Watch upcoming issues of The ASCO Post for news reports from the 2019 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium, taking place March 14-16, 2019, in San Diego. Watch for reports on these presentations, plus much more. “Improved Overall Survival with Local Consolidative Therapy in...
“We strongly oppose the White House budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, which would stall our nation’s progress against cancer and impede access to needed care for the millions of Americans dealing with cancer. The proposal would make drastic, unprecedented cuts to the U.S. Department of...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Douglas Kondziolka, MD, of NYU Langone Health System, and colleagues found that patients undergoing Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery for nonmalignant neurosurgical conditions did not appear to be at long-term increased risk of...
Results from a clinical trial presented by Cibula et al at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) 50th Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer showed that a new immunotherapy treatment significantly prolongs survival in women with recurrent ovarian cancer when added to standard...
In a French phase III trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Stéphane Oudard, MD, PhD, of Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, and colleagues found that the addition of docetaxel to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) did not improve prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression-free survival in men with...
As reported by Bertrand Tombal, MD, of the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, and colleagues in The Lancet Oncology, treatment with enzalutamide was associated with clinically meaningful delays in pain progression, symptom worsening, and deterioration in...
Findings from a recent clinical trial presented in a Scientific Plenary session at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) 50th Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer revealed that women with recurrent ovarian cancer who received niraparib as maintenance therapy experienced more time...
Most oncologists are comfortable treating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) patients with cancer, according to a survey of 149 oncologists from 45 National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, but not as confident in their knowledge of the...
A survey of oncologists from National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers found that 95.3% of oncologists who responded are comfortable with treating lesbian, gay, and bisexual patients with cancer, and 82.5% are comfortable treating transgender patients with cancer.1...
At the end of 2015, I was dying. I was just 50 years old and a wife and mother of 2 teenage boys. Twelve years earlier, I had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ in my left breast. Despite a modified radical mastectomy and removal of nearly all of the lymph nodes in my left underarm—which ...
BOOKMARK Title: The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight LossAuthor: Jason Fung, MDPublisher: Greystone BooksDate: March 2016Price: $18.95, paperback; 296 pages According to data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), obesity plays a significant role in developing at least 12 different ...
A recent National Cancer Database study has shown the current standard of care for advanced cervical cancer—external-beam radiation and chemotherapy in combination with brachytherapy—provides significantly higher overall survival over chemoradiation alone. However, the addition of...
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute announced recently that New England Cancer Specialists is the newest member of the Dana-Farber Cancer Care Collaborative. Participation in the Collaborative reflects a demonstrated commitment to excellence by meeting a wide array of standards and best practices....
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is accepting candidate nominations for The Sjöberg Prize 2020. The Sjöberg Prize for Cancer Research is awarded to scientists who have made major contributions to our knowledge about disease mechanisms, risk factors, or the treatment or prevention of cancer....
A study by Pierce et al presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) 50th Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer showed that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in Alabama are highest in counties with high incidence rates of HPV-related cancer (Abstract 13). ...
Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute have announced that medical oncologist/hematologist Nalini Hasija, MD, has joined the statewide practice, which encompasses a network of nearly 100 locations. Dr. Hasija will be seeing patients at the Tampa Cancer Center. Professional Training Dr. ...
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,...
On January 15, 2019, WebMD, an online and print health-care resource for consumers, presented its 2018 Health Heroes Award in New York City to 7 people who are making a difference in oncology care. The honorees include Karen M. Winkfield, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Wake...
On March 18, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with carboplatin and etoposide for the first-line treatment of adult patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. IMpower133 Approval was based on the IMpower133 study, a...
Two recent publications in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), and the resulting drug approval applications that have already been filed, lead to concern that the basis of medical practice on valid evidence may be corrupted. Each involves statistically shaky analysis leading to a striking...
Those dealing with sarcoma know that resources and support can be difficult to find. Members of the newly formed Sarcoma Coalition are working together to change that. The Sarcoma Coalition is a nonprofit collaboration of sarcoma advocacy organizations from around the country working toward a...
The National Brain Tumor Society, a nonprofit dedicated to the brain tumor community in the United States, recently announced a new partnership with the Brain Science Foundation. Under the terms of the partnership, the organizations have established the Meningioma Research Fund to raise and grant...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has awarded the 15th AACR–Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship to Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD. The award was presented during the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Dr. Bluestone is President and Chief Executive Officer of the...
The Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute awarded research grants to four projects that focus on bladder cancer treatments in women and how biology could offer new targets for cancer therapy.The Institute awards grants of $25,000 to $50,000. David McConkey, PhD, Director of the...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. In this installment of Living a Full Life, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, FACP,...
Stephen J. Forman, MD, Leader of City of Hope’s Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute and the Francis & Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, recently received the 2019 DKMS Mechtild Harf Science Award in...
Matthew J. Loscalzo, LCSW, of the City of Hope, discusses the ways in which a person’s gender influences how he or she reacts to and copes with a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
In the 20-plus years I have spent in hematologic oncology, I have been fortunate to have a ringside seat to watch “game-changing” advances come into our field—all-trans retinoic acid for acute promyelocytic leukemia, tyrosine kinase inhibitors starting with imatinib for chronic myeloid leukemia,...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Stephen J. Schuster, MD, of Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, the international phase II JULIET trial has shown high response rates with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel in...
Researchers have shown that testosterone replacement may slow the recurrence of prostate cancer in low-risk patients. Findings from the study were presented by Towe et al at the European Association of Urology (EAU) 2019 Congress (Abstract 646). Practitioners have long regarded testosterone as a...
Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, an authority on lung cancer treatment and research, has joined Mount Sinai Health System as Executive Director of the newly created Center for Thoracic Oncology in The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai and will also serve as the Richard M. Stein, MD, Joe Lowe, and...
For more than 3 decades, the American Skin Association (ASA) and its affiliates have funded more than $50 million in grants to address the causes and treatments of melanoma, vitiligo, and psoriasis, as well as other skin diseases, and to search for cures. Recently, the American Skin Association...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies that are focused on several different kinds of treatments for kidney cancer. These trials are evaluating gene therapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and combinations thereof....
New research has shown that experiencing menopause before the age of 45 is associated with a higher risk of bladder cancer; this higher risk was even more notable in smokers. The study, which looked at health outcomes in more than 220,000 patients, was presented by Abufaraj et al at the European...
In 2015, ASCO and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) introduced value frameworks that utilize algorithmic scales to evaluate the clinical benefit of cancer therapies and provide an objective assessment of outcomes and treatment toxicities experienced by patients.1,2 Although the two...
A new approach to cancer follow-up care is required to meet the needs of the growing population of cancer survivors in the United States, while also addressing provider shortages and rising costs, according to a new multiagency report. The report—published by Alfano et al in CA: A Cancer ...
In a linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results and Medicare study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Salz et al found that chronic opioid use varied by cancer among older cancer survivors. By 6 years after diagnosis, survivors were no more likely to be chronic opioid users...
As reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice by Regnante et al, the National Minority Quality Forum and Sustainable Healthy Communities Diverse Cancer Communities Working Group identified strategies employed by U.S. Cancer Centers of Excellence that have resulted in increased inclusion of racial ...
In a Korean study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Chae et al found that 16α-[18F]fluoro-17β-oestradiol (18F-FES) positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) may permit accurate reevaluation of estrogen receptor status in recurrent or metastatic breast cancer when repeat...
Sumanta K. Pal, MD, of City of Hope, talks about the need for investigators across the country to enroll their patients with rare tumors in clinical trials. He describes a trial he is leading for papillary kidney cancer and how others can join his efforts.
Karim Fizazi, MD, PhD, of Gustave Roussy, urges governments, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies to work together in order to find a way to make anticancer drugs affordable and accessible for all patients.
In the past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a companion diagnostic assay, granted Breakthrough Device and Breakthrough Therapy designations, and extended the review period of a proposed treatment. The agency also published four draft guidances and one final guidance...
The incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer may be more common in recipients of kidney transplants vs patients on maintenance dialysis. Researchers looked to determine if the risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer is lower during periods of graft loss with a return to dialysis vs during periods of...
Treatment with conformal radiation therapy immediately following surgery in children with ependymoma may greatly improve survival. The findings were published by Merchant et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “Historically, children under the age of 3 with ependymoma have a worse...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gulley et al found that PROSTVAC, a viral vector-based immunotherapy, did not improve overall survival or 6-month event-free survival vs placebo in patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Chanzá et al found evidence of activity of cabozantinib in advanced non–clear cell renal carcinoma. Cabozantinib is approved in metastatic renal cell carcinoma on the basis of studies in clear cell histology. As noted by ...
In a Dutch study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Jansen et al found that 5% fluorouracil cream was the best of four field-directed treatments for actinic keratosis, the most common premalignant skin disease in the white population. Study Details The study examined the...
In a report from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lehmann et al found that perceptions of risk of infertility were often discordant with laboratory-assessed fertility status in adult survivors of childhood cancer. Study Details In the study, 1,067 survivors...
In the phase I/II SWOG S1313 trial, which was reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ramanathan et al, researchers found that the addition of pegylated recombinant human hyaluronidase (PEGPH20) to modified (m) FOLFIRINOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin) worsened...
ASCO and ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation proudly recognize the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards, the Society's highest honors, and Conquer Cancer's Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards. The recipients of these awards have worked to transform cancer care around the world. ASCO...