When I was diagnosed with lung cancer, in 2007, I asked the physician not to tell me the type, stage, or prognosis. I was about to start nursing school and was aware enough about the disease to know that not many people survived. I’ve since discovered that I had stage 3B small cell lung cancer,...
On March 3, 2023, abemaciclib was approved for use with endocrine therapy (tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) for adjuvant treatment of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.1 Abemaciclib was previously approved...
On March 9, 2023, President Joseph Biden released his proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 federal budget, with an emphasis on increased funding for medical research and expanded access to health insurance. The proposal allocates $48.3 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an $811 million ...
Here is how Dr. Sharma summed up the current state of neoadjuvant therapy in triple-negative breast cancer: The addition of an immune checkpoint inhibitor to neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves long-term outcomes. This strategy can produce a modest improvement in pathologic complete response and a...
Although advances in radiation therapy have rendered this treatment modality more tolerable, they have not completely eliminated the burden of radiation-related toxicity. In an ideal setting, clinicians would be able to identify patients whose risk of recurrence is sufficiently low that they can...
The management of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer has been evolving at a fast pace, thanks largely to the discovery that immune checkpoint blockade can be effective in this subtype. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Priyanka Sharma, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of...
Moderator of the press conference at the 2023 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care, Callisia N. Clarke, MD, MS, FACS, FSSO, Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, highlighted the significance of the 80% response rates to neoadjuvant immunotherapy in primary...
Here are some brief reports from the 2023 ASCO Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium that we hope are of interest. They include real-world evidence about the use of avelumab maintenance in metastatic urothelial carcinoma, data on the feasibility of sequencing radium-223 and Lu-177–PSMA-617 in...
A new study suggests that the answers generated by the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT may provide correct breast cancer screening advice the vast majority of the time; however, the information is sometimes inaccurate or even fictitious, according to the report published by Haver et al ...
Researchers have demonstrated that patients with low-grade lymphomatoid granulomatosis who were treated with the immunotherapy interferon alfa-2b may survive for a median of 20 years after diagnosis, according to a novel study published by Melani et al in The Lancet Haematology. The findings...
A health disparity is typically defined as involving a differential in health outcomes between some groups of patients and other groups, for example, between White and Black patients, in which some groups fare better than others. Health inequities are commonly defined as health differences that...
The results of recent trials of PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor plus second-generation androgen receptor inhibitor combinations have had varying results in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Some trials suggest the benefit is confined to those with BRCA mutations and/or...
On April 3, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a National Cancer Plan, which calls for collaboration to realize the objectives laid out in the Cancer Moonshot to reduce cancer mortality by at least 50% over the next 25 years and “end cancer as we know it.” Developed by...
Since 2010, investigators have discovered that the number of patients with prostate cancer in the United States who are choosing active surveillance over surgery or radiation therapy may be rapidly increasing, according to a new study published by Al Awamlh et al in JAMA Internal Medicine....
Investigators revealed that the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT may help improve health outcomes for patients with cirrhosis and hepatic cancer by providing easy-to-understand information about basic knowledge, lifestyle modifications, and treatment options for these conditions,...
The inaugural MD Anderson Clinical Education Symposium on Immunotherapy Toxicity Management (IOTOX) welcomed more than 250 international attendees, both virtually and in person at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston on December 3, 2022. The symposium focused on bringing the ...
“Providing hope when there is little to hope for is hard,” noted Hyman B. Muss, MD, Professor of Medicine and the Mary Jones Hudson Distinguished Professor of Geriatric Oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the 2023 Miami...
Patients with hematologic malignancies may experience a significant improvement in their reported quality of life 6 months after receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, according to a new study published by Johnson et al in Blood Advances. Background Although CAR T-cell therapy...
Investigators have revealed the findings from an examination of the prevalence, severity, and co-occurrence of sleep disturbance, pain, physical function impairment, anxiety, depression, and low energy/fatigue (SPPADE) symptoms, as well as their association with different cancer types and patient...
Researchers have found that a novel approach to administer intrathecal and intravenous nivolumab has proven safe and improved survival in a subset of patients who developed leptomeningeal disease from metastatic melanoma, according to a new study published by Glitza Olivia et al in Nature ...
Researchers have revealed the potential mechanisms contributing to treatment resistance in patients with melanoma at the end of life, according to a new study published by Spain et al in Cancer Discovery. “These results present the most detailed picture yet of what melanoma looks like at the final...
Researchers have found that concurrent treatment with gemcitabine as well as cisplatin and intensity-modulated radiation therapy may effectively increase the pathologic complete response rates in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, according to findings presented by ...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Tang et al found that the use of the subcutaneous route for administering medications and fluids in patients with cancer was highly predominant in a Canadian center, whereas use of the intravenous (IV) route was nearly universal in a U.S....
Researchers have found no significant differences in overall survival between patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer who received maintenance therapy with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor niraparib or placebo, according to new findings presented by Matulonis et...
Treatment with the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor olaparib prior to surgical intervention and chemotherapy has demonstrated the potential for favorable surgical options, manageable adverse events, and positive health outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer who have a germline...
After comparing the efficacy of the anti–PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab prior to and concurrently with chemoradiation, researchers have indicated favorable outcomes for 2-year disease-free survival and demonstrated evidence of improved immunogenicity with neoadjuvant atezolizumab in patients with...
Obesity may spur DNA damage in the breast tissue of patients who carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, possibly contributing to breast cancer development in patients who are already at a higher risk of the disease, according to a new study published by Bhardwaj et al in Science Translational Medicine....
Cancer is a leading cause of death in every country worldwide.1 In 2020, almost 10 million people died of cancer, a number that is expected to rise to 16.3 million by 2040.2 In addition, cancer incidence continues to grow, driven by an aging and growing population and changes in the prevalence and...
“Dedicated to making a world of difference in cancer care, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and its affiliated organization, the American Association of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), laud the goals, progress, and continued potential of the Cancer Moonshot initiative. Having the full support of ...
ASCO has released a rapid recommendation update to the guideline on chemotherapy and targeted therapy for endocrine-pretreated or hormone receptor–negative metastatic breast cancer, addressing the use of sacituzumab govitecan-hziy in patients with endocrine-resistant, hormone receptor–positive,...
On January 27, 2023, pirtobrutinib was granted accelerated approval for treatment of relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma after at least two lines of systemic therapy, including a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor.1 Pirtobrutinib is a noncovalent inhibitor of BTK. Supporting Efficacy...
March is widely recognized worldwide as Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. Several advocacy groups and professional organizations recognize Colorectal Cancer Awareness month by promoting screening for eligible individuals and working to increase awareness. Here, the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, an...
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer among men and women of all ages in the United States and is on track to be the leading cause of cancer death in adults younger than 50 by 2030. The alarming rise of colorectal cancer in people younger than age 50 prompted the U.S. Preventive...
On February 9, 2023, dostarlimab-gxly was granted regular approval for adults with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer, as determined by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved test, whose disease has progressed on or following a prior platinum-containing...
Formal discussant of the FORMULA-509 trial, Tyler Seibert, MD, PhD, of the University of California San Diego, commented: “The important take-away of these results is who benefited from the intensification arm. The overall cohort with a PSA [prostate-specific antigen] level up to 0.5 ng/mL did not, ...
The addition of abiraterone acetate and apalutamide to standard of care gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist for 6 months and radiation therapy failed to improve progression-free survival and metastasis-free survival after prostatectomy compared to bicalutamide plus a GnRH agonist and...
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 cancer...
Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine recently named Michael Taylor, MD, PhD, molecular biologist and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Scholar, as Director of the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Research Program at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of...
Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease has been with me since I was 5 years old, when a benign tumor was found on the optic nerve of my left eye, leaving me blind in that eye. But I didn’t get an official diagnosis of the disease until 2011, when I was 20. By then, it was like a light switch had turned...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien (Jason) Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus...
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,...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, guest editor, Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Satish Gopal, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Global Health at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this role, he oversees the development of initiatives and...
Cleveland Clinic has announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art cancer facility, named the Fatima bint Mubarak Center, at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. “[This] marks the next step in fulfilling our mission to provide compassionate, complex care in the United Arab Emirates [UAE)]” said Tom...
“There is and always has been, more to me than medicine. Ever since the university, I have loved flying. Ever since school, I have adored choral singing,” writes John F. Smyth, MD, in his memoir Taming the Beast: Memoirs of a Pioneering Cancer Physician. Dr. Smyth is Emeritus Professor of Medical...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University, and colleagues, the phase III ALPINE trial has shown significantly better progression-free survival with zanubrutinib, a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK)...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Vivek Subbiah, MD, Center Clinical Medical Director of the Clinical Center for Targeted Therapy, Cancer Medicine Division, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, ...
First-line treatment with zolbetuximab in combination with capecitabine and oxaliplatin (CAPOX) extended overall survival in patients with claudin-18.2 (CLDN18.2)-positive/HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma, according to results of the GLOW trial reported by Xu et...
Medical oncologist Monica Chatwal, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, commented on the take-home points from the ARASENS trial. “The ARASENS trial continues to show a survival benefit for a triplet therapy approach in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer with androgen-deprivation ...
The addition of the androgen receptor inhibitor darolutamide to androgen-deprivation therapy and docetaxel reduced the risk of death by 30% compared with androgen-deprivation therapy plus docetaxel in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, according to a post hoc analysis of...
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), as the President-Elect for the 2023 to 2024 term. Dr. LoRusso will become President-Elect on Monday, April 17, during the Annual Business Meeting of Members at the AACR Annual Meeting...