ASCO and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) sent a joint letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to regulate electronic cigarettes, cigars, and all other tobacco products and to strengthen the proposed regulations for newly deemed products. The...
Oncology fellows just years away from entering the profession full time may have unrealistic expectations of their future career, according to data published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study by Tait D. Shanafelt, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues...
Each day, millions of patients with cancer around the world suffer unrelieved pain because they are denied morphine, the gold standard of cancer pain control. The World Health Organization has called access to morphine a human rights issue. Not surprisingly, the crisis in unrelieved cancer pain is...
A variety of life-threatening dermatologic adverse events may occur in association with cancer drug therapies. Here, we discuss the recognition and management of three types of such toxicities: type I hypersensitivity/anaphylaxis, Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis, and drug rash...
Gifts totaling $1 million in honor of the 40th anniversary of the cure for testicular cancer were recently announced at a celebration for the physician scientist who developed the treatment. Family, friends, colleagues, and men grateful for their lives gathered at the Indianapolis Museum of Art to...
The following essay by Julie Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories (May 2014), coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. When I met Cindy, she was...
BOOKMARK Title: The Good Doctor: A Father, a Son, and the Evolution of Medical EthicsAuthor: Barron H. Lerner, MDPublisher: Beacon PressPublication date: May 13, 2014Price: $25.95; hardcover, 240 pages One morning in 1996, an infectious disease specialist was making rounds when he and his team...
In October, the newly formed Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance (MBCA) released its report, Changing the Landscape for People Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer, which details some disturbing findings. Following a yearlong analysis of 224 clinical trials, 2,281 funded research projects in...
Ronald McDonald House® New York announced that Tina Lundgren has been elected to serve as Chairman of its Board of Directors. Mrs. Lundgren will succeed Stanley B. Shopkorn, Managing Director of Hilltop Park Associates LLC, who has served as chairman since 2006. Mrs. Lundgren will serve a 3-year...
The outcome for adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is inferior to that in children, and the outcome for children with ALL who experience relapse is dismal. Therefore, new therapeutic options are urgently needed to improve survival rates for this high-risk ALL...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Kathryn G. Roberts, PhD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and colleagues performed detailed genomic analysis of patients with Philadelphia chromosome–like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and identified kinase-activating...
This is a rare photograph of an older patient with a primary ocular tumor. These tumors are uncommon in old age so most photographs of retinoblastoma or rhabdomyosarcoma featured children. As a rule, there was no attempt to surgically remove these tumors and the children were only given supportive...
In September, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life. The report argues that the U.S. health-care system subjects patients to too many—and often futile—interventions near the end of life, often ...
David G. Nathan, MD, President Emeritus of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Physician-in-Chief Emeritus of Boston Children’s Hospital, was recently honored as the inaugural recipient of the Boston Children’s Hospital Lifetime Impact Award at the Hospital’s second Annual Global Pediatric Innovation...
New studies reported at ASCO’s 2014 Quality Care Symposium provided insight on the role social factors play in cancer treatment disparities, as well as effective approaches to improving the quality of care. “The research presented [here] highlights how the conditions facing people living with...
The image of aging that Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, expresses in his essay, “Why I Hope to Die at 75,” in the October issue of The Atlantic,1 is bleak indeed and one that has contributed mightily to the negative views of aging imbedded in our society. But I refute his description of growing older as...
I know it sounds odd, but the past 10 years spent living with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been very productive, wonderful years. It is not the life I had before my diagnosis, but it is the life I remember most clearly, and knowing how deadly this cancer is, I’m grateful for every day of ...
The following essay by Carolyn D. Runowicz, 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. Just...
Each year, about 70,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are diagnosed with cancer in the United States, almost six times the number of cases diagnosed in children up to 14 years of age. While overall cancer survival rates continue to rise—according to the American Cancer Society, there are...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy represents a novel and promising therapeutic advance in cancer.1,2 It constitutes a form of personalized therapy that harnesses adoptive cell transfer through genetic engineering of autologous T cells. The initial step in this therapeutic paradigm...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shannon L. Maude, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Noelle Frey, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues reported achieving sustained remissions in children and adults with...
"Obesity is associated with cancer mortality,” said Steven D. Mittelman, MD, PhD, at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.1 Dr. Mittelman presented a wealth of data to explain the link between obesity and...
Findings from a pilot study of 42 parents with advanced cancer indicate that parental status is an important factor in treatment decision-making. When asked how having children influences their treatment decisions, the majority of parents (64%) responded that being a parent motivates them to pursue ...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes details of actively recruiting clinical studies of children and adults with various types of soft-tissue sarcoma, including non-rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, and Kaposi sarcoma. The studies...
The long-term outcome for patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is poor, with 5-year overall survival from first relapse being only approximately 10%.1,2 Patients with disease relapse following allogeneic transplant have the worse prognosis and are typically...
On November 24, 2014, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® National Outreach Director, Marlo Thomas, was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, during a special ceremony at the White House. With Ms. Thomas as its envoy to millions of supporters, St. ...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of children and young adult cancer survivors. The studies include phase I, I/II, III, observational, and interventional trials investigating genomic profiling to personalize treatment;...
The following essay by Bruce D. Cheson, 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. The ride...
The following five abstracts, which include four clinical studies and one basic research study, were named the top abstracts at the 2014 International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology. Therapeutic Effects of Lyophilized Leech Saliva Extract Hassona MDH, Ammar AE, Gao TY, et al: In ...
Dorothy “Dottie” Thomas, wife and research partner to 1990 Nobel laureate E. Donnall Thomas, MD, died Friday, January 9, at her home near Seattle. She was 92. Dr. Donnall Thomas, Pioneer of the Bone Marrow Transplant and former Director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer...
National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected three researchers as new Lasker Clinical Research Scholars as part of a joint initiative with the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation to nurture the next generation of great clinical scientists. This highly competitive program provides talented...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and ASCO have outlined steps in a joint statement to guide policymakers as they work to minimize the potential negative consequences of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other electronic nicotine delivery systems without undermining their...
ASCO has released a policy statement calling for greater access to and education about phase I clinical trials, the first-in-human studies of new agents designed to fight cancer. In “The Critical Role of Phase I Trials in Cancer Research and Treatment” ASCO policy statement, the Society stresses...
At the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, The ASCO Post sat down with geneticist Mary-Claire King, PhD, for some personal musings about her career and how she might guide young researchers who want to follow in her footsteps. Dr. King is known for a variety of accomplishments in genetics,...
In 1995, I was diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer and given little chance to live. The dire diagnosis came years after being assured by several physicians that the problem I was having with rectal bleeding and anemia was nothing more than the result of an internal hemorrhoid. Busy raising...
Case 1: Prerequisites for classification of myeloid neoplasm Question 1: Which statement is the one best explanation for the discrepancy observed between the blast percentage by bone marrow aspirate visual inspection and the flow-cytometry study? Correct Answer: C. Flow-cytometry study may not be...
Six of the studies featured in the recently released Clinical Cancer Advances 2015: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer were led by researchers that whom Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) funded early in their careers through its signature Young Investigator Award (YIA) and Career...
Approximately 5% to 6% of cases of colorectal cancer are associated with germline mutations conferring an inherited predisposition for disease. As reported by Stoffel and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 ASCO has endorsed, with qualifying statements, the European Society for Medical ...
With the large outbreak of measles that has spread to more than a dozen states, questions from parents of children with cancer should be expected and encouraged. Parents should “talk to their physician about what the level of risk may be for their child who is undergoing cancer treatment (or has...
Measles outbreaks in the United States during 2014 and early 2015 have yielded an unprecedented number of cases nationwide, raising concerns about the threat measles poses to cancer patients (especially children) who may be at risk for severe complications and even death due to measles infection....
One of the early giants in the field of cancer prevention, Lee W. Wattenberg, MD, died on December 9, 2014, at the age of 92. A native New Yorker, Dr. Wattenberg received his BS from City College of New York in 1941 and then went on to attain his medical degree from the University of Minnesota...
Ken Burns Presents Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, A Film by Barak Goodman will be broadcast on PBS on March 30, March 31, and April 1. Check local listings for broadcast times. Like the book it’s based on, the television documentary Ken Burns Presents Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, A...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis has officially opened the Kay Research and Care Center. The new $198 million center houses the Eric Trump Foundation Surgery and ICU Center, and the Marlo Thomas Center for Global Education and Collaboration. The St. Jude Red Frog Events Proton...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has received more than $22 million in research grants from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). The CPRIT awards will go toward studies in the areas of breast, skin, prostate, pancreas, colon, and lung cancers in adults,...
I had every classic brain tumor symptom in the book—severe headaches, dizziness, morning nausea—which plagued me for 16 years, starting when I was 8. In college, if I allowed myself to sleep more than 4 hours a night, the morning headaches, which were centered on the top of my head, were so severe, ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved dinutuximab (Unituxin), a monoclonal antibody targeting glycolipid GD2, as part of first-line therapy for pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. A chimeric monoclonal antibody that binds to the surface of neuroblastoma cells,...
Seattle Children’s Hospital announced that the Board of Trustees has named Jeff Sperring, MD, Chief Executive Officer, effective early in May. Dr. Sperring, who currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, will continue to...
Disparities of care that result in poorer outcomes among certain populations have long been an issue addressed by the cancer community and its major organizations such as ASCO. While ethnicity and race play key roles in this ongoing debate over equitable allocation of our precious health-care...
The average annual number of adults treated for skin cancer, both melanoma and nonmelanoma, in the United States increased from 3.4 million in 2002 to 2006 to 4.9 million in 2007 to 2011 (P < .001), according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “During this...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has named Thomas E. Merchant, DO, PhD, as Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Merchant will hold the Baddia J. Rashid Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology. “Dr. Merchant is a proven leader in pediatric radiotherapy and will be instrumental in...