KAH POH (MELISSA) LOH, MBBCh BAO Institution: Fellow, University of Rochester Medical CenterMember since: 2013ASCO activities: Trainee Council Hematology and oncology fellowship training requires at least 3 years to complete. For fellows who wish to single board in either hematology or oncology, a ...
ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) are calling for the use of more inclusive eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials in a new Special Series in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). The series provides a comprehensive examination of eligibility criteria for cancer clinical...
ASCO submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on its proposed rule outlining changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for 2018. In a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, ASCO President Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, made recommendations regarding the two...
ASCO has announced that the first three practices in Spain have received Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) certification through the QOPI Certification Program™, LLC (QCP). The accreditations were given on September 8, at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress in...
Women Who Conquer Cancer is a group dedicated to advancing cancer research by supporting young female researchers early in their careers through Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) Young Investigator Awards (YIAs). These 1-year grants give promising researchers the boost they need to get started on...
RIZWAN ROMEE, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine & Clinical Director, Haploidentical Transplant Program Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri Acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, is the most common type of acute blood cancer in the adult population and can be very difficult to...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies focused on patients with breast cancer. These studies highlight neoadjuvant combination therapy, cell vaccines, novel imaging techniques, radiotherapy, and more. All of the studies are...
On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication for ipilimumab (Yervoy) injection for intravenous use now to include the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma in pediatric patients 12 years of age and older. Ipilimumab was evaluated in 2 trials of...
A new study found that Medicaid expansion enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) improved coverage for care for patients with cancer receiving radiation therapy and potentially decreased health-care disparities. Analysis of more than 197,000 patient records from one ...
Radiation therapy following mastectomy for intermediate-stage, high-risk breast cancer can be shortened from 5 to 3 weeks while maintaining tumor control rates in the breast and surrounding region that are equivalent to conventional treatment, according to research presented by Sun et al at the...
A study using linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare data has shown a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality and a nonsignificantly increased risk of breast cancer–specific mortality in elderly breast cancer patients with preexisting severe mental...
Jemal et al found decreases in the percentage of uninsured patients and trends toward earlier diagnosis among nonelderly patients with cancer after implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Their findings were reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Study Details The study used...
In a phase II trial, the combination of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib (Mekinist) produced durable responses in a cohort of patients with previously untreated BRAF V600E–mutant metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The findings were reported in The Lancet Oncology by...
William A. Hall, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses trial findings on androgen deprivation and radiation alone, compared with androgen deprivation, radiotherapy, and surgery in men with high-risk, nonmetastatic adenocarcinoma of the prostate (Abstract 15).
Gerard Morton, MD, of Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, summarizes a session that included discussion of late toxicities of radiotherapy for locally recurrent prostate cancer; using chemotherapy instead of radiation in early-stage seminoma; radiotherapy vs surgery plus radiotherapy in Gleason score...
A new survey finds breast cancer patients’ actual radiation therapy experiences largely exceeded their expectations. The survey, which addressed the fears and misconceptions regarding radiation therapy for breast cancer, found that more than three-fourths of the breast cancer patients...
For certain patients with oropharyngeal cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), an aggressive reduction of radiation therapy after surgery may provide cancer control while simultaneously reducing post-treatment side effects, improving quality of life, and lowering treatment costs,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Motzer et al, the phase III PROTECT trial showed no significant disease-free survival benefit for adjuvant pazopanib at 600 mg vs placebo after nephrectomy in patients with localized or locally advanced renal cell carcinoma at high risk of relapse. ...
In a new phase III trial report from the National Clinical Trial Network group, NRG Oncology, recurrence-free and overall survival rates for women with stage I–II high-risk endometrial cancer were not superior following adjuvant vaginal cuff brachytherapy plus chemotherapy when compared with...
Nearly 100 oncology care providers from across the United States traveled to Capitol Hill on September 27 and 28 to participate in the second annual ASCO Advocacy Summit. Advocates met with Members of Congress and their staff to educate them on critical issues affecting patients with cancer ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved abemaciclib (Verzenio) to treat adult patients who have hormone receptor–positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer that has progressed after endocrine therapy. Abemaciclib is...
A new study finds that immune response in prostate cancer may be able to forecast how patients will respond to radiation therapy, as well as their likelihood of disease recurrence and survival outcomes. The analysis of more than 9,000 prostate tumors also found evidence that programmed cell death...
Long-term results of a phase III clinical trial indicate that survival rates for patients receiving chemoradiation for unresectable, locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may be more than twice as high as previous estimates. At 5 years following treatment with a standard dose of ...
In a report from the St Jude Lifetime Cohort Study published in The Lancet, Bhakta et al detailed the burden of lifetime chronic health conditions in survivors of childhood cancers. The report included retrospectively collected data on chronic health conditions in 5,522 patients treated for...
An Australian phase I first-in-human trial has shown early activity of microRNA-loaded minicells in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. These findings were reported in The Lancet Oncology by van Zandwijk et al. The minicells (TargomiRs) are loaded with miR-16–based mimic microRNA...
James E. Bates, MD, of the University of Florida, discusses a volumetric dose-effect analysis of late cardiotoxicity, results from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (Abstract 4).
A new study involving patients with stage IV cancer has found that treatment with radiation therapy and immunotherapy can slow tumor growth by stimulating the body’s immune system to attack the cancer. In the phase II trial, patients with end-stage cancer that had metastasized to the lungs or ...
Psychological distress has long been associated with negative health outcomes for patients with cancer, though specific reasons remain unclear. A new study has found that roughly half of all patients who reported having severe distress, which the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN)...
For patients with limited metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), adding radiation therapy before maintenance chemotherapy may curb disease progression when compared to maintenance chemotherapy alone, according to a randomized phase II clinical trial reported by Iyengar et al. at the...
The phase III MONET-A trial has shown that the addition of the multikinase/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitor motesanib to paclitaxel and carboplatin did not significantly improve progression-free survival in East Asian patients with stage IV/recurrent nonsquamous non–small ...
The phase III COMBI-AD trial has shown a significant improvement in relapse-free survival with the combination of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) vs placebo as adjuvant therapy in patients with resected stage III melanoma with BRAF V600E or V600K ...
According to the American Cancer Society, about 316,120 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year, and over 40,000 women will die of the disease. Between 10% and 20% of women diagnosed with cancer are current smokers. Now, a prospective study by Parada et al investigating whether...
A new study demonstrates that a blood test to detect cancer may predict treatment outcomes for patients with localized non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and afford physicians additional lead time to personalize treatment for recurrent disease. Patients in the study with detectable levels of...
Findings from a new multicenter, international clinical trial confirm the effectiveness of high-dose brachytherapy, or internal radiation therapy, for managing locally advanced cervical cancer. Tumor control was significantly better following four fractions of 7 Gy each than following two 9-Gy...
A new study of patients at an urban cancer center points to a potentially serious problem that may limit the impact of clinical cancer care—undiagnosed depression. Among the 40% of patients at the center who were diagnosed with depression, three in four had not previously been told they were ...
On September 22, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic, gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma whose tumors express programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) as...
On September 22, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients who have been previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar). CheckMate 040 Approval was based on a 154-patient subgroup of...
The Global Burden of Disease Study, published in The Lancet, finds that of noncommunicable diseases, cancer is the second-leading cause of death globally.1 The report also finds that deaths from cancer increased more than 17% between 2006 and 2016. The Global Burden of Disease Study is a...
A series of medical mishaps has led me to a diagnosis of stage IV carcinoid neuroendocrine cancer and a shortened lifespan. This never should have happened. For months in early 2015, I was plagued with all the signs of a serious illness, including chronic stomach, bowel, and digestive issues;...
In a Children’s Oncology Group (COG) study (AALL06N1) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hardy et al found that age < 10 years at diagnosis was associated with poorer neurocognitive function in patients with high-risk B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) regardless of...
In a phase III trial (Cancer and Leukemia Group B 10603 [RATIFY]/Alliance) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Stone et al found that the addition of midostaurin (Rydapt) to standard chemotherapy improved overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML)...
A comparative analysis of outcomes with two different trastuzumab (Herceptin)-based adjuvant regimens in older women with early HER2-positive breast cancer found little difference in safety and efficacy between treatments. The study was reported by Katherine E. Reeder-Hayes, MD, MBA, of the...
Triple-negative breast cancer is a highly aggressive breast cancer that lacks hormone receptors and overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu), and, therefore, there are no targeted treatments available for the cancer. Triple-negative breast cancer afflicts African...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will recognize Marshall A. Lichtman, MD, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, with the 2017 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology. Dr. Lichtman will be honored for his notable service to the field of...
The statistics on physician suicide are stark: Physicians are more than twice as likely to take their own lives as nonphysicians, and more than 400 physicians commit suicide each year in the United States. Moreover, young physicians at the early part of their training are reported to be...
Investigators at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) have announced the opening of enrollment for a unique precision medicine clinical trial. NCI-COG Pediatric Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (Pediatric MATCH) is a nationwide trial to explore whether...
MANY health-care experts disagree about when screening mammography is appropriate and for whom. That’s what Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk (WISDOM) seeks to remedy. The University of California (UC) Health study aims to uncover whether annual mammograms really are the best...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has awarded $100,000 in grants to five community health centers across the country to reduce colon cancer disparities in American Indian and Alaska Native populations through the Community Health Advocates implementing Nationwide Grants for Empowerment and Equity...
The organizations and programs listed here are helping to address and reduce disparities in cancer care in rural communities. ASCO University Disparities in Cancer Care: Take Action (http://university.asco.org/disparities-cancer-care-take-action). This free slide-based course is designed to help...
A pair of recent studies show a troubling trend: Despite a 20% decrease in cancer mortality rates nationwide over the past 2 decades,1 Americans living in rural regions of the United States are more likely to die of cancer than persons living in metropolitan areas of the country. An analysis of...