A new study by Andrew et al published in BJU International suggests that certain inherited DNA sequences may affect the prognosis of patients with bladder cancer. The findings may help physicians identify subgroups of patients with high-risk bladder cancer who should receive more frequent...
The Mantle Cell Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (MIPI) was developed in 2008 as the first prognostic stratification system specific for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hoster et al confirmed the validity of MIPI in a cohort of two...
In a cohort study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Reimers et al found that aspirin use was associated with a significant 47% reduction in mortality risk after diagnosis of colon cancer expressing HLA class I antigen. There was no difference in aspirin benefit according to strong or weak...
Dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiotherapy with use of a moderate hypofractionation regimen (72 Gy in 2.4-Gy fractions) can safely treat patients with localized prostate cancer with limited grade 2 or 3 late toxicity, according to a study by Hoffman et al published in the International Journal ...
The recently reported open-label phase III AURELIA trial showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvements in progression-free survival, the primary study endpoint, and objective response rate in women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian...
The recently reported open-label phase III AURELIA trial showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvement in progression-free survival, the primary study endpoint, and objective response rate in women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian...
A large study of over 12,000 women who took clomiphene citrate or gonadotropins for the treatment of infertility has found no increase in breast cancer risk over 30 years of follow-up, compared with women who were not treated with these medications. The study by Brinton et al is published in Cancer ...
Single-agent chemotherapy is standard in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. In the open-label phase III AURELIA trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pujade-Lauraine et al found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvement in...
Doctors should focus on life expectancy when deciding whether to order mammograms for their oldest female patients, since the harms of screening likely outweigh the benefits unless women are expected to live at least another decade, according to a review published online in JAMA by Walter and...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Schwarzenberg et al found 3,4-dihydroxy-6-[18F]-fluoro-L-phenylalanine (18F-FDOPA) positron-emission tomography (PET) metabolic tumor volume values at 2 weeks after the start of bevacizumab (Avastin) were highly predictive of outcome in patients with ...
Results from the BRIGHT study combined with long-term safety data from other studies suggest that bendamustine (Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan) “may be an important alternative treatment option” for the initial therapy of patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and mantle...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, van de Water et al found that Dutch women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer aged ≥ 65 years at diagnosis who were treated in a clinical trial had significantly fewer comorbid diseases, higher socioeconomic...
Barrett’s esophagus with low-grade dysplasia increases risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. In a European study reported in JAMA, Phoa et al assessed whether endoscopic radiofrequency ablation reduced the rate of neoplastic progression compared with endoscopic surveillance in patients with...
Physicians have long suspected that chemotherapy can accelerate the aging process in patients treated for cancer. Using a test developed at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to determine molecular aging, oncologists have directly measured the impact of anticancer chemotherapy drugs on...
As reported in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine, Sun et al studied the frequency with which women lead clinical trial publications from organized collaborative groups in oncology. They found that women are very infrequently lead or corresponding authors, with the percentages not changing ...
A DNA methylation marker test performed on patients with noninvasive urothelial carcinoma can predict tumor recurrence with high sensitivity and specificity, according to a study by Su et al. The findings may help eliminate costly and unnecessary invasive exams and reveals the importance of DNA...
In the phase III IBIS-II trial, reported in The Lancet, Cuzick et al found that aromatase inhibitor therapy with anastrozole reduced risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women at high risk of the disease. Study Details In this double-blind trial, 3,864 postmenopausal women aged 40 to 70 years...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) committee of genetic experts has determined that Cologuard, a stool-based DNA, noninvasive screening test for colorectal cancer, has demonstrated safety, effectiveness, and a favorable risk-benefit profile. The FDA is now considering the...
Non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring ALK rearrangement is sensitive to the ALK inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori), but resistance ultimately occurs. In a phase I study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shaw et al found that the more-potent ALK inhibitor ceritinib was...
The pattern of metastatic spread is not incorporated into current risk-stratification systems for neuroblastoma. In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Morgenstern et al found that patients with neuroblastoma with metastatic disease limited to distant lymph nodes...
Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase who are resistant or intolerant to imatinib (Gleevec) can experience long-term benefit with dasatinib (Sprycel), according to results of a randomized phase III study. The CA180-034 study also found that early molecular and...
The ACOSOG Z9001 (Alliance) study showed that 1 year of adjuvant imatinib (Gleevec) prolonged recurrence-free survival after resection of primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). As reported by Corless et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a study evaluating correlation of pathologic...
“Use of e-cigarettes does not discourage, and may encourage, conventional cigarette use among US adolescents.” This was the conclusion of a cross-sectional analysis of survey data from a representative sample of middle and high school students who completed the National Youth Tobacco...
A retrospective study has shown that two targeted therapy drugs—erlotinib (Tarceva) and gefitinib (Iressa)—achieved similar outcomes among people with metastatic or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring an EGFR mutation. These EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors have...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Höckel et al demonstrated that locoregional progression of cervical cancer follows the reverse sequence of establishment of adult tissues in ontogeny. Ontogenetic staging was a better predictor of survival than pathologic staging. Previous work by...
In a UK phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hillmen et al assessed the safety and activity of adding rituximab (Rituxan) to chlorambucil (Leukeran) in first-line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Such a regimen may be an alternative to fludarabine-based...
Preliminary research suggests that a targeted oral agent may improve outcomes while minimizing side effects in women with gynecologic cancers who carry a BRCA mutation and whose disease is not responding to other therapies. According to a phase II study presented at the Society of Gynecologic...
Patients with early-stage breast cancer who underwent sentinel lymph node dissection experienced lymphedema more frequently than clinically suspected and with increasing incidence over time, according to a presentation at the 2014 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Cancer Symposium in Phoenix...
The antiseizure medication and mood stabilizer valproic acid was associated with a significant reduction in head and neck cancer risk, according to a study recently published in Cancer. The large retrospective cohort study by Kang et al was conducted to evaluate the effects of the drug, a histone...
Adjuvant radiation following surgery for soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities did not lead to a survival benefit and seemed to be associated with some degree of long-term limb complications, according to a presentation at the 2014 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Cancer Symposium in Phoenix...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Imperiale et al found that a noninvasive, multitarget stool DNA test—including assays for KRAS mutations, aberrant NDRG4 and BMP3 methylation, β-actin, and hemoglobin—was significantly more sensitive but significantly less ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Burger et al assessed risk factors for gastrointestinal adverse events in women with advanced ovarian cancer receiving first-line bevacizumab (Avastin)/chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab maintenance or chemotherapy alone in the phase III...
Women with BRCA1 mutations may have an increased risk for developing rare types of aggressive uterine cancer despite having their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, suggest preliminary findings presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer held ...
Women who had bariatric surgery to lose weight had a 70% lower risk of uterine cancer and an even lower risk if they kept the weight off, according to findings presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, held in Tampa, Florida, from March 22 to 25. ...
Analysis of data from the UK NHS Breast Screening Programme has shown significant variations in the outcomes of treatment for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) between UK hospitals. Dr. Jeremy Thomas, a consultant pathologist at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, told the 9th...
A review by ASCO’s Update Committee of new data from randomized clinical trials has led to a change in recommendations for the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with early-stage breast cancer. The updated guideline will enable more women with early-stage breast cancer to avoid the ...
Extending national breast cancer screening programs to women over the age of 70 does not result in a decrease in the number of cancers detected at advanced stages, according to new research from The Netherlands. Instead, researchers told attendees at the 9th European Breast Cancer Conference that...
Both obesity and diabetes have adverse effects on outcomes in breast cancer patients who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy, according to research presented at the 9th European Breast Cancer Conference. Although a high body mass index (BMI) is known to have a negative impact on cancer development and ...
Although it has been found that lower socioeconomic status is associated with higher operative mortality, the factors explaining this disparity have not been clearly defined. In a study of major cancer surgery reported in JAMA Surgery, Reames et al found that hospitals with the highest proportion...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Unger et al evaluated whether cancer patients from SWOG clinical trials were similar to nontrial patients in baseline characteristics and survival. They found that, overall, trial participation in standard treatment arms did not...
Genetic analyses of results from 1,125 postmenopausal women being treated for estrogen-responsive breast cancer have shown that some of them are more likely than others to have a late recurrence of their cancer and might benefit from 10 years of hormone therapy rather than 5 years. Women who had...
Women whose breast cancer has spread to just a few lymph nodes under their arm are less likely to have their disease recur or to die from it if they have radiotherapy after mastectomy, according to new research presented today at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Glasgow and published in The ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Stattin et al found that rates of prostate cancer mortality, excess mortality in men with prostate cancer, and metastatic prostate cancer were lower in counties in Sweden with higher vs lower incidence of prostate cancer that...
In a study reported in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Oakley et al found that papillary thyroid cancer increases the risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma and vice versa. In addition, the investigators found that patients with both cancers have a high frequency of BRAF V600E mutation. ...
In a pooled analysis of individual patient data reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bidard et al found that baseline circulating tumor cell counts and increases in counts during treatment were highly prognostic in patients with metastatic breast cancer beginning new treatment and that addition of...
Adult survivors of childhood cancer face significant health problems as they age and are five times more likely than their siblings to develop new cancers, heart disease, and other serious health conditions beyond the age of 35, according to the latest findings from the Childhood Cancer Survivor...
Short telomeres are associated with increased risk of cancer, but data on telomere length and mortality in breast cancer survivors are inconsistent. In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Duggan et al found that decreases in telomere length between baseline and 30...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Goldkorn et al assessed the prognostic value of circulating tumor cell counts in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer receiving standard first-line docetaxel plus prednisone with or without atrasentan in the SWOG S0421 trial. ...
Despite the benefits of surgery for early-stage pancreatic cancer, it remains underutilized for patients with this deadly disease, according to a new national analysis of trends and outcomes. Physician-scientists at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is recommending that newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients be screened for Lynch syndrome, previously called hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. The NCCN’s proactive position should greatly help identify individuals and their...