On January 19, 2023, tucatinib was grated accelerated approval for use in combination with trastuzumab for RAS wild-type, HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer that progressed following fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin-, and irinotecan-based chemotherapy.1 Supporting Efficacy...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology, guest editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Rajendra Toprani, MBBS, MS, MCh, Head of the Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology at HCG Cancer Centre, Ahmedabad, India. Dr. Toprani’s areas of interest include oral,...
An ASCO expert panel has developed a comprehensive guideline for immunotherapy and targeted therapy in patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancer.1 The guideline is based on the many recent advances in immunotherapy and targeted therapy. “The role of immunotherapy has changed practice in the...
Julie R. Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of ASCO and the Association for Clinical Oncology, issued the following statement after President Joseph Biden’s State of the Union address on February 7. “ASCO applauds President Biden’s focus on ‘ending cancer as ...
Cancer research sites demonstrated the utility of new resources designed to increase the diversity of participants in cancer clinical trials, although challenges remain, according to two studies published recently in JCO Oncology Practice.1,2 The studies examine the results from a collaborative...
The 2022 Annual Conference of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 28–30, 2022. The meeting was held in conjunction with the SIOG 2022 Public Policy Meeting: Global Policy to Action on Cancer in the Aging Population at UN Headquarters...
On February 3, 2023, sacituzumab govitecan-hziy was approved for unresectable locally advanced or metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 0, IHC 1+, or IHC 2+/in situ hybridization–negative) breast cancer who have received endocrine-based therapy and at...
Among the high-quality abstract presentations at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), a few always stand out as particularly meritorious. Each year, The ASCOPost asks our Associate Editor, breast cancer specialist Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to give us his picks. Dr. Abraham is Chairman of ...
After analyzing the U.S. radiation oncology workforce, investigators projected a relative balance between the supply of radiation oncologists and the demand for radiation therapy services through 2030, according to an American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Workforce Taskforce review...
Researchers have found that screening for residual disease prior to a bone marrow transplant may help physicians identify which adult patients in remission from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are at risk of relapsing after the procedure, according to a novel study published by Dillon et al in JAMA....
On January 27, 2023, elacestrant was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for postmenopausal women or adult men with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative, ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer with disease progression following at least one line of endocrine ...
Two phase III trials evaluating the addition of drugs targeting PD-1 to chemotherapy—RATIONALE 305 and CheckMate 649—confirmed the benefit of this approach as first-line therapy for advanced gastric, gastroesophageal junction, or esophageal adenocarcinoma, in findings presented at the 2023 ASCO GI...
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored that public health is the product of one global, integrated ecosystem. Although it is tempting to focus on specific aspects of local health-care systems, or the political or physical environment, health and health care in other countries also impacts the United ...
In 2017, ASCO published a new guideline in the Journal of Clinical Oncology outlining the best practices for communicating effectively with patients and their family members.1 The goal of the communication guideline is to provide oncologists with a framework of specific practices to enable them to...
Studies have shown that although patients with advanced cancer want their oncologists to give them an honest assessment of their prognosis, most patients still perceive their illness as curable.1 And that lack of understanding of their prognosis can lead to reduced use of hospice care and increased ...
Formal discussant of the TRITON3 trial, Elena Castro, MD, PhD, of the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, noted that the study helps to answer several questions raised by the PROfound trial. In the PROfound trial, a cohort of patients with at least one alteration in BRCA1, BRCA2, or ATM...
The poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor rucaparib prolonged imaging-based progression-free survival vs physician’s choice of therapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer whose tumors harbored BRCA or ATM alterations. These results of the phase III TRITON3 study ...
Formal discussant of the CheckMate 274 trial, Michiel S. Van der Heijden, MD, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, said it is an “important” study. “In looking at these results, one should consider the goal of adjuvant therapy in this setting. Is overtreatment of patients cured by surgery...
Researchers have found that patients with a history of atopic diseases may be less likely to develop melanoma than patients with a history of nonatopic diseases, according to a new study published by Komulainen et al in Melanoma Research. The findings also revealed that patients with atopic...
Patients with lung cancer who have moderate to severe depression may be two to three times more likely to have inflammation levels that predict poor survival rates, according to a new study published by Andersen et al in PLOS One. The findings may help explain why a substantial portion of patients...
Investigators found that American Indian/Native American women living in higher-income communities did not have a higher mammography uptake compared with American Indian/Native American women living in lower-income communities, according to a new study published by Christensen et al in the American ...
More individuals may undergo cancer screenings when employers are mandated to provide paid sick leave, according to a new study published by Callison et al in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers found that breast cancer screening rates increased up to 4% and colorectal cancer...
Investigators have demonstrated that, despite some commonly held misperceptions, hormone therapy doesn’t increase patients’ risk of developing lung cancer—and it could help reduce the risk, according to a 16-year population-based study published by Wu et al in Menopause. The findings may help...
On February 6, 2023, a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake, followed by a second 7.5-magnitude quake, struck southeast Turkey and northwest Syria. To date, the quakes and several major aftershocks have killed nearly 52,000 citizens—more than 45,000 in Turkey and more than 6,700 in Syria—and injured...
Black women at high risk of developing breast cancer may face a variety of obstacles keeping them from receiving preventive care that could increase their chances of survival if they did develop the disease, according to a new study published by Padamsee et al in PLOS One. The new findings provide...
Researchers have discovered that vitamin B5 in combination with existing drugs may be the key to improving outcomes in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and ineffective red blood cell production, according to a novel study published by Mian et al in Science Translational Medicine....
Although patient navigation is increasingly recognized as an important component in the delivery of patient-centered cancer care, the service is not universally available across all cancer programs in the United States, often because of the concerns of extra cost without tangible financial...
According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related death in both men and women in the United States. However, it ranks second in cancer-related deaths overall, and is the leading cause of death in ...
Researchers have found that a safe, inexpensive chemotherapy combination may be better tolerated and more effective at preventing high-grade recurrence in patients with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer than the standard-of-care bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), according to a novel study published...
Although immune checkpoint inhibitors have substantially improved clinical outcomes in many cancer types, they have also been found to induce immune-related adverse events, including myocarditis, in about 1% of patients receiving the agents, which can lead to a mortality rate of up to 50%. Current...
Investigators have found that millions of individuals in the United States continued to miss critical cancer screening tests during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published by Star et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Compared with 2019 levels, individuals...
On January 19, 2023, the kinase inhibitor zanubrutinib was approved for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the SEQUOIA trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03336333) in patients with...
ASCO has updated its living guidelines for therapy for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with and without driver alterations based on newly available evidence in the field.1,2 “Living guidelines are becoming more important as the field of oncology expands and developments occur more...
ASCO has endorsed a new guideline from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) on the use of mismatch repair (MMR) and microsatellite instability (MSI) testing, which could help oncologists more accurately identify patients who may be suitable candidates for immune checkpoint inhibitor ...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis of KIT exon mutations may help to predict which second-line therapy is best for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: January 2023 Session.1 Exploratory analysis of the phase...
Session co-moderator, Pretesh R. Patel, MD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, shared his thoughts on the Neo-AEGIS1 findings with The ASCO Post. “I think we continue to have equipoise about chemoradiation and perioperative chemotherapy in...
A randomized trial that sought to determine the optimal approach to treating locally advanced esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer has ended in “equipoise,” according to the investigators of the Neo-AEGIS trial. In a study reported at the 2023 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium, perioperative...
Invited discussant Laura Goff, MD, MSCI, Associate Professor of Medicine and Executive Medical Director for the Cancer Patient Care Center at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, said that with the results of NAPOLI-3, clinicians have a third effective first-line regimen for metastatic...
Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a fascinating disease from which many groundbreaking medical and oncologic lessons have been learned. Since the Irish surgeon Denis P. Burkitt, MD, FRCS, FRS, first described rapidly enlarging jaw and facial tumors in Ugandan children in 1958,1 the study of BL has led to...
In its programming for the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, ASCO included a special Education Session on “Gender-Based and Sexual Orientation Inequities: Promoting Inclusion, Visibility, and Data Accuracy in Oncology.” The session offered a comprehensive discussion on the challenges that sexual and gender ...
Investigators have estimated the environmental impacts of prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and prostate biopsies, according to a new study published by Michael S. Leapman, MD, MHS, and colleagues in European Urology. The findings suggest that more carefully selecting patients for...
Researchers have discovered that whole-genome sequencing—rather than the current standard of exome sequencing—may allow physicians to better identify genetic changes that drive cancer development and growth, and create the most effective, personalized treatment plans for patients with classical...
Smoldering myeloma is an asymptomatic plasma cell disorder with a heterogeneous clinical behavior. Two trials presented at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition investigated early intervention for smoldering multiple myeloma, aiming for a “curative strategy”...
Combination regimens beyond lenalidomide/dexamethasone were shown to significantly delay—and potentially prevent altogether—progression from smoldering disease to active multiple myeloma, according to researchers who reported findings from two studies at the 2022 American Society of Hematology...
As in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 ASCO GI Cancers Symposium—its 20th such gathering—played to a full ballroom. It featured a stellar lineup of experts in the field as well as high-quality, impactful research in esophageal, gastric, hepatocellular, pancreatic, biliary tract, and ...
Although there is no history of cancer in my family, I guess it isn’t surprising that I would develop an aggressive form of melanoma on my scalp after years of ultraviolet radiation from sun exposure. Still, getting the diagnosis was devastating. I first noticed a small lump on the top of my head ...
The widespread use of immune checkpoint inhibitors has led to significant benefits in younger patients with advanced lung cancer; however, older patients have not experienced similar survival benefits, according to research from Yale Cancer Center. The study was published in JAMA Oncology.1 “There ...
Researchers have found that following chemotherapy, 46% of patients with muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma were able to avoid a cystectomy and achieve a 2-year metastasis-free survival, according to new findings presented by Daniel M. Geynisman, MD, and colleagues at the 2023 ASCO Genitourinary...
Researchers have found that an algorithm that calculates patient-reported symptom complexity scores may help oncologists identify patients who are at an increased risk for unplanned visits to the emergency department (ED), creating the potential for additional proactive care and reduced health-care ...
The TALAPRO-2 phase III clinical trial found that combining the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib with the androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide resulted in significantly better progression-free survival vs the current standard of care for patients with metastatic...