Biliary tract cancer is particularly difficult to treat, with a median overall survival of about 1 year with standard-of-care gemcitabine-based regimens. Advanced biliary tract cancer is an area of significant unmet need because of its aggressive nature, limited treatment options, and poor...
Researchers have found that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) may be an effective treatment for patients with early-stage lung neuroendocrine tumors, according to a new study published by Oliver et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. Background Primary...
Researchers revealed that the blood pressure drug losartan may prevent immunotherapy-induced edema and allow patients with glioblastoma to continue receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors without developing adverse effects in the brain, according to a new study published by Datta et al in...
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new Global Breast Cancer Initiative Framework, providing a roadmap to attain targets to save 2.5 million lives from breast cancer by 2040. The new framework recommends that countries implement three pillars of health promotion—early detection,...
The newly identified category of “HER2-low” breast cancer has raised many new issues in this malignancy now that the DESTINY Breast-041 trial determined that fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) may effectively treat this tumor. Among the issues are challenges in accurately identifying just...
A new study from University Hospitals (UH) Connor Whole Health found children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer or sickle cell disease treated at a pediatric academic medical center reported clinically significant reductions in pain, stress, and anxiety in response to massage therapy....
The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) has shown that general population screening did not significantly reduce ovarian and tubal cancer deaths, and the researchers concluded that such screening cannot be recommended. The findings from the study prompted the Ovarian Cancer ...
According to a review published by Ashley et al in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, preexisting dementia may complicate cancer care and increase the risk of worse clinical outcome and inferior patient experience. People living with dementia are more likely to have cancer diagnosed at an...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Morton et al, the European phase III FOxTROT trial has shown that neoadjuvant plus adjuvant oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine resulted in a reduced risk of residual disease or disease recurrence vs adjuvant oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine in patients with...
Higher consumption of ultraprocessed foods may be linked to increased cancer burden and mortality, according to a new, UK-based study published by Chang et al in eClinicalMedicine. Ultraprocessed foods are food items which have been heavily processed during their production—such as fizzy drinks,...
Age-based heuristics may lead to large differences in breast cancer treatment based on small differences in chronologic age, according to a new study published by Talcott et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • and Physics. Background Radiation therapy often is given...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Josephine M.N. Lopes Cardozo, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that a higher score on a polygenic risk score consisting of 313 common genetic variants (the PRS313) was generally associated with more favorable tumor characteristics in patients...
In a U.S. cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Voruganti et al found that the uptake of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been associated with “modest” improvements in overall survival, particularly among older patients. As...
Population-based genomic screening may facilitate early detection of medullary thyroid cancer in patients with variants in the RET gene, according to a new study published by Pichardo et al in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Background Medullary thyroid cancer accounts for 2% to 5% of...
The targeted therapy momelotinib may offer clinically significant improvement in disease-related symptoms, including anemia and spleen enlargement, for patients with myelofibrosis, according to a novel study published by Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD, and colleagues in The Lancet. The findings support...
Individuals who ovulate for longer over their lifetimes may have a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer, suggesting that suppressing ovulation can lower this risk, according to a new study published by Fu et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The researchers also offered clues...
New research shows that patients with type 2 diabetes may experience a substantially higher rate of cancer mortality than the general population—by 18% for all cancers combined, 9% for breast cancer, and as much as 2.4-fold for colorectal cancer—according to a new study published by Ling et al in...
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis of KIT exon mutations may help predict which second-line therapy is best for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), according to data presented by Bauer et al during the January ASCO Plenary Series session (Abstract 397784). An...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Wang et al identified mutations linked to high tumor mutation burden in microsatellite-stable (MSS) gastrointestinal cancers that may be associated with efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Study Details Molecular alterations in 48,606...
Utilizing chronochemotherapy—a method aimed at delivering chemotherapy at a time when the body is least vulnerable to its harmful effects and when the cancer cells are at their most vulnerable—may improve the outcomes of some patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to a novel ...
Soon after my marriage, in 2003, I noticed swelling in the glands around my throat. Although I otherwise felt fine, I went to see my primary care physician for a checkup and a blood test. The results of the test showed that I had an abnormally high number of lymphocytes circulating in my...
Most of us have felt our stomachs sink as we opened a patient’s radiology or laboratory report and realized the patient faced a grave situation. If we’re lucky, we have a couple of days before a scheduled patient appointment to prepare ourselves to deliver that bad news. Other times, we may have...
Isaac Craig Henderson, MD, passed away at the age of 81 at his home in San Francisco on December 26, 2022, after a brief illness. Dr. Henderson was an internationally known medical oncologist who specialized in breast cancer, beginning his career at Harvard’s then-designated Sidney Farber Cancer...
Results of a planned interim overall survival analysis of the phase III monarchE trial offered further support for the addition of abemaciclib to adjuvant endocrine therapy for patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, node-positive, high-risk disease, according to Stephen R.D....
Jaime A. Suarez-Londono, MD, a medical oncologist at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said the results of the ASAP study provide a basis for discussion with the transplant team. “The landscape of treatment of acute...
Intensive salvage therapy with the goal of achieving complete remission prior to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) may not be necessary in some patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to the results of the phase III ASAP trial presented at...
Precision medicine has revolutionized cancer treatment—but only for patients who have access to treatments. Nearly 2 million people in the United States are diagnosed each year with cancer, but access to targeted treatments varies widely, and only about half of the eligible people receive them,...
Northwell Health recently announced a gift from longtime trustee Roy J. Zuckerberg to create the R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Hospital at Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center—Long Island’s first cancer hospital—and to establish the R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center, Northwell’s largest ambulatory cancer...
Options are growing in the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma after complete response. At the 2022 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference,1 the use of these newer strategies in older patients was discussed by Brad S. Kahl, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lymphoma Service at Washington...
Oxidative stress is a key factor in the development of many diseases including cancer. Antioxidants prevent cellular damage by neutralizing free radicals and are being investigated as potential therapeutic strategies against cancer. In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology...
Abstract discussant of the NORA trial, Antonio González-Martín, MD, PhD, Director of the Department of Medical Oncology at Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Madrid, said that despite the results of this ad hoc interim analysis, “the jury is still out” regarding the overall survival benefit of PARP...
Maintenance therapy with a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor may do more than just delay disease progression for patients with platinum-sensitive, relapsed ovarian cancer; it might also improve overall survival, according to data presented during the December 2022 European Society for...
As an oncologist, I had cared for patients facing grave illness and death. I imagined the loss of loved ones and expected grief to be an unbearable sadness, most poignant in the earliest days and lessening with time. I somehow expected that counseling people who grieved would make me more prepared. ...
Lymphoma expert Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, was born in Westchester County, New York, but soon after, his family relocated to Bergen County, New Jersey, where he spent his formative years. “I attended Tenafly High School and had dual passions: one was the natural sciences and the other on the...
Urvi A. Shah, MD, Assistant Attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, moderated the session where the MagnetisMM trial updates1,2 were reported and was interviewed by The ASCO Post. Elranatamab vs Teclistamab Dr. Shah noted...
On December 16, 2022, nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg, an adenoviral vector–based gene therapy, was approved for patients with high-risk bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ with or without papillary tumors.1 Supporting Efficacy Data...
Many individuals considering screening for colorectal cancer may want information on their personal risk when making decisions about screening—such as whether to select an at-home stool-based test or colonoscopy. Investigators evaluated five online colorectal cancer risk calculators to determine...
In the DBTUST study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Berg et al found that the addition of screening ultrasound to digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) improved detection of cancer in patients with dense breasts—but also increased the rate of false-positive findings. Study Details In the ...
On December 7, 2022, Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Julie Gralow MD, FACP, FASCO, attended a reception on Capitol Hill hosted by the One Voice Against Cancer Coalition and the House Cancer Caucus, to welcome former ASCO President Monica...
A new ASCO guideline on opioids in managing pain from cancer or cancer treatment in adults provides recommendations on administering them in the midst of interventions to address the public health crisis from their misuse and related deaths across the country.1 “ASCO took wonderful leadership in...
The formal discussant of ARC-7 was Solange Peters, MD, PhD, Chair of Medical Oncology, Centre D’Oncologie Chuv, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, and President of the European Society for Medical Oncology. Dr. Peters described how TIGIT (T-cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain) plays a role ...
In a phase II study of stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), domvanalimab, a novel antibody that blocks T-cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT), when added to anti–PD-1 zimberelimab immunotherapy resulted in improved response rates and progression-free survival compared with...
On December 1, 2022, the IDH1 inhibitor olutasidenib was approved for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia with a susceptible IDH1 mutation, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1 The FDA simultaneously approved the Abbott...
Offering their thoughts on the study by Williams et al from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort were Jane N. Winter, MD, Immediate Past President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and Catherine Bollard, MBChB, MD. Both moderated press briefings where the results were presented or discussed....
Long-term follow-up of survivors of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort showed signs of “epigenetic accelerated aging,” and many of these survivors had signs of neurocognitive impairment by their late 30s, researchers reported at the 2022 American Society of Hematology...
Zanubrutinib—a next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor—achieved high response rates and durable disease control with a low incidence of cardiac effects in patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma, according to updated findings from the final analysis of the phase ...
Initial data from the global phase III SPOTLIGHT trial could herald the use of a new targeted agent for a subset of patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. First-line treatment with zolbetuximab, which targets the transmembrane protein claudin 18.2...
Tolerability and efficacy results—including the first overall survival data—from a phase II trial examining first-line zanidatamab, an investigational HER2-targeted bispecific antibody, in combination with chemotherapy for patients with HER2-expressing metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma...
Alexey Danilov, MD, PhD, Co-Director, Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center and Professor, Division of Lymphoma, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, California, commented on the phase III ALPINE trial comparing ibrutinib and zanubrutinib in patients...
The next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor zanubrutinib demonstrated superior progression-free survival compared with ibrutinib, with an improved cardiac safety profile, in the first head-to-head comparison between these two BTK inhibitors in relapsed or refractory chronic...