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Showing 15951 - 16000Highlights From the 2014 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium
The inaugural 2014 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium was held October 24 to 25 in Boston. Over 200 abstracts were presented, covering topics such as the integration of palliative care into treatment and the financial hardships facing people living with cancer. The following abstracts were among ...
Highlights From the 2014 ASCO Quality Care Symposium
The 2014 ASCO Quality Care Symposium was held October 17 to 18 in Boston and featured research on combating disparities, improving end-of-life care, and finding opportunities for cost reduction. These highlights have been adapted from ASCO Quality Care Symposium Daily News (quality.asco.org/dn)....
Conquer Cancer Foundation Researcher Spotlight
James D. Murphy, MD, MS, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, received a 2012 Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of ASCO Young Investigator Award for his research focusing on access to the delivery of palliative radiation therapy. Dr....
Clonal Hematopoiesis With Somatic Mutations Increases Risk of Hematologic Cancer, Mortality, and Cardiovascular Disease
In two studies recently reported in The New England Journal of Medicine,1,2 whole-exome sequencing of DNA from peripheral blood cells of individuals unselected for hematologic phenotype showed that clonal hematopoiesis with somatic mutations is increasingly common with increasing age and is...
Determining Why Not All Patients Respond to PD-1 Inhibitors
Recent research1 conducted by Robert H. Pierce, MD, and his colleagues investigating why PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) inhibitors result in remarkably durable clinical remissions in some patients with melanoma, whereas others reap a short-term benefit or no benefit at all is showing that...
First-Line Crizotinib Improves Progression-Free Survival vs Chemotherapy in ALK-Positive NSCLC
In a phase III trial (PROFILE 1014) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Benjamin J. Solomon, MB, BS, PhD, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, and colleagues found that the ALK inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori) improved progression-free survival vs standard chemotherapy in...
FDA Approves Lenvatinib for Progressive Radioiodine-Refractory Differentiated Thyroid Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval to lenvatinib (Lenvima) to treat patients with progressive, differentiated thyroid cancer whose disease progressed despite receiving radioactive iodine therapy. Lenvatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that binds to multiple sites...
FDA Grants Cobimetinib Priority Review for Use in Combination With Vemurafenib in Advanced Melanoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted and granted Priority Review for Genentech’s New Drug Application (NDA) for cobimetinib in combination with vemurafenib (Zelboraf) for the treatment of people with BRAF V600 mutation–positive advanced melanoma. The FDA will make a decision on...
FDA Approves Palbociclib in Combination With Letrozole for Advanced Breast Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted accelerated approval to palbociclib (Ibrance) in combination with letrozole for the treatment of postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who have not yet received an endocrine-based therapy....
Lenvatinib in Advanced Radioiodine-Refractory Differentiated Thyroid 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 February 13, 2015, lenvatinib (Lenvima) was approved for the...
Nivolumab in Previously Treated Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer
The approval of multiple inhibitors of either the VEGF or mTOR pathway provided an incremental advance in the treatment of metastatic clear cell renal cancer. However, the agents have several important limitations: For example, the optimal clinical effect appears to be dependent on chronic...
Nivolumab Shows Activity in Previously Treated Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
In a randomized phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Robert J. Motzer, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues found that the programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor antibody nivolumab (Opdivo) was associated with...
HIV-Related Lymphoma Can Be Safely Treated With Transplant
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients with relapsed/refractory lymphoma can safely undergo autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation, according to results of a phase II multicenter trial presented at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in...
From ASH 2014: What’s New in the Myeloma Treatment Arsenal?
At the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, attendance at many multiple myeloma sessions outnumbered the room size, as data from studies of novel agents, such as the monoclonal antibodies, and from key trials, such as ASPIRE, drew crowds. The ASCO Post covered...
PI3K Inhibition in Hormone Receptor–Positive Breast Cancer ‘Not Ready for Prime Time’
Interest is high in studying the PI3K pathway in hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, but it is not clear which of the PI3K inhibitors under development—if any—will be a “home run.” The phase II FERGI study, reported at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, failed to meet its primary...
Lanreotide Evaluated in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Subgroup
The somatostatin analog lanreotide (Somatuline) depot extended the time to disease progression in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, in a planned subgroup analysis of the CLARINET trial, Alexandria T. Phan, MD, of The Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, reported at the 2015...
Targeting Biliary Tract Cancers Through Genomic Profiling
Biliary tract cancers are challenging, but a large genomic profiling study has identified potentially clinically relevant genomic alterations in up to two-thirds of patients.1 “The diverse landscape of clinically relevant genomic alterations in biliary tract cancers can serve as targets for...
Inhibiting the MET Pathway in Gastroesophageal Cancer: Hits and Misses
The MET pathway appears to be important in gastroesophageal cancers, but response to a targeted agent may depend on the class of drugs. A robust response to the novel small-molecule MET inhibitor AMG 337 was observed, but a monoclonal antibody targeting MET fell flat, in studies reported at the...
New Data Reported in Colorectal, Gastric, and Pancreatic Cancers
The 2015 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held January 15–17 in San Francisco, attracted almost 4,000 attendees, who heard or viewed data from nearly 800 scientific abstracts and lectures. Here are our summaries of some of the many important developments from the meeting. Bevacizumab Plus...
Addressing the Global Cancer Burden
Since 1990, the annual global death toll from cancer has risen about 40%, and that number is projected to increase from the current level of approximately 8 million cancer deaths per year to more than 13 million by 2030. The poorer, resource-challenged regions of the world will suffer a...
Active Surveillance in Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer Called Into Question
A study presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium calls into question the use of active surveillance in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer managed with active surveillance had almost a four times higher risk of prostate...
Nearly Half of Women Taking Tamoxifen for Primary Prevention Discontinue Its Use Before 5 Years
After 4.5 years of taking tamoxifen for primary prevention of breast cancer, 46% of women discontinued its use, according to research conducted within the Sister Study, a prospective cohort of women who had a sister diagnosed with breast cancer but did not have breast cancer themselves. Eligible...
Selenium Supplements After Diagnosis of Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer May Raise Prostate Cancer Mortality Risk
“Selenium supplementation of 140 or more μg/d after diagnosis of nonmetastatic prostate cancer may increase risk of prostate cancer mortality,” according to a prospective study following 4,459 men initially diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study...
Recognizing Physical Signs Associated With Impending Death Can Assist Clinicians, Patients, and Caregivers With Complex Decisions
In a recently published study of patients with advanced cancer whose status was systematically documented twice a day, from the time of admission to a palliative care unit until death or discharge, investigators identified eight physical signs associated with death within 3 days. Taken together...
Having Cancer So Early in Life Gave Me Purpose
I had every classic brain tumor symptom in the book—severe headaches, dizziness, morning nausea—which plagued me for 16 years, starting when I was 8. In college, if I allowed myself to sleep more than 4 hours a night, the morning headaches, which were centered on the top of my head, were so severe, ...
The Center of Who We Are
The following essay by Eric M. Genden, 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. There’s...
Harold Varmus, MD, Steps Down as NCI Director, Douglas Lowy, MD, Named Acting Director
Harold Varmus, MD, who has led the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for nearly 5 years, has announced that he will step down from his post, effective March 31, 2015. “It has been our great fortune to have Dr. Varmus at the helm of the NCI,” said NIH...
Dr. Halsted’s Breast Amputation Specimens, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1894
A Century of Progress The text and photographs on these pages represent the establishment of oncology as a viable medical specialty during the late 1800s and showcase the early medical advances and treatments in cancer. The images and captions are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled ...
Mobile 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)...
Herbal Supplements: Increasing Problems
In Don Quixote, the 1605 Spanish literary masterpiece by Miguel Cervantes, “Balsam of Fierabras” is mentioned often as a therapeutic panacea. It calls for mixing rosemary, wine, oil, and salt. As the story goes, the knight relied heavily on this herbal preparation to relieve him of pain from the...
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 ...
Beating the Odds in The Big Casino
More than 35 ASCO members contributed personal essays to a recently published collection of stories about humanism in medicine, including ASCO Past Presidents Paul A. Bunn, Jr, MD, FASCO, and Emil J. Freireich, MD, FASCO, and current President-Elect Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO. The Big Casino:...
Panobinostat in Combination With Bortezomib‑Dexamethasone in Previously Treated Multiple Myeloma
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 February 23, 2015, panobinostat (Farydak) was granted...
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...
Lenalidomide in Combination With Dexamethasone in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma
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 February 18, 2015, the indication for lenalidomide (Revlimid)...
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...
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 ...
Adjuvant Ovarian Suppression May Benefit Women With Premenopausal Breast Cancer Who Received Prior Chemotherapy
In a phase III trial (SOFT) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Prudence A. Francis, MD, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia, Meredith M. Regan, ScD, of IBCSG Statistical Centre at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues found that the addition of...
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...
Hypofractionated Whole-Breast Irradiation After Breast-Conserving Surgery Used in Up to One-Third of Eligible Patients
In a study reported in JAMA, Justin E. Bekelman, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and colleagues found that approximately two-thirds of patients with early-stage breast cancer for whom hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation (for 3–5 weeks) was endorsed received...
Optimal Timing of Rectal Surgery: 60 Days or Less Post Chemoradiation Therapy
For the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer, the optimal timing between the end of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy and surgical resection appears to be 60 days, according to an analysis of the National Cancer Database presented at the 2015 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 An interval ...
AACR Names Nancy E. Davidson, MD, President-Elect for 2015–2016
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced the election of Nancy E. Davidson, MD, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC CancerCenter in Pittsburgh, as its President-Elect for 2015–2016. Dr. Davidson will officially become President-Elect at the...
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...
Expert Point of View: Jonathan Rosenberg, MD
Formal discussant of both trials, Jonathan Rosenberg, MD, of the Genitourinary Division at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, agreed that both studies move the field of antiangiogenesis in advanced bladder cancer forward. “The very high overall response rates in the pazopanib plus...
Antiangiogenesis Plus Chemotherapy Pursued in Advanced Bladder Cancer
Two separate phase II studies lend support to the concept of antiangiogenesis in advanced bladder cancer. The combination of an antiangiogenic agent and chemotherapy may fulfill an unmet need in this disease, the studies suggest. Both studies were presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers...
High-Dose Radiotherapy Provides Meaningful Improvements in Localized Prostate Cancer—But Not Increased Survival Yet
High-dose radiotherapy failed to improve overall survival at 7 years compared with standard-dose radiotherapy in men with stage II localized prostate cancer. However, the high-dose schedule had several advantages, including improved rates of local tumor control and distant metastasis, according to...
Expert Point of View: Eric J. Small, MD
GETUG-AFU 15 sought to improve outcomes in metastatic hormone-naive prostate cancer, but the study failed its primary objective,” noted formal discussant Eric J. Small, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco. In the overall analysis of this previously published trial, with no...
No Survival Benefit Reported With Docetaxel Added to Hormone Therapy in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Docetaxel added to androgen-deprivation therapy did not improve overall survival over androgen-deprivation therapy alone in hormone-naive metastatic prostate cancer, according to an updated analysis of the GETUG-AFU 15 trial presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 In a retrospective ...
