For men with early stage, low-risk prostate cancer, treatment with hypofractionated radiation therapy offers comparable health-related quality of life outcomes in one-third less treatment time than conventional radiation therapy, according to research presented by Watkins Bruner et al at the 58th...
While searching for a noninvasive way to detect prostate cancer cells circulating in blood, Duke Cancer Institute researchers have identified some blood markers associated with tumor resistance to two common hormone therapies. In a study published by Gupta et al in Clinical Cancer Research, a team...
In a new study, men who underwent vasectomy did not have an increased risk of prostate cancer, nor were they more likely to die from prostate cancer than men who did not receive this procedure. According to the researchers, this is the largest prospective study of vasectomy and fatal prostate...
Studies show that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors experience distinct challenges and quality-of-life issues from those experienced by either younger or older adult cancer survivors and that those challenges and issues can persist long after the cancer diagnosis and the end of...
What do up to 60% of cancer survivors have in common? Answer: some type of long-term sexual dysfunction. How many cancer survivors seek professional help for sexual problems? Answer: less than 20%. Even when they do seek help, they may not be successful in finding professionals with expertise in...
A collaborative Cleveland Clinic–Mayo Clinic team of researchers has shown for the first time that patients with advanced prostate cancer are more likely to die earlier of their disease if they carry a specific testosterone-related genetic abnormality. The findings, published by Hearn et al in The...
The number of docetaxel cycles completed was associated with improved overall survival among men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer receiving docetaxel, prednisone, and lenalidomide (Revlimid) or docetaxel/prednisone, in the phase III Mainsail trial. de Morrée et al reported this ...
The anabolic hormone testosterone may lessen the early adverse cardiovascular effects of chemotherapy and chemoradiation for advanced or recurrent cancer, according to a randomized controlled trial reported at the 9th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer.1 Among the patients studied,...
In a study in Kaiser Permanante patients reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cespedes Feliciano et al found that the joint presence of obesity and metabolic syndrome in those with early-stage colorectal cancer was associated with poorer overall and colorectal cancer–specific...
A drop in the number of cancer cells detected in a patient’s blood could be the best indicator yet as to whether treatment for prostate cancer is working. A new study, published by Lorente et al in European Urology, shows that a 30% decline in a patient’s numbers of circulating tumor...
In a UK trial (ProtecT) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hamdy et al found no significant differences in prostate cancer–specific or overall mortality among men with localized prostate cancer detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing who underwent active monitoring,...
In an analysis of a clinical trial population reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Giacalone et al found that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure was associated with an increased risk of mortality among men with unfavorable-risk prostate cancer who had no or minimal comorbidity burden. ...
According to the American Cancer Society’s 2016 Cancer Facts & Figures, behaviors such as poor diet choices, physical inactivity, excess alcohol consumption, and unhealthy body weight account for about 20% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States and likely could be prevented with...
The National Cancer Institute–designated Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine has formed a new multispecialty group to provide expert, state-of-the-art esophageal cancer care, from assessing risk, screening, and prevention to diagnosis, treatment, and...
In 2011, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published its landmark report “The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding,” which recognized the scarcity of research in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and the...
The number of docetaxel cycles completed was associated with improved overall survival among men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer receiving docetaxel, prednisone, and lenalidomide (Revlimid; DPL) or docetaxel/prednisone (DP), in the phase III Mainsail trial. de Morrée et...
For at least the past quarter of a century, radiobiologists and radiation oncologists have debated the role of hypofractionation (fewer total fractions with a higher dose per fraction) for prostate cancer. The debate stems from the unique radiobiology of prostate cancer and the best means to...
Jemal et al described findings indicating a continued decline in the incidence of localized/regional-stage prostate cancer at 2 years after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in men aged ≥ 50 years in 2011, in a letter ...
Two recent European phase III trials with different study designs focused on hypofractionated vs conventional radiotherapy in localized prostate cancer. Investigators in the CHHiP trial1 showed that the hypofractionated approach is noninferior to standard fractionation, with no increase in side...
In a retrospective multicohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hearn et al found that the inherited HSD3B1 (1245C) allele was significantly associated with resistance to androgen-deprivation therapy and poorer outcome in men with prostate cancer. HSD3B1 (1245A>C) has been linked to...
Radiation for prostate cancer typically requires 40 to 45 daily treatments, given over 8 to 9 weeks. Long fractionation schemes are chosen for most cancers, because they allow for tumor killing while reducing the potential for injury to normal tissue. However, the radiobiology of prostate cancer...
In a phase III noninferiority trial (NRG Oncology RTOG 0415) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, W. Robert Lee, MD, MS, Med, of Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues found that hypofractionated radiotherapy was not inferior to conventional radiotherapy in disease-free survival...
After the Vietnam War, close to a million refugees, known as “boat people,” fled Vietnam, hazarding the open ocean on dangerously overloaded vessels. The term “boat people” is often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese (about 2 million) who left their country by any means between 1975...
For diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, does the dose of rituximab (Rituxan) matter? Are there patient characteristics that determine outcomes as well as the optimal dose? These questions were explored at the 2016 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference by Matthew A. Lunning, DO, Assistant Professor of...
Prostate cancer and lung cancer have been the number 1 and 2 cancers among men. Stomach cancer, the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, has been on a steady decline among Koreans and Japanese. Black men had the highest overall rates of cancer. Thyroid cancer has been on the rise, and...
A study at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health showed that obesity was more prevalent in patients with a history of cancer than in the general population, and survivors of colorectal and breast cancers were particularly affected. The study is among the first to compare rates of...
Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and open radical retropubic prostatectomy yielded similar domain-specific quality-of-life or pathologic outcomes at 12 weeks in men with newly diagnosed, clinically localized prostate cancer, according to the results of a randomized phase III trial reported ...
Men with very high-risk prostate cancer treated at hospitals with a high proportion of administered radical local treatment (radiotherapy or prostatectomy) have half of the mortality risk of men who are treated at hospitals with the lowest proportions, according to a new study conducted by...
In a phase III noninferiority trial (NRG Oncology RTOG 0415) reported by Lee et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, W. Robert Lee, MD, MS, Med, of Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues found that hypofractionated radiotherapy was not inferior to conventional hypofractionated...
Men with testicular cancer who were uninsured or on Medicaid had a higher risk of death from what is normally a curable disease than insured patients, a new study found. The findings, published by Markt et al in Cancer, add to growing evidence that differences in health insurance status can affect...
In a retrospective study analyzing patients' medical records, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) found that race significantly affected longevity by increasing the likelihood of death after receiving androgen-deprivation therapy. These findings were published by Kovtun et al in...
The global economic crisis beginning in 2008 was associated with substantial public health effects, especially with respect to mental health.1–3 Nevertheless, there is also evidence of a paradoxical association between recessions and reduced all-cause mortality, in part because of reductions in...
The global economic crisis has been associated with increased unemployment and reduced public-sector expenditure on health care. In a study reported in The Lancet, Mahiben Maruthappu, MA, of Imperial College London, and colleagues found that the global economic crisis beginning in 2008 was...
In a population-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Greenlee et al found that rates of obesity have increased more in patients with a history of cancer than in the general population. These rates were particularly high among survivors of colorectal and breast cancers and black ...
There has been an ongoing debate about which type of radiation therapy is preferable in the treatment of localized prostate cancer: hypofractionation (larger fractions given over 4–5 weeks) or conventional radiotherapy (given over 8–9 weeks). A new study presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting...
Although active surveillance for patients with low-risk prostate cancer has become an increasingly acceptable strategy for disease management, many men opt for definitive therapies such as radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy. A new study of more than 2,200 patients with low-risk prostate...
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has concluded that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of visual skin examination by a clinician to screen for skin cancer in asymptomatic adults. The report was published in JAMA. This is an “I...
Active surveillance has become an increasingly important alternative to surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation treatment for men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer. However, what is the impact of active surveillance on health-related quality of life in patients selected or opting for this...
The National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences took up the issue of lung cancer screening at its mid-June workshop. Greta Massetti, PhD, Associate Director for Science, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and chair of ...
The cumulative incidence of endocrinopathies steadily increased over time in aging survivors of childhood cancers, according to an analysis of data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study reported by Mostoufi-Moab et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Study Details The study included...
The success of using social media to push forward causes for social good was a driving factor in the launch this past October of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Project (MBC project), which aims to accelerate the understanding of what makes patients with metastatic breast cancer genetically unique....
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has endorsed human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the principal source of guidance on U.S. immunization policy. The ACS's...
Restoring tumor-specific immunity is a treatment strategy that works well in melanoma and lung cancer patients. Now a new study out of the Oregon Health & Science University (OSHU) Knight Cancer Institute is reviving hope that the approach also may help men with life-threatening prostate...
A University of Michigan study published by Piert et al in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine reported that the addition of molecular imaging based on F-18-choline positron-emission tomography (PET) improves the identification of significant prostate cancer over multiparametric prostate magnetic...
Obesity may be associated with an increased risk for death from multiple myeloma in African Americans, according to a study reported by Sonderman et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Multiple myeloma incidence and mortality rates have been reported to be twice as high among...
The incidence of mutations in DNA-repair genes was significantly higher among men with metastatic prostate cancer than among men with localized disease (11.8% vs 4.6%), according to a study by Pritchard et al reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. In addition, the frequency ...
Investigators of two European phase III trials have reached different conclusions on whether hypofractionated radiotherapy should replace conventional radiotherapy as a new standard of treatment in localized prostate cancer. The CHHiP trial findings favoring hypofractionation were reported by David ...
The incidence rate of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related anal cancer and its precursor lesion, anal intraepithelial neoplasia, is rising in the United States and globally. Although 5-year survival rates in localized disease are generally favorable, survival in metastatic disease remains poor,...
Question 1: What is the next best step for this patient? Correct Answer: C. Determination of amyloid subtype. Expert Perspective Amyloidosis encompasses a heterogeneous group of diseases bound by the characteristic deposition of amyloid fibrils in soft tissues and bone marrow, and it could be...
Every longstanding culture has ages: The Minoans were followed by the Mycenaeans and, later, the Hellenistic peoples. And so it is with hematology/oncology. A descriptive age dominated predominately by histopathologists was followed by an age of experimentalists. Development of the atomic bombs...