in prognostic...
In a Korean nationwide cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Choi et al found that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) appeared to be more common with first-line entecavir vs tenofovir treatment for chronic hepatitis B. The study involved data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Ahmed et al found that conflict of interest (COI) disclosure slides shown during presentations at a recent American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) national meeting were shown too briefly to be fully read and often contained...
Mayo Clinic researchers have identified estradiol as a potential new treatment for a subset of women with triple-negative breast cancer. Their findings were published by Reese et al in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. “Triple-negative...
Doximity has released a new study detailing a concerning trend that could potentially impact cancer care in the United States. Doximity researchers examined retirement trends, percentage of state-trained specialists, and prevalence of breast cancer on a city-by-city basis. The report is the...
The cancer burden in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory with a 99% Hispanic population, is substantially different from that of Hispanics in the continental United States, according to Cancer Statistics for Hispanics/Latinos, 2018. The report, published every 3 years, found that men in Puerto Rico...
A study from the Thoracic Oncology Research Group (TORG), Division of Pulmonary Critical Care, Medical University of South Carolina, aimed to examine the adherence to annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening after baseline LDCT within the Veteran Health Administration Lung Cancer...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Pigneux et al, a French phase III trial (LAM-SA 2007 FILO) has shown an overall survival benefit with the addition of lomustine to conventional chemotherapy in older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) without unfavorable cytogenetics....
In a study (Thinking and Living with Cancer) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mandelblatt et al found that poorer cognitive function in older survivors of breast cancer was associated with chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and ApoE genotype. The ApoE ε4 allele has been associated...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Janelsins et al found cognitive impairment in women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer that persisted for at least 6 months after treatment. Study Details The study, conducted within the National Cancer Institute Community Clinical...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
THE ACCLAIMED radiation oncologist James D. Cox, MD, led MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center, an international center of excellence for proton therapy, research, and education, distinguished as the world’s first proton therapy facility located within a comprehensive cancer center. At the 2017...
MOODY WHARAM, JR, MD, Professor Emeritus of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences and former Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, died on August 10 at the age of 77. Dr. Wharam specialized in the treatment of...
FREE ME FROM LUNG CANCER (FMFLC) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) have announced the first-ever winner of the FMFLC-IASLC Foundation Joint Fellowship Award for the Early Detection of Lung Cancer. The FMFLC-IASLC Joint Fellowship Award supports novel,...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Amit M. Oza, MD, of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, and colleagues found that quality of life based on patient-reported outcomes was not worsened with niraparib (Zejula) maintenance vs placebo in the phase III...
In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Melissa A. Merritt, PhD, of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center’s Epidemiology Program, and colleagues found evidence that recent use of aspirin or nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) after diagnosis appears to...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Robert Scragg, MBBS, PhD, of the School of Population Health, University of Auckland, and colleagues found that monthly high-dose vitamin D supplementation, without calcium, was not associated with a reduced risk of developing cancer. The current analysis is a ...
There is a lot of breast cancer in my family history. My mother was diagnosed with the disease at 44, and my paternal grandmother died of breast cancer when she was just 33, so I’ve always been diligent about performing breast self-exams— often weekly—to ensure that if I did get breast cancer, it...
THE INFORMATION contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies focused on targeted therapy in HER2-positive breast cancer. These trials are studying imaging as a predictor of treatment response, combination therapies, treatments for metastatic...
THE ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY CANCER CENTERS (ACCC) has chosen seven cancer centers nationwide to receive 2018 ACCC Innovator Awards. Now in its 8th year, the Innovator Awards recognize ACCC member programs that have created solutions to challenges commonly faced by cancer programs and practices as...
Bernard Lown, MD, was born in Lithuania, the son of a rabbi. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 14, where his scientific precocity bloomed. After attaining his medical degree from John Hopkins University School of Medicine, he pursued his passion of raising international awareness of...
Only a few centuries ago, the major source of moral and scientific authority in Western culture was religion, which requires trusting one of numerous supernatural deities. However, the presumption that medicine is based on evidence-based and peer-reviewed science is what gives it authority in...
IN APRIL 2018, the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor rucaparib (Rubraca) was granted approval for maintenance treatment of patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy.1,2...
CHARLES SWANTON, PhD, FRCP, of The Francis Crick Institute, London, was recognized by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) at the 2018 IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer with the Paul A. Bunn, Jr, Scientific Award, honoring his lifetime achievements in scientific...
Thirteen years ago, Stephanie Koraleski, PhD, an oncology psychologist, and Kay Ryan, PhD, RN, a cardiac nurse and breast cancer survivor, in Omaha, brought together colleagues in the fields of clinical research, nursing, nutrition, mental health, physical therapy, pharmacy, and spirituality to...