“Many new frontiers exist in integrative medicine,” NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, stated in his keynote address at the Eighth International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) in Cleveland. “The evidence is overwhelming that these approaches are being used by many...
“The main message [from Dr. Hall’s presentation at the 2011 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium] is that we need to think about using sipuleucel-T early in men with prostate cancer who are asymptomatic but are castration-resistant and metastatic. “If there is going to be a benefit [of the vaccine],...
Surgery did not increase survival rates compared to watchful waiting in men with clinically localized prostate cancer. Results were particularly strong for men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels of 10 ng/dL and under, and those who have low-risk disease, according to data from the Prostate ...
Active surveillance of localized prostate cancer is a viable management option that should be offered to low-risk patients in place of immediate treatment, said a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health. A fairly new concept, active surveillance takes a more proactive...
Although robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy “is eclipsing open radical prostatectomy among men with clinically localized prostate cancer,” the risks of problems with sexual functioning and continence are no lower with robotic than open surgery, according to a study in the Journal...
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “Depression is a very dangerous...
Laparoscopic resection of primary and metastatic liver cancers can be safe and oncologically efficient and reduce postoperative length of stay, a single-center study from the United Kingdom found.1 The investigators cautioned, however, that “adequate patient selection and extensive experience in...
Patients with a previously diagnosed cancer have an increased risk of developing cutaneous melanoma, with the highest risk among patients who have had a prior diagnosis of melanoma, according to a report published in the Archives of Dermatology.1 Key Findings Using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and...
Although lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women—nearly 157,000 deaths from lung cancer occurred in 2011, according to the American Cancer Society—survey results from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) show that 60% of Americans are...
Two novel agents with distinct mechanisms of action join ranks of treatments that extend survival for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer: MDV3100 and radium-223. Both drugs achieved a survival advantage compared with placebo, with relatively benign side-effect profiles, according to ...
December 23, 2011, marked the 40th anniversary of the National Cancer Act. To mark that occasion, on February 2, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held a Congressional briefing, attended by about 100 legislative aides, to remind Congress that the war on cancer is far from over....
Gen-Probe announced the FDA has approved its PROGENSA PCA3 (prostate cancer gene 3) assay, the first molecular test to help determine the need for repeat prostate biopsies in men who have had a previous negative biopsy. “Overexpression of the PCA3 gene is highly specific to cancerous prostate...
The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 12 to 1 that the risk-benefit ratio was insufficient for an expanded use of denosumab (Xgeva) to delay the spread of prostate cancer to the bone in men with castration-resistant disease. The panel was not asked specifically whether it...
In the ongoing debate over how to control rising cancer care costs, it is vital to identify usage patterns of expensive new technologies. A recent study examined the relationship between Medicare reimbursement and the increasing use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).1 The ASCO Post...
Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) can generate a circulating immune response to treat men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, as per its FDA-approved indication.1 A neoadjuvant trial was performed to investigate whether earlier use of sipuleucel-T can generate an immune response in the...
The recent 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium featured a wealth of presentations on prostate, bladder, kidney, and other genitourinary cancers. Brief summaries of some of the oral and poster sessions are presented. Exercise and Recurrence Vigorous exercise has been shown to reduce cancer...
Nicholas B. Vogelzang, MD, moderator of the press briefing where these findings were presented, agreed that the first study supports intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) as the current standard of care. With costs of health care increasing exponentially, it is important to establish the...
Patients with prostate cancer are treated with various forms of radiotherapy and/or radical prostatectomy with little comparative data to inform treatment selection. Two studies presented at the 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium attempt to address that gap. In one study of men with localized...
An early study suggests that an experimental blood test may help guide individualized decisions on the most appropriate treatments for patients with prostate cancer. The new noninvasive “liquid biopsy” scans the entire landscape of different kinds of cancer cells in blood and analyzes...
A large observational study has found that men who take aspirin regularly may have a lower risk of dying from prostate cancer. Men who took aspirin regularly after their prostate cancer diagnosis were less likely to die from the disease. However, aspirin did not affect the overall incidence of...
Death rates from all cancers combined for men, women, and children continued to decline in the United States between 2004 and 2008, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2008. Overall cancer incidence rates among men decreased by an average of 0.6% per year...
The risk calculator available at the Fertile Hope website (www.fertilehope.org) lets patients know whether specific treatment regimens would put them at high, intermediate, low, very low/no risk, or unknown risk for azoospermia or amenorrhea. Both Fertile Hope and the ASCO fertility recommendations ...
Most cancer survivors prefer to have biologic offspring despite concerns about the possible effects of cancer treatment on the child, the child’s lifetime cancer risk, or their own longevity, according to an ASCO panel that developed guidelines on fertility preservation in patients with cancer.1...
Eating more red meat appears to be associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality and death from cancer and cardiovascular disease, but substituting fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains for red meat is associated with a lower mortality risk, according to...
“Analyses after 2 additional years of follow-up consolidated our previous finding that [prostate-specific antigen (PSA)]-based screening significantly reduced mortality from prostate cancer but did not affect all-cause mortality,” investigators from the European Randomized Study of Screening for...
Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have developed the Bone Scan Index (BSI), which is the first quantitative imaging response biomarker that can assess response to treatment and prognosticates for survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Based on Bone ...
Studies led by Nathan Sheets, MD, and Mark Jesus Magbanua, PhD, were recently featured in the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium press program. Both researchers are 2012 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Merit Award recipients, and each has made noteworthy discoveries in prostate cancer....
Despite growing national focus on early detection, prevention, and new molecular-based treatments, lung cancer persistently remains the number 1 cause of cancer death for men and women in the United States. The ASCO Post spoke to lung cancer specialist Paul A. Bunn, Jr, MD, Executive Director,...
According to Adam Kibel, MD, Urology Chair at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, it would appear to be logical that increasing the doses of vitamin E and selenium would decrease the risk of prostate cancer, since the preponderance of evidence demonstrates that these supplements do so. “The...
Supplements touted as preventing prostate cancer may turn out to be dangerous, as is evident from updated results of the largest long-term prevention trial, called the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). Final analysis of SELECT showed that, compared to placebo, vitamin E alone ...
Oliver Sartor, MD, Medical Director of Tulane Cancer Center, New Orleans, said that in his opinion, RTOG 94-08 had some flaws because outdated radiotherapy doses were employed. “The utility of hormone therapy is questionable with today’s doses,” Dr. Sartor said. “Using standard radiation doses at...
Short-term androgen deprivation therapy does not appear to increase cardiovascular mortality in men with clinically localized prostate cancer, according to a post hoc analysis of a large Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG)-sponsored clinical trial.1 “Our study analyzes data from a large...
The cumulative impact of changes in smoking behavior that started in the mid-1950s averted approximately 795,851 U.S. lung cancer deaths, 552,574 among men and 243,277 among women from 1975 to 2000, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The researchers also...
Following recent clinical trial data from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment (EORTC) showing a survival benefit for patients with small kidney cancers treated with radical vs partial nephrectomy, an analysis using linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) and...
Over the past few years, drug shortages in the United States have been on the rise, involving hundreds of agents, many of which are lifesaving medications for patients with cancer. In recent months, the FDA has taken steps to alleviate some of the most critical oncology drug shortages. “We should...
Many of the almost 100 reports in various journals and newspapers refer to the lack of effect on overall mortality with screening in ERSPC in a very critical fashion. Clarification is necessary. Our trial did not intend to and is not powered to study the effect of screening on overall mortality....
Studies assessing the effect of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing on prostate cancer mortality have produced conflicting results, and recommendations regarding PSA screening vary among authorities. The recently published 11-year follow-up of the European Randomized Study of Screening for...
Scientific advances have markedly improved prostate cancer survival, but this clinical success story is not without its share of controversy. From screening through treatment, a growing array of options offer an admixture of promise and confusion for clinicians and patients. Moreover, today’s...
A study commissioned by ASCO in 2006 predicted a significant shortage of medical and gynecologic oncologists in the United States by 2020. As a result, the organization created the Workforce Implementation Group to develop recommendations to stem the projected workforce shortfall and ensure ongoing ...
Denosumab (Xgeva) significantly delayed time to first bone metastases among men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer enrolled in a phase III randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The time to first bone metastasis was 33.2 months among the 716 patients randomly assigned to receive ...
Over 1,300 breast surgeons attended the 13th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, held May 2–6 in Phoenix. Presentations included investigations on recurrence after lumpectomy, gender differences in breast cancer, and the potential role of infrared thermography in diagnosing...
If, as expected, the cost of whole-genome sequencing continues to drop, perhaps down to the $1,000 vicinity, it may become an alluring option for consumers who want to know about their risks for cancer and other diseases. But can genome sequencing really provide practical information about...
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), has been Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) since 1982, and has been instrumental in launching some of the most seminal efforts of the cancer research organization. Over the past 4 years, she has helped spearhead the AACR’s...
Use of the CYP17 inhibitor abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) in combination with leuprolide and prednisone prior to radical prostatectomy achieved pathologic complete response or near complete response in one-third of men with high-risk, localized prostate cancer. Abiraterone is FDA-approved for...
Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, Chair of the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, was born in Lebanon. The only member of his family to have pursued a career in medicine, he received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB), which was founded...
Since May 1, 2005, Karen H. Antman, MD, has served as Dean of Boston University School of Medicine and Provost of the Boston University Medical Campus, located in the historic South End of Boston. Her road to this esteemed institution was paved with prominent positions, such as former ASCO...
Janssen Research & Development, LLC, has submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the FDA to extend the use of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) administered with prednisone for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who are asymptomatic or...
Based on the controversial nature of the SWOG 9346 findings, presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting Plenary Session, ASCO intiated a pilot program at the meeting for a “town hall” type of discussion, where attendees could voice their concerns and questions, and where presenter Maha Hussain, MD,...
Based on a prespecified definition of survival comparability, intermittent androgen deprivation proved to be inferior to continuous androgen deprivation for men with newly diagnosed hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer in the phase III SWOG 9346 intergroup trial. The data were presented at...
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently issued a recommendation statement advising against the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based testing for prostate cancer,1 leaving many in the oncology community concerned that decades of clinical progress will be stalled, and setting ...