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Showing 1901 - 1950Expert Point of View: Patricia Ganz, MD
Moderating a press conference where Dr. Chen presented his study findings, Patricia Ganz, MD, Director of Cancer Prevention and Control Research at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, called this study “interesting and important.” She continued:...
Aggressive Treatment at the End of Life Continues to Be Common
Oncologists in the United States may need to improve their efforts to reduce unnecessary care for younger patients with terminal cancer over the last 30 days of life, based on the findings of a study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Contrary to recommendations, aggressive care is still...
Trastuzumab Biosimilar Shows Efficacy and Safety Comparable to Reference Product in Phase III HERITAGE Trial
A new biosimilar version of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) is getting close to the finish line in the race to develop biosimilars in oncology. The new antibody, MYL-1401O, demonstrated comparable efficacy and safety compared with trastuzumab as front-line treatment of women with...
Study Finds Poor Understanding of Illness in Patients With Advanced Cancer
Few patients with advanced cancer and a short life expectancy have an accurate understanding of their illness, according to a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Epstein et al. Study Details The study involved 178 patients from 9 U.S. cancer centers who had advanced cancers...
Rising
There were once two patients with leukemia. Other than their diagnoses and their ages, these two men had nothing in common. Meet Michael Michael was an artist—a sculptor. He had large, sensitive, blue eyes and a quiet, pensive manner. His acute observational power led him to ponder deep questions...
An Unusual Memoir of Cancer
“A book about the future must be written in advance. Later I won’t have the energy. So I will do it now.” So begins The Iceberg, a memoir set in Britain of a woman, Marion Coutts, whose husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which eventually killed him. Unfortunately, cancer memoirs flood the...
Prostate Cancer: Opinions Vary on Gleason Scores and Surgery
Diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer have been the source of heated debate for decades, most of which has centered on the clinical value of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. In 2012, the U.S Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) gave the PSA test a D grade, which discourages many...
PALOMA-3 Trial in HER2-Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer: Challenge of Moving Beyond Estrogen Receptor Positivity
Hormone receptor–positive breast cancer represents the largest therapeutic subgroup of the disease. The development of endocrine therapies has shaped the treatment paradigm for both advanced- and early-stage disease for decades.1 Still, despite their significant impact, advanced breast cancer...
ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline Update on Ovarian Suppression/Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Hormone Receptor–Positive Breast Cancer
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline update on ovarian suppression as part of the extant guideline on adjuvant endocrine therapy in hormone...
Atezolizumab in Platinum-Treated Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma: A New Standard of Care?
Compared with a historic control rate, a phase II study of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) has demonstrated clinically meaningful responses in patients with urothelial carcinoma who progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy.1 Hailed as a “major...
Dr. William Morton and His Engineer
A Century of Progress The text and photograph on this page are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology Tumors & Treatment: A Photographic History, by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS. The photo below is from the volume titled “The Antiseptic Era: 1876–1900.” To view additional...
It Started With Twitter: ASBrS Immediate Past-President, Deanna Attai, MD, Spearheads Patient-Centered Care
Breast surgeon Deanna Attai, MD, is a virtual mighty mouse as a spokesperson for her professional organization, the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS). She is as big on ideas as she is petite in stature and for actively tweeting on medical topics (@DrAttai). Assistant Clinical Professor...
How Will Value Framework Tools Be Used in Everyday Practice?
Value framework tools made a splash in 2015, with five different groups unveiling methods to help physicians and patients compare therapies based on efficacy, toxicity, and/or cost. Now these potential users are beginning to examine and debate the tools, including how and whether they will work in...
Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Pancreatic Cancer
An adjuvant chemotherapy regimen improved overall survival in early-stage pancreatic cancer patients, in the large phase III European ESPAC-4 study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 The combination of gemcitabine and capecitabine almost doubled the 5-year survival rate, compared to...
Expert Point of View: Harold J. Burstein, MD, and Ian Smith, MD
“There is a tremendous interest in longer aromatase inhibitor therapy. The Oxford Overview data, presented at ASCO, show the substantial risk of recurrence in years 5 to 15, despite an initial 5 years of adjuvant endocrine treatment. “Women with lower-risk breast cancer will be less inclined to...
Additional 5 Years of Letrozole May Benefit Some Postmenopausal Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Five years of aromatase inhibitor as upfront therapy or after tamoxifen is the current standard of care for postmenopausal women with early hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. A new trial suggests that extending aromatase inhibitor therapy with letrozole for an additional 5 years may improve...
ASCO 2016: Pembrolizumab Shows Significant Clinical Response in Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Treating head and neck cancer patients with recurrent or metastatic disease with the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) achieved significant clinical responses in nearly one-fifth of the patients from a phase II clinical trial, researchers from Dana-Farber...
ASCO Announces New Award Honoring Visionary Leader Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO
During the 2016 Annual Meeting, ASCO announced the creation of the Allen S. Lichter Visionary Leader Award to recognize ASCO members who have transformed the oncology field or significantly advanced the mission of ASCO, the Conquer Cancer Foundation, or CancerLinQ, LLC, through their leadership,...
ASCO 2016: Nivolumab Immunotherapy Improves Survival, Quality of Life in Metastatic or Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer
Treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) doubled overall survival and improved quality of life, with fewer side effects, in a treatment-resistant and rapidly progressing form of head and neck carcinoma, reported a large, randomized international trial co-led by investigators at the University of...
ASCO 2016: Vast Differences Globally in Cancer Drug Retail Prices
A pilot study revealed large differences in median retail prices for 23 cancer drugs in 7 different countries, with the highest retail prices identified in the United States and the lowest, in India and South Africa. Notably, after the monthly drug price is expressed as a percentage of domestic...
ASCO 2016: Atezolizumab Benefits Patients With Advanced Bladder Cancer
The anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq) is effective in patients with previously untreated advanced bladder cancer who are not eligible for the standard treatment with cisplatin. According to a nonrandomized phase II trial, atezolizumab shrank...
ASCO 2016: New Antibody-Drug Conjugate Shows Early Promise in Small Cell Lung Cancer
Early findings from a first-in-human clinical trial showed that the antibody-drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) shows promising efficacy against recurrent small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The treatment, which combines a novel anti-DLL3 antibody with a powerful anticancer agent, halted...
ASCO 2016: Nivolumab Alone or in Combination With Ipilimumab Active in Recurrent Small Cell Lung Cancer
A study presented by Antonia et al at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 100) showed that utilizing the immunotherapeutic agents nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) could lead to more effective treatment options for patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) who have progressed after...
ASCO 2016: Chemotherapy Improves Outcomes for Certain Patients With Anaplastic Glioma
For a more in-depth look at these data, please click here. Patients with anaplastic glioma without 1p/19q codeletion benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, according to early results from a European phase III trial. The estimated 5-year survival rates were 56% with radiation therapy and...
Retroviral Replicating Vector That Delivers Cytosine Deaminase to Cancer Cells Active in Recurrent Glioblastoma
A phase I study by Cloughesy et al published in Science Translational Medicine investigating the effectiveness of vocimagene amiretrorepvec (Toca 511), an experimental nonlytic, retroviral replicating vector that delivers cytosine deaminase to cancer cells, and an investigational...
Colleagues Tip Their Hats to Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO
After serving as ASCO’s CEO for 10 years, Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, is stepping down. Dr. Lichter, who has been an ASCO member since 1980, has served the Society in numerous capacities. Along with his distinguished career at ASCO, Dr. Lichter is a nationally recognized radiation oncologist,...
In Memoriam
The ASCO Post remembers the following specialists in oncology who passed away in 2015–2016. Please write to editor@ASCOPost.com to recognize and pay tribute to others in a future issue. Mark R. Green, MD January 3, 1945–February 23, 2015 “Few people have impacted cancer clinical research in the...
With a Strong Personal Connection to His Patients, Stephen P. Hunger, MD, Strives for a Cure for All Children With Leukemia
Nationally regarded children’s cancer specialist Stephen P. Hunger, MD, was born and reared in South Windsor, a small suburb of Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Hunger grew up in the mid-1960s and 1970s, and in his words, “South Windsor was a pretty homogeneous experience. There wasn’t really any ethnic...
International Authority on Radiation Effects, Robert Peter Gale, MD, PhD, Has Pushed Scientific Boundaries in Search of Answers
It is widely reported that the first use of sargramostim (Leukine) in humans (granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor; GM-CSF) was to treat victims of the Goiânia, Brazil, radiation accident in 1987. However, recently declassified documents show that sargramostim was first used a year...
A Perilous Time for Refugees With Cancer
The numbers are difficult to fathom. According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in 2015, over 60 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of conflict, persecution, generalized violence, or human rights violations.1 Over 9 million of those ...
A Toolkit for Dealing With the Trauma of a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
This year, an estimated 180,890 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer; about 21,120 men die of the disease each year. On top of these sobering statistics, from screening to diagnosis and treatment, prostate cancer is fraught with controversy, creating untoward anxiety...
A Physician’s Guide to Pain and Symptom Management in Cancer Patients
Despite growing awareness and the existence of guidelines, undertreatment of cancer pain remains a persistent dilemma in the oncology community. Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that more than 33% of patients suffering from invasive cancer do not receive...
ASCO Past-President Anticipates a New Position With an Ongoing Goal of Advancing the Field of Oncology
After an extensive national search, Hartford HealthCare has appointed ASCO Past-President Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, as the first Physician-in-Chief of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute. As Physician-in-Chief, Dr. Yu will be responsible for working closely and collaboratively with...
Eribulin in Liposarcoma: A Closer Look at the Comparative Data
Sarcoma therapy is a challenge for oncologists. Soft-tissue sarcomas encompass more than 50 different histologies, resulting in limited familiarity of management for many treating physicians. In addition, there have been few available effective therapies. The phase III trial of eribulin (Halavan) ...
White Knuckling
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Fitness: Can Exercise Lengthen Survival in Patients With Cancer?
Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Regular physical activity has long been associated with decreased risk of disease, including many types of cancer. Such benefits may translate into increased life expectancy...
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®): 2016 Guidelines
In 1996, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN®) published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology® (NCCN Guidelines®), covering eight tumor types. The NCCN Guidelines® are now published for more than 60 tumor types and topics. Some of the key updates for 2016 were...
Maximizing Cancer Cure: How Do We Get There?
Is cancer really “curable,” and if so, how? For a “Cancer Dialogue” held during the 2016 American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, half a dozen stellar participants from the research, industry, regulatory, and advocacy communities convened to debate the topic. The ASCO Post was ...
The Arrival of Generic Imatinib Into the U.S. Market: An Educational Event
Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), a Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is approved therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the United States. Imatinib is a miraculous drug that results in a normal functional lifespan in most patients with CML who can afford and comply with the treatment and who ...
Pembrolizumab Survival Benefit Proves Durable in Patients With Advanced Melanoma
With new immunotherapies available for the treatment of advanced melanoma, an important question is how best to combine and sequence them. Long-term follow-up from the KEYNOTE-001 trial suggests that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) can improve survival in newly diagnosed patients and in those treated...
ASCO 2016: PD-1 Inhibitor Pembrolizumab Provides Long-Term Survival Benefit for Patients With Advanced Melanoma in KEYNOTE-001
Long-term follow-up from a phase Ib trial (KEYNOTE-001) in newly diagnosed and previously treated patients with advanced melanoma showed that 40% of patients were alive 3 years after starting the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), with similar 36-month...
AUA 2016: Relationship Between Testosterone Therapy and Prostate Cancer Explored
Men with low levels of the male sex hormone testosterone need not fear that testosterone replacement therapy will increase their risk of prostate cancer. This is the finding of an analysis of more than a quarter-million medical records of mostly white men in Sweden, research led by investigators at ...
‘So How Long Do I Have?’
Imagine accidentally falling off an abyss. One simply cannot fully understand the gravity of the situation! You might skip a beat thinking about it while sitting in a chair in your living room, if you have tons of empathy, as you try to get into the shoes that are flailing for survival. But there...
Inspirational Stories for Cancer Survivors
Surveys indicate that cancer survivors have varying desires regarding the kind of support they want. Some patients find support groups very helpful as they deal with the host of issues in survivorship. Others want to distance themselves from the “world of cancer.” Studies also show that...
Roundup of Ovarian Cancer Abstracts From 2016 SGO Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer
At the 2016 Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SOG’s) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, Thomas J. Herzog, MD, Clinical Director, University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Institute and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC College of Medicine, provided commentary on several noteworthy ovarian...
Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Question in Ovarian Cancers
A phase III trial of bevacizumab (Avastin) with intravenous vs intraperitoneal chemotherapy showed no improvement in progression-free survival for first-line treatment of patients with optimally surgically resected stage II and III ovarian, peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer.1 When compared with...
First Results From MINDACT Confirm the Benefit of Genomic Profiling
The primary analysis of the MINDACT trial confirms the value of genomic profiling for patients with early breast cancer with zero to three positive lymph nodes, according to MINDACT investigators and breast cancer specialists who heard the results at the 2016 American Association of Cancer Research ...
Using Telemedicine to Reduce Wait Times for Veterans
John Farrow, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran, had not been able to sleep for days. A week ago, his primary care doctor at his local outpatient Veterans Administration (VA) clinic told him that his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood level was rapidly increasing, and his prostate was abnormal on...
Making the Moonshot Initiative a Reality
Excitement was high on the last day of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in anticipation of Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s remarks related to the Moonshot Initiative to accelerate progress in cancer research. The Secret Service made elaborate...
ESTRO 2016: New Study Sheds Light on Mastectomy vs Breast-Conserving Therapy in Older vs Younger Patients With Early Breast Cancer
New research presented at the ESTRO 35 Conference on April 30 (Abstract OC-0052) has shown women aged younger than 45 years with early-stage breast cancer that had not spread to the lymph nodes and who opted for breast-conserving therapy with radiation therapy had a 13% higher risk of developing a...
