Numerous studies have documented racial differences in deaths from cancer among non-Hispanic whites and African Americans, but little has been known about survival outcomes for Asian Americans who have been diagnosed with cancer. In a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer...
In a survey study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Wang et al found that a minority of responding radiation oncologists and urologists used decision aids for localized prostate cancer in clinical practice. Study Details In the study, a survey regarding use of and attitudes toward decision aids ...
A study assessing whether circulating tumor DNA encoding the clonal immunoglobulin gene sequence could be detected in the serum of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma has found that surveillance circulating tumor DNA enabled detection of microscopic disease before it could be seen on CT...
According to researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), hepatic parenchymal preservation, in which a surgeon removes less than a lobe of the liver in a patient undergoing an operation for liver cancer, is associated with lower mortality and complication rates. Their study...
In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bochtler et al found that presence of the t(11;14) translocation on interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) was associated with poorer hematologic event-free and overall survival in patients receiving...
In the ENABLE III study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bakitas et al found that early vs delayed initiation of a palliative care intervention did not result in improved patient-reported outcomes or resource use. Early initiation was associated with better 1-year survival. Study...
Girls who are overweight as young children and teens may face an increased risk for colorectal cancer decades later, regardless of what they weigh as adults, suggests a new study published by Zhang et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. “Our study supports the growing...
In a study reported in JAMA, Nan et al found that two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer with regular aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use by persons of European descent. Study Details The case-control study...
Researchers investigating the prevalence of childhood cancer survivors and the population-level burden of morbidity in these survivors have found that although the number of childhood cancer survivors has increased by nearly 60,000 since 2005, the majority of those who have survived 5 or more years ...
According to a phase II study presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, an experimental immunotherapy is in the works that can target an individual woman’s ovarian tumor and extend the time period between initial treatment and the cancer’s...
In a study of women with high-grade endometrial cancer, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found sentinel lymph node mapping accurately identified all women with node-positive, high-risk endometrial cancer, when prospectively compared to a complete pelvic and...
The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) today released a draft of a clinical practice guideline on the use of molecular marker testing for...
In patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, the combination of panobinostat (Farydak) and carfilzomib (Kyprolis) appears to be safe and effective, according to a phase I/II study by Berdeja et al in Haematologica. Further evaluation of this combination treatment is warranted to establish ...
Diabetes is associated with more advanced stage breast cancer, according to a new study by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and Women's College Hospital. The findings, published by Lipscombe et al in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, confirm a strong link between diabetes...
A new study suggests that after radical prostatectomy for high-risk prostate cancer, both the age of the patient and the time survived since the operation have a significant impact on the cause of death. This means that, for young men with high-risk prostate cancer, doctors may have to reevaluate...
The growing use of sophisticated abdominal imaging techniques, which has led to a marked increase in the findings of incidental pancreatic cysts, has prompted the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) to issue new recommendations in the management of asymptomatic neoplastic pancreatic...
Current smokers, and those who have quit smoking less than 10 years previously, have twice the risk of a recurrence of prostate cancer after surgery, according to new research by Rieken et al presented at the European Association of Urology (EAU) 2015 Congress in Madrid (Abstract 508). In 2012,...
Current smoking and heavy alcohol consumption appear to be risk factors for prolonged use of a gastrostomy tube in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. The findings were published in a report by O’Shea et al in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA, Wang et al found that the proportion of patients with lung cancer who would have met U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) criteria for low-dose computed tomography (CT) lung screening decreased significantly between the periods of 1984 to...
According to a prospective study led by researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, measuring the concentration of leukemia cells in patient bone marrow during the first 46 days of chemotherapy may help boost survival of young leukemia patients by better matching patients with the right...
In a study reported by Orlich et al in JAMA Internal Medicine, a vegetarian dietary pattern was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, with risk reduction appearing to be greatest in pescovegetarians. Study Details The study involved data from 77,659 participants in the Adventist...
Working with cells taken from children with a very rare but aggressive form of brain cancer, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have identified a genetic pathway that acts as a master regulator of thousands of genes, and may spur cancer cell growth and resistance to anticancer treatment. ...
Despite sharp increases in spending on cancer treatment, cancer mortality rates in the United States have decreased only modestly since 1970. Researchers led by Samir Soneji, PhD, of Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice...
Scientists have developed a new test that predicts the survival chances of women with breast cancer by analyzing images of “hotspots” where there has been a fierce immune reaction to a tumor. Using statistical software previously used in criminology studies of crime hotspots,...
Although dendritic cell–based immunotherapy has shown limited promise in the treatment of patients with advanced cancers, including glioblastoma, the factors dictating dendritic cell–based vaccine efficacy have been poorly understood. Now, a clinical trial funded by the National...
In the phase III POEMS/S0230 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Moore et al found that treatment with the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist goserelin (Zoladex) reduced risk of ovarian failure during chemotherapy for breast cancer in premenopausal women. Study Details In...
Having a family history of prostate cancer among first-degree relatives may increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Researchers from multiple institutions published their findings in a study by Beebe-Dimmer et al in Cancer. The study's results indicate that clinicians should take a...
In a basket trial (CUSTOM) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lopez-Chavez et al performed molecular profiling of tumors in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer, or thymic malignancies and assigned those in any of five actionable...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robak et al found that VR-CAP, a regimen replacing vincristine with bortezomib (Velcade) in R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan], cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone), significantly improved progression-free...
The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project reports that a highly aggressive form of leukemia in infants has surprisingly few mutations beyond the chromosomal rearrangement that affects the MLL gene. The findings, reported by Andersson et al ...
The U.S. cancer care system faces tremendous turbulence while dealing with growing numbers of cancer patients and survivors, mounting pressures to control rising health-care costs, and widespread oncology practice transformation, reports a new study by the American Society of Clinical Oncology...
Patients treated with definitive concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy for stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have longer overall survival when treated by highly experienced facilities, whether or not they are academic or community cancer centers. Researchers from the Yale...
A higher intake by postmenopausal women of lycopene, an antioxidant found in foods like tomatoes, watermelon, and papaya, may lower the risk of renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer. A study describing these findings was published by Ho et al in Cancer. In 2014, 63,920 estimated new cases...
New clinical trial findings provide further evidence that combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy is the best treatment for people with a low-grade form of brain cancer. The findings come from a phase II study co-led by a researcher at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer...
Although blacks were diagnosed at younger ages than whites for nearly every cancer type, after adjustments for population structure shifted the comparisons toward older ages among blacks, only six statistically significant differences of 3 or more years remained, according to a study reported by...
In a single-center study reported in JAMA Oncology, Maddocks et al found that Richter’s transformation accounted for early progression-related discontinuation of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and that CLL progression but not Richter’s...
A prospective, multicenter, observational study involving 992 consecutive patients with one to four asymptomatic, sonographically or cytologically benign thyroid nodules found that “the majority of nodules exhibited no significant size change during 5 years of follow-up or they actually...
At a median follow-up of 3 years, ibrutinib (Imbruvica) demonstrated continued activity with durable responses that improved in quality with extended treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In addition, grade 3 toxicity and adverse events leading to discontinuation diminished ...
Using a novel polymerase chain reaction assay “to efficiently assess” epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in circulating free DNA (cfDNA) from blood samples of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the Spanish Lung Cancer Group has “shown...
A study by Brohl et al investigating the case incidence of unexpected uterine sarcoma following surgery for presumed benign leiomyoma (fibroids or myomas) has found that the risk of unexpected uterine sarcoma varies significantly across age groups, with a more than fivefold difference between the...
In an advance that could lead to better identification of malignant pediatric adrenocortical tumors, and ultimately to better treatment, researchers have mapped the genomic landscape of these rare childhood tumors. Their genomic mapping has revealed unprecedented details, not only of the aberrant...
In a retrospective analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rhoads et al found that treatment of colorectal cancer patients in an integrated health-care system was associated with greater compliance with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, better survival, and no...
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. “Recognition of...
Cancer cells can cloak themselves within tumors by hiding behind a dense layer of cellular stroma. According to a new study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), drugs that target and strip away the stroma would pave the way for other drugs to reach the cancerous cells within the ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved dinutuximab (Unituxin) as part of first-line therapy for pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. Dinutuximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody that binds to the surface of neuroblastoma cells, is being approved for use as part of a...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified the first genetic variation that is associated with an increased risk and severity of peripheral neuropathy following treatment with a widely used anticancer drug. Investigators also found evidence of how it may be possible to...
Family members often play an important role in providing care for patients with cancer, but which patients are more or less likely to involve family members in decisions regarding their care is not well known. A new study published by Hobbs et al in Cancer provides some insights and may help...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hershman et al found that nonadherence to adjuvant hormonal therapy for early-stage breast cancer was more common among black women and patients with lower household net worth, with the latter factor partly accounting for the racial...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved filgrastim-sndz (Zarxio), the first biosimilar product approved in the United States. A biosimilar product is a biologic product that is approved based on a showing that it is highly similar to an already-approved biologic. The biosimilar...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Melichar et al found that the oral aurora kinase A inhibitor alisertib was active in solid tumors, particularly breast cancer and small cell lung cancer. Aurora kinases play central roles in mitosis. Inhibition of aurora kinase A, which is...