Immunotherapy is taking on yet another highly aggressive cancer and yielding strong results, according to data presented during the 2020 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s World Conference on Lung Cancer Virtual Presidential Symposium.1 A prespecified interim analysis of the...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, will partner with Cancer Research UK to fund Cancer Grand Challenges, an international initiative to address profound and unanswered questions in cancer research. Through Cancer Grand Challenges, the NCI and Cancer...
Earlier this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading across the United States, federal health officials and cancer societies urged Americans to delay routine cancer screenings and other elective procedures to keep them out of clinics to avoid potential exposure to the coronavirus and to...
A new study published by Kichenadasse et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network concentrates on how immunotherapy-related adverse events may impact more than one organ in a single patient. This study provides new information on how frequently multiorgan side effects occur...
Women with early-stage cervical cancer treated with minimally invasive radical hysterectomy had a 71% increased risk of recurrence and a 56% increased risk of death compared with those treated with open radical hysterectomy, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 studies involving ...
The ASCO Post spoke with Alexander Melamed, MD, MPH, a gynecologic oncologist and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, New York, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. New York state has had more coronavirus cases ...
Ovarian cancer is associated with the highest risk of mortality among the five most common gynecologic cancers (cervical, ovarian, uterine [endometrial], vaginal, and vulvar) in the United States; in 2020 in the United States, ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 21,750 women, and...
The message still needs to get out that metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer should be treated with both androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and either docetaxel or an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor. In spite of “overwhelming” support for ADT plus abiraterone/prednisone,...
The first-line setting for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) now has become more complicated, according to data presented during the 2020 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s World Conference on Lung Cancer Virtual...
Marina C. Garassino, MD, of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, discusses the global registry she and her colleagues created to track and address the 35% higher mortality risk from COVID-19 among patients with lung cancer who are treated with chemotherapy.
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Ziakas et al found that Medicare Part D spending on oncology drugs increased markedly between 2013 and 2017, with spending increasing at a rate markedly greater than that attributed to all other medical care providers. Study Details Medicare Part D...
Leora Horn, MD, of Vanderbilt University, discusses phase III results from the eXalt3 trial, which suggest that ensartinib, a novel, next-generation ALK inhibitor, is superior to crizotinib in terms of progression-free survival as well as efficacy in central nervous system metastases for patients...
Misako Nagasaka, MD, of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, discusses results of the ORIENT-11 trial, which showed that, although sintilimab plus pemetrexed and platinum significantly improved progression-free survival, the combination only nominally improved overall survival in patients...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Cambodia. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
For nearly 30 years, from the time he was a young resident at the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital for Cancer Research of Harvard University, until his death from lung cancer on August 31, 1969, David A. Karnofsky, MD, dedicated himself to the pursuit of scientific excellence and the...
The dramatic advances in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple myeloma over the past 20 years have resulted in significant improvements in overall survival, with 5-year relative survival rates now around 50% and more than 60% for patients younger than age 70.1 The proteasome inhibitors...
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) athletes use combat techniques designed to dominate one’s opponent with control and force. The goal: make your opponent be the first to tap out. In 2010, BJJ practitioner Jon Thomas was surprised to discover there was no philanthropic presence within his sport. That’s when ...
The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) announced that John Connolly, PhD, has been named Chief Scientific Officer. In this role, Dr. Connolly will design and execute PICI’s overall research strategy in close collaboration with the institute’s leadership team, center directors, and...
Following an extensive national search, Bert W. O’Malley, Jr, MD, has been appointed as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), the flagship academic hospital for the University of Maryland Medical System and an anchor institution in...
A vaccine for COVID-19 is currently the Holy Grail, but even if an effective vaccine were developed on a fast-track timetable, it may be effective in only a percentage of people, judging by existing flu vaccines, which show efficacy rates of approximately 45% and vary year by year. Until we have a...
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2020 Virtual, Milind Javle, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and colleagues reported that third- and later-line treatment with the selective fibroblast growth factor...
Palliative care services are so crucial to the well-being of patients with cancer that, in 2017, ASCO updated its clinical practice guideline on the integration of palliative care into standard oncology care.1 The updated guideline recommends that all patients with advanced cancer receive dedicated ...
My husband and I adopted our cat, Franklin, on a cold November day. It was one of the last days Andrew felt well enough to leave the house to go anywhere other than to chemotherapy or a doctor’s appointment. Our news at these appointments had shifted toward the negative, with disease progression...
Paul Baas, MD, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, discusses results of the CheckMate 743 trial, which suggests nivolumab plus ipilimumab should be considered the new standard of care in first-line treatment of unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma, regardless of the histology subtype...
Scientists have newly discovered three genetic changes that increase the risk of breast cancer in men. These findings were published by Maguire et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The researchers identified three common variations in DNA that predispose men to developing breast...
A single priming dose of tremelimumab and durvalumab, followed by monthly durvalumab, showed clinical activity in a predominantly second-line advanced hepatocellular carcinoma population, in a study reported at the ESMO World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer Virtual 2020.1 In a study of 332...
In a single-institution Korean study reported in the American Journal of Surgical Pathology, Kim et al found that chromogranin A expression in rectal neuroendocrine tumors is associated with more aggressive clinical characteristics and poorer prognosis. As stated by the investigators, “Although...
The explosion of 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate near the port of Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4 leveled whole sections of the city. The blast killed at least 200 people, injured more than 6,000, and left hundreds of thousands homeless. The blast also severely damaged Beirut’s already fragile...
Androgen-deprivation therapy has been, and remains, the standard of care for patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Patients are often surprised to learn that was all we would do to control their disease and sometimes asked why they would not receive chemotherapy, as for other cancers. I would...
Extended analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study upholds pembrolizumab plus axitinib as a preferred front-line regimen over sunitinib in patients with advanced sporadic renal cell carcinoma.1 These updated results were presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program by Elizabeth R....
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) lauded the adoption of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global strategy toward eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem. WHO Member States adopted the strategy alongside other health resolutions as part of the silence procedure...
Neuroendocrine tumors are rare malignancies that arise in neuroendocrine cells, which can occur throughout the body but are most commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and pancreas. Although most neuroendocrine tumors are indolent and take years to grow, some are aggressive and grow...
I’m very pleased to be joined by Piyush Srivastava, MD, Past Chair of ASCO’s Clinical Practice Committee. Dr. Srivastava is a practicing gastrointestinal oncologist, Regional Medical Director of the End of Life Options Program, and Director of Outpatient Palliative Care at Kaiser Permanente Walnut...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved record numbers of new cancer drugs recently. This is extraordinarily good news for physicians, patients, and drug companies, but it raises important questions as to how effective these drugs are, whether...
The origin of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been traced back to Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, around 1920, when the virus crossed species from chimpanzees to humans. It wasn’t until the 1980s that epidemiologic data began to sum up the number of people who were...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with noted neurosurgeon Keith L. Black, MD, Chair of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute. During his career, Dr. Black has...
Three American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers will receive the Real-World Data Impact Award. The joint grant-making program, supported by the ACS and Flatiron Health, seeks to accelerate cancer research and improve treatment and outcomes for patients. The researchers, already funded by the ACS,...
Jimmie C. Holland, MD, who served as the inaugural Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, died on December 24, 2017, at the age of 89. The ASCO Post paid tribute to Dr. Holland in its January 25, 2018, issue. Here, as part of our ...
In 1996, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology®, covering eight tumor types. Guidelines are now published for more than 60 tumor types and topics. During the NCCN’s 25th Annual Conference, which was held virtually during ...
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,...
It was February 1996, and the first annual meeting of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) was drawing to a close, when Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bruce R. Ross, MD, invited comments from the floor. An oncologist who had attended at the urging of a friend—somewhat reluctantly—stood ...
Although NTRK gene fusions occur in less than 5% of gastrointestinal cancers, it looks like they can be targeted successfully with NTRK inhibitors. In a pooled analysis of three clinical trials, 50% of such patients responded to entrectinib, in an updated analysis presented during the 2020 virtual...
There is a strong rationale for incorporating immunotherapy into the treatment of early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), given the breakthrough results with PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors as monotherapy, combined with immunotherapy, or combined with chemotherapy in advanced-stage NSCLC. As...
Radiation oncologist Gita Suneja, MD, was born and reared in St. Louis, the first-generation daughter of two Indian immigrants. “My father came to the United States to pursue a degree in engineering and decided to remain here, feeling it offered greater opportunities for the family,” Dr. Suneja...
In a post hoc analysis from the phase III NRG Oncology/RTOG 9802 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bell et al found that postradiation chemotherapy was associated with a better outcome vs radiotherapy alone in patients with IDH-mutant, high-risk, low-grade glioma, irrespective of...
Considered the “guardian of the genome,” TP53 is the most commonly mutated gene in patients with cancer. TP53's normal function is to detect DNA damage and prevent cells from passing this damage on to daughter cells. When TP53 is mutated, the protein made from this gene, called p53, can no longer...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) announced its decision not to hold the 62nd ASH Annual Meeting in San Diego as planned given the continuing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting will be offered as a virtual experience from December 5–8, 2020. The Society commented, “While there is...
Although the United States spends billions of dollars each year on cancer research, very little of that funding is dedicated to mental health research in patients with cancer, despite the fact that cancer survivors have a six-time higher risk for psychological disability than people without...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer took place from July 20 to 22, 2020, attracting top scientific minds from around the world to present preliminary research on the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic and its intersection with cancer care. In an...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Daniel O. Persky, MD, and colleagues, the phase II Intergroup National Clinical Trials Network Study S1001 has shown good outcomes with positron-emission tomography (PET)-directed therapy in patients with limited-stage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma ...