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Showing 19701 - 19750Elective Neck Dissection Beats Watch and Wait Approach in Early Oral Cancer
Elective neck dissection of node-negative early-stage oral cancer at the time of primary surgery improves overall survival and disease-free survival compared with therapeutic neck dissection (ie, therapeutic neck dissection at the time of nodal relapse, or “watch and wait” approach), according to a ...
Frederick Pei Li, MD, Pioneer of Cancer Genetics, Dies at 75
Frederick Pei Li, MD, who helped inaugurate the era of cancer genetics by demonstrating that people can inherit a genetic susceptibility to develop certain malignancies, died on June 12 at the age of 75. A Professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan...
Date of Last Chemotherapy Is Not a Proxy for Deciding When to Stop Treating Metastatic NSCLC
“Patients, their families, and oncologists recognize the administration of chemotherapy near death as aggressive and poor-quality care,” William F. Pirl, MD, MPH, and colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, wrote in the Journal of Oncology Practice. “However, rates have been slowly...
Building and Adjusting to My Life After Cancer
I had been watching a lump in my left breast for signs of cancer for 10 years, from around the time I was 21. Screening tests had failed to find any tissue abnormality, and my doctor said I was too young to have cancer, so I wasn’t overly concerned. But when I noticed the lump getting bigger in...
Expect and Encourage Questions About the Benefits and Harms of Cancer Screening
Issuing advice for high-value care in screening for five common cancers, the High Value Care Task Force of the American College of Physicians (ACP) stated: “The target audience for this paper is all clinicians. The target patient population is average-risk, asymptomatic patients.” “What we tried...
Agreement on High-Value Screening for Five Common Cancers
Finding agreement on high-value cancer screening among organizations publishing screening guidelines, the American College of Physicians (ACP) issued advice listing the least-intensive screening strategies that all the organizations recommend—as well as strategies not recommended—for five common...
Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, FASCO: Never One to Back Down From a Challenge
Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, FASCO, always sat in the front row at school. She grew up during a rigidly paternalist period in American society, and her early feminist leanings were brushed aside as grade-school adventures. The medical school lecture room of the 1960s was a male-dominated culture, and...
First Winners of Tri-Institutional Breakout Awards Announced
Six young scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Rockefeller University, and Weill Cornell Medical College have been named the inaugural winners of a new prize established to recognize postdoctoral investigators in the life sciences. The Tri-Institutional Breakout Awards for Junior...
Translating Study Recommendations Into Medicare Coverage
Lung cancer doggedly remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. This grim mortality figure is due, in part, to a lack of early detection methods; more than half of all lung cancers have metastasized at the time of diagnosis. For decades, lung cancer advocates lobbied...
The Pediatric Fitness Program: A Mind-Body Approach
The fundamental challenge in treating children with cancer centers on how to help relieve their suffering while they undergo difficult care. Typically, they do not yet have adult coping skills, and even if they had some ability to cope, many of the issues they face during treatment are...
ASCO Members, Public Working Together to ‘Take Down’ Cancer
From Wrigley Field to McCormick Place, Chicago residents and visitors felt the energy surrounding the launch of The Campaign to Conquer Cancer during the ASCO 2015 Annual Meeting. The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (CCF) threw out the ceremonial first pitch...
ASCO QOPI® Certification Program Benefits Oncology Practices and Patients
Christa Braun-Inglis, MS, NP, has seen her last three practices certified through ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®). Ms. Braun-Inglis, a nurse practitioner with Kaiser Hawaii Region, was not solely responsible for the designations, although she helped some of the practices become...
Pembrolizumab in Advanced NSCLC: The Promise of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
Drugs targeting the immune-checkpoint pathways have shown promising activity in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, Garon and colleagues reported the results of the KEYNOTE-001 clinical trial evaluating single-agent pembrolizumab...
PD-1 Inhibitor Pembrolizumab Active in Advanced NSCLC: Outcomes Better With Higher PD-L1 Expression
In the phase I KEYNOTE-001 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine,1 Edward B. Garon, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda)...
Assessing and Improving Imaging Interpretation in Breast Cancer Screening
The quality of mammography images has markedly improved over the past few decades. However, the quality of the interpretation of mammograms remains variable. That said, more than 38 million mammograms are performed annually in the United States. So said Diana Buist, PhD, Senior Scientific...
Oncolytic Immunotherapy in Melanoma: It’s Not All About PD-1
The benefit from immune-directed therapies in patients with advanced melanoma is not limited to the exploding field of checkpoint inhibitors. According to Robert Andtbacka, MD, Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology, at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City,...
Poliovirus for Glioblastoma Grabs National Attention
Researchers at The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University are being barraged by patients wishing to enroll in their clinical trial of an engineered poliovirus for recurrent glioblastoma. This comes as a result of a CBS 60 Minutes interview with lead researcher Matthias...
Cost of Immunotherapy Projected to Top $1 Million per Patient per Year
If new immunotherapy combinations were administered to the half a million Americans dying of cancer each year, the nation’s price tag for treating them—for just 1 year—could top $174 billion, according to projections by Leonard Saltz, MD, Chief of Gastrointestinal Oncology and Chair of the Pharmacy ...
Expert Point of View: Lloyd Damon, MD
Lloyd Damon, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, discussed the study and noted that although ruxolitinib (Jakafi) is associated with a fair amount of anemia and thrombocytopenia, pacritinib did not increase these conditions in PERSIST-1. In fact, treatment was...
Pacritinib for Myelofibrosis: Effective in Patients With Thrombocytopenia
An emerging JAK inhibitor, pacritinib, appears not only effective in a broad population of patients with myelofibrosis but also among a subset with very low platelet counts, investigators from the global phase III PERSIST-1 trial reported at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “There is a huge unmet...
Expert Point of View: Anees B. Chagpar, MD
“This is an important study. We’ve known for some time that the aromatase inhibitors tend to be better than tamoxifen for postmenopausal women with hormonally sensitive invasive breast cancer. The NSABP B-35 trial asked the same question in ductal carcinoma in situ. These data, which now follow...
Anastrozole and Tamoxifen: Both Options for Ductal Carcinoma in Situ
Anastrozole was found to be at least as safe and effective as tamoxifen in preventing breast cancer recurrence in women with ductal carcinoma in situ, in the large NSABP B-35/SWOG-35 study.1 Among all women in the trial, however, the 10-year breast cancer–free interval rates were higher in women...
Ado-Trastuzumab Emtansine Fails to Replace Standard of Care in First-Line Metastatic Breast Cancer
Results are now in for the phase III MARIANNE trial. Although ado-trastuzumab emtansine (formerly known as T-DM1, Kadcyla) proved noninferior to trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus a taxane in the first-line metastatic breast cancer setting, it performed no better than the standard of care.1 “T-DM1 and...
How CancerLinQ™ Can Benefit People Living With Cancer
As a regular readers of The ASCO Post know, ASCO is developing an exciting new health information learning system called CancerLinQ™, which will exponentially enlarge our understanding of cancer therapy far beyond what we’ve achieved with our system of clinical trials. Cancer clinical trials have...
Biosimilars: Questions Remain
Biosimilars are biologic drugs that are similar to an already established “reference” or “innovator” biologic drug product and can be manufactured when an original biologic drug product’s patent expires. Reference to the innovator product is an integral component of approval for a biosimilar. The...
Expert Point of View: Michael P. Link, MD
“We have had remarkable success in treating patients with cancer. Millions of survivors are a testament to this success. But the ‘cost of cure’ borne by our patients is substantial in terms of diminished quality and quantity of life,” commented the formal discussant of the study Michael P. Link,...
Survivors of Childhood Cancer Living Longer, Largely Due to Treatment Improvements
Survivors of childhood cancers can expect longer lives than their peers of 30 years ago. Improvements in the care of children with cancer have reduced the long-term mortality rate, according to an analysis of 34,000 participants in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.1 Cumulative all-cause late...
Thyroid Cancer Rarely Diagnosed in Those With Asymptomatic, Benign Nodules
A prospective, multicenter, observational study involving 992 consecutive patients with one to four asymptomatic, sonographically or cytologically benign thyroid nodules found that “the majority of nodules exhibited no significant size change during 5 years of follow-up or actually decreased in...
Durable Responses at 3-Year Follow-up for CLL Patients Receiving Single-Agent Ibrutinib
At a median follow-up of 3 years, ibrutinib (Imbruvica) demonstrated continued activity with durable responses that improved in quality with extended treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In addition, grade 3 toxicity and adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation...
Irwin Rose, PhD, Nobel Laureate and Biochemist, Dies at 88
Scientist and Nobel Laureate Irwin “Ernie” Rose, PhD, passed away June 2, 2015, after a long illness. He was 88. Dr. Rose shared the 2004 Nobel Prize for chemistry with Aaron Ciechanover, MD, DSc, and Avram Hershko, MD, PhD, of the Israel Institute of Technology for their pioneering work in...
My Faith Helped Me Choose a Way Forward With Cancer
I've been fortunate to be strong and healthy for most of my life. In fact, there is no history of any serious illness in my family, which is why I was so unprepared to hear the words “You have breast cancer” 5 years ago. Not only was the diagnosis foreign to me, I had no idea what chemotherapy and...
Expect Questions About Preventing Melanoma
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that the incidence of melanoma “doubled between 1982 and 2011, but comprehensive skin cancer prevention programs could prevent 20% of new cases between 2020 and 2030.”1,2 That report should serve to increase interest...
Capitalizing on Increased Interest in Skin Cancer During Summer to Reeducate People About Sunscreens and ‘Smart Sun Strategies’
Amid the encouraging studies reported at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting about advances in the treatment of melanoma was a troubling finding about the incidence of melanoma increasing. An analysis of data from nine Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries found that the incidence...
Adjuvant Ipilimumab in High-Risk Stage III Melanoma: Encouraging Study Results Yet Questions Remain
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a fully human monoclonal antibody that blocks the negative T-cell regulator cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and has improved overall survival for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma in two phase III studies.1,2 Based upon these results, ipilimumab was...
Adjuvant Ipilimumab Increases Recurrence-Free Survival After Complete Resection of High-Risk Stage III Melanoma
In the phase III European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 18071 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Alexander M.M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, Director General of the Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France, and colleagues found that adjuvant therapy with the immune...
American Ginseng
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 20 years despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and the ...
FDA’s Pregnancy Category Labeling
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its policies and procedures. In this installment, FDA supervisory toxicologist Todd Palmby, PhD, and pharmacologist Eias Zahalka, PhD, MBA, discuss the approach taken in the Office of ...
Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Melanoma
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with melanoma. The trials are investigating immune response; vaccine therapy; ipilimumab in conjunction with numerous therapies; and chemotherapy regimens. All of the studies ...
Microangiopathic Hemolytic Anemia and Thrombocytopenia
Question 1: In this case, what is the most appropriate next best test? Correct Answer: B. Peripheral blood smear examination. Expert Perspective In the appropriate clinical setting, information obtained from a carefully examined peripheral blood smear film is indispensable. The peripheral blood...
Laura van’t Veer, PhD, Receives European Inventor Award 2015
Laura van’t Veer, PhD, Co-leader of the University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) Breast Oncology Program, and her team at the Netherlands Cancer Institute were awarded the European Inventor Award for the invention of a gene-based tissue test,...
John A. Zaia, MD, Named Director of Center for Gene Therapy at City of Hope
Gene therapy pioneer John A. Zaia, MD, has been named Director of the Center for Gene Therapy within City of Hope’s Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute. Internationally known and respected for his groundbreaking research into potential gene therapy treatments for HIV,...
Gynecologic Cancer in the Older Patient: The Activities of the Elderly Working Group of NRG Oncology
Geriatrics for the Oncologist is guest edited by Stuart Lichtman, MD, FACP, FASCO, and developed in collaboration with the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Visit SIOG.org for more on geriatric oncology. The elderly population in the United States is growing, and by the year...
ASCO, Conquer Cancer Foundation Congratulate 2015 Grant and Award Recipients
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO presented more than $6.7 million in grants and awards to more than 200 promising oncology researchers at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting. The Conquer Cancer Foundation and ASCO congratulate the recipients on their contributions to the field of oncology and offer...
2015 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium to Highlight the Science of Symptom Management
For the past few decades, ASCO has led efforts to integrate palliative care into all phases of cancer treatment. Through numerous educational programs, advocacy efforts, and most recently, the first annual Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, ASCO has championed the idea that palliative care,...
ASCO Endorses ASTRO Guideline on Definitive and Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Locally Advanced NSCLC
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Andrea Bezjak, MD, of Princess Margaret Cancer Center, Toronto, and colleagues,1 ASCO has recently endorsed the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) evidence-based guideline on external-beam radiotherapy for patients with locally...
Progress in the Treatment of Patients With EGFR-Mutated NSCLC
Approximately 10% to 15% of patients with advanced non–small cell lung (NSCLC) cancer have mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in tumor cells. Specific therapies to inhibit the activity of EGFR-mutated NSCLC have now been clearly shown to improve response rate and...
Early-Phase Studies Show Activity of Novel EGFR Inhibitors Rociletinib and AZD9291 in T790M-Positive NSCLC
Two early-phase studies have shown that the novel epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors rociletinib and AZD9291 exhibit high activity in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with the EGFR T790M mutation who had progressed on prior EGFR inhibitor therapy.1,2 The T790M mutation...
NCCS Advocates for Legislation to Establish Medicare Service for Cancer Survivorship Care Planning
Some years after successful treatment of a childhood cancer, a 16-year-old survivor required surgery to replace both hip joints, which were damaged from therapy containing steroids. An x-ray of the teenager’s destroyed joints is a stark reminder of the serious health challenges faced by cancer...
Cyrus Ghajar, PhD, Receives $4.1 Million From Department of Defense
Cyrus Ghajar, PhD, a metastatic breast cancer researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has received a $4.1 million Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) “Era of Hope” Scholar Award. The Department of Defense’s BCRP is the second biggest funder of breast cancer...
Precision Medicine Trials Bring Targeted Treatments to More Patients
At the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, both ASCO and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) unveiled details of new precision medicine trials that will greatly expand the number of patients with cancer who are benefiting from targeted agents. The trials will match a patient’s tumor molecular profile with an ...
