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Showing 16301 - 16350Secondary Prevention in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Benefits of Vitamin D and Aspirin Explored
Two low-cost, low-tech options may lead to a survival benefit in metastatic colorectal cancer, according to separate retrospective studies selected for the Best of ASCO® 2015. The first study suggested that vitamin D supplementation is worthy of investigation in this regard,1 and the second study...
Colorectal Liver Metastases: Thumbs Up for Radiofrequency Ablation, Jury Still Out for Selective Internal Radiotherapy
Two “firsts” in studies of colorectal liver metastases were highlighted at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting: the first prospective randomized trial to evaluate radiofrequency ablation plus chemotherapy1 and the first large randomized phase III trial to study liver-directed selective internal radiation...
Positioning Targeted and Immunotherapy-Based Approaches in Lung Cancer
With immunotherapy changing the face of lung cancer, is there still a place for targeted therapy? Two experts from Emory University debated this issue at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference held in Sea Island, Georgia. Fadlo Khuri, MD, was recently named President...
Charting a New Course: From Clinical Investigator to University President
What first intrigued Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, about the prospect of becoming the 16th President of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon was the chance to give back to an institution and a country that had given him so much. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1963, Dr. Khuri was raised ...
Elotuzumab Ushers in a New Era in Myeloma Therapy
The long wait for monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of multiple myeloma is over. In the landmark ELOQUENT-2 study, reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Lonial and colleagues convincingly demonstrate the effectiveness of elotuzumab, a monoclonal antibody directed against SLAMF7, in the...
Adding Elotuzumab to Lenalidomide Plus Dexamethasone Improves Progression-Free Survival in Refractory Multiple Myeloma
In an interim analysis of the phase III ELOQUENT-2 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sagar Lonial, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine, Meletios Dimopoulos, MD, of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and colleagues found that the addition of elotuzumab to...
Azacitidine Increased Median Overall Survival Among Patients Aged 65 and Older With > 30% Blasts
A multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase III trial among the difficult-to-treat population of patients aged aged 65 and older with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with > 30% bone marrow blasts “showed that azacitidine was associated with a clinically meaningful improvement” in median overall...
‘Encouraging Results’ With Newer EGFR TKIs in Patients With NSCLC Who Progressed After Prior EGFR TKI Therapy
Two studies of third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors among patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had progressive disease following treatment with a first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor “show encouraging results,” according to...
My Positive Attitude Is Keeping Me Alive
Until I was diagnosed with stage III renal cell carcinoma in early 2008, I had no firsthand experience with cancer. To my knowledge, there is no history of cancer in my immediate family, and despite a smoking habit I picked up when I was young, I had been in relatively good health in the 56 years...
Let It Be Hard
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Internationally Acclaimed Cancer Researcher, Gianni Bonadonna, MD, Dies at 81
Gianni Bonadonna, MD, was considered the “Father of Italian Oncology,” but his scientific contributions to the field and his generous collegial spirit extended far beyond the shores of his native land. Dr. Bonadonna was at the forefront in the battle to convince the surgical establishment that...
In Search of a Good Ending for a Life Well Lived
BOOKMARK Title: The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-life CareAuthor: Angelo E. Volandes, MDPublisher: BloomsburyPublication date: January 13, 2015Price: $26.00; hardcover, 240 pages A quick Google search on books about end-of-life care will yield pages of hits on the subject. The...
Microbes by the Trillions
BOOKMARK Title: 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and HappinessAuthor: Alanna CollenPublisher: Harper CollinsPublication date: April 27, 2015Price: $39.99; hardcover, 400 pages "As I walked back through the forest that night in the summer of 2005, with twenty bats in...
Statin Use at Start of Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Increases Time to Progression During Treatment of Prostate Cancer
Statin use has been associated with improved outcomes in prostate cancer. In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Lauren C. Harshman, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues found that statin use at the time of the initiation of androgen-deprivation therapy was associated with...
Updated Analysis of Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer Risk
As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Chlebowski and colleagues1 reported differing patterns of breast cancer risk during or after hormonal therapy with estrogen plus progestin2 or estrogen alone,3 in an analysis of two Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trials. This recent update on risk...
Differing Patterns of Breast Cancer Risk After Hormone Therapy With Estrogen Plus Progestin or Estrogen Alone
In an analysis of Women’s Health Initiative trials reported in JAMA Oncology, Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and colleagues found differing patterns of breast cancer risk among women receiving menopausal hormone therapy with estrogen plus progestin or estrogen alone.1...
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Nivolumab Is Active in Patients With Heavily Pretreated Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
In a phase I cohort expansion trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Scott N. Gettinger, MD, of Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues found that monotherapy with the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor antibody nivolumab (Opdivo)...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Donor Spotlight: Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation
When Tucker Davis was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FL-HCC) in 2008, there was very little information about this very rare cancer and, as Tucker would soon discover, even fewer treatment options available. An annoying cough and sharp pain radiating down his back leg...
FDA Approves Rolapitant for Prevention of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rolapitant (Varubi) to prevent delayed-phase chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Rolapitant is approved in adults in combination with other antiemetic agents that prevent nausea and vomiting associated with initial and repeat courses of...
One Doctor’s Road to Palliative Care Services in the Inner City
St. Barnabas Hospital is located in the heart of Bronx, New York, and as such, it has a culturally diverse, largely poor, patient population. The backbone of successful palliative care services is the doctor-patient communication bonding process. However, many of the patients with late-stage cancer ...
HPV-Positive Head and Neck Cancer: When Can Chemotherapy Be Omitted?
Are there patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) for whom chemotherapy can be omitted? Experts debated this question at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference in Sea Island, Georgia,...
Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Is Transplantation Still Necessary?
Autologous stem cell transplantation has played a critical role in the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma, but in the age of novel treatments, is it always warranted? Two experts in the field explored the question at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference sponsored by...
Double-Hit Lymphoma: Many Treatment Strategies, No Standard of Care
"Double-hit lymphoma” represents a challenging malignancy without a standard-of-care treatment, although outcomes for some patients are better than was once believed, according to Jonathon B. Cohen, MD, Assistant Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University, Atlanta. Dr. Cohen...
Making Their Voices Heard: 118 Oncologists Speak Out About Stemming the High Cost of Cancer Drugs
In a bold move to shed light on the ramifications of the ever-increasing cost of cancer drugs for patients with cancer and for the health-care system, 118 prominent oncologists came together to write a commentary in Mayo Clinic Proceedings detailing their concerns.1 To learn more about these...
Our Children’s Future Is Our Responsibility
Cancer prevention is a child-care issue. With many of cancer’s instigators planting their seeds during childhood, we—as a profession and as a nation—must seize this important window of opportunity to protect the health and well-being of future generations. Current estimates suggest that up to...
First-Line Nivolumab/Ipilimumab Combination in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Shown to Be Tolerable
For advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), first-line treatment with combined immune checkpoint blockade—in novel doses and schedules—was associated with deep and durable responses, encouraging progression-free survival, and much better tolerability than has been previously observed with...
Thomas A. Stamey, MD, Noted Urologist and Prostate Cancer Expert, Dies at 87
Thomas A. Stamey, MD, Professor Emeritus of Urology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a leader in the study and treatment of prostate cancer, died of Alzheimer’s disease September 4. He was 87. A True Pioneer in the Field Dr. Stamey helped lay the groundwork for the...
Sidney Mirvish, PhD, Carcinogenesis Researcher, Dies at 86
Sidney Mirvish, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), whose pioneering research into nitrosamines and carcinogenesis led to changes in the way lunch meats, hot dogs, and sausages were made,...
Decreased Mortality in Men With Unfavorable-Risk Prostate Cancer and Moderate or Severe Comorbidities Treated With Radiotherapy Alone
Men with unfavorable-risk prostate cancer and moderate or severe comorbidities had significantly decreased overall and cardiac mortality when treated with radiotherapy alone vs radiotherapy and androgen-deprivation therapy, according to a study described in a research letter in The Journal of the...
Scotty’s Gift
The following essay by Emil J. Freireich, 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. I learned...
A Practical Guide to Surviving Breast Cancer and Its Treatments
BOOKMARK Title: Bald Is Better With Earrings: A Survivor’s Guide to Getting Through Breast CancerAuthor: Andrea HuttonPublisher: Harper CollinsPublication date: July 7, 2015Price: $17.99; paperback, 224 pages There are a plethora of books written by breast cancer survivors, and there are sure to...
Measuring Global Health Issues, Seven Billion Times
BOOKMARK Title: Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion PatientsAuthor: Jeremy N. SmithPublisher: Harper WavePublication date: April 7, 2015Price: $26.99; hardcover, 352 pages Health measures are essential tools in assessing public health and safety. Collecting large amounts of data is a laborious ...
Expect Questions About Treatment for Ductal Carcinoma in Situ
The recent study findings that women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ had a low breast cancer–specific mortality and that preventing ipsilateral recurrences did not prevent breast cancer mortality1 might lead some women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ to question the need for...
Varied Reactions to Study Finding That Preventing Ipsilateral Recurrence Did Not Prevent Death From Breast Cancer
Women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ have a low risk of dying of breast cancer, according to an observational study looking at data from 108,196 women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ between 1988 and 2011.1 The breast cancer–specific mortality rate for these women was 1.1% at 10...
A Cancer Care Model for Rural Areas
Rural cancer patients have long had to adjust to difficult geographic and financial barriers to access high-quality cancer care. These problems are exacerbated by today’s fiscal challenges, which have disrupted many of the small community practices that once served rural communities. In 2006, the...
‘Modern’ Surgical Scene, Circa 1945
A Century of Progress The text and photographs on this page are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology Tumors & Treatment: A Photographic History, by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS. The photos below are from the volume titled “The Anesthesia Era: 1916–1945.” To view...
The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Combating Cancer-Related Pain
The statistics are staggering. Despite the development of novel analgesics and the increasing awareness of the importance of adequately controlling pain from cancer or its treatment, up to 50% of patients undergoing treatment and between 70% and 90% of patients with advanced disease experience some ...
Anti–PD-1 Superior to Chemotherapy in the KEYNOTE-002 Trial
Immunotherapy, once considered a niche treatment for a few specific cancers, has rapidly emerged as an additional pillar of cancer therapeutics. With the proliferation of promising results, clinical trials, and new drug approvals, one cannot help but be amazed that only 3 years have elapsed since...
Pembrolizumab Increases Progression-Free Survival in Ipilimumab-Refractory Advanced Melanoma
In a randomized phase II trial (KEYNOTE-002) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Antoni Ribas, MD, of UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that treatment with the anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) antibody pembrolizumab (Keytruda) prolonged...
ASCO, ACS, ASTRO Study Finds Increased Travel Distance Affects Whether Patients Receive Adjuvant Chemotherapy
A new study conducted by ASCO in collaboration with the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology1 found that patients who have to travel farther to appointments are less likely to receive adjuvant...
Increased Risk of Death From Breast Cancer for Women With Ductal Carcinoma in Situ vs General Population
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Steven A. Narod, MD, FRCPC, of Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital, and the University of Toronto, and colleagues found that the risk of breast cancer mortality was elevated in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ compared with the...
Docetaxel Chemohormonal Therapy in Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer
Sweeney et al reported on the results of a seminal phase III trial (E3805) of chemohormonal therapy vs androgen-deprivation therapy in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer in a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine,1 and the study is summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post....
Adding Docetaxel to Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Prolongs Overall Survival in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
In a phase III trial (E3805) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Christopher J. Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues found that chemohormonal therapy with docetaxel plus androgen-deprivation therapy produced a significant 13.6-month increase in median...
Male Breast Cancer: An Understudied Disease and Clinical Challenge
Male breast cancer is an uncommon disease, although the incidence has increased over the past couple of decades. As with many other “orphan” diseases, male breast cancer is understudied, especially in randomized controlled trials. Although it shares similarities with female breast cancer, some...
Adjuvant Treatment of Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Meta-analyses Provide More Clarity
The Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) continues its practice of being a lighthouse, shedding its beacon of light on the vast ocean of breast cancer research through the publication of two large, individual patient level–data meta-analyses on the management of women with...
EBCTCG Meta-analyses Show Improved Outcomes With Aromatase Inhibitors vs Tamoxifen and a Potential Benefit of Adjuvant Bisphosphonates Limited to Postmenopausal Women
The Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) patient-level meta-analyses, concurrently reported in The Lancet, sought to clarify the effects of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor vs tamoxifen treatment and adjuvant bisphosphonate treatment in early breast cancer.1,2 The endocrine...
Better Definitions and Biomarkers Needed to Reduce Cancer Overdiagnosis
At the third annual Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference, speakers described the prevalence and consequences of overdiagnosis in several medical specialties, including cancer. The Conference, which had the theme “Winding Back the Harms of Too Much Medicine,” was co-sponsored by the National Cancer...
Patient and Survivor Care Studies Yield Useful Results to Improve Quality of Life
Recent studies have yielded useful results that clinicians can put into practice, some right now, to help improve the quality of life for patients with cancer. Concerns addressed included cachexia, pain, “chemobrain,” and fertility preservation. At the Best of ASCO®/Chicago meeting, Arif Kamal,...
Nivolumab in Lung Cancer Supported by Updated Trial Data
For the treatment of advanced squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody nivolumab (Opdivo) continues to show results in key trials that now report 18-month data. The updates were reported at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver,...
Lung Cancer Rates Doubling Among Nonsmokers
Lung cancer is becoming an equal-opportunity malignancy—with rates rising among never-smokers, especially females, according to studies presented at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver. British investigators reported that in one large tertiary medical center, the proportion of...
