On July 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer whose tumors express programmed cell death ligand 1...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chera et al found that deintensified chemoradiotherapy produced favorable outcomes in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 114 patients were recruited...
Hundreds of oncologists are working “side gigs” as expert witnesses in a wide range of medicolegal settings. With increasing conflict related to liability and insurance coverage, the demand continues to grow for objective physicians who are not involved in a specific case, have no personal...
In a study by Mahal et al published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers conducted a population-based assessment of the incidence and demographic burden of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in the United States. The researchers...
In a phase I dose-escalation trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cuneo et al established the phase II dose of the Wee1 kinase inhibitor adavosertib in combination with gemcitabine and radiotherapy in locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Wee1 inhibition impedes DNA damage response and ...
In an analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Antonia et al identified long-term survival rates with nivolumab therapy in patients with previously treated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The pooled analysis included data from the CheckMate 017, 057, 063, and 003 trials, each...
In an Italian prospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Maggino et al found that among patients receiving primary chemotherapy for newly diagnosed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, conversion to surgical resection was achieved in 24% of those with borderline resectable disease and 9% of...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who engaged in moderate exercise while undergoing chemotherapy tended to have delayed progression of their disease and fewer severe side effects from treatment, according to the results of a new study published by Guercio et al in the Journal of Clinical...
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of additional data found no increased risk of prostate cancer with the use of entacapone to treat Parkinson’s disease. The FDA conducted this review after an earlier trial—the Stalevo Reduction in Dyskinesia Evaluation–Parkinson's...
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to target biopsies is more effective at detecting prostate cancers that are likely to need treatment than standard ultrasound-guided biopsies alone, according to research published by Elwenspoek et al in JAMA Network Open. Prostate biopsies can cause side...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien Hou, PharmD, DipIOM, LAc, explores the potential health benefits of...
Late in 2018, pembrolizumab was granted accelerated approval in the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network protocol 9 (CITN-09), also known...
Since the 1970s, there has been an alarming increase in obesity. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese. Excess body weight is linked to numerous diseases, including more than 14 types of cancers. ...
In the phase II EV-201 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rosenberg et al found the antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin showed high activity in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma who had previously received platinum-based therapy and anti–programmed cell...
Breast cancer researcher and innovator Laura J. van ’t Veer, PhD, was born and reared in Amsterdam in 1957. “During high school, I had a wonderful biology teacher who was going through his own biology studies at the University of Amsterdam, and he was bringing that university-level education into...
The 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting featured a wealth of presentations on important topics. In addition to our regular news coverage of the meeting, we present below some highlights of other studies that add to our knowledge base for treatment of various cancers. Olaratumab in Soft-Tissue Sarcoma...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Greenup et al found that cancer treatment costs influenced women’s decisions on breast cancer surgery. Researchers reported many women, even at the highest income levels, said that costs were higher than expected, and that most women...
In an interim analysis of the phase III E1912 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shanafelt et al found that ibrutinib/rituximab improved progression-free and overall survival vs standard chemoimmunotherapy in patients 70 years old or younger with previously untreated chronic...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clarke et al found that hysterectomy-corrected rates of uterine corpus cancer—particularly nonendometrioid subtypes—have been increasing in the United States, with racial disparities in incidence and survival being observed. In...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Adkins et al found that the combination of the cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitor palbociclib and the EGFR inhibitor cetuximab showed activity in patients with either platinum- or cetuximab-resistant human papillomavirus...
On July 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus whose tumors express programmed ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by de Boer et al, a post hoc updated survival analysis of the phase III PORTEC-3 trial has shown a significant overall survival benefit of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy vs radiotherapy alone in women with high-risk endometrial cancer. A benefit in failure-free...
In a study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Kerlikowske et al found that the combined use of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) breast density and Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC)-defined risk for breast cancer may be an effective way of identifying women with dense...
Scientists have demonstrated that an artificial intelligence (AI) tool can perform as well as human reviewers—and much more rapidly—in extracting clinical information regarding changes in tumors from unstructured radiology reports for patients with lung cancer. These findings were...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Lyons et al found that transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) or on-ward death occurred in 9% of admissions to cancer wards at an urban tertiary cancer hospital. Investigators identified factors associated with clinical deterioration...
The 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting provided attendees with an abundance of clinically relevant abstracts in gastrointestinal cancers. Briefly featured here are clinical trial updates on pembrolizumab in the second-line treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (KEYNOTE-240 trial), laparoscopic vs open...
In addition to our regular coverage of major news stories from the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, here is an additional roundup of important studies related to prostate cancer. ARAMIS: Darolutamide and Quality of Life Darolutamide, a next-generation androgen receptor antagonist, significantly prolonged...
In a cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Armer et al found that longer duration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and increasing body mass index (BMI) were associated with increased risk of lymphedema in women with node-positive breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and axillary...
A new study finds that trends in colonoscopy rates did not fully align with recent increases in colorectal cancer incidence in younger adults. The findings were published by Fedewa et al in the Journal of Medical Screening. Colorectal cancer incidence rates are declining in adults older than...
In a nearly 20-year follow-up of a Scandinavian trial reported in The Lancet, Utjés et al found no difference in survival outcomes with 2-cm vs 4-cm surgical excision margins for primary localized cutaneous melanoma with a thickness > 2 mm. The previous report from the trial showed no...
There were more than 8.7 million person-years of life lost and $94.4 billion in earnings lost due to cancer among people aged 16 to 84 in the United States in 2015. The calculation comes from a new report published by Islami et al in JAMA Oncology. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Banerjee et al found that higher cumulative anesthesia exposure and duration of exposure during treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) may be associated with adverse neurocognitive and abnormal neuroimaging outcomes in long-term survivors....
The results of an economic modeling study to estimate the cost-effectiveness of multigene panel sequencing as compared to standard-of-care single-gene tests for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed that multigene panel sequencing tests are moderately...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel hematology and oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On February 22, trifluridine/tipiracil...
Findings from a study of patients who received radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism show a modest association between the dose of treatment and long-term risk of death from solid cancers, including breast cancer. The study, led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), was...
In the phase III ENLIVEN trial reported in The Lancet, Tap et al found that the colony-stimulating factor 1 inhibitor pexidartinib produced responses in patients with advanced tenosynovial giant cell tumors (TGCTs) not amenable to surgical resection. Study Details In the double-blind portion of...
Early detection and treatment through screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has been investigated as a potential means of reducing lung cancer mortality for more than 2 decades. In 2011, a large U.S. study—the randomized National Lung Screening Trial (NLST)—reported a 20%...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a new drug application for niraparib in the treatment of certain pretreated gynecologic cancers; granted Fast Track designation to a T-cell product; accepted investigational new drug applications for a myelopreservation agent and an...
New research published in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and presented by Jarushka Naidoo, MBBCh, at the NCCN 2019 Annual Conference suggests that institutions and networks that utilize immunotherapy should consider establishing multidisciplinary teams for...
The Dutch FaMRIsc study, reported in The Lancet Oncology by Saadatmand et al, found that the addition of screening magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to mammography resulted in identification of more breast cancers—and identification at an earlier stage—vs mammography alone among women...
In the Scandinavian phase III HYPO-RT-PC trial reported in The Lancet, Widmark et al found that ultrahypofractionated radiotherapy was noninferior to conventionally fractionated radiotherapy in failure-free survival in patients with intermediate- to high- risk prostate cancer. Study Details In...
The ROBUST trial compared the addition of lenalidomide to R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone) vs placebo/R-CHOP in previously untreated, prospectively selected, CD20-positive patients with activated B-cell–like (ABC)-type diffuse large B-cell...
In a report published in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Keshvani et al found that transitioning from inpatient to outpatient ambulatory infusional EPOCH (etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin)-based chemotherapy in patients with lymphoma at a safety net hospital...
In the phase III GOG 258 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Matei et al found that 6 months of adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy plus radiation therapy did not improve relapse-free survival vs chemotherapy alone in stage III or IVA endometrial cancer. In the open-label...
ASCO OFFERS tools and resources designed specifically for caregivers who are supporting someone with cancer. The ASCO Answers Guide to Caregiving includes advice for talking with family and the health-care team, trackers for symptoms and medications, and more. A simple one-page worksheet,...
Recent technologic improvements in radiotherapy now offer an unprecedented opportunity to enhance immune response, and going forward, may play a role in the definitive treatment of head and neck cancer, according to William Stokes, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at...
Patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related head and neck cancer stand to benefit greatly from immunotherapy, according to Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, Director, Head and Neck Medical Oncology Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Atlanta. He added, immunotherapy will likely play...
Agents that improve survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer when added to background androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) are showing success in treating metastatic prostate cancer earlier while it is still hormone-sensitive. These agents include docetaxel (chemotherapy) and...
Nonmetastatic (M0) castration-resistant prostate cancer arises in the subset of men with biochemically recurrent disease (ie, rising prostate-specific antigen [PSA] level after definitive therapy in the absence of metastases) who develop PSA progression after chronic exposure to...
A new study published by McDonough et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice found that while primary care physicians are often involved in cancer survivorship care, many do not feel adequately prepared for key components of it. The study shared the results of a survey of 117...