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Showing 18951 - 19000Fellows’ Expectations of Work-Life Balance Not in Line With Realities of Practice
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...
Cancer Survivors Face Lasting Financial Struggles Long After Treatment Ends, New Study Reports
The majority (62%) of America’s middle-income cancer survivors say they were not financially prepared for cancer diagnosis and treatment, according to a new study released by the Washington National Institute for Wellness Solutions (IWS). The study, “Insights from Survivors: Managing the Personal,...
ECOG E4402/RESORT Trial: When ‘Black and White’ Results Are Actually Gray
The results of the ECOG E4402/RESORT trial recently reported by Kahl and colleagues,1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, provide interesting new information on the use of maintenance rituximab (Rituxan) vs retreatment with rituximab at progression in patients with low–tumor burden...
Time to Treatment Failure Similar With Rituximab Retreatment vs Maintenance in Low–Tumor Burden Follicular Lymphoma
Maintenance rituximab (Rituxan) has been shown to improve progression-free survival vs observation in low–tumor burden follicular lymphoma. In the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) E4402 Trial (RESORT), reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Brad S. Kahl, MD, of the University of...
Early Study Reports Modified Vitamin D Has Potential in Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
Researchers at the Salk Institute have reported on a synthetic derivative of vitamin D able to collapse the barrier of cells shielding pancreatic tumors, making this challenging cancer more susceptible to therapeutic drugs. The discovery has led to human trials for pancreatic cancer, even in...
Colonoscopic Polypectomy and Predicting Cancer Risk: A Work in Progress
Colon cancer screening using colonoscopy has significantly decreased the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer in the United States. In the National Polyp Study (NPS), colorectal cancer was prevented by removal of adenomatous polyps.1 A more recent study looking at long-term follow-up from...
Lower- vs Higher-Than-Expected Long-Term Colorectal Cancer Mortality After Removal of Lower- vs Higher-Risk Adenomas
Few data are available on long-term risk of colorectal cancer mortality after adenoma removal. In a Norwegian study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Magnus Løberg, MD, of the Department of Health Management and Health Economics, University of Oslo, and colleagues found that patients ...
Advanced Robotic Technology Used to Remove Kidney Tumor in First-Time Outpatient Procedure
Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California (USC) has become the first medical center in the world to use a new robotic technology in an outpatient procedure for a patient with kidney cancer. Urologic surgeons at the USC Institute of Urology, part of Keck Medicine of USC, used a...
First Approval of PD-1 Inhibitor: Pembrolizumab in Unresectable or Metastatic Melanoma
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On September 4, 2014, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was granted...
Exceptional Responders to Cancer Therapy Study Begins
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently launched “The Exceptional Responders Initiative,” a study to investigate the molecular factors of tumors associated with exceptional treatment responses of patients with cancer to drug therapies. Scientists will attempt to identify the molecular features ...
Despite Growing Awareness, the Global Crisis of Untreated Cancer Pain Persists
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...
Life-Threatening Dermatologic Toxicity
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...
Women at Higher Risk for Breast Cancer to Benefit From Hereditary Risk Assessment Program in Tucson Center
Approximately 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. That’s more than 30,000 in Tucson alone, 2,500 of whom are estimated to have a genetic risk factor for cancer. In response to this growing concern, The Breast Center at Carondelet...
Statement from ASH President Linda J. Burns, MD, on Release of Sunshine Act Data
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a large set of data about the payments physicians and teaching hospitals received from pharmaceutical and medical device companies from August 1 to December 31, 2013. This public disclosure, mandated under a provision of the...
Attaining the Goal of Preventing Ovarian Cancer
Fifteen years ago, David Fishman, MD, launched the National Ovarian Cancer Early Detection Program as part of the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection Research Network. The goal of the research effort was to develop methods to accurately detect ovarian cancer while it was still confined to...
Guidelines and Care: What Comes Next?
The goal of clinical, translational, and basic research is, in the end, the betterment of life on earth. Advances in basic and clinical science ultimately should lead to information that, in turn, enables clinicians to make better treatment decisions for individual patients in order to improve...
ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline: Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy in Advanced HER2-Negative or HER2 Status–Unknown Breast Cancer
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has released a new clinical practice guideline on chemotherapy and targeted therapy for women with advanced HER2-negative or HER2 status–unknown breast cancer. The guideline is published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 In formulating the consensus...
REVEL: Winning a Questionable Race
The investigators and sponsors of the phase III REVEL trial should be congratulated and probably commiserated. In this large study, reported by Garon and colleagues in The Lancet and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, 1,253 patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were...
Significant Improvement in Overall Survival With Second-Line Addition of Ramucirumab to Docetaxel in Stage IV NSCLC
In the phase III REVEL trial reported in Lancet, Edward B. Garon, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA/Translational Research in Oncology–US Network, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that the addition of the antiangiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2...
Expert Point of View: William M. Sikov, MD
At the Breast Cancer Symposium, William M. Sikov, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, gave a talk on the use of pathologic complete response in the clinic and summarized the CTNeoBC findings for The ASCO Post. “The...
CTNeoBC Analysis: Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Varies by Breast Tumor Subtype
Women who achieve a pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy rarely have local or regional recurrence of breast cancer, but this largely depends on tumor subtype, which remained an independent predictor of locoregional recurrence when pathologic response was taken into account ...
Fertility Preservation Suggested With Triptorelin in Long-Term Study
Young women with early breast cancer may be more likely to resume menses and become pregnant when treated with a luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone (LH-RH) analog (also known as a gonadotropin-releasing hormone [GnRH] analog) along with chemotherapy, according to the final follow-up of...
Testosterone/Anastrozole Implants Relieve Menopausal Symptoms in Breast Cancer Survivors
Subcutaneous implants containing testosterone in combination with a low dose of anastrozole can relieve menopausal symptoms in breast cancer survivors, according to research presented at the 2014 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “Menopausal symptoms can be quite severe in breast cancer survivors in...
With Breast-Conserving Surgery, Margin Status Not a Factor in Recurrence
In a chart review of 754 early-stage breast cancer patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery, margin status did not impact risk of locoregional recurrence or breast cancer-specific survival, though it did predict for overall survival, as did numerous other factors. Tumor biology remained the...
In Ductal Carcinoma in Situ, Margin Status Need Not Dictate Reexcision
A study of 252 patients with ductal carcinoma in situ raises questions regarding the need to reexcise close margins.1 The findings were presented at a poster session during the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium by Rachel Gentile, BS, of the Medical College of Wisconsin. The researchers evaluated data...
How Accurate Is the Pathologic Assessment of the Partial Mastectomy Specimen?
The pathologic evaluation of lumpectomy margins is “fraught with problems and pitfalls,” said Stuart J. Schnitt, MD, Director of Anatomic Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, who was part of a multidisciplinary discussion of ...
Pathologic Complete Response: Understanding the Subtleties
In the neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer, the importance of achieving a pathologic complete response (pCR) varies substantially by breast cancer subtype. Patients are increasingly interested in this outcome, but it means different things to different patients, according to two breast cancer...
Managing Resistance to Targeted Agents: The Future of NSCLC Therapy
The bane of treating non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with druggable mutations has been the development of resistance to targeted agents. New compounds are meeting the challenge of treating resistant disease, according to Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, Professor and Chair of Hematology and...
Exciting Highlights in Several Types of Lymphoma Presented at Best of ASCO
Antibody-drug conjugates are being tested against several types of lymphomas and for some of these agents, “activity is quite impressive,” Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, reported at the recent Best of ASCO meeting in Chicago. Dr. Evens, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, and...
Best of ASCO Seattle Proves Engaging, Provocative
This year’s Best of ASCO meeting held in Seattle featured topics that both riveted attendees and pushed their buttons, according to program chair Alan P. Venook, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco. “I am extremely pleased with the quality of the presentations from the faculty, but...
Determining Androgen-Deprivation Therapy
Determining an appropriate course of androgen-deprivation therapy in patients with prostate cancer is complex. For patients with high-risk features, 4 to 6 months of androgen-deprivation therapy helps, but 28 to 36 months is better in terms of disease control and overall survival. In the study by...
Duration of Androgen-Deprivation Therapy for Patients With High-Risk Prostate Cancer
Optimal duration of androgen-deprivation therapy as part of primary therapy for prostate cancer continues to be an important question. Two well-conducted studies reported recently at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provide data that can help inform...
Radiation Alone Is as Effective as and Less Toxic Than Chemoradiation for Advanced Esophageal Cancer
Radiation therapy alone was found to be as effective as chemoradiation in reducing dysphagia associated with advanced esophageal cancer in the palliative setting and was less toxic, according to results of a multinational phase III trial called the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) 03.01 ...
Radiation Therapy Improves 10-Year Survival for Patients With Early Hodgkin Lymphoma, but Frequently Omitted in Treatment Plans
Adding consolidation radiation therapy to chemotherapy significantly improves 10-year survival in patients with stage I and II Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a large observational study based on the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Yet over that same 10-year period, radiation therapy use declined...
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Benefits Patients With Early-Stage Inoperable or Advanced Oligometastatic Lung Cancer
The door is open for expanded use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in patients with inoperable early-stage lung cancer and for patients with oligometastatic stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results of two studies presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the...
Tough Questions About Health-Care Reform Put Economist in Hot Seat
Although diverse stakeholders agree that health reform is needed, there is little consensus on the specifics of that reform. Best of ASCO Seattle attendees put a number of pointed questions to health economist Rena Conti, PhD, of the University of Chicago, asking about thorny issues such as cost...
Health-Care Reform Is Changing the Oncology Landscape
Value-based health-care reform is happening. We have to get on board,” Rena Conti, PhD, a health economist at the University of Chicago, advised attendees of the Best of ASCO Seattle meeting. She discussed highlights from Annual Meeting sessions that addressed the impact of the Affordable Care Act...
Hippocratic Oath
I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgement, I will keep this Oath and this contract: To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in life...
Relevance of the Hippocratic Oath in the 21st Century
On the face of it, the idea that a code of professional conduct dating to the ancient Iron Age could possibly retain any relevance in the current era of “Big Data,” religious and cultural pluralism, trillion-dollar government budgets, and nanotechnology seems preposterous. Yet the well-publicized...
Obinutuzumab Could Have Synergistic Action With New Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors
Final results from the phase I/II GAUGUIN study showed that obinutuzumab (Gazyva) monotherapy was active in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, European researchers reported in Blood. In phase II, median progression-free survival was 10.7 months and ...
Vitamin D Deficiency Is Prevalent Among Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
Vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent among patients newly diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, and black patients had statistically significantly lower levels than white patients, according to a recent study reported by Katherine Van Loon, MD, MPH, of the UCSF Helen Diller Family...
Cervical Cancer Risks After Negative HPV Test Lower at 3 Years Than After Negative Pap Result
Three-year risks for cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse (CIN3+) were lower following a negative test for human papillomavirus (HPV) than following a negative Pap test, according to a large study comparing three cervical cancer screening strategies, HPV or Pap...
Polymorphisms and Cetuximab Benefit in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer
Polymorphisms in FcγR (receptor for the constant region of immunoglobulin G) have been reported to be associated with improved immune-mediated effects of cetuximab (Erbitux) in metastatic colorectal cancer. In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Sclafani and colleagues analyzed the...
Successful Immunotherapy With Mutation-Specific CD4-Positive T Cells in Patient With Epithelial Cancer
There is limited evidence of mutation-specific T-cell response to epithelial cancers. In a study reported in Science, Tran and colleagues used whole-exome sequencing to show that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes included CD4-positive Th1 cells that recognized a mutation in erbb2 interacting protein...
MHC-Matched Graft-vs-Host Disease Requires Recipient Intestinal Barrier Loss and Natural Killer Cell Inactivation
Although available data indicate an association among pretransplantation conditioning intensity, intestinal barrier loss, and severity of graft-vs-host disease, the multiple effects of irradiation and other types of conditioning have made it difficult to precisely identify the role of intestinal...
NCI Awards $2 Million Grant to University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine to Study How Cancer Spreads to Bone
With a $2 million, 5-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine will examine the molecular mechanisms that allow certain cancers, particularly multiple myeloma, to spread to the bone. The project could lead to new...
In Memoriam: Kelly Traw
Regretfully, The ASCO Post has learned that Kelly Traw, 49, passed away on September 2, 2014, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. While her obituary did not mention a cause of death, it said that, “She will be greatly missed by her extended family and by the many friends who supported her...
Lessons From Cancer
For a year before I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in December 2011, I had what I thought were the lingering remnants of a bad case of bronchitis. My breathing was labored, I had a chronic cough, and occasionally my voice would give out. Every time I saw my pulmonologist, I would...
A History of Medical Oncology
BOOKMARK Title: Therapeutic Revolution: The History of Medical Oncology From Early Days to the Creation of the SubspecialtyAuthor: Pierre R. BandPublisher: Bentham SciencePublication date: 2014Price: $39.00 (eBook); $78.00 (print on demand); 213 pagesAvailable at: eurekaselect.com According to...
Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Lung Cancer
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of people with lung neoplasms, including stage I and II small cell and non–small cell lung cancers. The studies include phase Ib, II, III, observational, and interventional trials...
