Patients with stage III colon cancer considered at low risk for recurrence may be treated effectively—and incur less neurotoxicity—with 3 months of an oxaliplatin-based regimen as compared with the standard 6 months, according to the results of the International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant...
After undergoing nearly 5 years of intensive medical training, IBM’s Watson for Oncology cognitive computing system is starting to make good on its promise to accelerate personalized care for patients with cancer. The system has been trained by oncologists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center ...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, authors Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present the case...
Three separate brief psychological interventions aimed at helping cancer patients cope with distress have shown improvements in quality of life and well-being across the continuum of cancer care. The interventions were studied—respectively—in newly diagnosed cancer patients, survivors after cancer...
As reported by Le et al in Science, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was found to be active across a range of solid tumors with mismatch-repair (MMR) deficiency. Pembrolizumab was recently approved for treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or...
Geriatrics for the Oncologist is guest edited by Stuart M. Lichtman, MD, FACP, FASCO, and developed in collaboration with the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Dr. Lichtman is an Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Commack, New York, and Professor of...
David H. Henry, MD, of Pennsylvania Oncology Hematology Associates, outlines abstracts focusing on chemotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer and immune-related toxicity, response to anti–PD-L1 blockade, and epacadostat plus pembrolizumab in lung cancer.
John Marshall, MD, of Georgetown University, and Qian Shi, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, discuss study findings on shortening the duration of adjuvant oxaliplatin-based therapy, linked to neurotoxicity, for patients with stage III colon cancer. (Abstract LBA1)
On May 23, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic, microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) solid tumors that have progressed...
Manish Shah, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, was impressed with the findings of the two subanalyses of CALGB 89803. “The study found a 46% reduction in the risk of recurrence with two servings of tree nuts a week, and that’s more than ...
Tree nut consumption, as well as a generally healthy lifestyle, significantly reduced the risk of cancer recurrence and death in patients with stage III colon cancer treated in the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 89803 trial, researchers reported at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting. Two subanalyses ...
Younger patients with colon cancer appear to have more than three times as many mutations in their tumors as older patients, which could lead to more effective treatment decisions, according to researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. In a new study, they found that tumor...
Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Rochester, discusses study findings on shortening the duration of adjuvant oxaliplatin-based therapy, linked to neurotoxicity, for patients with stage III colon cancer. (Abstract LBA1)
Temidayo Fadelu, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses study findings on nut consumption and survival in stage III colon cancer patients. Higher consumption of nuts may be associated with significantly reduced cancer recurrence and death in this group. (Abstract 3517)
After surgery for lymph node–positive colon cancer (stage III), some patients may need only half of the long-standing standard course of chemotherapy. In an analysis of 6 clinical trials with over 12,800 patients, 3 months of chemotherapy was nearly as effective as 6 months in patients with...
Erin Van Blarigan, ScD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses the value of lifestyle recommendations from the American Cancer Society for people who have been diagnosed with colon cancer, including longer disease-free and overall survival. (Abstract 10006)
Jane McNeil Beith, MD, PhD, of Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, discusses long-term study results on a psychological intervention, called “Conquer Fear,” designed to reduce clinical levels of fear of cancer recurrence in breast, colorectal, and melanoma cancer survivors. (Abstract LBA10000)
Genomic testing of tumor samples can enable personalized treatment selection, where targeted treatments are matched to genetic changes in the tumor. Although a growing number of patients with advanced cancers receive some genomic testing, comprehensive genomic testing is not yet routine care. A...
About 50% of all cancer survivors and 70% of young breast cancer survivors report a moderate to high fear of recurrence. The fear can be so distressing that it negatively affects medical follow-up behavior, mood, relationships, work, goal setting, and quality of life. Yet interventions to alleviate ...
Sunday, June 4, 2017, marks the 30th anniversary of National Cancer Survivors Day. Here’s a look at the progress that has been made over the past 2 to 3 decades in reducing cancer incidence and cancer deaths and the challenges that remain. Increasing Rates of Cancer Survivorship In 1971, the...
A lung cancer diagnosis appears to put patients at the greatest risk of suicide when compared to the most common types of non-skin cancers, according to new research presented at the 2017 American Thoracic Society International Conference (Abstract 8321). Researchers analyzed 3,640,229 patients in ...
Bert Vogelstein, MD, was born on June 2, 1949, at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, the same renowned institution where he would later make his mark in the field of cancer genetics. As a young teen, he was an enthusiast and independent consumer of books, one of which helped shape...
As reported by Jones et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, BRAF mutations occurring outside of codon 600 are found in a small proportion of cases of metastatic colorectal cancer and are associated with improved clinical outcome. Study Details The retrospective cohort study involved 9,643...
Research is still lacking to support a link between obesity and an increased risk of developing all types of cancer. Nevertheless, a review1 of more than 1,000 epidemiologic studies by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a division of the World Health Organization, examining...
Launched during the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 22nd Annual Conference: Improving the Quality, Effectiveness, and Efficiency of Cancer Care™, JNCCN360.org is the latest resource from the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (JNCCN). Currently available for breast...
”This was a great study and novel, asking what longer-term survivors with colon cancer are dying from—the toxicity of our treatment or population-risk illnesses?” commented session co-moderator, Patrick S. Sullivan, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery and Chief Quality Officer, Division of Surgical ...
Patients with colorectal cancer who survive at least 5 years are increasingly likely to die from causes that are common in the general population, highlighting the importance of screening and lifestyle modification, suggested a large cohort study conducted in California.1 The analysis of more than...
On May 23, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic, microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) solid tumors that have progressed ...
Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) announced the formation of a “Dream Team” of top researchers to take on one of the toughest challenges in cancer research and treatment: colorectal cancer, which is expected to claim the lives of more than 50,000 Americans this year. The announcement was made at a special...
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®): 2017 Guidelines In 1996, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology®, covering 8 tumor types. Guidelines are now published for more than 60 tumor types and...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, authors Shelly Latte-Naor, MD, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present the case...
A Dutch study (SWORD) has shown that blended cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—mixing face-to-face and online sessions—reduced the fear of recurrence among survivors of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. These results were reported by van de Wal et al in the Journal of Clinical...
A population-based cohort study by Fedewa et al investigating whether the risk for interval colorectal cancer—defined as cancer that develops after a negative colonoscopy result but before the next recommended screening—varies by race or ethnicity has found that black patients face a...
Data presented at the 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) showed new findings related to the impact of certain genetic mutations on the risk and development of prostate cancer, in particular metastatic disease. Male BRCA Mutations An analysis by Mano et al...
An observational study of 826 patients with stage III colon cancer showed that those who consumed 2 ounces or more of nuts per week had a 42% lower chance of cancer recurrence and 57% lower chance of death than those who did not eat nuts. A secondary analysis revealed the benefit of nut consumption ...
A study of 992 patients with stage III colon cancer found that those who reported a healthy lifestyle during and following adjuvant treatment had a 42% lower chance of death and a trend for lower chance of cancer recurrence than those who had less healthy lifestyles. The study will be presented by...
An analysis of nearly 273,000 patients showed that between 2013 and 2014 there was a 1% increase in the percentage of breast, lung, and colorectal cancers diagnosed at the earliest, most treatable stage. Considering the thousands of people diagnosed with these cancers annually, a 1% increase in...
A UK retrospective study showed that colonoscopic surveillance was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer among patients with removal of intermediate-risk adenomas. The study was reported in The Lancet Oncology by Atkin et al. Study Details The study involved routine lower...
A phase I study reported by Burris et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has shown that the first-in-class agonist anti-CD27 antibody varlilumab is well tolerated and active in patients with advanced solid tumors. CD27 is a co-stimulatory molecule on T cells that induces intracellular signaling ...
The risk of colorectal cancer increased significantly when colonoscopy was delayed by more than 9 months following a positive fecal screening test, according to a large Kaiser Permanente study published by Rutter et al in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “With this study, we...
Luis A. Diaz, MD, has been named Head of the Division of Solid Tumor Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Dr. Diaz most recently served as Associate Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Diaz formally...
A recent study by Mokdad and colleagues, reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, looks at cancer demographic data for 28 cancers and compares mortality rates in 1980 to results in 2014.1 Publishing mortality rates by geographic area and the observation of significant differences is not new. The...
According to a study reported by Hamada et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, postdiagnosis aspirin use was associated with improved survival vs nonuse among patients with colorectal cancer who have lower, but not higher, tumor levels of CD274 (programmed cell death 1 ligand 1; PD-L1). Study...
The investigational cyclin D–dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib was recently evaluated in several solid tumor types in a phase I multicenter trial.1 Given primarily as a single agent and with continuous dosing, abemaciclib showed encouraging early signals of clinical activity not only ...
Geoffrey I. Shapiro, MD, PhD, Director of the Early Drug Development Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, explained the current research initiatives involving cyclin D–dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors. Mechanism of Action How do CDK4/6 inhibitors work at the cellular level in...
A propensity score analysis in a prospectively maintained database at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has shown that use of perioperative hepatic arterial infusion pump chemotherapy after complete resection of colorectal liver metastases is associated with a marked improvement in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Renfro et al have derived a nomogram for predicting early mortality in metastatic colorectal cancer using data from more than 20,000 patients in the ARCAD (Aide et Recherche en Cancérologie Digestive) database. Study Details The analysis...
Second cancers in children as well as adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are far deadlier than they are in older adults and may partially account for the relatively poor outcomes of cancer patients aged 15 to 39 years overall, according to a new study by University of California (UC), Davis...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of regorafinib (Stivarga) to include treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who have been previously treated with the drug sorafenib (Nexavar). This is the first new FDA-approved treatment for liver cancer in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jensen et al have undertaken a study to estimate cancer population–based reference values for patient-reported outcome domains in the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). Study Details The study included...